Below are a few things that I would want to know before my first trip to Bonaire. It is just my opinion of course but it might be helpful so some.


1. Food is incredibly expensive! If you are renting an apartment and are planning to cook meals to save money, you better bring some food with you. I suggest, coffee, peanut butter, canned tuna, pasta, munchies (nuts w/o salt, dates, raisins, energy bars, whatever you like after and between your dives). Basically, anything you think will be light weight and transport well. You would almost be better off going out for all your meals than buying food in Bonaire.

2. Never underestimate the value of "breakfast included" when considering the cost of your accommodations.

3. Rent a truck. You cannot dive Bonaire without a vehicle and I think a truck is the best option. No mess in the vehicle (all in the bed), 4WD (you'll need it if you are an adventurer), and the trucks have better tires to withstand the roads (no flats!)

4. I'm pretty sure there no stop signs! Read your travel info for what the signs mean if you aren't familiar.

5. Everyone is very laid back so you'll enjoy your vacation more if you are too.

6. The dive operators are very casual about diving in Bonaire. This is fine for experienced divers but if you're new to diving or new to shore diving, ask questions. We ask lots of questions and they gave us great advice on entry and exits and which sites to avoid and why.

7. If you don't like shore diving, there are tons of boat dives too. Take advantage of them.

8. Get a map and drive around. The island is very interesting and the locals are very friendly.

9. Go to Prisca's ice cream in Rincon. Very different and good ice cream. The shop is a little hidden so ask for directions when you get there.

10. Go to Washington Slagbaai National Park. Lots of cool stuff especially at the two fresh water ponds (you'll have to walk a short path to get to them). It will take you about 4-5 hours to do the long path if you look around.

11. Call the airport the day you are suppose to leave just to make sure your airplane has not been cancelled. Ours was and we lost a whole day of great diving!

12. Talk to people getting out of the water about the site... what to look for, visibility, would they recommend it. Might save you some time or you might get to see something really cool.

13. Take guided dives. They know where the good stuff is.

14. Your clothes packing list should be VERY small! All I wore from 7:00 am to 6 pm was a bathing suit and flip flops.

15. Alcohol is cheap... be careful though or you won't want to dive!

16. If you go wandering about, many of the roads are rough dirt roads be prepared to go slow and get passed by the locals.

17. There are some GREAT restaurants! Try them out. We didn't find even one bad one except at the Plaza Resort (yuck... frozen mixed vegetables).

18. If your plane is cancelled. Do NOT let them put you up at the Plaza (just my opinion of course). Tell them you where you were staying and make them put you up there.

19. Make sure you dive both the north and south sites and if you have the experience, dive in the National park. There is something wonderful everywhere.

20. Buy Jessie's dive book at the dive shop. It gives great advice on most of the dive sites.

21. Bring sunscreen, water and snacks with you on all your dives! You'll be glad you did! Oh and freeze your water the night before... it is so nice when its cold.

22. Plan your dive and dive your plan. You are all by yourselves at many of the sites so you don't want to find yourself in trouble. Don't get carried away following the great turtle or taking that last photo.


Well, that's all I can think of right now.

Some great advice here. I, however, must respectfully disagree on the Plaza and its restaurants. We have found that when everything is taken into consideration (i.e. room size and content, airconditioning throughout, Toucan Dive Shop with cool personnel, free weights, free locker, ease of loading and unloading tanks 24/7) the Plaza provides the most "bang to the buck" with their low season, 7 night package. Additionally, as I have read this board almost daily for the last several years, I have come to believe that the Plaza is a fairly secure area versus some of the places one can stay at "out island" (i.e. rental houses). Granted, the Banana Tree was not that great a restaurant 2 years ago, however,in my opinion, it has improved greatly since the manager of the Tipsy Seagull was moved over there to get things squared away. In fact, he recognized my wife and I last Oct from a year earlier and stopped by our table to talk. His hospitality, as well as the food, made the meal at the Banana Tree that night a good one; as for the Tipsy Seagull we there several times last Oct and enjoyed the food just as much as we did the year before. Just one diver's opinion.

I didn't mean to completely slam the Plaza. I should mention that their packages may be great. We were only there for one night. We were put up there when our flight was cancelled. We didn't have the opportunity to take advantage of the dive shop or diving because we had to get on a plane the next day. The room they put us in (Junior Suite) was not very nice. The room was large and seemed clean but those are the only positive things I could say.

With that said, the restaurant we ate at was the Tipsy Seagull. We both had an appetizer and a main course. Our appetizers (beef tartar and a goat cheese salad) were pretty good but our main course was mediocre at best. We were served plain white rice on the side of my husband's meal and there were frozen mixed veggies (peas and carrots) with my meal. My fish was dry and my husband's shrimp were chewy. I just thought for the money ($61.00 US) we should have gotten more creativity and much higher quality. We had a similarly priced meal at Mona Lisa that was out of this world!

Again, I didn't mean to discount the Plaza's dive packages. Before we went, we priced the Plaza and found it to be one of the most pricy options. But I am certain that no one would pay the higher price unless there is added value. I would guess that our one night experience is not the experience of a person staying for a dive week. My only point was to say that if you are "stranded" for a night and you liked where you stayed, by all means go back to there. We decided to stay at the Plaza that night just to see what it was like and we decided that we wouldn't go back based on that experience.

Hope this clears up my comments.

I don't find the food that expensive. Yea, more than here in the states but not by that much. I acutally find the restaurants competitive to here in Raleigh. You have me curious now, think I will do an actual cost compair next time I am on island.

As far as the food prices go... My husband and I live in Indiana and the cost of living is pretty cheap here so again, maybe my opinion is skewed a bit. But the list of what we bought is below... I went grocery shopping last night so I can tell you that this amount of food would cost about $26.00 in Indiana. We paid about $45.00 US at the grocery in Kralendijk. One other thing I should mention, though, we would choose to buy generic named stuff in the US. That was not available in Bonaire so that probably drove the cost up a bit too.

1 package of pasta noodles
1 jar pasta sauce
1 tomato
1 bell pepper
1 jar mayo
1 loaf bread
1 onion
2 small packages of lunch meat (6 thin slices in each)
16 oz of cheese
1 split chicken breast
1 small package of coffee
1 small package of sugar
2 cans of tuna
1 small shaker of parmesan cheese
1 package of grapes
3 oranges
1 dozen eggs

I thought Bonaire was one of the least expensive islands I've ever been to :-)
Michelle
Oh - and the Plaza is great but they do serve the mixed veggie thing - a small issue really.

Ok... well I guess we all have different experiences. Don't get me wrong, I loved Bonaire and would love to go back some day. I just thought it was a bit pricy and we did everything to keep our prices down including staying at a much less expensive apartment and fixing our own meals.

My husband and I got married in Australia last year. We were there for 2 weeks, paid twice as much for our airline tickets, chartered a private boat with a gourmet chef for our wedding, charted a private airplane with pilot for two days, rented a full size 4WD SUV for 14 days, spent 5 days diving the great barrier reef, stayed in the suite on the dive boat, rented all our dive gear, and ate out every meal for the 2 weeks and paid (per week) almost exactly what we paid for our stay on Bonaire. In Bonaire, we made our own breakfast and lunch as well as 2 nights dinner, we brought all our own dive gear and we did almost all shore dives (so no crew or boats necessary). I think we got a bigger bang for the buck in Australia. Although we've traveled extensively, we've done very little traveling in the Caribbean though so maybe it is just more expensive there.

I really liked Bonaire so I hope no one thinks I'm putting it down. I would definitely go back for the wonderful diving and the people. I would just bring a bit more cash next time.

I for one did not take what you had to say as a put down of Bonaire - I took it simply as your opinion to which you have a right. It seems to me the purpose of your original post was to help inform those who have not gone to Bonaire and who may be considering it - I think the different opinions are good thing and could be beneficial to those considering the trip; to that end I would say to those individuals that, in my expirience, given a choice between Cozumel, the Cayman Islands and Bonaire, I have found Bonaire to be the more affordable and the best deal for the dive dollar, keeping in mind that I personally prefer shore diving to boat diving. I have found shore diving to be more affordable and more fun especially if one is able to set up dive truck as part of their package. I have found that this is a possibility at least during low season. Have good dive.

bethany, you can get all that for 25 bucks??? i'm moving to indiana! that would cost around 60 bucks in southern california! funny, my husband and i found bonaire to be cheaper than here, so we were pleasantly surprised every time we went grocery shopping and ate out...heck at the dock by the bay (at buddy's) we got a nice dinner and each had 2 drinks for 35 bucks...would have cost at least 60 here!

Okay, now I wanna know how I can do all that in Australia for the cost of a trip to Bonaire! How did you book all that? Sounds complex!

The most expensive meal on Utila, one of the Bay Islands, is around $9US. That includes meals like lobster; steak; barracuda; ribs; chicken; swordfish; and other popular fish with along with side salads. Not bad by anyone standards and ALL excellent.

jimini

I would definitely put the Bay Islands as one of the cheapest places to eat and dive AFTER you get there (expensive air tix). At least from St Louis, we can't beat prices to Cozumel. We consistently book trips there for a week including air and lodging/diving for well under $1000 (we're going next month for $799). I've always felt Grand Cayman was the most expensive, maybe because of their exchange rate. Bonaire seems like a good value to me especially if you take advantage of the numerous unlimited packages everyone offers. The food thing is so subjective because of personal tastes etc. (you know, hamburger vs steak or brand name vs generic). It certainly lives up to it's billing as the 'home of diving freedom'. I especially like being to dive as much as I want on my schedule...no meeting the boat at a certain time or back on the boat with 1500 psi because we have a 'schedule'.

Gene

Wow, no kidding, $25 for all that. Here in Northern Ca that would cost between $50 and $60.
My wife and I went out to dinner the other night, I had nachos and she had grilled chicken breast we shared a bottle of wine and the bill was $92 so when I go to Bonaire I always feel like it is cheaper to vacation there than it is to live at home.
Now if you want to talk expensive food, try the Caymans...

I will take instant coffee, creamer & sugar with me next time I go. Also some munchies for the hotel room. But mostly.....mosquito repellent! We chased mosquitos around the room for a week. Best non-reef story we came back with: we got married in Bonaire. When we came back to the hotel, the staff lined up & threw red rice & red flower petals at us. This is for fertility in their culture. I'm 54 & my husband is 57! They also riced & petaled the bed & left us champane & a wedding cake in the room. Lovely people!

I know it's been a long time since the last post, but WOW Jim, where in N CA do you live?? Carmel? San Francisco??

In the northern Sacto Valley, nachos would be around $6 and grilled chicken breast would be around $12 so the wine must've cost you about $62 before tip! Hope it was a really excellent bottle! Hawaii is cheaper than you make California sound ($6.50 gallon of milk, $3.00 onion, etc...)