We recently returned from 3 weeks on the island over the Christmas holidays, during which we enjoyed several dives at Bari Reef. Personally I think the recent improvements to the property are positive for all users. It doesn't appear that CoCo Beach is having a negative impact on shore or in the nearby sea.
I'm really surprised that some of you divers think the island of Bonaire is only for you and not all the others that may find swimming and having a drink on the beach fun.. Or the people that find cruise ships a nice way to have a vacation...
Did you ever visit the island before the large cruise ships started coming in? If memory serves, you discovered Bonaire in the last couple of years. If so I respectfully suggest that your comments lack comparative perspective of how Bonaire was before the pod people arrived. You also don't appear to be considering the future impact as their numbers continue to grow.
Bonaire currently receives about 75,000 overnight visitors a year. Those are the people that fly in, pay for accommodations, rent vehicles, buy food from local restaurants and markets, and engage in extended activities like wind surfing, kite surfing, snorkeling, and diving. For some activities, like diving, additional professional services for air fills, boat dives, or dive guides are also often purchased. I'm regularly one of those visitors, and have been so for 19 years now. This is the Bonaire I fell in love with.
When we first started visiting Bonaire there were no cruise ships other than an occasional appearance of the small Freewinds scientology ship. And then a few larger cruise ships started trickling in, and then a few more, and suddenly it seemed like a lot. Now it's out of control with no apparent end in sight. In 2012 Bonaire received 142,000 cruise ship "day-trip" visitors.
According to TCB "
Bonaire continues to grow its cruise tourism sector at an impressive rate, stemming from years of outreach with key industry executives leading to a projected increase in cruise arrivals to about 250,000 for the Calendar year 2015 season and to approximately 400,000 in 2016."
As it is today this little island of 13,000 people groans under the impact of 5,000 cruise ship visitors disgorging almost daily from cruise ships between November and April. Kaya (downtown) is suddenly congested. Traffic slows to a near halt as the pod-people wander about aimlessly and apparently cluelessly. Pasty white people with cameras walk down the middle of Kaya Gob. N. Debrot. Hoards of tour buses, vans, jeeps, taxis, scooters, electric golf carts, and bicycles laden with tourists slowly meander the roads at speeds well below other local traffic. Other than these tours they spend little money locally. You don't have to take my word for it. Ask local merchants or residents the next time you're on the island.
There's nothing nice about cruise ships visiting Bonaire from a diver's perspective. San Miguel de Cozumel used to be a fun place to visit too. Now Cozumel receives over
3 million cruise ship visitors annually. Most divers avoid downtown and hide in their resorts during their stays. I think that's pretty sad.
