Bonaire 2019

This was our first dive holiday in the Caribbean. We have dived Cozumel, Utila (Bay Islands) and Belize as part of other trips. We were looking for a week-long dive destination and considered Grand Cayman and Bonaire, opting for the latter based on diver reviews and affordability.

After looking at various accommodation options, we decided to stay at a dive resort; both Den Laman and Buddy Dive seemed to get rave reviews. The former was fully booked, so we went with Buddy Dive who package up the accommodation, diving and vehicle rental.  In the end, we were very satisfied with our decision. We did visit Den Laman, which is a smaller operation, and it looked fine as well. One item of note, is that if you take the breakfast option, Buddy Dive starts serving food at 6:30am, while Den Laman starts at 7:30. That may not sound like much of a difference, but getting off to an early start and bagging two dives in the morning worked well for us.

The charm of the Bonaire dive experience is the freedom and flexibility of shore diving. It means diving on your own schedule and at your own pace. Once, we got a good, personal routine going, we enjoyed collecting the tanks at the drive-through (checking psi and Nitrox O2 levels), heading to a group of dive sites, then park and dive.  There are plenty of maps and on-line references for Bonaire dive site information (the sites are well marked, and straightforward to locate) and we purchased the useful “Bonaire Reef Smart Guide” when we arrived on the island. We made good use of the site ratings and the specific site information and maps.

The driving was fairly easy and we got used to the poor quality road surfaces. Although Bonaire is considered to be “safe”, there is apparently a certain amount of petty crime, so most divers leave their vehicle doors unlocked and windows open while they are in the water. It does mean that you should leave only items behind that you don’t mind losing, so it is a good idea to bring basic footwear and old clothes with you when diving. We put the vehicle key, license and some cash in a waterproof container inside a BCD pocket during the dives.

Underwater orientation was easy for the most part. As most of the dives are relatively shallow (50 ft max depth), air was never an issue, so we would normally swim out to the reef following the bottom (rather than the surface). Once we reached the reef (often 100m off shore), we’d make a mental note of the surroundings (sometimes a boat buoy) and then drop down towards to maximum depth and follow the reef (parallel to the shoreline), keeping an eye on time. Usually, after 30 minutes, we’d reverse direction and return at a shallower depth. After about 45-50 minutes, we’d typically be in about the right area to return, do a safety stop, have a look around the shallows and emerge from the water 60-70 minutes later. Some of the entries/exits were a little tricky, especially with small swells, but they were manageable.

And what about the actual diving? Most of our diving experience is rooted in the Indo-Pacific ( Palau, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Great Barrier Reef, etc), so we are jaded divers. Having said that, we found Bonaire diving was pretty good. We enjoyed the large numbers of sponges, gorgonians, and fish life on the sloping reefs. When we were there in mid-January, the water temperature was 79F/26C and we ended up wearing a fair amount of neoprene (5mm). The currents were generally gentle or non-existent, so it was relaxed, easy diving.

As for which sites to dive, I’d break the diving sites into a number of groups; Southern, Town, Northern, Eastern and Klein Bonaire. We did not dive the East coast (exposed to wind and swells) and we didn’t take a trip over to Klein Bonaire, because there was enough to shore dive. We gave the South a slight advantage over the Northern sites. We dived three “Town” sites (Buddy house reef, The Cliff and Something Special); we were disappointed with the Buddy Reef and found the visibility wanting at the other two town sites. If I had to choose between and a Town site and North or South site, I’d head further out, as the sites seemed in better condition, with a little more current/fish. The town sites are well suited for night diving.

In the South, we tried to do a more exposed site (Red Slave) but the early morning swells seemed too much for entry/exit when we were there. Atlantis and Vista Blue were nice (early, exit before 10:00am when the kite-boarders get going). Margate Bay was pretty, but when we dived it, there were not a lot of fish. Tori's Reef and Invisibles were also very nice, fishy sites. Salt Pier is somewhat industrial, but there were plenty of schooling fish, and in the shallow areas, we saw octopus and it was good for turtles; it was the only site we dived twice. I'd also try to dive Salt Pier early before it gets busy, so the fish schools (like the jack) should be undisturbed. Still in the South, 'Alice and Wonderland', and beautiful 'Angel City' (personal favourite) were excellent dive sites (though, don't bother going out to the second reef at both places). Yes, the South has more soft corals, but the diving was often very good just below the heavier concentrations of it (35-50ft).

On the North side, we were slightly disappointed with Oil Sleek Leap and Weber's Joy. However, 1000 steps and Tolo were both excellent sites. Karpata itself may be a little over-hyped, but the drift/"current" dive from La Dania's Leap to Karpata was wonderful. We were fortunate to witness a pod of about 100 dolphins swimming above us, near the surface on that dive! The North side has less soft corals but more hard corals, so it is more "open" than the South. Further north of the oil tank farm, the water and the road apparently gets rougher (Candyland is purported to be a good site). We heard that the Northern sites in the National Park had been badly damaged by storms.

As for food, we had a kitchen in our unit, so we did a fair amount of self-catering. There are a number of supermarkets in town, and we zeroed in on the Dutch supermarket, Van den Tweel, which has good produce, deli, bakery and choice of goods that you would find in the Netherlands.  Sure, it is more expensive than at home, but we found the prices reasonable given that virtually everything is imported from afar. They also sell beer and wine, with also a good booze/wine shop just across the street from Van den Tweel.

The currency of Bonaire is the US dollar. The people of Bonaire seemed friendly and easy to talk to, afterall, most seemed to speak four languages (Papiamento, Spanish, Dutch and English).

The snorkeling opportunities seemed limited on Bonaire as it was mostly rubble or sand to about the 15 foot depth. As a snorkeler, I would head for Salt Pier, the float snorkel between La Dania's Leap and Karpata, "1,000 steps" and boat trips to Klein Bonaire.