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Trip Reports: FIRST
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2004-02-06 to 2004-07-31: FIRST
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By the Berry Family (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 11:52 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank you all for this helpful and pleasant bulletin board...we are a semi-retired couple from California, USA planning our first and long wished for trip to Bonaire...we don't have dates for our trip yet but we are collecting our info and it seems that this is a gold mine for that end. We will be reading and asking questions so thank you again for all the terrific topics.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Richard Burdette (BonaireTalker - Post #15) on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 2:59 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi, and welcome to Bonaire Talk. Like you, we haven't been to Bonaire yet, but our trip is set for September 20th. I can't explain to you how helpful this discussion group has been in planning our trip. I hate to think what it would be like to go there "cold" without knowing in advance all the little "ins and outs". Bonaire has always been high on my list of dive destinations and my wife already thinks we are going to find our "special paradise". I can guarantee that you will be able to find out whatever it is you need to know about Bonaire at this site, and like they say "If you don't see it, just ask!!"

You can be sure we will be posting our own trip report on our return in September..... Richard

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cecil Berry (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3513) on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 5:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Welcome and you may be a some long lost relatives. Any chance you'll take me along, I've been and know everyone and everything about Bonaire. Please...

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By sherri rommuno (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 12:49 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

My husband and I are making our 3 annual trip to Bonaire in August. We take 2-3 dive trips a year and Bonaire is always in "pen" on the list. We love the freedom of diving. We stay at the Divi Flamingo, walking distance to town, awesome house reef, good restaurant and comfortable. They have units equipted with kitchens.

Book your reservations, and ENJOY. As you will see on ALOT of postings, not known for sharks or other large mammals (however I did have a manta ray with a 12 foot span fly right over my head at Rappel in Bonaire) it is the best divng we have experienced. We have done a ton of Carribbean diving, fiji, honduras, cozumel, and maui. By far, Bonaire RULES!

Sherri

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By C Poteet (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #213) on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 8:03 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Berrys -

Bon bini a Bonaire Talk!

What did we wish we had known that we did not as first timers in 1999?

First, you need some type of foot protection to get into the water from shore unless you use a ladder at one of the resorts. There are very few sandy beaches on Bonaire, most water entry is over very rough broken coral and limestone.

Second, the equatorial sun is significantly and materially more intense that any place you've been unless you've been so close to the equator. Other Caribbean destinations, Hawaii, Australia don't compare. It is intense in Bonaire. Sun protection is essential, both in and out of the water.

Fourth, you can pack lightly. The dress style is casual, not sloppy, just casual, not chic casual, just casual. Unless you want, men never need slacks and ladies don't need dresses to fit in. Nice walking shorts and tops will get you in the best restaurants on the island.

Third, the island ambience, the marine life, the water, the people...they will lure you back time and again. Very few divers/snorkelers visit Bonaire only once.

You're right, Bonaire Talk is a gold mine of information. If we can help, just ask.

Charles Poteet
Dallas
Dallas

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By the Berry Family (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 12:13 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We are grateful for all of your kind responses...the enthusiasm is contagious on this board and feels great. We all know and thrive on that fabulous anticipation of adventure and the endorphin-rush is hitting us square-on....it would be a pleasure to share it with you. Again, thanks for the welcome. Joe and Donna

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #12) on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - 11:32 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Joe and Donna...

We were in your shoes a year ago - after diving Cozumel, Cayman, Roatan, and many other Caribbean and extra-Caribbean places over the last 40 years, we rate Bonaire as the top place for excellent yet easy diving. Even Air Jamaica runs smoothly, almost always arriving 30 min early (so we have time to get in a dive our first day). So we visited B the first time last October and we've already been back once with our son and it's less than 2 weeks until out next trip and we're about to book another for October (coral spawning!) - so we feel confident that you will love it. Adding to or seconding suggestions above, many of the "beaches" are not quite as bad as they sound - cars have sufficiently crushed the old coral pieces that comprise almost ALL of the shoreline, so it's not too bad walking around where you park your rental truck (definitely don't "need" to do boat dives except to go out to nearby Klein Bonaire or some of the few inaccessible spots), parking as close as four small steps from the water in some places - you sit on the tailgate, gear-up, take a few final swigs of water, and carrying your fins you simply find the obviously easiest entry point (a small channel through the ironshore and elkhorn coral, an eroded coral step, or some loose coral chunks), wade out to waist deep, don your fins, and swim out to the reef - we like to submerge at once, swim the 100 feet plus or minus out to the dropoff - typically around 20-30 feet deep, play on the gorgeous, healthy, well-populated reef face to about 1200 psi, and then you will have more than half your bottom time left to casually explore the shallow shelf where SO much is going on all the time - a beautiful, intriguing and super-safe profile giving you abundant time to off-gas in 20 feet or less - we have many of these dives go over 90 minutes bottom time (just 80 cubic feet of ordinary, though dry, air). Sometimes small but troublesome waves are breaking here and there (obscuring the otherwise easy entry), so we recommend avoiding those places and waiting a day or two until it's calm again Some place is always calm - i.e. north side had waves making Oil Slick and the Andreas difficult, so we went to the wonderful southern sites which were calm as a, yes, Lake). SO: the tough-bottom booties are an absolute necessity, which pretty much means you need easy-release open heel fins so you can get them on and off in 3 feet of water. You need to pay special attention to being well hydrated for health and DCS avoidance (dehydration is a factor as you probably know)- we even drink underwater on our third and fourth dives of the day. Don't miss the night dives - easiest on the house great reef right in front of your hotel (that is true no matter what hotel you are in!). From late afternoon to dusk is another special time u/w on B - what we call "Rush Hour" - you'll see what we mean. Also, those long periods spent in 20-30 feet of water can get you sunburned underwater! - so take precautions. And be sure to explore this website for things to do on land - Bonarians are wonderful, and Rincon and Lac Cai and many other places, events, food, and music are fun to seek out. Follow the common sense advice you find here re. car thievery - which by the way we have not experienced (knock on a divi-divi tree). You are in for a treat!

 


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