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Diving Bonaire: Diving while cruise ships in port
Bonaire Talk: Diving Bonaire: Diving while cruise ships in port
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kevin T (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #7) on Saturday, March 26, 2011 - 7:11 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

What dive sights do the cruise ships usually take their passengers. I think 1 or 2 days while we are there, April 9-16th, the ships will come to port. Where is the best place to dive those days to stay away from those crowds?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Grunt (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1249) on Saturday, March 26, 2011 - 7:39 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Only my experience, but anything north of Oil Slick Leap and south of Atlantis has always been safe.
They don't have time to make it to the farther out sites.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kevin T (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #8) on Saturday, March 26, 2011 - 8:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

perfect...makes sense. I didn't know if they left straight from the ships or if they came to port and then went out from dive boats from there.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Trevor Naylor (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #296) on Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 8:36 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

From my limited experience, a lot appear to go out on dive boats. If you ave a truck and arrive at a dive site and it is busy. Just drive to another. There are plenty to choose from.
Cruise ships never bother me.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas Noij -- www.vipdiving.com -- (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #648) on Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 9:16 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The vast majority of cruise passengers don't dive. Of the few that do the vast majority goes on the ship organized dive trip which is done by Dive Friends and is a boat dive tour to Klein Bonaire. Only 2 or 3 dive operations do shore diving with cruise guests, so there will never be more than 10 or 20 extra divers driving around...and that means there is no need to worry at all. Those 10-20 will spread out so no big congregations of divers anywhere. The only places to stay away from on cruise days are donkey beach (the beach in front of the airport) and the resorts (mainly Plaza and Eden Beach).

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kevin T (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 7:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks everyone. I last went to Bonaire in 2007 and that is when people were really concerned about the cruise ships, but it sounds like it is not a big issue and a GREAT opportunity for the Bonairian people. This is great! Can't wait to be there in a couple of weeks!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DIVER DEBBI (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #685) on Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 9:48 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

just make sure you are not underwater when the cruise ships are arriving or departing port...any dive site near the harbor, such as Something Special, Yellow Sub , the thrusters from the cruise ships will vibrate you out of the water..we had to abort a dive because of the intense noise !

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Gerty (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Monday, March 28, 2011 - 11:35 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I think the northern sites are most impacted. This is not caused by cruise ship divers, but by the tour buses stopping at overlooks along the narrow coastal road. 1000 Steps was really congested on one of my dives last trip. Rush hour around Chicago is far worse.

Then there is the noise from ships leaving. I was diving at Divi when one monster pulled out. Tremendous amount of clanking and thrumming. The fish seemed to startle at first, then ignored it as the noise continued. It didn't drive us from the water, but it was weird.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tami Ann (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 12:12 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I was diving near town (2 blocks south of Divi Flamingo) when one of the big cruise ships departed. The noise was tremendous, but it didn't impact the marine life or the dive. Yes, it was loud, but not shocking since we had seen that is was leaving when we got in. When we completed our dive the ship was nearly out of site. They get in and out of there fairly fast. The northern dive sites did have tourist buses stopping in and out while we were diving up north, but it didn't impact our diving at all.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bruce (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #435) on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 4:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Does someone have this years cruise ship schedule? I have searched and came up with hundreds of threads. I'm planning an October trip and would like to know.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Schamp (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #677) on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 4:45 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

http://www.infobonaire.com/cruises.html

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bruce (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #436) on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 4:48 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks Tom!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Schamp (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #678) on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 4:50 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'll be in Bonaire across Halloween myself, a cruise-ship-free time to be there...

 


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