Bonaire or Belize ? Which one to go to?

Hi all. Just looking for input on your experiences with Bonaire or Belize.

I have been given the OK by my C.F.O., aka my wife that a dive trip is in the budget, for Memorial Day. I am looking for dives that is a blance of; not too "scary" for my wife, as she still has the jitters about diving, and UW macro photo subjects.

I narrowed down Bonaire and Belize, but if you have other places within 2-3hrs flight of Houston, please recommend them.

The good diving in Bonaire is much easier to access than in Belize -- in Belize, you'd really want to get out to one of the atolls, which means a remote resort, a liveaboard, or loooong boat rides. In Bonaire, you can dive from shore or short boat rides.

Both can be good.

If I had a week, I'd consider the Belize Agressor. Less than a week, I'd go to Bonaire.

I would say absolutely Bonaire for easy, non scary diving, with lots of macro and fish portrait opportunities. My favorite resort is Biddy Dive. The "house reef" is fantastic. The entry and exit couldn't be easier, just a walk down a set of stairs into the water and a 3 minute swim to the reef.

Bruce

typo, make that BUDDY Dive.

We stayed at Buddy Dive, too. No problems, perfectly okay. Enjoyed the house reef, good nitrox fills, comfortable if not ultradeluxe. Good value on truckette/dive/breakfast/room packages.

thanks guys...im leaning towards bonaire then.

Bonaire is the easiest diving in the world. Personally, I love Catain Don's. However, Romon's Villiage in Belize is fantastic. Bear in mind that the fish are much bigger in Belize, and dive boats often chum the water for great fishy pictures.

Belize is very expensive.

Ramons has one of the best dive operations I have seen anywhere, but, the reef surrounding the area is pretty damaged. Even the southern barrier reef had a good amount of damage in areas and not a lot of fish. The best diving was off the Turneffe elbow.

Bottom line, I would go elsewhere for the money.....

Captain Don's and Buddy's are next door... my family stayed at Buddy Dive, but we ATE at the Captain's, because the restaurant at Buddy's is too small. There's a gate between the centres.

Buddy Dive (see the picture of the jetty below) was rebuilding, and so a bit grubby, last year, but the dive operation was very, very good. The dive operation at Captain Don's is also very, very good.

My 12-year old son dived, and my wife, who gave up British diving because of the work involved, was tempted back into the water.

Bonaire sounds right!

Tim

B)

I have a trip there the next weekend if you wanted to hook up w/ some other photographers. Rand McMeins & I will be giving presentations in the evenings about unusual techniques like super macro shooting, color backing, and how to win every damned contest you enter.

I've been to Buddy Dive several times, and love the setup. Captain Don's is a bit more basic than I like. I REALLY like the house reef at Sand Dollar, which is a left hand turn from the dock at Buddy Dive.

If you want big stuff, dive the wild side w/ Larry's Wild Side Diving.