Just back from a week in Bonaire and had a great time! I'm not much on "trip reports" in terms of reporting what we saw on every site, but here are the sites my buddy and I visited while in Bonaire last week:
The diving was all great, as one would expect. My favorite site was Red Slave. Oil Slick was probably my second favorite, followed Cliff and then all the rest. (My buddy’s favorite was Red Beryl - I think.) We did the Hilma Hooker at 7am, which was a great site to have all to ourselves before everyone and their brother stirred it up all day. Town Pier night dive was good. We covered all the various areas, and given how close all the many sites are to each other (we did Small Wall from Cliff, Country Garden from Ol’ Blue, etc) I think it’s fair to say we saw everything there is to see diving-wise in Bonaire. If I had it to do over again I would have brought more tanks to the Washington-Slagbaai park and done two more while we were up there (On Day 1 we naively observed the “no more than two nitrox tanks at a time” sign at our dive op.)
We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food in Bonaire, having sampled excellent fare at the following spots:
Lunch? We bought a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a loaf of bread at the local grocery store on Sunday. Total cost for lunch for the week for the two of us: $7.50. (Actually, a few bucks more than that if you count the powdered Gatorade packs we brought and mixed with ice water from the cooler at the dive op!)
We stayed at the Plaza Resort which was very nice, and good value for the money. The Junior Suite room we had (J131) was huge in and of itself. The second-floor location was great as we had a cathedral ceiling with a fan. 2nd floor also afforded us a balcony (versus patio) that we were comfortable leaving gear on to dry over night. This room had a newly renovated bathroom which was huge, with separate toilet room. (Looks like they were renovating other bathrooms in the same wing while we were there.) The breakfast buffet that was included in our room rate was perfectly fine, featuring eggs, omelets, etc made to order as well as crepes, potatoes, bacon, sausage, fruits, pastries, and juices. We ate at the Banana Tree restaurant the first night and were happy with the food and service.
Toucan Diving at Plaza Resort’s unlimited shore diving was the perfect set-up for us. “All you can eat” nitrox 9am-6pm with air tanks available 24hrs day. We didn’t bother with the boat dives included in our package, opting instead to stock up on nitrox tanks for the morning dives the night before and returning at noon for tanks for the afternoon and night. Gear lockers were handy, and our room wasn’t far from dive shop and parking lot.
PS - as reported elsewhere on ScubaBoard (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/230148-you-don-t-need-cold-dry.html) for sure you will get strange looks and comments if you wear a dry suit in Bonaire!
- Playa Benge
- Bisé Morto
- Karpata (x2)
- Ol’ Blue
- 1000 Steps
- Witch's Hut
- Jeff Davis Memorial
- Kalli's Reef
- Oil Slick Leap
- Barcadera
- Andrea I
- Cliff
- La Machaca
- Bari Reef
- Front Porch
- Town Pier
- Kalabas Reef
- Eighteen Palms
- Windsock
- Bachelor's Beach
- Lighthouse Point
- Hilma Hooker (x2)
- Angel City
- Alice in Wonderland
- Jeannie's Glory
- Red Beryl
- Atlantis
- Red Slave
- Cai (x2)
The diving was all great, as one would expect. My favorite site was Red Slave. Oil Slick was probably my second favorite, followed Cliff and then all the rest. (My buddy’s favorite was Red Beryl - I think.) We did the Hilma Hooker at 7am, which was a great site to have all to ourselves before everyone and their brother stirred it up all day. Town Pier night dive was good. We covered all the various areas, and given how close all the many sites are to each other (we did Small Wall from Cliff, Country Garden from Ol’ Blue, etc) I think it’s fair to say we saw everything there is to see diving-wise in Bonaire. If I had it to do over again I would have brought more tanks to the Washington-Slagbaai park and done two more while we were up there (On Day 1 we naively observed the “no more than two nitrox tanks at a time” sign at our dive op.)
We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food in Bonaire, having sampled excellent fare at the following spots:
- Papaya Moon – Food was quite good and our waiter Andrew was quite a character, adding to the overall entertainment value of the experience.
- Patagonia – Very nice steak au poivre with shrimp, fine service. Very nice location right on the water at the marina.
- Mona Lisa – Great meal and attentive service from Rudy. Mango cheesecake with fresh berries and sorbet was a perfect end to the meal.
- Richard’s Waterfront Dining – Fine shrimp scampi and fish dishes, very good salads. Great location right on the water looking across to Klein Bonaire.
- Wil’s Caribbean Grille – Genuinely phenomenal food and great service. I had the shrimp wrapped in prosciutto with Creole spice and tomato-basil marmalade that was one of the best shrimp dishes I’ve had anywhere in the world. Deserts were great too: chocolate lava cake and platter called “Four-in-One” which was four different deserts in one.
Lunch? We bought a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a loaf of bread at the local grocery store on Sunday. Total cost for lunch for the week for the two of us: $7.50. (Actually, a few bucks more than that if you count the powdered Gatorade packs we brought and mixed with ice water from the cooler at the dive op!)
We stayed at the Plaza Resort which was very nice, and good value for the money. The Junior Suite room we had (J131) was huge in and of itself. The second-floor location was great as we had a cathedral ceiling with a fan. 2nd floor also afforded us a balcony (versus patio) that we were comfortable leaving gear on to dry over night. This room had a newly renovated bathroom which was huge, with separate toilet room. (Looks like they were renovating other bathrooms in the same wing while we were there.) The breakfast buffet that was included in our room rate was perfectly fine, featuring eggs, omelets, etc made to order as well as crepes, potatoes, bacon, sausage, fruits, pastries, and juices. We ate at the Banana Tree restaurant the first night and were happy with the food and service.
Toucan Diving at Plaza Resort’s unlimited shore diving was the perfect set-up for us. “All you can eat” nitrox 9am-6pm with air tanks available 24hrs day. We didn’t bother with the boat dives included in our package, opting instead to stock up on nitrox tanks for the morning dives the night before and returning at noon for tanks for the afternoon and night. Gear lockers were handy, and our room wasn’t far from dive shop and parking lot.
PS - as reported elsewhere on ScubaBoard (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/230148-you-don-t-need-cold-dry.html) for sure you will get strange looks and comments if you wear a dry suit in Bonaire!
On top of that I live about 20 minutes from the famous Sally's Pizza and Pepe's Pizza of New Haven, CT. Sally's is the pizza place that Frank Sinatra would send his driver to when he was playing gigs IN New York City. Hey...if it's good enough for Frank.
