By Gina Bloom (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 9:11 am: |
Hi, I'm planning to come to Bonaire in May and would be grateful for any advice on the following:
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By Brian (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1335) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 9:59 am: |
Gina
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By Gail Thomas (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #812) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 10:15 am: |
Hi Gina, welcome. If you're staying 2 weeks, I would purchase my own wet suit because by the time you paid $6 a day, the suit would be paid for. You'd know it was your size etc. I use an old waterskiing shortie (not really designed for diving but it works ok for me) and a skin in July, and am most comfortable.
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By Debbie Babcock (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2727) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 10:44 am: |
Welcome to BT, Gina! I see you are from Australia. Wow! You just have to come for two weeks then for sure. LOL! You won't be disappointed. Most of all resorts on Bonaire have restaurants, dive shops, and good accommodations, that said, check out the following website: http://www.infobonaire.com/index.html and see what appeals to you and then post some questions about those you liked. Everyone here on BT has a favorite, so click away and let us know. I would definitely book your accommodations prior, the diving you can do when you get there, shore diving is super on Bonaire and you may want to do that or just do boat dives with the dive shop you choose or both. Pure diving freedom on Bonaire! Good luck in your search, let us know what you come up with! I have always wanted to go to Australia, just the jet lag, long trip always stopped me. Beautiful place.
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By Cyn (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #16114) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 11:40 am: |
Gina, welcome to BT! To help with accommodation requests:
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By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #572) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 11:57 am: |
gina, welcome to BT. as far as diving with experienced divers, you will find that there might be divers with all levels of experience on your boat. but the dive operators that i know allow you to do your own dive...you can either stay with the group and dive master or not. i've heard of places (not bonaire) where everyone goes in the water about the same time and groups together. then they all do the dive together until the first person hits' 1500#. at that point the entire group must turn back and as soon as the first diver is at 500# the whole bunch has to board the boat. this is not the case on bonaire. i've been on boat dives where the first divers were back out of the water in 30 minutes and i didn't surface for almost another hour and nobody cared.
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By Marcel G White (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 12:00 pm: |
Definitely Capt Don's Habitat. I was there last June and had a GREAT time. The Staff are a great group of people - they treat you more like a good friend than a guest staying at the Hotel where they work. Don't be surprised if they invite you to join them for drinks in town. Like I said a Great place and great group of people. Will be heading back this June too!
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By Jerry Gauron (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #296) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 12:19 pm: |
Welcome Gina,
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By David Frank (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #253) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 5:28 pm: |
Bought a wetsuit on Bonaire this trip. I had my old 3-mil with me but it's getting worn, torn and, well, a little tight. I had priced a new henderson hyperstretch at my local shop. Note, I live in NJ where the suit is made. Went in to the shop at Carib Inn to have a leaky hose checked and found the suit for $50 LESS than in NJ. Also $20 cheaper on the PC cable for my Suunto Cobra, and had the USB version my shop told me didn't exist. So if you are going to buy a suit, you may as well get it there.
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By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #578) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 6:14 pm: |
david, a few years ago my mask developed a small crack on my first dive of the trip. we were staying at carib inn at the time so i asked bruce to figure out why i had a leak. he found a minute crack in the frame and i bought a new mask. when i got home i mentioned to my LDS that i had just bought a new mask while on bonaire. he asked what i paid for it and then said that he was selling the same mask for $5 more at his shop. that's why i recommend the carib inn as the place to buy dive gear on bonaire...hey, you're on vacation, you're isolated on an island, you could get gouged...but you don't. you get great service and good, honest prices.
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By David Frank (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #254) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 6:25 pm: |
Pat,
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By Gina Bloom (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 8:40 pm: |
Thanks a lot for all the advice! That's especially great to know about retrospective packages.
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By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #284) on Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 10:13 pm: |
Check out the Drive and Dive Special at Buddy Dive Resort.
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By Vince DePietro (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #171) on Friday, January 6, 2006 - 7:06 am: |
Bruce at the Carib Inn is a great guy. Last trip my spare air was malfunctioning. Brought it in to him & he had it fixed within 24 hours & his repair charge was EXTREMELY reasonable. So much so that my wife felt he didn't charge enough so she continued to shop and buy some clothes!
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By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #582) on Friday, January 6, 2006 - 8:18 am: |
vince, true shoppers have a way of rationalizing things like that, don't they.
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By Debbie Babcock (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2745) on Friday, January 6, 2006 - 10:03 am: |
Pat, LOL! I went to see Bruce about a new snorkel for my son, his wasn't working properly and I indeed walked out of there with these really cool Mare split fins for myself and some clothes, license plates ect. too! Oh, I did manage to purchase my son a better snorkel as well. I got a great deal on the fins too! I just love them!
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By Vince DePietro (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #173) on Friday, January 6, 2006 - 2:36 pm: |
Pat.. Yup, I agree..We can rationalize almost anything.There was an article I read recently (I think in Newsweek) & it explained that when shopping, the brain releases endorphins which in turn create a very pleasurable sensation. So to all shopaholics out there, just note your satisfaction is purely the result of operant conditioning (you know when rodents in a cage get a piece of cheese when they hit a button.. before long they will not stop hitting the button)generated by endorphins.
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By jim morus (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #7) on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 2:38 pm: |
Since this is a Bruce love in, you may want to stay there as well. Most of the folks diving with him are experienced. His dive masters are very good and the prices on his rooms are extremely reasonable. My wife and I have stayed there 4 times, twice for two week stays, and have not been disappointed.
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By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #613) on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 4:16 pm: |
we did stay with bruce a number of times...however, he and his staff were among the reasons we fell in love with bonaire and now we own a place of our own. we still dive thru carib inn tho.
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