Questions/Advice - Heading to Bonaire

[kylealfriend]

Leave in two weeks for Boniare! Never been there. Treating myself and 10 of my family to a dive trip. Had some questions.
1. Rented a house on VRBO, and the owners recommend Dive Friends. My dive shop in the states recommend Dive Buddys. Any thoughts?
2. For shore dives, should we use a dive guide or go on our own and explore? 7 of us have done a lot of shore dives (but never been to Bonaire). Three are brand new divers (doing there checkout dives as I write this).
3. I have closed heel fins, and therefore don't use booties. Will that be a problem walking out to the shore dives?
4. There a week, and most of us will dive all day every day. What are the "must see" dives?

Thanks for any advice about anything there. Cannot wait to get there!

 

[Doctorfish]

1) lot's of good dive ops on Bonaire. Everyone has their personal favorites.
2) You don't need a guide for west side shore dives, easy navigation, minimal currents. Having said that, taking a few dives with an experienced guide/naturalist will certainly enhance your experience. You do need a guide for east side shore diving.
3) you absolutely need booties to shore dive anywhere except the hotel house reefs and a few other places like Bachelors Beach where there are steps.
4) My favorite
dives include Salt pier, Something Special, Cliff, Buddy/Habitat House Reef, Karpata, Forest, Invisibles, Alice in Wonderland
I would also recommend diving the Hilma Hooker once.

Invest in some thick soled booties, you will save your feet.

 

[hroark2112]

We dove with Dive Friends a few weeks ago. Great group of people and they did everything they could to make our trip pretty awesome.

Get some Seasoft Sunray boots or SEAC hard soled boots. You will need them.

No guide needed, swim out to the reef, figure out which way the current is going, swim in to the current until someone in the group hits half a tank then turn around & swim home. Make sure to go shallow for the last 15 minutes for a nice safety stop!

Get a copy of Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy. Best investment you will make after the hard soled boots!!

 

[diversteve]

Buddy Dive has two locations - the main location north of town and south at BelMar condos. The main location has a drive-thru tank pickup street side. So that can be pretty convenient when doing a lot of diving. Since the main road with all the dive sites goes north from there - it's pretty optimal. Their BelMar location is just about 3mins. away from the start of all the southern sites - starting with the Hooker and south.

However Dive Friends has 5 locations on Bonaire. IMO not as optimum as it sounds since two are at the North/South ends of Kralendijk and the better diving is elsewhere. They also have two north of town at Hamlet Oasis and Sand Dollar - basically either side of Buddy Dive. And one south at Port Bonaire condos sort of just west of the airport.

Pricing is probably the same (haven't checked) since it's a competitive market. Buddy's boats leave from Buddy's - occasionally from BelMar. Dive Friends boats leave from Port Bonaire or their main shop at Yellow Sub (north Kralendijk)

WannaDive also has two public locations. Their main location is at Eden Beach - about the farthest south of the northern dive resort row. They also have a service point at Windsock Beach (good beginner dive) for tank pickups south in north Belnem. Boats leave from Eden Beach.

IDK which is more convenient. Where's the house located?

Building on what Doctorfish posted - here's the entry points for those sites (2 are boat dives) So yes, IMO you do need good thick boots - not only is the ironshore right up to the waterline - at many sites it's also in the surf line. At a couple you crawl over it and drop down into 3-4' of water. Lots of spiny urchins all over also. Karpata is a rough entry even with good boots. I second the recommendation for Forest and would add Rappel to a list of must do boat dives. And Bari Reef to any shore dive list. Probably 1000 Steps also.

Karpata

Cliff

Buddy's

Bachelor's Beach

Hooker wreck

Alice in Wonderland - watch for holes in the ironshore underwater also.

Salt Pier

Invisibles


Rarely do you find breaks in the ironshore at some of the south sites like Vista Blue. The sand channel goes out into deeper water.


The complete list with descriptions, photos and even GPS coordinates is here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

With 10 you'll probably want to pre-warn restaurants. Summer is sometimes a slower season for Bonaire. Service is already slow anyway. And you'll have to ask for the check - most places will let you stay as long as you want - you're their guests. Donna/Giorgio's is good. It Rains Fishes is really good, excellent view but pricey.

If you haven't seen the warnings, absolutely do not leave anything in the vehicles you want to keep. And leave the windows down/doors unlocked. There should be similar instructions with your vehicle also. Extra tanks in the back are the exception - nobody takes those. If you decide to dive/tour Slagbaai park - take two vehicles. There's a lot of thorns. Those sites aren't really for newer divers either. Anything south of White Slave is considered advanced also. Except Margate Bay. List is here: http://www.infobonaire.com/divemap.html

 

[parachute]

Leave in two weeks for Boniare! Never been there. Treating myself and 10 of my family to a dive trip. Had some questions.
1. Rented a house on VRBO, and the owners recommend Dive Friends. My dive shop in the states recommend Dive Buddys. Any thoughts?

i can't comment on Buddy Dive, as I've never used them, though any interaction I've had with them has been courteous, and they'd always let me dive off their dock.

I've used Dive Friends my last 7 visits and plan to use them my 8th.

2. For shore dives, should we use a dive guide or go on our own and explore? 7 of us have done a lot of shore dives (but never been to Bonaire). Three are brand new divers (doing there checkout dives as I write this).

Go on your own and explore, you'll have a blast. You can always get tips and suggestions from the dive shop and other divers you meet.

If you are interested in doing some East Coast shore diving, I would recommend a guide. I've dived several times with Bas Tol @ Basdiving.com.

3. I have closed heel fins, and therefore don't use booties. Will that be a problem walking out to the shore dives?

For most sites, yes. Just buy a pair of hard-soled booties and open ended fins.

4. There a week, and most of us will dive all day every day. What are the "must see" dives?

After multiple visits, I'd say it's not the site, it's the dive, as each site has something to offer, and conditions, critters, and attractions can vary from dive to dive for the same site. That being said, for a 1st visit to Bonaire some I'd recommend are
- Karpata (and/or drift dive from La Dania's Leap to Karpata)
- Salt Pier
- Cliff
- Hilma Hooker (overrated IMHO, but recommend diving at least once)
- any of the southern double reef sites, e.g. Invisibles
- Margate Bay
- Red Slave
- 1000 Steps

 

[Kharon]

However Dive Friends has 5 locations on Bonaire. IMO not as optimum as it sounds since two are at the North/South ends of Kralendijk and the better diving is elsewhere.

I'd dispute this. First Dive Friends downtown site (Yellow Submarine) is a good dive site with a very easy entry, especially for brand new divers. Their location north of town is at Cliff, a very good dive.

Some tips:

++1 on Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy. ++1 on hard soles. The ironshore is unwalkable without them.

A trick I learned on Bonaire (after flubbing around on severtal shore entries). Watch the waves and count. Usually there will be a pattern of increasing wave height with several much smaller waves following the largest. Once you figure out the pattern you wait for the largest and then enter as it's receeding. Quickly go out far enough to float (chest high) and put your fins on.

Dive the southern sites in the morning before the wind comes up. Entries will be easier and the vis will be better. Tori's Reef has a very easy entry through a sand channel and is a good dive. Heck, I can't think of a bad dive although Hilma was one for me (not at all interested in sunk boats). I especially like Angel City (for the double reef), Tori's (for the entry & turtles) and Invisibles (all south) - Yellow Sub and Cliff (mid) - and Tolo (north).

For the best sandwich ever try Between Two Buns. Other than that I can't recommend places to eat. I stay at Coco Palm Garden (apartment with full kitchen) and cook for myself.

Soon as you get there buy a couple of 1 or 2 liter bottles of water. Remove the top drink a little (so it doesn't overflow when it freezes) and put the rest in the freezer. Bring it along and you will have ice water to drink after each dive. A 2 liter usually lasts me for 3-4 dives.

You're gonna love it.

 

[texas23]

I used Buddy Dive & did not have any issues.

My personal favorite dive sites were Tolo & Karpata. The reef is amazing and gigantic up there. The diving is easy & on your schedule/profile. A guide is not needed unless you go to the wild side.

You will have to invest in some hard soled boots. I would not recommend trying to walk the iron shore without them.

Take empty water bottles with you, fill & freeze them when you arrive. This way you will have nice cold water once you get done with your dive. Also, if you have long hair, take some leave in detangler to be able to brush it. Also a liter of fresh water is nice to rinse off with.

 

[diver 85]

I'd explore (shore dives) on my own-& get you some booties, with new fins if need be---some of those entry places will be bad on the(bare) feet!!...We stayed & dove with Buddy last August---did 11 outta 18 dives as boat dives(I'd do the same if I ever went back----lol if not more)

 

[oregondiver]

I use force fins and like to dive barefoot. Well..we don't usually use a wetsuit either. We walk in with flip flops and then clip to our BC when we dive. Yes...one screw up can ruin a trip if you hit fire coral...but in 80 shore dives no issues.

Back next february...flip flops will be worn into the water again

 

[Doctorfish]

There is always a countercurrent rebel. Conventional wisdom would suggest hard boots and a wet suit. Over the years, I've seen plenty of people bruised, scraped, cut and bandaged because they fell on entry or exit.
Good luck with the flip flops, Oregon, you have been lucky so far.