Bonaire Trip Report (July 7th - July 14th)

[DivingLonghorn]

Just got back from my first trip to Bonaire, and I must say it exceeded all of my expectations; I am now asking myself why it took me this long to get there! We stayed at the Belmar and accommodations were very nice. We had a first floor room that opened up right to the water, where every night we had 3 huge tarpon using the flood lights to catch their meals. My first dive in Bonaire, was my “check-out” dive on the house reef…so I descend about 8 ft and follow my dive buddy (he has been in Bonaire 4 days before I arrived) out. I love the whole aspect of diving so I am just loving the shallow “white” area on the way out to the reef, but when I get to the reef, I just stop and just look left and right….hypnotized, my first reaction is,”It’s a jungle under here !!” The reef life is like nothing I have seen before. I live in Dallas, so I go to Cozumel about 2x a year, and have been going since 1994, but nothing in Coz compares to this. I love Coz and will always go back, but if its reef life you want, I found it in Bonaire. In addition, I have dove the Bahamas (Bimini, Nassau), Maui, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, San Juan Islands (Washington), but the life in Bonaire is something else! And diving on your on time, now I could get use to that.

Dives:
Sweet Dreams (2x)
Hooker
Margate Bay
Vista Blue (2x)
Town Pier (Night Dive)
Bari Reef
Andrea II (3x)
1000 Steps (1 TIME ONLY !!)
Karpata (2x)
Ol’ Blue (2x)
Belmare House Reef (4x)

Favorite sites are: Sweet Dreams, Andrea II, Ol’ Blue, Karpata, and Town Pier. The Town Pier night dive lived up to its hype. The colors were so vibrant, it was amazing. I saw a frog fish and 2 sea horses. Of course the tarpon were there to.

Restaurants:
Didn’t eat out to often, but our favorite restaurants are: Will’s Tropical Grill, City Café, and Pasa Bon Pizza.

Lodging:
Belmar / with Buddy Dive dive package. The Belmar was very nice and clean. Had maid service every other day and security every evening. 24 hour Nitrox was also nice with Buddy Dive. We could also off load and get new tanks at the Buddy Dive Resort. This was nice for our northern trips as the Belmar is closer to the south sites.

I am just getting into photography and have a Canon G5 Powershot with an Inon 2000 strobe…so, the first few dives I don’t take the camera, but decide to take it to 1000 Steps. Our dive group consists of 5 divers, 2 of which this is their first dives after certification (Boy are they spoiled now !). I am suited up, take the stairs down and am waiting in the surf to keep cool, while waiting for the rest of the group. When a rogue wave (OK it wasn’t that big, but big enough) comes in and smashes into me. All of a sudden I see my strobe sinking to the bottom, but still attached to my synch cord. Apparently the wave dislodged the screw that attaches my strobe to the strobe arms. Luckily the only thing I lost was the screw. I didn’t have a replacement screw (of which now I have added to my save-a-dive kit) and didn’t want to waste time looking for one on the island. So I set my camera at 5.6 and 1/125, Macro, no flash, shooting in RAW (I learned to always shoot in RAW) and knew that I would be doing some extensive post production. So below are some of my pics, and didn’t need much post prod editing with the settings I used, yeah !

A note, my wife is a diver as well, but not as….whats the word…..compulsive as I am, so she stayed home with our 4 year old, while I went off to Bonaire, she is one in a million ! So, I spent the weekend doing my pics and put together a slide show / movie for my dive group and showed them to my wife, she says, “Well damn, now I have to go!!” Already planning our next trip.

Sorry for the multiple attachments, but my pics were to large to post conventionally.

I have a few more pics to post in a subsequent thread.

Thanks.

 

[DiveMaven]

Thanks for a great trip report! We were there the same time as you as "Bonaire newbies" and felt very much like you did.

We loved it so much we already have reservations for next year.

 

[Martha]

Thanks for sharing your trip report & pictures. I'm glad you're planning another trip so your wife can experience Bonaire too. We were hooked after our first trip also.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Thank you for the trip report. I see yuou have also been to Cozumel. How does it compare? I have been all over the Caribbean and am planning my first trip to Cozumel in January, 2009.

 

[georoc01]

Much different diving in Cozumel.

It is all boat based drift diving. Everyone pretty much plays follow the leader on dive master led dives. Navigation is pretty much a non issue, its more just about staying with the group. With as many dives as you have, look for the boutique style dive shops, which will cater to more advanced divers.

Topside, its cruise ship town, especially in the winter months, being so much closer to the US. I have been there with as many as 10 ships in port on a single day. Fortunately they take off at night leaving the island to the divers.

 

[DivingLonghorn]

Tim,
As georoc01 stated it is much different and the dives are guided, but you can certainly minimize the size of the group by your selection of dive operation. Blue XT Sea is a very good operation and minimizes the size of the groups. Although Cozumel diving is different, don't read different as being bad. I love Cozumel and will continue to go there. The deeper wall dives I believe are my favorites in Cozumel, the reef life on the shallower dives is making a strong resurgence and are good dives in themselves. In a word, I would probably describe Cozumel as "bigger" as compared to Bonaire. The wall dives have many swim throughs and large formations. There is a great article on the different dive sites in the most recent Rodales Scubadiving magazine...Christy at Blue XT Sea is even a contributor to the article.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I have been to Coz many times and am booked to go to Bonaire for the first time in January, 2009. Just trying to get a point of reference.

 

[RTW]

Thanks for the report and photos.

I'm glad to hear, but not surprised, that Bonaire was everything you expected and more.

I would recommend putting Oil Slick and some of the double-reef sites ( The Lake, Angel City, Alice in Wonderland) on the list for your next trip.

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

Great trip report and pics! Have been to Bonaire once and have every intention of going back. I just love shore diving and making our own schedule! There are many sites to go back to for your next trip that you haven't seen. When we were there we did about 20 dives and never did the same thing twice. Definitely but Oil Slick Leap on your list. That was my favorite!

 

[DiveMaven]

Oil Slick leap is a blast, though that first "step" up on the ladder can be a tough one. There were 2 women exiting before my husband and I and one of the women couldn't get onto the ladder with her gear on. The one who could exited first and after dropping her gear, went down the ladder to take her buddy's gear.

After watching that, I knew that first step was going to be a rough one, so I made sure to put a lot of energy into hauling myself up on the bottom rung. Let's just say I was glad not to have more weight in my BC that day!!

On the other hand, a lot of folks talk about the difficulty of 1000 steps, but my husband and I found that to be one of our favorite sites. The first time up the stairs was a bit of a shock, but the second time we were prepared and it was no big deal.

One way or another, have a GREAT time!