Bonaire Diving

Well I finally got a chance to go to Bonaire in June 2008. Although high on the list of most divers, it had taken years for me to decide to go to Bonaire. No particular reason for this delay other than there were many other destinations that took my fancy, or had been easier for me to get to.

I'll state early on that I unfortunately got no underwater images from this trip due to a crack in my Ikelite underwater housing for the Canon 20D camera I shoot with. Of course I did not discover this crack until I went into the water for my first dive - and performed my routine check of the housing for leakage prior to descending. Good news was that my camera and lens did not get wet - bad news, no underwater photos. Hopefully Ikelite will stand by their product and repair/replace the housing. More on that in another post with the results of their actions.

I selected the Divi Resort as our hotel for the week for a couple of reasons. First I had heard good things from fellow divers on the scubaboards about Divi and second is that for my first trip to Bonaire I wanted to be close to the center of town - walking distance. I also thought that a resort might have more services for a first time visitor to the island. I won't go into a lot of detail about Divi, but I was not all that impressed with the place. My expectations are never high when going to dive resorts, but generally the staff are at least friendly. Not here. They seem to take for granted their guests and are just short of rude. Ambivelant to your presence might be a good description. The only two exception this this were the dive master at the dive shop - I forget his name - and the lady who runs the photography shop (she was friendly). Other than that, you are just short of a bother. Next trip I'll either rent an apartment or give Buddy Dive a try.

As far as the diving went, I must say that it is all that has been described. Just wonderful! From Divi I noticed that their three boats which were active seemed to be full each day. I really don't know why. I rented a pickup truck and did shore diving each day during my stay. The boats go to the exact same spots as the shore divers. If there is a boat at the site, just take your time gearing up and they'll be done which will just about guarantee that you won't see anyone else underwater at the site. The boats hook up to the buoy that you will swim out to and use for your entry/exit navigation. I had heard that the swim outs might be long, but I did not find this to be the case at all. In fact the reefs were very, very close to shore.

Bonaire proved to be one of the easiest places to dive that I have ever been to - short of the swimming pool where I check out gear after servicing. The water was very warm ( a skin works well), the water was crystal clear, there was no current or surge, and navigation is a breeze. You should pay attention to your depth as the above positive description of the diving environment can lead to some deception about your depth. A lot of the diving is wall diving. On the south side the walls tend to slope more gradually with many sites having a double reef. On the northern part of the island the walls tend to be steeper with the bottom being well beyond recreational depths (read blue water). The marine life was abundant. Schools and schools of beautiful tropical fish, very healthy coral and sponge formations, a multitude of macro life, several species of eels, and rays, and a few turtles as well.

Some of my favorite sites found on this trip were:

South end sites:

• Alice in Wonderland


• Hilma Hooker - A huge wreck laying on its starboard side in 28 meters of water in the sand between a double reef.


• The Lake - A beautiful series of sand bottoms between a double reef with mushroom looking coral formations. We dove this site a couple of times. First time we went south and reached the Hilma Hooker stern before making our turn. Second dive we did the outer reef again to the south. Probably my favorite dive site of the trip.


• Tori's Reef

North End sites:

• Andrea II


• Karpata - This one is close to the end of the road, beyond where the road becomes a one-way. You'll need to take the dirt road over the hill to get back and I suggest ensuring you have a truck for the ride.


• 1000 Steps - Not really 1000 steps. Another lovely dive site.


• The Cliffs
  

While I did mange to hit a few restaraunts during the week only one place stood out as being really good in my mind. That was Pasa Bon Pizza. I did find that eating in Bonaire is quite expensive - about double what I find similar quality restaraunts cost in most parts of the US. Also, be prepared to spend as much for a coke as a beer.

I look forward to returning to Bonaire - with a functional underwater housing! The photo opportunities are plentiful and the diving is spectacular. One of the best I have seen in my travels around the world.

I did take a short drive out to the south end with a camera on our first day. A few photos can be seen at this link. Just click on Bonaire - June 2008.

I never took anything to the dive site that wasn't going underwater with me (except my tee-shirt and a rag towel) and I left the truck unlocked and the windows rolled down.

Cheers,

Monty Chandler