Hey Maine Diver, You are going to have a wonderful time diving Bonaire! Since you're staying at Sand Dollar and Bari Reef will be your "home" reef, I'll speak a bit to that. For whatever reason, many folks who dive Bari always go straight out from the dock (toward Klein), then drop down the wall. If you go left toward Eden Beach over the sand flats, I think you'll find yourself rewarded with a lot of rubble to look through, and a more dramatic wall. There is an amazing amount of juvenile fish in the rubble on the sand flats, so take your time coming and going from the wall.
Last summer we were treated to a huge bait ball of silversides that were being "herded" and hunted by tarpon on four different occasions. We must have spent a good 15 minutes or more in 10 feet of water in front of the dock watching the tarpon work the bait ball. We were amazed at the number of divers who just swam by us to exit and missed such a spectacular sight.
We've been to Bonaire for 2 weeks each time the past two summers (and will return this summer), and Bari Reef has always been our last dive of the day (we stay at Den Laman). It is ever changing, we never got bored, and will likely do the same thing again this summer.
If you have time, consider taking a 1/2 day course with Jerry Ligon at Bonaire Dive and Adventure. It is WELL worth your time and you'll see things you wouldn't likely find yourself. If you're a photographer, consider spending 1/2 day working with Tim at Fish Eye Photo. He's an excellent photographer and teacher and really made a huge difference in my husband's photography (and my editing abilities). Also, if you want to dive some of the less dived sites up in the park, consider doing Buddy Dive's 3-tank (all day) charter up there. That's something we're really looking forward to doing this summer as it's a new trip and we've been wanting to dive up there.
If you're going to need any internet time, go see Michael at Chat 'n Browse right in front of Sand Dollar. And if you have room in your luggage, take him a can of Folger's regular blend coffee...he can't get it on island.
And definitely make sure Lover's Ice Cream is on your list of places to go. Yum!! Very good ice cream, and they even make sugar free that's good!!
For dive sites, don't be afraid to go pretty far south to Margate Bay, Atlantis, and Vista Blue. Great sites, very lush with soft sponges, fans, and corals. If you haven't already, buy a copy of Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy anywhere on the island, it's a great guide to the sites and we found it to be essential on our first trip.
Sorry you'll be there during cruise ship season, I understand driving through Kralendijk is a pain where there are ships in port. Hopefully you can check the cruise ship schedule and be able to plan a bit around them, avoiding them as much as possible. (There aren't cruise ships there in the summer when we go, so we have no experience with them on Bonaire).
If you're interested (and haven't stumbled across it here), here's a link to our website that has trip reports and photos from our 2 trips to Bonaire. Just hit the Bonaire tab on the top and scroll down.
http://divetraveladventures.site.shutterfly.com/
You know everything about keeping safe from all the other threads, so no comments from me on that.
Have a GREAT time!
