Do you go to Bonaire EVERY time you get a chance for a dive vacation? Did you go to lots of other places first, and just decide "There's no other place like Bonaire on this earth" when trying to book a vacation after Bonaire?

My husband and I vacationed in Bon in early August, and are trying to find somewhere else to go where there is great diving for a January vacation, and then we'll go back to Bonaire this summer. But both of us keep finding all roads leading us back to Bonaire (or flights too close to Bonaire)!

Where do you go after Bon? Or do you just give it all up and keep going BACK to Bonaire? lol

I'm totally serious here. Need help trying to figure out where to go. Seems silly to me when I find these great deals to the caribbean, including Curacao or Aruba when my husband and I feel the greatest diving on earth is just an island over!

There ARE things I want to see I've never seen (like whale sharks and hammerheads, and I've only ever seen ONE manta in my life), so feel free to tell me why Bon, or where else you guys recommend. We'd sure appreciate your input.

Thanks!

Well its a difficult question - if your talking world diving then no, all roads do not lead back to Bonaire - the GBR beats Bonaire hands down IMO, as does Thailand and a fair few other places in the Pacific. However if your talking the Caribbean is isolation.....well I've dived Bonaire, Cozamel, Tobago and the Rosario islands (Colombia), and Bonaire is the only one I am about to visit again a second time - not so much because its the best in terms of absolute diving, but just because IMO the overall experience is the best (the dive freedom concept). I'll let you know if I'm disappointed (we fly tomorrow for 2 weeks). cheers andy

1. cost per dive - can't beat bonaire
2. weather risk - none
3. average dive - best in the caribbean

and really, i have dove cozumel.grand cayman, the bahamas (north) and the florida keys - and i saw less than i saw in bonaire (at a much higher price per dive) - maybe an isolated dive here or there that was as good or better...

that's just the diving...the self catering, non-confrontational experience that bonaire offers is certainly also worth something...

we all need a clubhouse - i'm trying to adopt bonaire

Hi guys,
Pretty much what we figured out...go to BON
By the way Mikeil saw a whale shark at Karpata on 29 Dec 2003 and Menno saw a hammerhead at Klein while you were on Bon this summer.

Andrew, Great Barrier Reef, maybe one of these days when we're crazy(er) I'll want to swim in the vicinity of white sharks. We do get crazier and crazier the more we see, the more we experience. Maybe not crazy really, but craving the next adventure, I do remember when I said I'd never want to dive with sharks, but we do, often these days (feeling crazier by the moment, just not whites........yet!
Hope you enjoy your Bonaire #2 vacation. Please report back!

Bob and Wally and Eva, that's just it. The ease (more like way too easy) of diving at your own pace on your own clock is pretty damn high up there in the reason to go back to BON column. We haven't seen 1/8 of it. Much less a seahorse. (tiniest of things, when I want to see big, no, I mean REALLY BIG things also).

I don't know. I just don't know. Maybe Honduras with it's 50-70 ft vis and currents this time then back to Bon and then it's Bon forever. Or maybe in winter we do the out islands. Cayman sounds nice. Hawaii sounds cold in the water. So many islands, so many choices.
Oh. If I win the lottery I'm going to Galapagos, lol.

Still want more input, so even though I've commented, people, tell me why you go back and back.

We've been a lot of places (Larry has been diving since 86, me since 96, we are real divers, obsessive if you ask anyone, lol) but the BradyBunch world has kept us close in (stepfamilies and those always woeful and worried other parents, but the kids are almost all grown now, Daniel will be 16 in December and he's the youngest).

Hi Kathy - you would do well to see great whites off the GBR - whites are not generally considered a tropical shark and so there range doesnt really cover the GBR (maybe the southern end). Your much more likely to see the various reef sharks (which we did), and a variety of other species (bulls, tigers). But great whites - not really - you need to go down to Sydney and the south coast of Aus. If you do get that way I highly recommend Heron island - its expensive, but the best diving we have ever done - sharks, mantas, turtles, nudibranchs, sea snakes, the whole caboodle....

Wally - that comment about the hammerhead - when was that seen? Last November when my wife and I were off the reef at Atlantis in 20 meteres or so we saw a large sigle shark which I was 90% sure was a hammerhead. The guys at Wannadive told me I was nuts though as they are almost never seen. You have any more details?

I have been to Bonaire 6 times since 1995, been diving since 1988, during that time we have dove in the Bahamas, Aruba, Caymans, Turks and Caicos, Cozumal, Akumal, Cancun, Bermuda, Hondurous, Belize, St Thomas and St John, St Kitts, St Lucia, GBR and Fiji. All these islands have something to offer but for an all around experience Bonaire has always stood out as exceptional.

Caymans is nice but there is much less life on the reef then on Bonaire, there is some shore diving but its limited to a couple of over dove locations.

St Kitts was very nice and we were welcomed but the diving, while clear, had alot of debris around the reefs, Bonaire is still pristine in this respect.

Forget the Bahamas, trash everywhere and you can't walk 10 feet without being hassled by hawkers.

Mexico (Cancun and Cozumel)has beautiful reefs if you can get away from the standard sites which are close to the docks. Its quite a boat ride to the good spots. Akumal , a small village halfway between Cancun and Tulum has beautiful drift dives in a very fast current, you can't easily take pictures or see small things up close because you move so fast.

Hawaii has a totally different sea life as did GBR and Fiji. The fish look different, are different colors, and provide a new experience if you haven't dove in Pacific waters. We saw huge fish in Fiji on a regular basis but we were on a secluded island minutes from the Astrolabe reef.Hundreds of Nemos.

Hondurus (Bay Island)was extremely poor and remote, there little to do outside of the resorts.

If I'm diving I've made it a pratice to stay away from big cruise ship destinations. Invariably there are numerous divers but even more snorklers, all that splashing can drive the fish away and many people have little care/ability to stay off the coral. These locations have spiraled down in the last ten years, Cozumel, Cayman, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Thomas. If you go to these places find out which day the ships come in the head in the oppisite direction. Mind you, I have no animosity toward cruise ships as we have been about 10 times ourselves, I often dive at the locations we visit but never with the ship. I just recognize the damage that they can do to a small enviroment. So for us the bottom line is Bonaire has what we desire. Great accomodations for every budget, we tend to travel cheap and often, others prefer less frequent but first class. Clean friendly enviroment where you can drink the water even if its hot. The most reasonably priced diving in the Carribean, an abundance of fish, and while a tarpon tends to be the biggest fish around, small is beautiful!
If money was not an issue I'd go back to Fiji but Bonaire is a close and affordable second. My two cents!

Kathy

We do go on other dive trips and the Maldives this year was great with plenty of sharks including Hammerheads, I have seen two dozen on one dive. Maldives are also good for Mantas and Whalesharks although I have yet to see the latter.

One reason we come to Bonaire is the Coral Spawning and the diving freedom as this gives access to the reef when ever you want and we can dive as late as we want. We keep meaning to dive in to the early hours on the main days but usually call it a day at midnight.

Last year we came to Bonaire at Christmas/New Year and had a fantastic time and diving on Christmas day was great. The year before we went to Barbados and all the diving outlets were fully booked with Cruise passengers for Christmas Day and New Years day.

So back to Bonaire again this year, we will be back for the Coral Spawning in October and back again for Christmas.

Menno had the boat over on Klein on the south side. Saw an 8ft Hammerhead. Very rare sighting for BON

Thanks Wally - so they are there - and I wasnt hallucinating

I can't speak for the diving as I only snorkel but I new Bonaire was my second home on my first trip!
I have been to St Kitts, Aruba, Dominican Republic, and Antigua prior to finding Bonaire. I had intended on going to a different island every year until I had seen the whole Caribbean and I was looking for a spot that I didn't have to take a 45 minute boat ride out to see a couple of fish. I wanted to be able to walk in the water and see the underwater world right from my resort! I can go in the water anywhere in Bonaire and see at least 70 to hundred different fish on every entry! Most of which are in the shallow where I can get some decent pictures.
On land the people are so friendly and willing to go out of their way to make your stay a pleasant one. There are many great dining places to choose from with excellent food choices. The drinking water is better than where I live and the flora and fauna are beautiful! October is going to be my 8th trip in four years and I can't get there soon enough!!

Hi Kathy, I guess my answer is because of the diving freedom. The best example I can give is when I went to Cozumel, the weather sucked, and we had to cancel all but 4 boat dives. (2 trips, 2 dives each). We were there a week, and all the other dives, including night dives, were cancelled due to the waves being too high and they wouldn't let the boats go out. This was in November, 2002. I just like being able to dive when I want, where I want, and not having a time schedule. I also prefer not to dive on boats with people I don't know, just because you never know their skill level, and I once had someone completely cut me off on a ladder, after my fins were off and I was starting to climb up, he got in front of me, almost knocked me out with his tank and I was left floating around.. lol.. nice visual, huh?

Bonaire is just so much more relaxed than other places; i.e. no major resorts, and no streetlights!

It's the feeling you have when you get there, and the feeling you have when you leave. I guess that best sums it all up. ;)

Kathy:

I have been to several areas including Belize (two trips to Ambergris, one to Placencia), Cozumel (3+ trips), a trip to Playa del Carmen and Isla Muejeres, two trips to Hawaii and one to Florida. I made the decision to go to Bonaire again this year (my 9th or 10th visit) over many other destination. In the end, it was three factors.

Price/Value: When I travel with my brother, we try to split the two bedroom unit at the Carib Inn. Two bedrooms, one and a half bath, kitchen, dining area and living area, a giant deck a stones throw from the ocean with a great view (and the back door opens onto the pool). For $150/night + taxes (just over $80/each per night). Shore diving at just over $16/day. In Hawaii, a two tank boat dive is typically $80+...

Diving: I prefer the independence and ease of shore diving. Most locations do not offer many quality shore dives -- Bonaire does! The quality of the diving is very good by Caribbean standards.

Ease of Travel: Aside from the long slog from the west coast (typically 19 hours), Bonaire is very easy to travel in. Route finding is easy, plenty of services, nice scale (not too large nor too small), etc. In short, I love both the people and the feel of the island.

Other Destinations: I am hoping to some day make it to Palau, Chuuk, Red Sea and, perhaps, the Solomons, Galapagos or Seychelles. The issue ends up being cost -- I can do a two or even three week trip to Bonaire (air, diving, hotel, car and food) for about the same price as a one week trip to many of these destinations.

Well, this looks like a good spot for my story. I did a bit of diving in the Navy, Japan and the PI, in the late'60s and pretty much gave it up when I returned to the states. MN has green fish, cold water, and water clarity was not too great. Not a lot of fun. We started our Caribbean trips in Negril during the first Gulf war. Not very many tourists, nice beach and water, food was good, but a rather hostile feeling from the locals. My brother in law got some bad air and the local dive equipment was pretty shoddy. Never went back. From there to Cozumel (5 trips) and we loved the place. The diving was great and very diverse. Stopped going when they started putting up stoplights, a second gas station, and cruise ships disgorging passengers like a coral spawning. I'd like to go back sometime, but my contacts tell me the reef can get to be like Grand Central Station. Another paradise gone. We did St John before the mass of tourists moved in and found it nice and the diving was fair, but no desire to go back. St Maarten was different but the diving was not very good. Dominican Republic, not used to all inclusives and the diving was no more than fair. Isla Mujeres, Cancun, Akumel all had something to offer, but still moderate diving and lots of people. We went to Rincon, PR and dove Desecheo, good food but again only fair diving. We did a week at Buddy Dive in '99 and we had a very enjoyable trip (only marred by a few relatives from hell)dove all around the island and saw a lot of different things. From there we went to Ambergris Caye and decided that would be our latest hangout for awhile. No shore diving, fairly good diving and snorkeling close in to the reef, but you need to do a 2 hour boat trip through open water to get to the real good stuff. I should point out here that we are sport divers, not diving fanatics. Diving is just one of the things we do on vacations, as we prefer an island location. Above water things are just as important to us as the diving. Good food, good people, drinkable beer and no crowds of casual tourists. Okay, we have been sticking in odd vacations between our Belize trips, last year went to Culebra PR for the beaches. Beautiful beaches, not many people, also not much in good PR food and no local beer worth anything, snorkeling was good if you knew where to go, but the diving was again, mediocre. Our '04 trip was back to Belize and tho we enjoyed it immensely (great food, great people, good beer, no hordes), after a pounding 2 hour trip out to the atolls for some really good diving, my brother-in-law and I decided our next trip was going to be to somewhere we could get some decent diving without having to pay such a price. Somewhere with good food, good beer, good people, no crowds of "those cruise ship folks" to fight. I pulled out our pictures of the Bonaire trip and we decided to make it Bonaire in Feb of '05. We are hyped and ready to go. The great pull here is the shore diving (don't have to put up with those strange people you are forced to dive with on the boats that seem to try and limit your survivability), things done on our own schedule and the diversity of the island. I don't know if we will "fall in love with Bonaire", but chances are good that if we have a good experience we will return again.

I can't say enough good things about Bonaire dive sites, the island and people. We've been there twice.
If your interest is primarily what's underwater, consider a liveaboard boat. We enjoyed a week aboard the NEKTON RORQUAL in July on its NW Bahamas itinerary. The boat is always at the dive site -- no time lost on boat or car trips. Most divers get 4-5 dives per day with plenty of time to relax. While not inexpensive, compare the total of lodging, food, car rental and dive expenses on an island, and the cost per dive is low.

OOFFF! That's a tough question, and nice to see a topic with a different question. It is difficult to compare locations since ALL of them have their own uniqueness. My wife and I enjoyed Bonaire VERY much, and their awesome people. The diving is good but I thought that the visibility wasn't as great as people mentioned. Maybe 60 Ft at best (we were there in January). The feeling of freedom is what makes it so unique. No need to catch boats. We just returned from Roatan and we also had an amazing time. The visibility exceeded 100 ft in all my dives, but there's no such thing as shore diving. The swim-through and the corals are beautiful, but Bonaire takes the prize when it comes to life. Roatan also felt a lot safer than Bonaire, and the locals were very proud of their police (and military) who seemed to take good care of locals and visitors. The locals of Bonaire on the other hand, only shrugged, sighed, and frowned whenever asked about their police. I would not consider Aruba if you are serious about diving (you seem to be). Aruba is more catered for the gluttonous, drunken masses who happen to dive while on vacation. I would stick more to places known for their diving rather than their resort. The kind of places that when mentioned, make people ask you "Where in the world is that?" Would we return to Bonaire? We'd love to. Are we going to? Not until their government does take serious action (not those comical, staged "raids") to help with the crime problem that seems to be getting worse. There have not been any reports lately, but does not mean much since it's only been about two months since the last one. Let's wait a couple more months to make sure it's not a fluke and we'll see. Stay healthy and happy diving, wherever you go. Coach Izzy

Bonaire - it depends on your viewpoint. Divers look at Bonaire as great sites, interesting fish including innumerable seahorses - but particularly the fact that you can dive on your own schedule. But from my perspective as a non-diver, an important part of any holiday there is the island itself - the charm of the people and the donkeys roaming wild, the donkey sanctuary with Marina who is working so hard to help them, the animal shelter, the fact that (so far) there isn't a traffic light, good restaurants with a European and local flavour, the unspoiled landscape. Each year we think of other islands as diving/holiday potentials, but the combination of factors that Bonaire has, brings us back here. Of course, the more you return to one particular place, the better you get to know it, and the more you enjoy it - it's like being away and returning home.

Leslie

As I've been glued to the weather channel this weekend watching Frances, with Ivan following...Bonaire being out of the hurricane belt is enough for another plus.

Thanks for all the input! Lots to think about. And I also wonder, will the donkeys still roam wild? I was told they wouldn't after September.

I've swum with a whale shark in Utila. I've filmed a hammerhead at Cay Sal. I've been amazed by Maori Wrasses and Potato Cod on the GBR and the Coral Sea, but I've been to Bonaire 6 times, and I intend to keep coming. I can dive three times a day for two or three weeks without ever taking a seasick pill. I still want to see Fiji and the Red Sea, but these will probably be a one time trip. I can dive exactly when I want to without worrying about schedules in Bonaire. The only thing that could end my love affair with this dive paradise would be if Habitat's new charge system became an epidemic on Bonaire. Sometimes I don't want to walk down 1000 steps or hunt for a sure step off of the angel city complex, expecially at night. It can be nice to use a ladder to return to shore. For a year now, Habitat, the inventor of Dive Freedom, has been charging divers to use their dock, (if you're not diving with them.) The money isn't the real problem. It's inexpensive. You drive around Bonaire in a skin with all your gear. Heading into a dive shop carrying money and signing up is a pain in the _________. If Sand Dollar, Buddy's and the Flamingo take up this practice, along with selling more of the seashore to private owners with no access, Bonaire will eventually become like any other Dive Island. Dive freedom and ecodiving are the things that made Bonaire a paradise. Let's not let this end.

I'm on Bonaire now for the umpteenth time and was here for Ivan. I slept outside on an open porch facing Klein since they turned off the power at 6pm. I slept fine and with only a few wind gusts strong enough to make the hammock sway. Fair amount of rain, but the puddles have almost all dried up.

I come to Bon every other year and head to the Western Pacific during the other years. I plan on repeating Fiji and Yap. If I do Palau, I will do a liveaboard as it is a long trip to the dive sites from the land based resorts.

Bob, you're right - it's not about the money. The reason for Habitat charging is that they were experiencing problems where the paying guests were having problems with outsiders using the facilities. I'd heard that there were instances where a paying guest who'd set their gear up in a locker (it's assumed by guests that if you see a lock on a locker, it's taken - whether or not it's locked) came back from a dive to find their locker had been taken over - and not by a guest, but by someone from outside. Other times, people who were from outside monopolized the benches on baby doc, where it's nice to be able to sit down and check yourself over before jumping in. I believe they also feel that outsiders should not feel they have any right to the rinse tanks, (fresh water on Bonaire may be good but it ain't cheap) and there were similar abuses there.

At Angel City or 1000 steps you don't have these amenities. At Habitat, you pay your (trivial) amount and you have access to them. If it bothers you so much, there's always the beach in front of the Hamlet cottages.

Hmmmm,

When I want to dive with sharks I do a live-aboard that goes to Turks and Caicos. Piers van der Walt is the captain. I think his boat is part of the Aggressor fleet. www.turksandcaicosaggressor.com The reef shark and nurse shark are plentiful, especially on the night dives. The reef shark like the areas where there is a drop-off and the Turks and Caicos dive sites have lots of drop-offs. My first encounters with reef sharks just swimming by left me in a little bit of a panic, then I just got used to them.

I've also heard (but not yet been) that there is nice shark diving off of the Kwazulu-Natal coast of South Africa. Our dive instructor Buddie Lebenon, who has returned to South Africa, tells us that

---

quote:

If you are into safe shark diving we do a lot of it in Natal South Africa. At the moment we are diving with Tiger, Zambezi and ragged tooth shark. Its awesome.

---

Kathy, when we first came to Bonaire 8 years ago a good friend told me "either you fall in love with Bonaire or it is just another dive destination". All the above reasons for diving is true, but there is a calmness about the Bonaire people. They will remember you even if you don't come back for a year. It's spooky. It's one big community and believe me, everyone knows everything about everybody. You fall in love with the lifestyle - it's basic, simple, slow. Whether you are above or below the surface there is a tranquility about Bonaire. But, this is not for everyone. If you are drawn back, maybe this is why.

I go to Bonaire over and over again because it's addictive, the water, diving, the people, the lack of night-life and the relaxed feeling I get every night when the sun sets after a great day of diving or snorkeling. Good friends, a Bright, a good book, peace and quiet, that makes me come back year after year and now more than once a year! Can't get enough! The more I go, the more it stays in my head! Diving is different every time I go, I see all forms of sea life small and large. I can go at my own pace, savor each moment with my husband, no hurry, hate boat dives, love shore dives, my kids even love it! I can't say enough about how addictive this island is. Debbie

well I'm just back from my second trip (with a tad of Ivan thrown in). I've dived the GBR 3 times, the Caribbean half a dozen, the Red Sea, Thailand etc etc but Bonaire was again just a peach, despite the hurricane coming close. We saw a ton of new fish, enjoyed the laid back night life and plan your own diving - the only fly in the ointment is the always rubbishy service that KLM provide - this time they lost our bags but there you go. Will provide a report in due course.