23 days to first Bonaire trip! Please share your best tips.

[muttdiver]

Hi there. I'm going with Maine Diver. First time to Bonaire. Any suggestions on a first aid kit- what to bring, not bring, where to put it, etc?

 

[DiverVince]

Hi there. I'm going with Maine Diver. First time to Bonaire. Any suggestions on a first aid kit- what to bring, not bring, where to put it, etc?

Pack some hydrogen peroxide to clean out coral scrapes & abrasions. if not immediately cleaned they WILL become infected. Use neosporin or "liquid skin" (sold at CVS) to dress.
1% hydrocordisone cream to ameliorate any itching from bug bites etc.
Excedrin since the sun can cause headaches.
Stop at the Botika in town & pick up "diver drops". Use prophylactically to prevent otitis externa.

 

[Steve P]

Thanks to all for the great information on this thread! :cool3: I've recorded 2 pages of notes. My wife & I are planning our first trip to Bonaire this May. While we both have a few dives under our belts our kids will be newbies. We're also leaning toward Sand Dollar. The location, floor plan & price for 2 BR condo / dive package looks pretty good. Few questions from the Bonaire veterans:

If we shouldn't leave valuables in vehcile, what about spare tanks? Do you only bring enough air for one dive before going back to get more? Or do thieves leave the tanks alone?

Any comments about Sand Dollar? How about their house reef?

Lastly, we are considering having our kids (17 year old twins) do their check out dives in Bonaire. Is their a preferred dive op for the OW referral or are they all pretty decent?

I'm sick of winter and can't wait to get wet again!

Steve

 

[Waterskier1]

Hi there. I'm going with Maine Diver. First time to Bonaire. Any suggestions on a first aid kit- what to bring, not bring, where to put it, etc?

Bug spray....and what ever you use to treat mosquito bites.

Thanks to all for the great information on this thread! :cool3: I've recorded 2 pages of notes. My wife & I are planning our first trip to Bonaire this May. While we both have a few dives under our belts our kids will be newbies. We're also leaning toward Sand Dollar. The location, floor plan & price for 2 BR condo / dive package looks pretty good. Few questions from the Bonaire veterans:

If we shouldn't leave valuables in vehcile, what about spare tanks? Do you only bring enough air for one dive before going back to get more? Or do thieves leave the tanks alone?

That is not usually a concern. Who is going to try to smuggle or pawn a scuba tank off Bonaire? They are of zero value to the druggies or whoever is stealing stuff. We always take 3 tanks per diver with us. We usually do 2-3 dives in the morning and 2-3 dives in the afternoon. We decide after the first dives how many we want to do, so we want to make sure we don't run out. We almost always return to the resort for lunch (we make our own in the room) so we can swap out empties and replace them with full tanks. That said, we usually remove the tanks from the truck before we go to town for dinner.

Any comments about Sand Dollar? How about their house reef?

Lastly, we are considering having our kids (17 year old twins) do their check out dives in Bonaire. Is their a preferred dive op for the OW referral or are they all pretty decent?

I'm sick of winter and can't wait to get wet again!

Steve

Every trip I've taken, next month will make nine, I've used Wanndive. They were the dive op at Eden Beach where I first stayed, and I have no reason to change. Their tanks are available 24/7. They don't have "drive-thru" but they do have "drive-up" and you don't have to wait in line. I've worked with the instructors there, and all are exceptional. But, as you surmise, I'm sure most of the dive ops are just as good. I spoke with an instructor at Yellow Submarine when I took my Dive Master and was quite impressed with her too. I think this is such a great place to work and live, there is a waiting list of great instructors biting at the chance to work there, so lesser instructors don't last long.

 

[Darcey]

If we shouldn't leave valuables in vehcile, what about spare tanks? Do you only bring enough air for one dive before going back to get more? Or do thieves leave the tanks alone?

Just got back from Bonaire yesterday! Tanks are fine in vehicles. We removed them at the end of the day though. Since you're staying at Sand Dollar I assume you're diving with Bonaire Dive & Adventure. (We stayed at Den Laman next door and did our diving with them.) They "allow" you to take 2 tanks at a time. For us that was enough for 2 morning/afternoon dives, come back for lunch and then 2 late afternoon/night dives. Plus you an always stash a tank or two if needed after they close their tank lockers.

Any comments about Sand Dollar? How about their house reef?

Bari reef was quite honestly my favorite reef. Decent amoumt of diversity in sea life compared to every other dive site we did with a nice entry/exit off of the dock which is very nice after a long day of getting beaten up by rough waves and slick rocks on exit/entries along the rest of the island.:cool2:

 

[Maine Diver]

Just got back from Bonaire yesterday! Tanks are fine in vehicles. We removed them at the end of the day though. Since you're staying at Sand Dollar I assume you're diving with Bonaire Dive & Adventure. (We stayed at Den Laman next door and did our diving with them.) They "allow" you to take 2 tanks at a time. For us that was enough for 2 morning/afternoon dives, come back for lunch and then 2 late afternoon/night dives. Plus you an always stash a tank or two if needed after they close their tank lockers.



Bari reef was quite honestly my favorite reef. Decent amoumt of diversity in sea life compared to every other dive site we did with a nice entry/exit off of the dock which is very nice after a long day of getting beaten up by rough waves and slick rocks on exit/entries along the rest of the island.:cool2:

Darcy,

I hope you had a great time. How strict is BDA about the 2 tanks? Just 4 more days for us

 

[Georgiadaybreak]

We just stepped off the plane from Bonaire yesterday! And yes, we stayed at Sand Dollar. We enjoyed our stay. Very nice, quaint, and comfortable. I will say NO ONE in town would take a $100 bill due to several counterfeits in circulation in the past few weeks. We ended up going to a bank to get smaller bills. My laptop wouldn't fit in the small safe so we had to lock in my luggage. I took a small bike lock and locked my suit case with the laptop inside to a large piece of furniture. Although I doubt we needed to, it gave me an extra peace of mind.

I HIGHLY recommend diving with Jerry Ligon the naturalist. We took his 3 hour class and diving excursion and it was well worth the $100 for the two of us. We also did the cave hike and snorkeling the day before our flight. AWESOME. Another 3 hours, but take water! You'll get hot in the caves. Book it early in the week.

Michael from Fisheye photo is wonderful and very helpful but they were fairly pricey. We bought our dive video $35 and they gave us the wrong video. Not a real problem but still... We emailed Michael and he is sending us our dive video.

We were not impressed with the food, service, or wait time at Capt. Eddy's rest. , but the Sunset Bar and Grill was excellent. For the most part, we went to the local bakery RIGHT ACROSS the street from the Sand Dollar and then the local grocery store just down the road and cooked out own meals. We "googled" Bonairian recipes and tried our hand and cooking the dishes. I must say our food was much better...though I'm not complaining about the food we did eat there. Expect 2 hours easily in a restaruant even for a quick bite! No kidding. That's why we stopped eating out mostly...too much time away from our activities. We even ate iguana...and it was yum!

We came back totally relaxed and glad we chose Bonaire and totally pleased with Sand Dollar Condos. If you are going as a couple, I recommend the Open Air Massage around 5 p.m. WOW!

When you leave......for gosh sakes get to the airport 2 HOURS before your flight. They are as slow and relaxed there as they were at the restaurants. EveryTHING is on ISLAND time! And, as it should be................ ENJOY!

 

[Georgiadaybreak]

Oh I agree with the other posts....we took an outfit per day and then a few nice things to wear out and that was way too much! We lived in our bathing suits and shorts and tees we bought there. PACK LIGHT! You really want need much clothes...and everything dries really fast if you do wash it and hang it out.

Drink some Polar Beer for me. I fell in love with that!

 

[Darcey]

When you leave......for gosh sakes get to the airport 2 HOURS before your flight. They are as slow and relaxed there as they were at the restaurants. EveryTHING is on ISLAND time! And, as it should be................ ENJOY!

I can't stress this enough. We got to the airport more than 2 horus early at 6:00am sharp for our 8:30 flight to Houston (were you on the same flight???) and O...M...G. The left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing there. We were STILL in line to check in and get through security at 7:50. The lady at the Continental counter took 20 minutes, no joke, to check us in and get our tickets correct. I don't know how many wrong or duplicat tickets she printed. My Dive Caddy weighed a million pounds on my back by the time we got on the plane from standing there for over 2 hours waiting. Ouch.

And yes, I also can't stress ISLAND TIME enough either. It's nice at dinner when you want to relax after a nice day of diving but not lunch if you're wanting to eat out instead of in your room/apt/condo and get back to diving. Sunset Grill downstairs at our resort/condos at Den Laman (next door to Sand Dollar) was the fastest we found (and VERY GOOD too!)...especially during lunch. Just don't expect to have water or drink refills without asking at least 6 times. :cool2:

 

[Natch]

I also was at Sand Dollar last week. It was my 4th time there, and we are planning to go back in June/july. last winter when we were there, my (then) 13 year old twins did their cert. dives there on a refferal, and did scuba review this time. Both times with Bonaire Dive and Adventure. Diane, the instructor did a very good job with them. She was very thorough, and worked well with my kids.
We had breakfast every day at Eddy's and thought that it was good. Not great, but good. Had lunch there once and dinner once as well. I though the food was good and service was good, but on a "Bonaire Place" (kinda slow). It also was comparatively inexpensive.
I would recomend the Friday dinner BBQ buffet at Sunsets. $22 and all you can eat. Beef, chicken, fish, ribs, rice, salads, and corn on the cob.
Chris