We dove next to Invisibles at an unmarked site called the Rock. It's awesome. Upon surfacing early, to check our bearing, we saw two women with a toddler playing in the sand, rumaging through our truck. We had only the usual. A ratty towel, ratty shorts and t-shirt and a couple of bottles of water. Nothing missing, just beware. Do not take any thing of value that you'll miss. It's a petty problem and it pissed us off, but then you read about people losing cameras, money. Don't leave anything in the truck you'll be sorry you lost. At several other sites we "lost" a pair of sun glasses and a couple of packs of cigarettes. No big deal. Just use your head when leaving in the morning for your dives.

I forgot to mention. We couldn't get out of the water fast enough to chase them. What a thing to teach their toddler. By the way, it was a black 4 door Yuris. We searched the rest of our vacation as we drove around looking for a car like that with 2 women so we could approach them, but never had any luck. We mentioned this to several locals and they are going to keep an eye out too.

Hey Marge funny you should mention this. We were diving Pink Beach yesterday and came up and someone had stolen an apple, an orange some crackers and water from our truck. Fortunately nothing else was missing. We considered ourselves lucky. However our next dive was at Alice and Wonderland and during our surface interval I noticed at the adjacent site after a couple went out snorkeling that two women and a toddler pulled up and were milling around their car. Another car pulled up and they abruptly left. Since they were coming my way I got the license number. I did not turn it in. The reason for this was I went down and talked to the people and nothing was missing. However if anyone else lost anything of value I'll be glad to give it to them. I just don't want to post it here. I also thought it odd that they had a toddler with them.

You'd think it would be just kids, but then you read about some idiot leaving $600 in cash in his truck and having it lifted, its a wonder that more locals aren't supplimenting their income. That's why I just wanted to make sure to state to new visitors to use your head and don't take anything of value with you. I would take the time to tell the police the license number and who was in the car. That way, if anything is missing and people report it, they'll know where to look first.

that is very interesting as we were always on the alert for teenagers and young adults (and yes- we stereotyped and thought 'males' particularly.) A car would be handy for getaways. And having a young child with you would be far less obvious, after all, he would just be 'playing on the beach". But, as it has been said- don't leave anything that you would miss.

Bill,

In light of Marge's experience, it would be a good thing to report the id on the car and people to the police and the Park. Apparently these two are stealing as they can and should be stopped.

Just because the people in the car of your experience didn't lose anything is no reason not to stop the theft pattern to everyone's benefit. Link your report to Marge's and both can be used.

I will do that today after printing a couple of these emails. We leave for home tomorrow. We have been here since Feb 2nd and what a great place this is to dive and visit. The overwhelming percentage of the population does not participate in this kind of behavior or condone this I know.

Again the alleged perpetrators were two native women and a toddler. the car was a dark subcompact. According to Marge it was a black 4 door Yarus.

Well I took your advice Glen and took Marge's emails and mine to the police station with the license number and reported the incident.

I was very impressed with how appreciative they were in receiving this. also he told me that they broke a pretty good size ring of thiefs some months ago and they are in a prison in Curacao and since then they have had a decreased number of these. This was definitely not organized I would say

Anyway for those of you that see something like this please report it. It seems to be worth the time.

thanks again Glen

Thanks Bill..we appreciate you taking the time and effort from your vacation to do this! Many folks would have just looked the other way.

Thank Bill, we should all do what you did, when a crime is committed. We have been coming to Bonaire for the last 10 years and have heard way to many times of people getting ripped off both while diving and in their rooms or houses. The police do what they can but need to do more. Hopefully once the Dutch government takes control there will be more funds to protect the island main source of income. Tourists

Remind me to take my worst pair of flip flops and broken sunglasses . Thanks for turning in their plate number , its better than letting them run wild! Im down to thirty days , gotta love this waiting game .

Thanks Bill for reporting. It seems to be a crime of opportunity. Don't give them the opportunity to get anything of value.

Thank you, Bill.

We haven't had any problems the last two years, except for one theft at invisables this year in Feb. It must have been young kids as they left the expensive stuff and stole the candy. Maybe they weren't kids and this explains how stupid they are!
Oh well, watch your stuff!

We just returned from our 11th trip in 4 years - and we had our first significant theft - At the "Rock" site immediately south of Invisibles. We now call it Rip Off Reef! Minor stuff, our flexible cooler, a couple hundred dollars of spare batteries and cards, some clothing - all replaceable and didn't want to go through the hassles of reporting it (who needs a day off from diving?). Watch out when you're around the ever increasingly popular Invisibles site

I was thinking of doing The Rock as my first dive when i return later this month . Too bad its getting targeted as its a beautiful spot. I will remind myself , take everything with me , leave nothing! Taking your clothes , now thats just tacky . Thanks again for the heads up.

If you'll notice early in this thread Marge and I both were ripped off and I observed them pilfering someone at an adjacent dive site while on my surface interval. We got the license number and reported it to the police who were glad to get the info. They promised me they would email me the results. When they do I'll let everyone know

The Rock is unmarked and rarely are there any trucks there. Easy mark for thieves. They don't have to worry about surfacing divers, especially if they see you go in. They know they have the time to rummage. We need to set a trap. Have someone park there and leave some things in the truck and then go down to Invisables and watch, and have someone go farther south and watch. I know it will take a little time, but oh the reward of catching the SOB.