Bonaire Town Pier?

[DiveMaven]

I've heard mixed reviews of the Town Pier dive and want to know if it's worth doing or not. Specifically, I've heard that it's crowded with divers, there's nothing really unique to see there that you can't see night diving on your resort's pier, and that it's not worth the hassle or money to do. On the other hand, I've also heard that it's a photographer's dream, the soft corals are incredible, and the marine life is abundant.

Any help here? Is it worth the trouble, or nothing special?

 

[baydive20]

I did the town pier as a night dive 2 years ago and the number of divers was limited. I believe the ratio was 4 divers to 1 divemaster and they only allowed 5 groups in the water at a time. The pier is big and we never really ran into another group. And it is a photographers paradise, as the photographer in our group got some fantastic shots. I'm going back in April and will be doing the town pier and the salt pier. But I am only one opinion. See for yourself!!!

 

[jfproul]

town pier is a must ...just do it ! and salt pier is also one of my favorite in
bonaire .

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Town Pier is a great dive. The orange cup corals look like a fluffly orange carpet in sections. Lots of bristle worms, eels, crabs(arrow mostly that I saw), soft corals, and the tarpon will use your lights to hunt with. Diving is restricted there now. You need to have a local DM who submits your name and passport number to the proper people 24 hours in advance. He will get a permit and guide you on the dive at a specific time. The big tugs that are moored there play a part in when you can and cannot dive as well as when ships are in. If the tugs are scheduled to go out then you won't get the permit. When we were in they got called out on short notice. In this case it takes about a half hour to get em warmed up and ready to go. YOU WILL HEAR AND FEEL IT WHEN THEY POWER UP! If this happens the DM will get you out of the water before they leave. When they leave vis goes to crap and I'd not want to be able to see when there's an ocean going tug leaving in close proximity. Contact the resort shop or any shop really. They can put you in touch with a local DM who will take care of the details. Ours charged $25 a head. Dive last 45 minutes plus unless of course the tugs leave early. Going under the first part is shallow and is an overhead. Once you go a few yards though you're still under the pier but there is air space should anything go wrong.

 

[robint]

Do it. As others have said, the whole thing is highly controlled as far as how many divers. They book on an hourly basis...7pm appt, 8pm appt, or 9pm appt. There are only 4 divers per DM and the fee is $25 per person for which part goes to the govt. We did a 9pm appt and there was only 1 other group (of 2 people, both photographers who paid for the other 2 spots so they could do whatever they wanted, wish we had thought of that!) Anyhow, it is a huge pier and we only passed the other group once. You must have the DM in order to navigate and it is a photographers dream dive. Do it and if you don't particularly like it, at least you can say you know what everyone raves about (all those "rating lists" have it as the top night dive in the world, etc).

robin

 

[DiveMaven]

Thanks everyone, I think we'll probably go for it. My husband figures it's our first trip to Bonaire and we should do all these things so we'll know what to do (and not to do) the next time we go.

 

[reefduffer]

No new information here, but another vote for not passing it up.

Quite spectacular colors and shapes in the growths on the pilings, and there are seahorses, which are territorial so the DMs know where they'll be. And because of the overhead and pilings, there's some of what I expect cave/wreck diving is like, but as previously said, there's an air space, so it's really not.

 

[Lowrider Steve]

It was worth doing once, but I wouldn't pay to do it again. Very colorful night dive.

 

[LittleFish0505]

Did it once, very crowded, BUT would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

My husband did it and said it was his all time favorite dive. Came back with pictures of seahorses, octopus and tons of other beautiful things. There were only 2 groups of 4 out at the time.