Okay, here's an actual mini report for those SOCAL folks who've never been to Bonaire:
The trip to Bonaire from LA took about 20 hours door to door. American Airlines, LAX to Dallas (or Miami) then San Juan, then Bonaire. Air Jamaica also flies there, but they are having some problems (bankruptcy, reports of terrible service). The island of Bonaire is about the size of Catalina, but from what I saw it looks pretty barren and desolate. Above water, that is. Most (or all) of the beach resorts have "house reefs", and the facilities are designed with divers in mind. Most or all have onsite dive shops. This is basically a diving island. I stayed at a resort called Sand Dollar, a condominium resort with what is advertised as the #1 reef in the Caribbean (called "Bari Reef") in terms of different species of marine life (350 or so as I recall). I talked to the guy who actually did the survey, Jerry Ligon, who was a DM and Naturalist at the Sand Dollar's dive shop (Bonaire Dive and Adventure).
The dive facilities can be described like this: you wake up in the morning, walk about 50 yards over to the gear room (which is a small building about the size of a single car garage where you can store you BC, wetsuit, and other dive gear for the duration of your stay). You then gear up, and walk 20 yards down to the dock. Take a full AL80 or Nitrox tank from the storage area on the dock, mark a sheet showing you took a tank, then finish gearing up. Then you walk down the steps, or do a giant stride off the dock into the 80 degree water.
Alternatively, you sign up for a boat dive (cost is only $25 or $30 each trip), and the boat takes you on a 5 or 10 minute ride to one of the many dive sites on Bonaire. They may also take you to a small island (you can see it a couple miles directly across from the Sand Dollar) called Klein Bonaire.
Anyway, the diving here consists of white sand ocean bottom, interspersed with coral, which goes out about 40 yards from shore, and reaches about 25-30 feet of depth. There is an incredible amount of marine life in this area. Then beyond that the bottom starts dropping off into infinity at about a 60 degree angle. Beyond this "shoulder" is an infinite carpet of all different types of coral and sponges. So you can dive at less than 25 feet and spend hours and hours, or go as deep as you want along the sloping wall and see incredible coral formations.
Aside from diving, there isn't much to do on Bonaire. Zero nightlife, few restaurants and supermarkets, and not much in the way of sightseeing. It's a place to go if you just want some incredible diving. I spent the entire 5 days (12 dives total) diving the Bari Reef in front of my condo, with the exception of a boat trip to a dive site about 10 minutes north which wasn't as good (although it had some breathtaking coral formations). The people are nice, and it's easy to hook up with other divers.
There are tons of shorediving sites around the island and on Klein Bonaire (
www.shorediving.com), each marked with a yellow stone on the side of the road with the divesite name. Most resorts have dive packages including boat diving and small pickup truck rental to carry your dive gear.
Anyway, it's pretty incredible dive-wise, though maybe not the best place to take a non-diving family or spouse. I will definitely go again, and stay at the same place. The Sand Dollar was very laid back, and I felt like I had the place to myself. I met a few couples who have bought condos there, and come down for months at a time just to dive.
Compared to Kona, Kona was less expensive, easier to get to, and had more rays and many more turtles, but not nearly the quantity and variety of marine life and corals and sponges. Bonaire was incredibly easy and relaxing diving (I got a 0.38 SAC on a couple of dives; almost fell asleep), and a great place to go to get away from the crowds.
