Unseasonably cold temperatures in Bonaire right now

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

divezonescuba

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
2,013
Reaction score
939
Location
Houston, Texas
# of dives
1000 - 2499
We just returned from a week in Bonaire.

Just to let everyone know the temperatures between 0 and 100 feet were as cold as 75 degrees. One guy who had come at the same time for the last 10 years said it has never been this cold.

After my drysuit failed, I rented a full 3mm, but was still to cold to do more than 4 or 5 dives a day. Even then, I had fortunately brought a beanie. Most diveshops only rent 3/2 shorties. However, Gooddive does have some full 3mm bares for $9 per day.

One woman I met on the dock was diving in two full 3mms and almost everyone had hoods.

If you're going in the next couple of weeks bring both a full 3mm and a hood.

Also the crooks have now taken to stealing radios in the remote dive sites. If you lock your doors and keep your windows up, they will smash the glass.
 
We were there 20June-27June.

I just checked both my and my daughter's computer. We were consistently 81F, but we only went below about 70' 1 time, and mostly a lot shallower 10-40'.

I also looked at the log on our computers from the end of august 2014 - consistently 84F.

I dunno, doesn't matter - I froze my confederate butt off last week.

We had nzo problems with thievery, but we stayed in town and south to Margate Bay - only went north once.
 
One of the guys we met on the BDA dock said that most of the crime was happening on the northern sites. On this trip, they apparently even stole a pair of nasty old shorts. He said they thought they were just being spiteful at that point since he had left nothing else to steal.

We saw a lot of broken window glass at oil slick.

Since they have now gone on to radios, hopefully more attention will be directed on the problem.
 
I just returned from Bonaire as well and the last dive I did water temp was 79 degrees at 60 feet. I wear a 3/2 full suite but wore a rash guard under and I was okay but got chilled at 60 minutes. I did not wear a hood, but I am a leisure diver and do not go as deep as most of you do. All in all, it was great diving, viz was a little bit off, but its better than here in the atlantic ocean!! Windy Windy Windy. I found the earlier in the morning I would go diving the better the viz and the easier the shore dive entries. Have fun if you are headed there!!We did not experience any theft, thank goodness!!
 
We were there last week as well, and we were definitely seeing temperatures in the high 70s at depth on most dives. I don't think I saw as cold as 75, but I don't think we ever saw 80 degrees below 5-10 feet the whole week. My wife had a 3.5mm waterproof wetsuit, and started wearing a hooded vest underneath part way through the week.
 
Ah man! Traveling 4500 miles to dive Bonaire in August... hope the water temp creeps back up! Everytime I look at the weather, it's extremely cloudy with rain :(

Anyone got computer info to show water temps at depth? I'm used to 14-16 degrees with a drysuit but planned Bonaire with a 3mm wetsuit!
 
WTF is it with this place and theft, insult, and lawlessness regarding unattended rental vehicles?
I have read on this board for years on the subject, and it just astounds me that nobody ever really seems to get caught, much less jailed for this crap.
I guess the rental car/truck businesses have no influence of the local constabulary.
Seems weird to me.
I guess profits and a never ending supply of people who are willing to accept the abuse are solid.

Chug
Not going to Bonaire anytime soon.
 
WTF is it with this place and theft, insult, and lawlessness regarding unattended rental vehicles?
I have read on this board for years on the subject, and it just astounds me that nobody ever really seems to get caught, much less jailed for this crap.
I guess the rental car/truck businesses have no influence of the local constabulary.
Seems weird to me.
I guess profits and a never ending supply of people who are willing to accept the abuse are solid.

Chug
Not going to Bonaire anytime soon.

Since you asked...

Theft from rental trucks, along with the advice to leave vehicles unlocked with no valuables inside while diving, has been happening on Bonaire for decades. And for decades people have continued to feed the thieves by locking wallets, cameras, phones, and other valuables in vehicles.

But thieves have been caught. Bonaire's prison is full, even after expansion by 36 beds in 2012. A larger prison with an additional 125 beds is currently under construction and is scheduled to open sometime next year. There's already a queue waiting to get in. In the meantime low-risk offenders are sometimes being released early or not incarcerated at all because there's no room in the prison for them.

What would you have Bonairean authorities do differently, specifically, to reduce opportunistic crime? Cost of living has increased significantly since governmental changes in October 2010, thus increasing the number of Bonaireans living in poverty. Bonairean residents and authorities are also coping with an increase in drug trafficking and addiction which is also related to increasing poverty and has obvious implications towards continued thefts from vehicles and properties etc. Poverty combined with drugs also leads to the the increase in thefts of vehicles and/or their parts. If they can't afford tires or batteries or radios they steal them.

The best way for tourists to deal with this is to leave valuables behind and purchase full insurance coverage for the vehicles. Personally, we've enjoyed 25 weeks on Bonaire over the past 18 years and have only lost a pair of $8 sunglasses to theft. We find the majority of Bonaireans to be warm, friendly, and honest people who are also frustrated victims of similar crimes.

Just curious: Where else in the Caribbean do you think you can temporarily integrate with the local community, travel alone day or night, and leave vehicles unattended while diving with less risk than on Bonaire?

-WWGuy
Counting the days until our next 3 week visit to dushi Bonaire.
 
Since you asked...

Theft from rental trucks, along with the advice to leave vehicles unlocked with no valuables inside while diving, has been happening on Bonaire for decades. And for decades people have continued to feed the thieves by locking wallets, cameras, phones, and other valuables in vehicles.

But thieves have been caught. Bonaire's prison is full, even after expansion by 36 beds in 2012. A larger prison with an additional 125 beds is currently under construction and is scheduled to open sometime next year. There's already a queue waiting to get in. In the meantime low-risk offenders are sometimes being released early or not incarcerated at all because there's no room in the prison for them.

What would you have Bonairean authorities do differently, specifically, to reduce opportunistic crime? Cost of living has increased significantly since governmental changes in October 2010, thus increasing the number of Bonaireans living in poverty. Bonairean residents and authorities are also coping with an increase in drug trafficking and addiction which is also related to increasing poverty and has obvious implications towards continued thefts from vehicles and properties etc. Poverty combined with drugs also leads to the the increase in thefts of vehicles and/or their parts. If they can't afford tires or batteries or radios they steal them.

The best way for tourists to deal with this is to leave valuables behind and purchase full insurance coverage for the vehicles. Personally, we've enjoyed 25 weeks on Bonaire over the past 18 years and have only lost a pair of $8 sunglasses to theft. We find the majority of Bonaireans to be warm, friendly, and honest people who are also frustrated victims of similar crimes.

Just curious: Where else in the Caribbean do you think you can temporarily integrate with the local community, travel alone day or night, and leave vehicles unattended while diving with less risk than on Bonaire?

-WWGuy
Counting the days until our next 3 week visit to dushi Bonaire.

^^This^^

I've had a local resident in Bonaire ask me to bring them some stuff related to their own home and a security system to foil break-ins.
The crime is not restricted to tourist trucks!
I live in a nice neighborhood in Virginia, near DC, and spend time at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I've had more stuff stolen from my car at my home and (with windows broken) in Baltimore than I have from 28 weeks in Bonaire. Going back for two weeks at the end of August with no fears about theft; I buy the insurance, I leave the car open, I don't leave valuable stuff in the car.
 

Back
Top Bottom