Bonaire

Hi

I've been a photographer for 3 years now and just completed a 2 year course A-Level course in Photography, I'm going to Bonaire for 10 days in the summer. I haven't dived before and am doing my theory in a month and my pool dive a week later so that I can go diving. I won't be doing any photography whilst diving, but I will while snorkeling.

I'll have some more questions generally about housing and the such like in a few days, but what I'm more interested in at the moment is some information about traveling.

So does anyone know anything about:

Places to avoid? Places to go to? Nice places to eat out? Great snorkeling spots? Diving spots? Companies to avoid? And are there any dive rent shops / photo equipment rent shops?

Any general advice is also welcome.

Please if you have a horror story don't bother sharing it! I don't want to go thinking I'm going to have a awful time.

Thanks in advanced

Hello

We travel to Bonaire regularly. Your questions pretty much span the board. We have stayed in both the resort type and rented a house. We take the family so renting the house has proved to be much more enjoyable for us. WIthout the kids then one of the resorts may work well as it puts you right on a dive site where you come up and hang your gear to dry. (snorkel gear included) I won't comment on dive operators because you are snorkelling.

You could look at Roomers for accommodations since you are not looking for diving. They are across the street from Belmar and have nice casual food at reasonable prices. We have also rented from Buddy Dive and Den Laman. Buddy dive is fairly basic and Den Laman a bit newer and modern. Both have restaurants attached. Other restaurants we always go to would be Wil's , Paradise Moon (mexican style), and Capriccio. You can look for tapas at La Guanica which is downtown. A cheap lunch is easy to find at City Cafe right by the town pier also.

Topside photography, then head to the park at the north end but plan this as a day trip and snorkel sites within the park as the road does a circle out and back and hits the windward side of the island. Lots of the sites will work for snorkelling. Avoid locking your car or leaving much in the car when you are snorkelling.

Go to Sorobon to try the windsurfing and hang out at the beach on the south windward side also. Lots of fun and the bay goes out a long way and is shallow. Great way to try it out. Lunch is also reasonable there.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Todd

No horror stories in Bonaire. Crystal blue water, aquarium like conditions, wonderful beach access with well marked sites, and good people who appreciate divers.

You'll have a blast,

Steve

Go to Sorobon to try the windsurfing and hang out at the beach on the south windward side also. Lots of fun and the bay goes out a long way and is shallow. Great way to try it out. Lunch is also reasonable there.

Super stuff, we are staying in a self-catering resort type location. Although it doesn't have a beach it does have a jetty large jetty you can walk out on. I'll definitely have to go to Sorobon it sounds idyllic!

Great, Bonaire sounds even more amazing than I first thought.

You'll have a blast

It sounds like I will.

Hi there,

Todd has provided some good information. I've been to Bonaire about six times now and have stayed at several places. The good news for you is that the island is set up to cater to diving. You will be able to rent equipment easily, whether it be for diving or underwater photography. However, I do not know of a place where you'd be able to rent any high-end topside photo equipment. Where you stay depends on what you want. If you want a decent place where you can basically get everything you might need on site, then you might look into Buddy Dive or Captain Don's. I'm more familiar with Buddy, and if you stay there, you have the advantage of their underwater photo shop, run by John Wall, which is located right on the dive dock. Their accommodations are basic, but nice, and there is an onsite restaurant as well as the Lion's Den, which is a more upscale place to eat (great burgers). If you want a nicer accommodation, you might consider Den Laman. The apartments are modern with nice stainless kitchens. However, I am not a fan of the on site dive operation, Bonaire Dive Adventures. Another option is Belmar, which is where we've stayed two of the last three times. The apartments are nice enough, there is a pool, and they have an onsite dive operation run by Buddy Dive. This is advantageous because you can get tanks at either Belmar (South side of the island) or at Buddy (toward the North side). Belmar does not have a restaurant, but Roomer is across the street and has a good, if limited, menu. There are several places to buy groceries now so cooking some of your own meals is an option if you stay at a place like Belmar or Den Laman (If you stay at Buddy or Captain Don's, breakfast is usually included). WE normally prepare our own breakfasts, most of our lunches and then go out for dinner. You can set up boat dive packages with the dive operators or just rent a truck and dive from shore. If it is your first time diving, I'd recommend doing some boat dives, as you can get over to Klein Bonaire and then you have the advantage of the dive guides on the boat to assist you and/or point things out to you. That being said, you can dive most of the sites on the island from shore. You can ask for recommendations on easy entries, but make sure you have some basic navigation skills and that you read up on the sites before you jump in. In addition to the restaurants Todd recommended, I'd throw in my vote for Kontiki, which is over at Lac Bay, Pasa Bon Pizza (we usually order a pizza to be picked up after a night dive down the street), and there is a barbecue place in town (Bobbejean's), only open on weekends that is good for take-out or you can eat there -- good chicken, good satay and pretty decent ribs, for good prices. For topside photography make a day-trip to the park. There are also some good snorkel places there, in addition to the dive sites all over the island, most of which are good snorkel places, too. Finally, again re-iterating what Todd says, when you do your shore diving, don't take anything along you can't take in the water, leave the windows open and the doors unlocked. There is occasionally a bit of petty theft and if you take these precautions, you will not end up with a broken truck window.

Mike

Nice article on Bonaire over on DivePhotoGuide.com to checkout; http://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-p...er-photography/

Steve

For great local info, try Bonairetalk.com

I used it extensively a couple of yrs ago when planning a trip. I found all the advice to be great and accurate. The monitors that reply are locals in Bonaire.

There was a great Argentine steak house that had a lighthouse structure as an entrance. Anyone wherever you stay should know it. The steaks competed well with the top Kansas City has to offer, if you like that type of food.

I found dive buddies via bonairetalk and that worked out great as well.

I stayed at Plaza resort and found their Toucan diving to have good and not so good points. I took one boat dive with them. They claimed it was too rough at the nearby Klein island and stayed close to the resort...same place I shore dove that morning. I talked to my dive partners at Buddies and they did the boat dive at Klein at that same time that was "too rough" for us to go there. They said it was quite calm and nice. I found that quite frustrating since I only did a boat dive to get to that island.

Other than that boat issue, they were quite friendly and helpful at the dive shop. But I was only getting refills and going shore diving.

The plaza resort is good if you have a non-diver needing a small beach area. Their's is the best beach on the island but its not an island known for beaches.

Do follow the advice of the others hear regarding valuables in a vehicle while diving.

Thanks for all the replies, I've expanded the scope of my trip slightly to take in some of the places recommended above! And I shall certainly check out bonaire talk.

Thanks again