10 minutes of bonaire...the first 25 seconds is a taste of driving around, for those that have been there I'm sure you'll want to skip that part 
Well - finally sat down and made a couple minutes for some notes.
The wife and I made our 2nd trip to Bonaire the first week of Oct 2019. Our first trip was mid Oct 2016.
The water was >80F...I'm thinking my computer is inaccurate...mine said 83F most of the time, My wife's said 81F most of the time...either way it was warm. As per usual the wife wears a 1mm full - in particular in Bonaire because of the many opportunities to rub an ankle or leg against something that stings coming in and out of the many coral beach/shore dive sites that have fire coral or other stinging corals.
I stuck to my 2mm short and was never cold.
We leisurely averaged 3 tanks a day. Diving air it's pretty easy to get into deco mode with 3 a day. The current is mostly non existent so you aren't working very hard - your air goes a long way, and it's very easy to spend a good portion of any dive in >80ft of water.
The last time we were in Bonaire we had a great time but didn't see many big fish outside of tarpon.
This time we saw turtles every day. The turtles we saw were always in less than 50ft of water.
We didn't see any squid this time. We did 2 night dives but found both disappointing. We spotted one octopus on a night dive and that was really it...the tarpon were very fun to dive with on the night dives but in general as soon as they show up, everything else heads for cover.
On a day dive up at Karpata I did get to see a barracuda hanging around 80 ft shoot up to about 20ft and take a fish...that was exciting.
Last time we stayed at Lighthouse beach resort - had tanks delivered by VIP diving - and focused on the south side.
This time we stayed at hamlet oasis, used divefriends - and focused on the North side. We went all the way to Karpata. Our favorites on the North side were Karpata and oil slick leap. For Karpata recommend going early, taking a snack...do a tank, eat a snack, do another - then on the way back through Rincon stop at Posada Para Mira for lunch.
We didn't do 1000 steps. The wife had her knee scoped about 2 months ago, she looked down those steps and said "yeah I could do it"...I told her she was nuts...maybe next time (We are middle aged folks who are on a firstname basis with orthopedic surgeons...others will find 1000 steps one of the easiest entries and exits).
We ventured down south to do the salt pier (a favorite from our first trip) - both times we drove down it was close to diving for a ship, and for maintenance on another day. It was open other days that week, but we missed it, and it's not like it's on the way to anything to check
Since we were already south we did Alice in Wonderland - went to the outer 2nd reef and found a eagle ray...thought I was going to have a great video but screwed up and double tapped the shutter to start my video...so instead my video is about 20 minutes of my crotch since I started the video when I thought I was stopping it. Oh well, just have to find another one I guess! We also stopped by Windsock beach, but a bit further south closer to the other side their...on that site we were treated to a small sea turtle (maybe 18" of shell) in ankle deep water on the beach during our entry...we stood and watched it go back out.
On the other day we went south and missed the salt pier we stopped by Bachelors beach - a nice dive and then headed back North.
All dives were wonderful and fishy. I can't recall a single one that was disappointing...except maybe the night dives.
For our night dives we did Cliff, and La Machaca - in both cases we stayed near the shallow part of the slope/wall - and the dives were nearly identical. Some shy eels, maybe 1 lobster...then as soon as the tarpon start following you everything goes scarce. The solitary octopus (a favorite of ours) was in the sand at La Machaca - following the line back to the pier...right where the sand meets the reef in some dead coral. In general La Machaca is a very popular night dive. Where Cliff we were completely alone (except the tarpon).
So we've gone twice now in the Fall. We are going to try to go in early March or late February next year. Kind of curious if it affects what we see. In Cozumel in the cooler water of early march and February we see more nursesharks, eagle rays, and other large animals...somewhat curious if it's similar. Either way it's a wonderful place to vacation as always...
Non diving related stuff...
Waiting to get your rental truck at Avis is the longest time of your life. It took at least 30 minutes before we were driving away in the truck...I didn't track time, but at LEAST 30 minutes. There's not much to be done about it, just prepare yourself to be patient.
On the other hand - someone comes in at 4:45AM on sunday to check in the people departing on the early morning united flight - and it took 30 seconds for them to check me in...all they did was check the fuel level, but then again I take the full insurance so there isn't much else for them to look for.
Truck related: While at Karpata dive site during our SI walked around and saw there was evidence of many broken windows in the parking area their. Windows down folks. I was really surprised by the number of people I saw leaving their windows up.
The food scene on Bonaire is solidly pretty OK...we went out to eat a couple of times and ate simple food at the condo most of the time. The Dash Kitchen food truck was the standout experience. I'm glad they are only open on the weekend..less I come back more fat than when I leave. The breakfast sandwiches are good as are the donuts.
Well - finally sat down and made a couple minutes for some notes.
The wife and I made our 2nd trip to Bonaire the first week of Oct 2019. Our first trip was mid Oct 2016.
The water was >80F...I'm thinking my computer is inaccurate...mine said 83F most of the time, My wife's said 81F most of the time...either way it was warm. As per usual the wife wears a 1mm full - in particular in Bonaire because of the many opportunities to rub an ankle or leg against something that stings coming in and out of the many coral beach/shore dive sites that have fire coral or other stinging corals.
I stuck to my 2mm short and was never cold.
We leisurely averaged 3 tanks a day. Diving air it's pretty easy to get into deco mode with 3 a day. The current is mostly non existent so you aren't working very hard - your air goes a long way, and it's very easy to spend a good portion of any dive in >80ft of water.
The last time we were in Bonaire we had a great time but didn't see many big fish outside of tarpon.
This time we saw turtles every day. The turtles we saw were always in less than 50ft of water.
We didn't see any squid this time. We did 2 night dives but found both disappointing. We spotted one octopus on a night dive and that was really it...the tarpon were very fun to dive with on the night dives but in general as soon as they show up, everything else heads for cover.
On a day dive up at Karpata I did get to see a barracuda hanging around 80 ft shoot up to about 20ft and take a fish...that was exciting.
Last time we stayed at Lighthouse beach resort - had tanks delivered by VIP diving - and focused on the south side.
This time we stayed at hamlet oasis, used divefriends - and focused on the North side. We went all the way to Karpata. Our favorites on the North side were Karpata and oil slick leap. For Karpata recommend going early, taking a snack...do a tank, eat a snack, do another - then on the way back through Rincon stop at Posada Para Mira for lunch.
We didn't do 1000 steps. The wife had her knee scoped about 2 months ago, she looked down those steps and said "yeah I could do it"...I told her she was nuts...maybe next time (We are middle aged folks who are on a firstname basis with orthopedic surgeons...others will find 1000 steps one of the easiest entries and exits).
We ventured down south to do the salt pier (a favorite from our first trip) - both times we drove down it was close to diving for a ship, and for maintenance on another day. It was open other days that week, but we missed it, and it's not like it's on the way to anything to check
Since we were already south we did Alice in Wonderland - went to the outer 2nd reef and found a eagle ray...thought I was going to have a great video but screwed up and double tapped the shutter to start my video...so instead my video is about 20 minutes of my crotch since I started the video when I thought I was stopping it. Oh well, just have to find another one I guess! We also stopped by Windsock beach, but a bit further south closer to the other side their...on that site we were treated to a small sea turtle (maybe 18" of shell) in ankle deep water on the beach during our entry...we stood and watched it go back out.
On the other day we went south and missed the salt pier we stopped by Bachelors beach - a nice dive and then headed back North.
All dives were wonderful and fishy. I can't recall a single one that was disappointing...except maybe the night dives.
For our night dives we did Cliff, and La Machaca - in both cases we stayed near the shallow part of the slope/wall - and the dives were nearly identical. Some shy eels, maybe 1 lobster...then as soon as the tarpon start following you everything goes scarce. The solitary octopus (a favorite of ours) was in the sand at La Machaca - following the line back to the pier...right where the sand meets the reef in some dead coral. In general La Machaca is a very popular night dive. Where Cliff we were completely alone (except the tarpon).
So we've gone twice now in the Fall. We are going to try to go in early March or late February next year. Kind of curious if it affects what we see. In Cozumel in the cooler water of early march and February we see more nursesharks, eagle rays, and other large animals...somewhat curious if it's similar. Either way it's a wonderful place to vacation as always...
Non diving related stuff...
Waiting to get your rental truck at Avis is the longest time of your life. It took at least 30 minutes before we were driving away in the truck...I didn't track time, but at LEAST 30 minutes. There's not much to be done about it, just prepare yourself to be patient.
On the other hand - someone comes in at 4:45AM on sunday to check in the people departing on the early morning united flight - and it took 30 seconds for them to check me in...all they did was check the fuel level, but then again I take the full insurance so there isn't much else for them to look for.
Truck related: While at Karpata dive site during our SI walked around and saw there was evidence of many broken windows in the parking area their. Windows down folks. I was really surprised by the number of people I saw leaving their windows up.
The food scene on Bonaire is solidly pretty OK...we went out to eat a couple of times and ate simple food at the condo most of the time. The Dash Kitchen food truck was the standout experience. I'm glad they are only open on the weekend..less I come back more fat than when I leave. The breakfast sandwiches are good as are the donuts.
