Bonaire/Curacao for Beginner divers????

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Topics - Bonaire Talk

Bonaire / Diving

http://www.outdoorbonaire.com/index.html

Bonaire: The official tourism website of Bonaire

Quite a bit to do on shore, nightlife is a little sparse but if you're doing a lot of diving you won't be up too late. Plenty of great restaurants to choose from, I recommend you try Casablanca and Unbelievables for sure.

Didn't see anyone mention it but you might want to order a copy of Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy, BSDME, Author Susan Porter

Can't wait to go back!!
 
Bonaire has some of the best diving in the world at the resort it is so easy that you can dive at anytime day or night with little effort. The whole isand seem geared to diver. some of the shore divng can be a little tricky out in heavier surf area (not really that many of them). If you ask your dive shop or were you get your tanks they will point you in the right Direction. If you go there you have to eat once at Bobbijean's take-away. They have the best ribs I have ever eaten. only open on friday saturday and sunday.
 
Curacao is appropiate for new divers. Because of the nice beaches you can combine diving with relaxing on the beach. Find a Dive center that dive with small groups. With big groups you'll never get the close attention. And after a few dives you can always go diving by yourself. Or take the Advanced Open Water course. 5 adventure dives under close supervision and you'll get some extra training.

Where ever you decide to go diving my advice is just enjoy.
 
I have dove a couple of times a Curacao now. Great diving from shore from the one resort, the Breezes. they have an excellent dive shop and great staff located right on the water and you can do quick entries from the stairs. They also set up chartered boat dives around the island. Though I found, except for a few sites, like the Mushroom Forest, that most of the life can be found right in front of the resort. You get 1 free shore dive a day and un-limited is at a cost of $25 for your stay. Again excellent staff and you must do a guided check-out dive before you start on your own. You can also join the guided dives from the dock that happen 2x day if you want. Turtles, frog fish and sea horses can be found right in front of the resort. Easy shallow diving starting at 30' with the reef descending down to 120'.

Let me know if you need any more info.

Cheers,
 
I think it is pretty clear they are not gong to Curacao, they have tickets to Bonaire. One last suggestion from me. You can begin your dive off the pier at some of hte dive resorts even though you are not staying there. Generalloy all they want is for you to check in down at the dive shop before you hop in. That provides you with a giant stride entry and steps for the exit. Buddys, Don's habitat and probably most of the others offer very good diving right out front.
 
My wife and I just got back from Bonaire last week and it's absolutely as good as people are claiming it to be.

In terms of it being for beginners, the currents and navigation are not that difficult, but entry/exit on the shore can be. Being fairly new to shore diving, the one piece of advice I so wish someone had given me before going would have been: bring hard-soled booties! Mine have fairly good rubber bottoms that have been fine everywhere else, but on Bonaire you WILL be walking over lots of rocks and relatively sharp coral, and not having your feet pierced every day will make things much more pleasant.

Also! It's not diving-related, but anybody going to Bonaire really should go to Wil's Tropical Grill for a really awesome dining experience (reservations suggested, especially for 4+). It's in the middle of the main town, Kralendijk, and it was seriously one of the nicest, tastiest places I've been to in years!
 
SeaSoft Sunrays are a good boot to wear in Bonaire. For shore entries, you learn to walk in without your fins until you get to waist-deep water, then put them on, and the reverse when you exit. Do NOT 'duck walk' in with fins. Someone else may've already mentioned that in the thread; I don't remember and it's been awhile since I've read the whole thing.

Wil's Grill is a place I like, too. I've eaten Barracuda there.

Richard.
 
Thanks again for the recent replies! Yes, we are going to Bonaire. We would like to give Curacao a try at some point too, but Bonaire is calling us! Good advice with regard to the booties.

I have slip on fins that don't require booties. I don't even think they will go over booties. Any other suggestions/ways to not kill my feet????

Thanks for the suggestions on using the house reefs at the various hotels. I think we will keep that in mind when/if we venture out on our own. We are going to stick with the dive guide at first and see where that takes us. Maybe we will be confident without a guide after a few days, we'll see.

Still leaning toward using Bas Noij. He seems like an amazing DM from what I have read here and on Bonaire Talk! However, the owners of the cottage we plan to rent have suggested Tropical Divers too. It's harder to find reviews for them. Found a few and they were good.

So many things to consider.

I hope to be able to help others on this board after I get back and get some experience/insights.

Thanks so much everyone!
 
Unless you plan to do all boat diving aside from some limited diving from resort-side piers, you're going to be getting another pair of fins & some boots. I cannot imagine trying to shore dive extensively in Bonaire barefoot or just with 'socks' or the like. Walking across coral rubble geared up would be bad enough; some of the in-water coral, and for that matter the rocky terrain onshore (such as walking to the platform to giant stride off Oil Slick Leap), is jagged & sharp.

I got by for 3 trips with regular soft-soled boots, but on the 3'rd hurt my foot on the jagged rock at Oil Slick Leap (on shore). Didn't cut through the sole or break skin; just the pressure I guess bruising the foot internally. Hurt off & on for several weeks.

I wear a size 15 EE shoe, so SeaSoft Sunrays don't even some in my size, & I made do with their largest size on our 4'th trip. Kinda squeezed my big toes a bit, and or really rough terrain they slide around on my feet a little (I'm big, heavy and not real graceful), but I like'em. So do my wife & buddy (and hey, theirs fit!).

By the way, if you've never tried night diving, Bonaire is a good place to try it out. Even if you never thought it'd appeal to you.

Richard.
 
By the way, before my wife & I were told about going in without fins, we were taught to face each other, hold hands & side-step in (& later out). Hah! Yeah, you might do that. Slow, tedious, stumbling around, and on one exit she was really frustrated, fell, I couldn't quite keep up & help her as much as she wanted, at one point the camera hanging from my wrist whipped up and popped her in the face, & she ended up shouting an expletive and throwing a fin at the shore.

So I suppose it's possible to enter & exit wearing fins, but I don't recommend it.

Richard.
 

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