Give me your bonaire newbie 1st 3 days shore dive itinerary

[dolesorchard]

For ease of entry Someting Special and Bari. With some care, most of the southern sites are not bad if the surf is not up. Contrary to what others have said, Cliff is not an easy entry.

 

[skynscuba]

Contrary to what others have said, Cliff is not an easy entry.

Okay, I stand corrected. We just took the stairs down from the parking lot of the dive shop north of Hamlet, walked to the left (south) a bit to the recommended entry point, and entered. I've only done Cliff once, and it has been a couple of years, so maybe I'm forgetting any difficulty of the actual entry.

 

[diver1011]

Tori's Reef. This site is often overlooked but I have never had a bad dive there. The trick is to enter where the channel from the salt pans are. A simple walk down to the water. It is a moderately long swim out to the reef but rays are often found in the sand on the way to the reef. The reef is great too.

 

[robint]

have you bought a copy of "Bonaire - Shore diving made easy" yet? All dives sites are explained in it.

where are you staying... if you are staying at Buddy Dive or Sand Dollar, there is the easiest and best shore diving right in front of resorts! Walk right in water and go...

check out my shore diving videos here:


at buddy's.... [vimeo]3207050[/vimeo]


other shore diving..... [vimeo]3273329[/vimeo]


for me, the easiest on island were: Yellow Submarine (downtown, sandy entry), Buddy Dive (stair entry), Oil Slick Leap (jump off ledge, climb ladder to get back out), Alice in Wonderland (sandy entry, some small coral). Any of those would be great for someone afraid of shore entry waves and falling down. (I had my crash and burn at Hilma Hooker shore entry... it was ugly!!)


robin

 

[Jersey]

Tori's Reef. This site is often overlooked but I have never had a bad dive there. The trick is to enter where the channel from the salt pans are. A simple walk down to the water. It is a moderately long swim out to the reef but rays are often found in the sand on the way to the reef. The reef is great too.

Yep - other then the resort house reefs Tori's gets my vote for easiest. Plus you can park within 10 feet of the outflow pool, gear up and swim out. I've found quite a few spotted eagle rays and of course their friends the trunk fish. So cute!

Tolo/Ol Blue requires 1 or 2 steps down the ironshore but you can park very close to water and the reef is almost at the waterline very little swim.

Good luck!

 

[chs8084]

This may be a silly question but can you dive the house reefs at hotel's you are not staying at? Is there some unwritten dive etiquette that I should be aware of in those cases?

 

[DiverVince]

8084..Well the "unwritten etiquette" part is easy. Check in at the dive shop if there is one at the premises & ask their permission. There are places which will allow you, places that will charge you & places that will not allow you. Please note that you are not allowed to traverse private property to get to the ocean.