Greetings ,
Im thinking about a trip for some diving to Bonaire and Curacao in January.Im wondering how much damage was sustained during the recent hurricanes? Is it still worth making the trip all the way from Alaska or should I go to Hawaii.That is the dilema Im facing......boy life is rough with these tough decisions I have to make.Thanks for the response.Mike

Michael

We were there in October and we did not see any significant damage. I think some sites may have had some damage but the hurricane did miss and Bonaire just got some of the edge winds.

Hi Michael,

We were there right after the hurricane, returning home Oct 14th. The only thing I noticed difference was in the shallows (2-3 feet) and up on some of the beaches some old dead coral was on the beach. I did not dive, but my husband did and he said the reefs looked great. Larry from Larry's Wild Side Diving, who specializes in diving the rough side (east coast) says that the only thing he noticed was that the depth of a dive sight was a little deeper, but then again it has a sandy bottom. Lac Bay, which is extremely shallow is some areas, is full of sea grass (we call it the aquatic nursery because we se so many juveniles there) and it is covered with "silt" The visibility on all other dive sites, from what I understand is excellent. We snorkled Red Slaves and Tori's Reef which is south and the vis was fantastic. At Red Slaves we could clearly see divers at around 60-70 feet. Best of luck!

I was so excited to see a fellow Alaskan on BonaireTalk!

We're leaving for Bonaire over Thanksgiving, and are not the least concerned about any hurricane damage. C'mon! diving Bonaire ... or diving Hawaii -- there's no comparison!

June and Michael,
Howdie from more Alaskans! About a dozen of us from Juneau are headed for Bonaire in eight hours and thirty-five minutes!!!(not that I'm counting.) This is our first trip to Bonaire but we have dove all over mexico, Hawaii, and the rest of the Caribbean. We'll let you know how Bonaire is when we get back on Thanksgiving day but I sure am anticipating a GREAT time.

Spend a few weeks monitoring these boards and you will be sold. LOTS of great folks full of great advice.

When do you get there June? We are there until the 24th.
John

John (and friends!),
Snowing (again) in Anchorage this morning so I envy you're flight south to sunny Bonaire and some fabulous diving!

My husband and I are leaving the day after Thanksgiving. I hope we'll hear from you when you get back if you have time to post a quick note or two (maybe you'll share which airlines you took and how the [long] flight went).

Have a wonderful trip ... and ... don't forget the sunscreen! ;)

Michael:

It is fine -- I would do Bonaire over Hawaii (I fly from Seattle). Some damage noticed by me at some sites -- generally in less than 20 FSW. Below 30 FSW, I saw no damage at all. If I did not go almost every year, I doubt I would have noticed the damage at all.

Also, I find the diving much better than Hawaii (and much cheaper) but the plane flights much longer!

Dave

To all you Alaskans,
We went shortly after Ivan, actually we we're postponed because Ivan just slammed Jamaica where we had a connecting flight, we went the following week.This was our first visit so I can't compare it to before the hurricane but I can say it was the best diving I've done in this region. I've never been in the Pacific region though. We've done a lot of Caribbean trips and none have come close yet.