Trip Report Bonaire video and trip report - April 2018

[choiahoy]

It's always great to remind ourselves what makes our favorite places our favorites. It was our fourth trip to Bonaire, and the diving, people, and island were as wonderful as we remembered. And the freedom...there’s no price tag you can place on that.

We flew direct from Newark with no issues. On this trip, we rented a condo at Port Bonaire right by the airport. The property was great, and the view was amazing. We had no safety issues on the island.

THE DIVING
We dove with Dive Friends, and they were excellent. The visibility was good, and the current was minimal. The old favorites all delivered--Salt Pier, Candy Land, Red Slave. And we explored a handful of unmarked sites down south in the stretch between Red Slave and the lighthouse, which were excellent. Sea life was good and we saw the fewest lionfish of any of our trips (and perhaps not coincidentally, lionfish was everywhere on restaurant menus). We managed to do the ostracod night dive again, which was magical.

THE FOOD
Van Den Tweel keeps getting better with each trip. We found most all we needed here. A few new dining highlights were the fresh local sushi at Osaka and the tasting menu at La Terrazza right in town. In my opinion, go to Sebastians for the view (amazing) and not for the food (average).

THE BAD (kind of)
Not really bad—there's really little to complain about our trip—more of an observation. It was impossible not to notice how much the island has outgrown its airport, and with the Delta and United flights leaving around the same time on Saturday, the security line stretched around the entire front of the airport and took over an hour to get through. The waiting area quickly filled and was sardine-packed standing room only—much worse than in any of our previous visits. I hope there are some plans to update the room and security—I can't imagine what will happen when the American flight is also added to Saturday afternoon. And I won’t get into the ticket price...there’s another thread going for that.

Overall, another wonderful trip to an amazing island. Enjoy the video and happy diving.

 

[scubaNYC16]

Awesome video. Going back in July, can’t wait.

 

[scubaNYC16]

It's always great to remind ourselves why our favorite places are our favorites. It was our fourth trip to Bonaire, but our first in the past two years, and the diving, people, and island were as wonderful as we remembered.

We flew direct from Newark with no issues. On this trip, we rented a condo at Port Bonaire right by the airport. The property was great and the view was amazing. He had no safety issues on the island.

THE DIVING
We dove with Dive Friends and they were great. The visibility was good and the current was minimal. The usual suspects all delivered--Salt Pier, Candy Land, Red Slave. And we explored a handful of new unmarked sites down south between Red Slave and the lighthouse. Sea life was good and we saw the fewest lionfish of any of our trips (and perhaps not coincidentally, lionfish was everywhere on restaurant menus). We managed to do the ostracod night dive again, which was magical.

THE FOOD
Van Den Tweel keeps getting better with each trip. We found most all we needed here. A few new dining highlights were the fresh local sushi at Osaka and the tasting menu at La Terrazza right in town. In my opinion, go to Sebastians for the view (amazing) and not for the food (average).

THE BAD (kind of)
Not really bad--there's really little to complain about our trip--more of an observation. It was impossible to notice how much the island has outgrown its airport, and with the Delta and United flights leaving around the same time on Saturday, the security line stretched around the entire front of the airport and took over an hour to get through. The waiting area quickly filled and was standing room only. I hope there are some plans to update the room and security--I can't imagine what will happen when the American flight is also added to Saturday afternoon.

Overall, another wonderful trip to an amazing island. Enjoy the video and happy diving.

What camera did you use?

 

[KathyV]

Fantastic video, thanks for sharing!

 

[darook]

Cool video. I haven't brought my drone as virtually the entire island is no fly area. I am taking it no one gave you any grief over it?

 

[choiahoy]

I haven't brought my drone as virtually the entire island is no fly area. I am taking it no one gave you any grief over it?

I had checked on an flying app prior to going, and it only showed the airport and the flamingo areas as no fly zones. I just ran a search now and found this attached picture, which includes areas in the south as well. No one gave me grief, but I would have still liked to have followed regulations. That said, I think it would still be worth it to bring your drone--Kleine and pretty much the whole middle of the island up to the pier it seems.

 

[choiahoy]

What camera did you use?

I used a LX10 in a Nauticam housing with 2 x 2500 sea dragon lights. It was my first time with this setup--I was generally quite pleased, but think I need to start a blog titled "In a never-ending search for my perfect underwater video setup..."

 

[hilljo88]

What were water temps? Thanks

 

[choiahoy]

What were water temps? Thanks

A consistent 77-78, colder than we’re used to seeing there. This was the first week in April.

 

[Doctorfish]

Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing.