Best Dives in Bonaire??

[maat1976]

Hit me with your suggestions. My husband never gets involved with planning anything so it's up to me making sure we do the best dives. Unfortunately I outdid myself in Bali and now expectations are high!

Any help greatly appreciated - we're diving with Wannadive and staying at Bali Bamboo.

Thanks.
Claudia

 

[diverjen]

Hi Claudia,

There are a lot of pre existing threads on this, but I love talking about diving and Bonaire so I don't mind to tell you mine so far.

Bari Reef (close to BB), Cliff (very close to BB), Something Special (pretty close to BB). Klein dives are all pretty great. On the south we really love Tori's Reef and Angel City. Salt Pier and Hilma Hooker are cool but probably would only hit them once per trip.

Sites I really want to dive but haven't made it to yet: Karpata and Rappel, Margate Bay, Sweet Dreams, Vista Blue, Forest on Klein, East Coast!

It all depends on what you like of course, but those seem to be some of the typical favorites.

Oh and you will love Bamboo Bali - just don't forget to use those jacuzzis after your dusk/night dives! We dove with BDA because we like their dock setup and Bari Reef is the dive we probably hit most for love and a little convenience thrown in!

 

[diversteve]

Add to the list^:

Invisibles
1000 Steps - the climb up is the hard part
Weber's Joy/Witches Hut

Maybe Jeff Davis Memorial on the way back from Rappel.

otherwise Jen got most of them.

 

[drrich2]

For shore diving for a 1st timer, I would suggest, roughly from north to south...

1.) Karpata - fairly easy entry, particularly lush, a good site and quite popular.

2.) Tolo - heading to Karpata commits you to a one-way drive, with a long swing around home. Might as well hit another really nice dive site on the way to Karpata, on the one-way strip, and this is it.

3.) 1,000 Steps - very scenic staircase, nice for photos, and a good site.

4.) Oil Slick Leap - the big giant stride is classic, and it's consistently a good dive, too.

5.) The Cliff - the vertical wall is quite unusual. By boat, Small Wall is similar.

6.) Bari Reef - good site, reputedly great species diversity.

7.) Windsock - easy entry & exit. Good for night dives, as that really big pier is good to tell you where to exit.

8.) Hilma Hooker - the classic, big wreck dive.

9.) Angel City - nice dive, and head out to the 2nd reef. Nice showing of the double reef system.

10.) Salt Pier (shallow dive, pilings provide cover & habitat, a nice dive).

11.) Sweet Dreams (really lush reef) - but this is a fairly far southern site, so watch conditions before deciding to go in.

Richard.

 

[Kharon]

+1 Cliff but from shore, also (south) Tori's Reef, Invisibles, +1 Angel City, +1 night at Windsock, (in town) Yellow Submarine, (north) +1 Tolo. For me Hilma was a yawn - but I don't see the point in rusted wrecks. Not my thing.

 

[gbf]

If you're going to go north to Karpata, take enough tanks, libations, and food and make a day of it. Do some combination of Karpata, Candyland/Tailormade/Nukove. Then swing by Seru Largu at sunset on the return. Make sure you have bug spray if you're going to watch sunset from the top.

 

[tstormdiver]

Just got back a couple weeks ago. Some sites we dove that were very easy entry & great dives- Bachelor's Beach & the Turtle Nesting beach across from the airport. Both have smooth sandy entries. Bachelors- we saw lots of schooling fish & eels. We dove this site twice. The Turtle nesting beach- I saw an octopus out in the open sand in 4 ft of water, before we even started the dive. Saw lots of schooling fish, several porcupine fish, eels galore,... no turtles, though. On a site just past the salt mine pier, called Invisibles, I found a brown frogfish on an orange sponge at about 40 ft.

 

[Byte Me]

Karpata is a favorite. You are committed at that point to going around the island to get back to town, however, as others have said, make a day of it and head up to Candyland or other "off the map" sites if the ocean cooperates. Tolo is really underrated IMO - beautiful dive, easy entry, plenty of parking. Karpata's entry and exit can be dicey if the surf kicks up and after a 2-2.5 hour CCR dive those stairs can be a killer (ain't gravity a bitch!??). Also a big fan of Capt Don's house reef - one of the best macro sites on the island, easy in / out, super easy to find your way around.

Assuming you have a car don't miss diving with Bonaire East Coast Diving Diving Bonaire on the wildside, Dive bonaire eastcoast and see the big 5. . Guaranteed turtles and tons of them, beautiful sloping reef, good chance at Eagle and Southern Rays. Great boat, great staff, outstanding dives! Added bonus, stop at Jibe City after the dives for a Pita Jibe and a couple cold beers. YUMMY!

 

[bkeyes]

+1 drrich2, your list is pretty much the same as mine.
Since you are diving with WanaDive, hit the reef at their southern tank pickup location. Super easy in and out, reef is in good shape.
My wife and I summarized the diving in Bonaire by the following. South sites have easier entries and exits, but a longer swim, North sites tend to be a little harder to get into the water, but much shorter swims.
The bamboo bali is a great place, hopefully the new units will be done by the time you get there.

 

[jimbeeler]

All those mentioned previously... Two easy starter dives that I kinda liked are "The Lake" because of the double reef and "Pink Beach".

Jim