Drift diving from shore in Bonaire

[Cecil]

Three good drift dives on Bonaire, one already mentioned La Dana's Leap to Karpata, another favorite is Angel City to the Hilma Hooker. My favorite drift dive is Eden Beach to Something Special but then I like rubble dives, more to see.

We have done the vehicle deal both ways, walk back or pre-position the truck. We did a drift dive on the east side once when there was a wind reversal, we drifted and drifted, when we got out we could not see the truck back up the road, still not sure how far we drifter.

 

[stu_in_fl]

<snip>..... Unfortunately, the dive op owner at the Sand Dollar was a real *%$#*^@ and pitched a fit that we used his stairs to exit the water. He basically told us that since we were not guests at the hotel or were using his dive op then we could not use his facilities. He would not even let us park our gear while we ate. So we left, and will not set foot on their property in the future. Their loss!

I'd never give DBA any money - the owner is an d**k - but their staff are nice, and as pointed out - he owns the dock not Sand Dollar or Den Lamen. He even gets pissy with people if they use the "beach" entry next to the dock as he believe he owns Bari reef. Smile, ignore him, and use a differnet dive op. The Bari entry is officially next door - unpaved parking lot and a little path which actually enters at the beach area in front of the restaurant. Not really any more difficult than his dock or the steps leading down to the beach next to his dock....it's a great reef.

 

[vann evans]

We have done many drift dives in Bonaire. There are lots of options depending on what you are looking for and which way the currents are moving.

We have done the La Dania to karpata drift many times-unload everything at La Dania's, everybody stay there except for the driver. Drive to Karpata and walk back-it takes less than 10 minutes. You will recognize Karpata when you see the anchors or the metal square scientific plates at about 35 feet. exit at the 3 giant concrete blocks to the old pier.

We have entered at Something Special and drifted north to Eden Beach, or Front Porch or Bari, depending on currents and air consumption. All of these are easy sandy beach exits. The walk back is 10-15 minutes at most.

We have drifted form Buddy's to Bari and vice versa depending on which way the current was moving.

Probably the easiest drift dives are in the south-get in just about anywhere below the Kite boarders and get out anywhere further south. check out Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy for specific sites that have easy entries. I specifically remember the Margate Bay-Soft coral Gardens area and Fishing Hut dives drifting around.

After you exit, send the driver back to get the truck and wait patiently. Usually, a 60 minute dive will not cover more than a 15-20 minute walk unless the current is really ripping.

Vann Evans
Sand Dollar A4

 

[jghflash]

La Dania to Karpata is usually more of a "you can't get out where you jumped in" so you might as well just swim the reef west until you get to Karpata. Usually not much current when I have done it but it is one of my favorite dives. On our last trip in March the current on everything from Pink Beach south was RIPPING! We found this out, of course, when we put in at Red Slave and started heading to Venezuela. 15 minutes later we swam in, with great difficulty, about 3/4 of the way to Willemstoren Lighthouse..........lesson learned and next time we'll swim right back in immediately. There are far too many great dives to go to the effort (and risk) of even trying to fight a hard current on Bonaire.

 

[VinoBambinos]

Our favorite drift dive would be Buddy to Front Porch...we usually enter @ Buddys and drift south to Front Porch, every time we have done that dive the current has been to the south. We have done it as a predawn dive, a night dive, and several during the day.
When we've done it before 8AM or after 5PM we have exited at Sand Dollar since their shop is closed at those times.
We have always check in at the dive shop at Buddys and asked permission, and have never had a problem, once they even replaced a blown o-ring on a tank from Sand Dollar...that's why we stayed at Buddys on our last trip.

 

[VinoBambinos]

One other pointer...on our last trip to Bonaire we happened to invite another couple (that we didn't know) at breakfast if they wanted to do a predawn drift dive with us the next morning, before we finished eating we had 6 people that said they would meet us in the morning...when we arrived at the dock to put our gear together that had grown to a total of 13 divers including the two of us.

Don't hesitate to ask others to join you...or to join them on a dive, you might just make new friends for life!

 

[amw5g]

Don't hesitate to ask others to join you...or to join them on a dive, you might just make new friends for life!

Excellent idea, we were just discussing that last night.