Klein Bonaire vs East side vs North/South side dive question

[canto2010]

If you haven’t already, I recommend purchasing Susan Porter’s book Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy (Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy & Snorekling, Order the Book). I have over 100 logged dives on Bonaire, but still reference this book when on island.

For your East coast shore dives I recommend Bas Tol as your guide. BAS Diving

I just ordered the book! Thank you!

 

[canto2010]

Bas Tol of www.basdiving.com does good work, guiding east coast shore diving in Bonaire. I've tried Cai without and later with him, and the difference was night and day - A Whole New Cai. But the combo. of unprotected east coast and the needs of shore diving might make east coast diving more weather dependents, so I suggest contacting Bas and planning to get in an east coast shore dive early in your week (in case weather makes you reschedule early, or blocks you later), then working around that plan for your other dives.

Salt Pier can't be done with a ship in, so if you're down that way and notice the site without one, go ahead and dive it; otherwise when you try it on a schedule, you might not be able to do it.

I haven't tried east coast boat diving to compare.

Group dives by location; Tolo and Karata both commit you to a one-way stretch of highway, and you'll have a long drive around to get back home, so hit those 2 in sequence.

Richard.

Excellent. I emailed him and waiting for his response. Perhaps I should call him to find out his availability?

 

[USC8791]

Give him a day or so to respond. He’s usually out on dives during the day. In my experience he’s very good with email communication.

 

[canto2010]

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions.

 

[canto2010]

On the suggestion re Bonaire East Coast Diving, while they are a wonderful group, I would not recommend it for your first trip and would not recommend it unless you are a strong confident experienced diver. The conditions can be challenging. We were in seas where you lost sight of the boat in between swells and getting on and off the boat can be a challenge. If you are not comfortable with diving in high seas from a small boat you may want to wait on that one. Enjoy your trip.

I consider myself novice at diving; however I am up for a challenge. I may consider doing one dive to see how it goes and after that I may stick with dives on the west side. Seems like most people return after their first trip. I am certain I will do the same! Thank you.

 

[darook]

Since it is your first trip and you are relatively new doing some boat dives early in the trip makes some sense. You can see if you like KB and the view of the island from a boat is really nice. You will also have a DM in the water in case something comes up. I think I would hold off on the East Side until your next trip but of course, that is your call. As mentioned there are a few boat only sites on the West side that are worth seeing. Rappel and Country Garden are worth it for sure. I really like Small Wall too which means a long swim, staying at the Black Durgon or a boat.

 

[tc_rain]

Just back from BON, and here are some random comments:
- every shore dive we did was great: lots of life, long bottom times
- no apparent issues with crime or theft from trucks, contrary to earlier reports
- had outstanding dive at WIndsock: easy beach entry, lots of life
- did many dives on Buddy reef, including night dive. Convenient, easy ladder entry and exit, rinse tanks. Live healthy reef and long bottom times.
- some of the other shore dives have steeper slopes making exits a challenge to time wave action
- spoke to a woman who had done east coast dives. She loved them, but said there was quite a bit of surge, some current and dives were done from a zodiac
- Salt Pier was having maintenance done and was closed to divers
- we did a few boat dives at Klein Bon sites. In my opinion, they weren't worth the extra time and expense to get there. Every shore dive we did on BON was better than any of the KB dives.

Do you know how long they plan on keeping Salt Pier closed to divers? We are going in a few weeks and I really like this site.

 

[hroark2112]

My advice - Don't pre-plan too much. You might leave the resort with the plan of diving 2 specific sites and you might get there and they're full of trucks.

Vary the sites you go to from day to day and you'll never be bored. Also if you're going to do the East side, contact Bas. His pre-dive brief will tell you everything about the site, he'll find you totally cool creatures that you'll likely never find on your own, and he knows the sites better than anyone else on the island.

One other thing to know...buy bottles of water on your first day there, and don't throw away the empties. You can refill bottles and freeze them, so you'll have cold water in the truck for after your dives. I usually bring some non-frozen bottles to rinse off after the dive.

 

[canto2010]

My advice - Don't pre-plan too much. You might leave the resort with the plan of diving 2 specific sites and you might get there and they're full of trucks.

Vary the sites you go to from day to day and you'll never be bored. Also if you're going to do the East side, contact Bas. His pre-dive brief will tell you everything about the site, he'll find you totally cool creatures that you'll likely never find on your own, and he knows the sites better than anyone else on the island.

One other thing to know...buy bottles of water on your first day there, and don't throw away the empties. You can refill bottles and freeze them, so you'll have cold water in the truck for after your dives. I usually bring some non-frozen bottles to rinse off after the dive.

Great advice. I agree for pre planning too much. From my personal experience, one must have flexibility. Will keep frozen bottles handy in truck.....hoping they wont get stolen : )

 

[canto2010]

Any of you have any experience with Dive Friends Bonaire? Please comment. They have excellent reviews on Trip Advisor. I did look into their website and looks like the Rappel and Country Garden are not part of Klien Bonaire?