Must do dives and topside sites on Bonaire

[dhunteriii]

Thanks for all of the awesome advice. I will be sure to pick up the shore dive book. I will check with my LDS to see if they have it. If not I will see if I can pick it up on Amazon. I will also get a better pair of booties. I am counting down the days.

Never mind I am a dork. I clicked on the link and found the link to order. Thanks again.

 

[jupitermermaid]

Thanks for all of the awesome advice. I will be sure to pick up the shore dive book. I will check with my LDS to see if they have it. If not I will see if I can pick it up on Amazon. I will also get a better pair of booties. I am counting down the days.

If you can't find the book before you go, most of the dive shops and resorts on the island carry copies. We picked ours up there, and it is indeed a bible! They describe the sites, tell you where they are located, the types of entries and dives you'll be encountering. No surprises! Enjoy your trip and let us know how it went when you come back! We'll dive it vicariously through your entries1

 

[jupitermermaid]

Ooops. Guess I'm a dork, too. I didn't check page 2 before replying previously and just noticed that you found the book. Oh well, enjoy!!

 

[Tennessee Slim]

dhunteriii, you won't believe how easy it is to find the dive sites. I made my fist Bonaire trip this past Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks to BSDME, my biggest problem was choosing from the bounty of available dive sites.

BSDME doesn’t just tell you how to find the dive sites, it also gives you the general layout of the reef. And the most common piece of advice for Bonaire diving is not to leave anything in your truck that you’d mourn if it got stolen. I figured that included the dive guide, too, but I’ve got the memory of a goldfish. I knew I would benefit from a last-minute review of the book’s details so I scanned the entire book into a PDF (no, sorry, you have to buy your own copy ). When I load the truck for, say, Angel City, I also put the page for that particular site in the cab. I can even carry that copy to water’s edge, then stuff it in my BC pocket just before making entry. And I’ve not ‘lost’ anything.

Digitizing the entire book might seem too extreme but I live on Curacao and plan to dive Bonaire every 2-3 months. There’s nothing stopping you from doing a “book reconnaissance” and pre-selecting the sites you think you’ll be most likely to dive, then photocopying those particular pages. If you really want to get extreme, you could always laminate the pages so’s you could read ‘em underwater.

Strangely, the book is available on Bonaire cheaper than it is online. But waiting ‘till you’ve arrived, of course, prevents you doing a “book reconnaissance” (and daydreaming about the dives to come).

 

[dhunteriii]

Strangely, the book is available on Bonaire cheaper than it is online. But waiting ‘till you’ve arrived, of course, prevents you doing a “book reconnaissance” (and daydreaming about the dives to come).

Thanks for the advice. I will by the book in advance because daydreaming is half the fun!

 

[del_mo]

If there are any bad dive sites in Bonaire I don't know where they are. You never know from day to day what you'll see. Oilslick Leap is cool because it is so different. The Lake was nice because it's a double reef close in. Yellow Submarine is nice because it was so easy to enter and exit, with an easy wall 100 yards out. And the folks at Y.S. dive shop will tell you (maybe even show you if your timing is good) where the frogfish and/or sea horsies are hanging out.

 

[dvrliz1]

I agree all! BSDME is about the best there is! I do have my favorites though.

South: Margate Bay, Tori's Reef and Red Slave
North: Jeff Davis, Karpata and Ole' Blue
Mid Island (for the lack of a better description) Something Special, Andrea 1/2 and Oil Slick Leap.

Enjoy!

Liz

 

[JackConnick]

Thanks for the tips gang. We're going there on March 29th for a week. My second trip, but it's been many years. I am curious to see the changes to the shallows where the "storm" waves hit.
Was the Green Parrot ever rebuilt?
Jack

 

[reefdiva]

Was the Green Parrot ever rebuilt?Jack

No, the Green Parrot was not rebuilt. If you have not been to Bonaire since the Green Parrot was there you should be prepared for lots of changes topside. I go two to three times a year and each time I arrive I see more new construction.

 

[dvrliz1]

Yep, the construction is incredible!!! Fortunately it's not high rises and such. Wait until you see the area around the circle by Sand Dollar (where the Green Parrot was), you won't hardly recognize it. I started going to Bonaire in 92 and hubby in 76 and we both cannot believe it, and we live here!