crime on Bonaire. The results were interesting, 100+ posts from this board.

Next highest was 10 from another.

If I was new to Bon travel, and reading this site for info, adding in the difficulty of getting there, gotta say, I'd pass.

Thankfully, I've been traveling to Bon since '98, have had no incidents, and don't find the travel difficult at all, just long.

The wonderful diving, professionalism of the local dive ops/resorts, warm and friendly people, reliable weather make the length of travel well worth it. I will continue to choose Bon., over most other places for our dive travel.

I feel safe vacationing on Bonaire, and privileged to be able to visit this wonderful island.

Brenda..I'm quite sure that many folks share your views. We've been traveling back & forth to Bonaire now for some 25 years. Never had any major issues or problems. Unfortunately the good news doesn't quite have the same appeal to folks as evidenced by the number of postings on the "crime" threads. It's human nature. As in the news business; "if it bleeds, it leads".

Hi Vince
Actually, I'm one who's come to Bonaire for 38 yrs. Not really interested in the "bleed - lead" issue...
I love the island and will continue to come, maybe even as soon as June. That being said, it's my view that people need to know what is real and accurate. Anything I've said on any post has been true and accurate. I wish I had informed the folks next door to us... it could have stopped on incident...
I also love to talk about whale sharks and blennys but this is also part of the information that should be shared and dealt with on island... not trying to flame or attack, just making clear what my goal is...

only 33 years for me. Still love to come.
But.... I will be more careful next time reading the messages about the burglaries.
More prevention, better insurance.

Maybe the cruise industry will read the reports and change their mind as to allowing more ships to dock...I can't really see why a lot of people who go on cruises would want to come to bonaire anyway...I know why I love to come to bonaire, but it certainly wouldn't be for everyone I wouldn't think...it seems as though the cayman,cozumel or aruba type sites would fit a larger percentage of their passengers

Monty - from you lips to gods ear...

Well, I don't think that room and car break ins will affect peeps. They aren't about staying on island......I think these reports will affect new to Bon divers considering this island.

I'm a homeowner on Bonaire, and we've recently put in doors and windows that are louvered. The way they make them is to slip a rotating sleeve over the horizontal bars, to that anyone trying to saw through those bars will only rotate the sleeve. But we never had a problem to begin with. Burglary is very rare on Bonaire.

It seems a stretch to say "burglary is very rare on Bonaire".

I agree Sparty. Two break-ins since I have been here (5/16), that I know of. Some people have installed massive flood lights on their homes - very bright now in some areas at night. And, I saw the saddest thing. You know the quaint cactus fence? I've seen a new twist, they are now installing barbed wire coils across the top. Not so quaint any more.

Well, the shattered car window glass I found at several parking lots near dive sites didn't really give me a safe feeling.

And the credit card incident (I just wrote about in a post in the Trip Report forum) added to that.

Given the very small number of people inhabiting Bonaire (~12,000) and its consequence that practically every resident should know all others, I would have expected an almost zero crime rate.

I have visited other islands (like Iceland with about 10 times the population), where people left their houses unlocked and lockers in public places were unknown, because theft was considered so unlikely.

And even in the big city I live in, nobody would ever seriously recommend to lower car windows while parked to avoid having them broken... :-(