ABC Islands - which is the best for diving?

[curious2dive]

Curacao has great diving. Bonaire has great diving and Aruba has great diving. It's all about what extra do you want. Bonaire is small quiet and expensive. Curacao is the biggest more life on top for the after dive and 85 spot to dive from shore. Aruba is Americanized. but nice wrecks to dive (Dive Aruba with Clive).

I always say every spot has his own beauty !

 

[Urban Manta]

Bonaire is amazing. The shore entries and exits are not that bad. There are a few stairs at some places and you may have to time your entries after a set of waves has come through but my 63 year old Aunt handled it fine. You can do boat dives but it's more fun to rent a truck, put your scuba tanks in the back and explore the island. Diving under the Salt Pier support beams is like floating through an unearthly forest. We are having a great time and my Aunt is doing her Nitrox course with me & Urban Manta here this week! check out this site for photos: Urban Manta Scuba NYC | NYC Scuba Lessons

(also Urban Manta on Facebook)

 

[maat1976]

Everyone keeps talking about the entries in Bonaire. I recently was in Bali, near the USS Liberty. How do the Bonaire entry/exits compare to some of the ones in Bali? I am a decent swimmer, but I do struggle when its wavy to get out of the water with the small gravel rocks that you'll twist an ankle on.

 

[drrich2]

I can't speak to Bali. In Bonaire, the issue in some places is irregular bottom, mostly hard bottom, with pockets and irregularities that are hard to see as the incoming surge washes over them in the shallows.

Not so much walking on gravel. There are places where the ground is made of loose pieces of dead coral. It is possible to slide a bit on that.

Richard.

 

[maat1976]

Thanks Richard. I appreciate your response. I struggled with the shore diving a bit, but I'm back at the gym now for a while, so expect my ankles / legs to be back to normal strength by then! I may have to invest in my own boots so I feel comfortable in them.

 

[diverjen]

We have done Bonaire twice. Once pre-knee injury, and once post, so I am sensitive to the shore entry subject. Definitely make sure you have hard soled boots that fit well. I fell at Angel City on the way back in pre-knee injury but just hurt my pride thankfully. It is still maybe my favorite dive site on the island. There are sites that are easy some days and times of the day and harder later. We usually just drove around if something seemed to hard because of the waves. Post-knee injury I would have hubby carry in and out if we weren't sure or if I hadn't "learned" how to navigate the entry.

We found these sites had easy entries that I could reliably walk in and out my own gear:

Thousand Steps
Cliff
Bari Reef (especially with BDA dock)
Something Special
Tori's Reef
Bachelor's Beach

There are others of course that I haven't dove.

We still did Invisibles, Lake, Salt Pier, Hilma, and the dreaded Angel City but hubby did help me some with gear. It just helps to have someone to lean on too or grab a hand even if I did walk in and out my own gear on some of those.

Tell me more about the Liberty entry, as we want to go there too someday!

I am pretty sure you already booked Bonaire, but we did spend a few days in Curacao and the entries are way easier, but the surface swims are longer.