We have been to Bonaire a few times and I am looking for some great night dives. We did the town pier last trip and there were a zillion people banging into the piers and each other.
Any suggestions on some other spots to check out?
Thnks

Kent

Salt Pier, with permission. Make sure you've chained up your spare tire though.

Front Porch was and remains an outstanding night dive !!! If you are very fortunate you will meet one of the biggest green moray on Bonaire under or inside a sunken tugboat around 90 fsw.

actually...

just about any shore dive makes for a great night dive...perhaps navigation and finding the exit point become a little more challenging so keep that in mind...bring a couple of flashlights - the colors at night really stand out!

though a little bit deep the hilma hooker and associated reef is a nice, easy night dive...

If you can find a safe sandy spot remember to spend a few seconds with your lights out at the end of a dive! Wave your hands and you may be lucky enough to see bio- luminescence. Great fun but keep safe!

The sand flats from Front Porch north across Bari Reef to Buddy Dive is good. Tarpon, snook, schools of grunt.. Check out the boulders in front of Sand Dollar-- coral lobster, night shrimp, and occasional cowrie.

One thing I did a few years ago was sit on the sand in front of Habitat about 9 pm without a dive light and watch for the big tarpon that move down the coast feeding. They like to feed on the sand flats in the lights of the restaurants and you could see them from above water by their shadows on the sand.

Underwater, they were just visible in the restaurant light and ran from a dive light; don't like a bright light in their eyes, I suspect, any more than we do. They were the biggest tarpon I have seen, the big 'hanging belly' kind. They were just cruising by so didn''t stay long. I suspect a red filtered dive light would not have spooked them and flash photos could have been made. Good experience.

Thanks everyone for the help. I cant wait to be back in Bonaire in a few weeks. I check these places out and let you know how it went

Kent

Last year, we had a great night dive at the tennis courts on the North side. There is a pier with a ladder to entry. Gary Long

We had great night dives right off of Buddy's pier. Dove 3 times at night there and it was different every time. Saw Charlie the resident tarpon each time as well as one of the largest spotted eels I've ever seen. One added bonus is the ladder for exiting.

Have a great time. We hope to go back soon.

Rod

Cynde and I did a great night dive at Bari reef; Glen we had a giant tarpon actually swimming with us in our dive light, searching for food I imagine. I was messing with him, turning my light on and off, and at one point he got so close to my face he hit my regulator... good thing I grabbed it to keep it in! It was quite an experience, we really really enjoyed that dive.

Well I met Charlie and the boys last week and found them to be more of a nuisance than fun! They are like a pack of reef bullies. I had to turn off my main lamp just so they would leave us alone while we tried to concentrate on our photography. This got me thinking.... after watching the big display these boys put on at Buddy's Dock, leaping out of the water chasing needle fish? I went in for a Tarpon shoot.
I just sat in the middle of Buddy's dock and they came up to feed on whatever poor little fish that strayed into the torch beam. The Tarpon make a very loud bang as they suck up their prey. I was actually shaking when I took the first few pictures but my nerves settled down after a while. I am sure they are harmless but Charlie likes to push your fear threshold by staring you out at 12". He is definitely the boss of the bunch.
So you want to see the pix?......I had best get scanning then.

Paul, would love to see the pics. Kelly and I weren't taking pictures, so he was quite a lot of fun to play with...although we did shine our lights away from the cute little baby trunkfish! And since the vis was down to about 25 to 30 feet that night, he was the only interesting thing that was big we could play with

First shot, too close!


Better when hands stop shaking.

Paul, excellent shots! How many joined you? I remember the first time I encountered Charlie on my first trip to Bon, I was a little nervous because they are so big!

Hi Cynde
Charlie usually had two smaller followers but I seem to remember a third on one night dive.
I did two Tarpon dives and so shot 2 rolls of film on them. On my first night encounter, one of the smaller ones rolled on its side directly in front of me about 3ft away. I could not see any fish between the Tarpon and the camera then I realised he may be looking at it's reflection. He rammed the housing and I pushed him away. I fired the shutter by accident so may have a shot of it. I think the strobes will be in the wrong position but I will post it if it is of any interest. Give me a week for the slides to be processed.
Thanks for the compliments.
Going back to the original night dive question....We found Buddy's reef excellent for night diving. The light from the Dive center gives an aquarium feel underwater.We saw needle fish, reef squid,orange Tubastrea, some very tall anemones in the sand. A snook, some sea wasps (couldn't focus on them though so no pix) Octopus, Brittle stars in and on the stove-pipe sponges. A young Moray being cleaned by an Arrow crab. Peacock flounders, Slipper and spiny Lobster and of course Bio-illuminesance!All fantastic stuff.

Paul, having one ram the housing would be a little annoying! I agree, night diving off Buddy's is always good! Funny, Kelly and I surfaced after our last night dive there, and were just hanging in the water by the stairs talking about the dive, and then something hard hit me on the top of my head...it was half an orange peel...someone from the restaurant had decided to chuck it out into the water I imagine, but I was like, "what the heck?" So, if you are eating at Buddy's, please don't throw food over the side!

Oh, would love to see any and all pics

Paul, love the tarpon pictures. Brings back lots of memories of our trip doesn't it Cynde?

Kelly, yes it does, orange hitting me on the head and all! LOL!

The reef at Capt. Don's is great for night diving, as the rope down from the dock to the bottom of the reef makes it pretty much impossible to get lost (and the lights on the dock don't hurt much, either!). And if you want to have a decent dive at Town Pier, it's better if you can do it further from sunset. See if you can find a local divemaster who's willing to make later reservations.

As for the tarpon, I found the snook at Capt. Don's to be just as interesting. I fed a snook one night -- was shining my dive light around and illuminated two goatfish in the distance. Suddenly bang! a snook came flying through the beam of the light and there's now only one goatfish and a few fish scraps floating in the water. Felt bad for the goatfish, but it was definitely interesting to watch how both the tarpon and snook have learned how to use night divers in their hunting.

Charlie the tarpon swam up to Dan the night we did a midnight dive off Sand Dollar. Freaked Dan out pretty good, given that Charlie's the same size as he is, and he sort of snuck into Dan's peripheral vision... that's one __huge__ fish!

Faith

"Friendly" Tarpons makes Bari a good nite dive spot. Entry and exit can't get any easier so I think it makes a great first night dive. Town Pier is WAY too crowded when I went and I suspect the place would look a lot different with fewer divers. My favorite spot would have to be Salt Pier for night dive. One of the best dives I did in Bonaire! We had a spotted eagle ray glide about 6 feet over us (I guess it was curious about our flashlight).

Ed

Without a doubt salt pier was my favorite night dive. You can get up real close to the pilings and the longer you stare the more and more tiny little interesting critters you see. Also saw a tiny octopus about 1" long hanging on a piling and then a minute later scared up a big one about 2 feet long. Lots of orange tubastrea as well. Also, there are some lights on the structure which can help if you get disoriented. Just unbelievable!