Bonaire-National Park, Is it worth it?

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We were going to the last time we were there and I can’t remember why we didn’t. We did Playa Frans and I remember this being on the list as well. Any suggestions on “must do” that I’ve missed would be great. We always try to do favs and add on. We keep meaning to do Candyland but get out there and bail. I think we second guess if we’re in the right spot being that it’s unmarked.

Here are the sites we’ve visited so far...
DELFINES
WINDSOCK
HILMA HOOKER
ANGEL CITY
SHARONS SERENITY KLEIN BONAIRE
SAMPLER KLEIN BONAIRE
BARI REEF
COUNTRY GARDEN-BOAT DIVE
LARRY’S REEF-BARI-BOAT DIVE
SALT PIER
SALT CITY
VISTA BLUE
AQUARIUS
TOLO
SOMETHING SPECIAL
OIL SLICK LEAP
CLIFF AT HAMLET OASIS
CAI WITH BAS TOL
Boka Spelonk with Bas Tol
INVISIBLES
BARI-SOUTH
YELLOW SUBMARINE
MARGATE BAY
1000 STEPS
PLAYA FRANS
BACHELORS BEACH
SWEET DREAMS
ANDREA I
CORPORAL MEISS

Here are my 4 fav's missing from your list:
-- Pink Beach (go to drop off and head south) - One of the easiest entries on the island.
-- The Lake (best of the double reef system-- IMHO).
-- Karpata ( great wall dive- dramatic scenery and really good shallows)
-- Rock Pile (Klein Bonaire-- just awesome wall and shallows) - I no longer go over to Klein, but if I did, it would only be if I was guaranteed to dive this site-- It is that good!
 
Been into the park just once. Probably will never go diving there. Probably will return for sightseeing purposes. I was a bit dismayed by the amount of cactus. Actually amazing with a density that is almost impenetrable. But it became tiresome for me.

I am a birder and the dense cactus habitat is not variable enough to be attractive to many bird species. There are a number of exceptions to that rule around the island. One is just a few minutes from the center of town at the pond feeding water to the sewage treatment plant. Check it out. There tend to be good numbers of bigger birds: several duck species, gallinules, flamingos, black-necked stilts and other small shorebirds that will vary by month, several heron species and several species of egrets, among others. So, if you are looking for wildlife, I'd start there, rather than the park. The park does have crested caracaras and white-tailed hawks which are less common elsewhere on the island.
 
There are several other boat dives worth your time. Some of the northern sites are not available from land.
Rappel
Small Wall
Country Garden
There are also several other Klein Bonaire sites that are worth visiting
Hands Off
Carl's Hill
Forest
Sampler
Our dive on Rock Pile was mediocre
 
After a number of Bonaire trips we finally ventured up there and did a couple of dives. It takes a whole day. The roads are rough, and the going is slow. A lot of driving for not much diving. If I had two weeks per trip instead of just one, I might do it again. Otherwise, I’ll just stick with my favorites.
 
Here are my 4 fav's missing from your list:
-- Pink Beach (go to drop off and head south) - One of the easiest entries on the island.
-- The Lake (best of the double reef system-- IMHO).
-- Karpata ( great wall dive- dramatic scenery and really good shallows)
-- Rock Pile (Klein Bonaire-- just awesome wall and shallows) - I no longer go over to Klein, but if I did, it would only be if I was guaranteed to dive this site-- It is that good!

Pink Beach-added it to my list
The Lake-feel like we have done, but not sure so added
Karpata-we’ve done Karpata, not sure why I don’t have it listed but now can’t edit my post
Rock Pile-We only went to Klein our first trip to Bonaire, not sure we’d go this trip. Maybe a future trip when we run out. I would go out if you could pick the site. When we went the second dive they took us to a spot I feel we could have done from shore.
I wonder if anyone has noticed or fixed the ladder at Oil Slick Leap. The bottom wrung was missing. It made it harder to get out last time.
 
My absolute favourites are those past the BOPEC oil tanks, Candy Land, Taylor Made (both 'unofficial' sites) and Carel's Vision (which is an official site, but considered a boat dive. It's easily accessible from land though, if you know where to find it.
 
My absolute favourites are those past the BOPEC oil tanks, Candy Land, Taylor Made (both 'unofficial' sites) and Carel's Vision (which is an official site, but considered a boat dive. It's easily accessible from land though, if you know where to find it.

Ok, so we are going to definitely have to do Candyland and Tailormade at this point. Is the navigation easy? We drove there last trip in December and decided not to do it because we just weren’t sure where the entrance was. What do you like about those particular sites? Is there a trick to knowing where to enter? What about Carel’s Vision? How to know where to get in there.
 
@kristen8416

I've put links in for Candyland and Carel's Vision. They link to duikersgids, a Dutch site. Text is usually in Dutch, but the maps provide a good idea of where to find things, at least for these two sites.

Candyland is fairly straightforward. Park at the end of the salina, and you'll see a worn path going to the shore, and loop back a few meters in the direction of BOPEC, ending in a made pile of coral Here there's an entrance is between a few blocks of corals, where there's a narrow channel towards deeper water. Check your visual navigation, as you want to get back out in the same spot. All in all on par with Karpata, getting in and out at the concrete slab. Bonus points for doing it without surfacing :D. Check currents and plan dive accordingly.

Taylor Made was longer ago, seem to recall it being somewhat trickier than Candyland, so we ended up doing that mostly instead. Can't seem to recall many details.

Carel's Vision follow the road to Playa Frans. Just before the road gets really close to the sea there's room to park one car underneath the trees. There's a small path leading down to the stony beach. Enter on the North side of the beach, there South side is more rocky, and due to the surf those rocks can be hard to spot. There will be flies. Lots of flies.
 
@kristen8416 please report back if you thought Candyland and/or Taylor Made were worth the trek.
 

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