Here is our report on the diving we did on our trip July 24th - 31st a Lion's Dive INN.
DIVING:
Day 1
Check out dive - Buddy's Reef
Nice dive, good intro to life on the reef
Boat Dive - Ebo's Special
Nice dive
Shore Dive - Buddy's Reef Night Dive
Actually a twilight dive. Decended to about 60 feet at about 7:15pm, and worked our way up to about 30 ft. Got out of the water at about 8:05pm, so we had the pleasure of seeing the light change. Nice.
Day 2
Boat Dive - Klein - Bonaventure
Saw a frog fish, which was a first for us. Took us both several minutes to visualize him, even though we were staring right at it.
Shore Dive - Invisibles
Real neat dive on the south side, with the large coral islands creating easy natural navigation. Lots of garden eels between the 2 shallower coral islands, and the 3rd island which begins at about 85 feet.
Shore Dive - Andrea II
Pleasant dive, but nothing to report
DAY 3
Boat Dive - 1,000 Steps
Considered skipping this one, so we could do it as a shore dive, but then decided was a lot of work. (Wife helped the decision, even though it only is 62 steps) Saw a HUGE shovel nose lobster. Small green eel as well.
Shore Dive - Fish Hut
This dive is not on most of the dive maps (yet), but does have a yellow dive marker (now). Very nice dive, with a huge abundance of every type of fish you could want to see. An spotted eagle ray, and a green sea turtle were spotted by our group, but we missed them. One of our top dives of the week.
Shore Dive - Pink Beach
Probably our least favorite dive of the week. However, keep in mind, that still makes it one of our top 20 dives in our life! Bonaire diving is just that good. I would skip it though. Did see a nice sized scorpion fish (stonefish?) Sand is not pink either. 
Shore Dive - Reef Scientifico - Night Dive
Enter Charlie, the resident Tarpon Guide (or perhaps a cousin) For all 35 min of the dive, he followed close by, and passed in front of us. A yellow snapper did the same, and if I would stop to shine my light on something for more than a sec, he would get right in front of the light, and I would literally have to poke him to get him to move. Neat stuff. All the plates bolted to the reef make it easy to name this reef.
Day 4
Shore Dive - Alice in Wonderland
Neat dive, though the swim to the outer reef of the double reef system is quite a kick, and perhaps not worth the wasted air, or BT. Did see a HUGE Green Moray eel which was free swimming. ANother spotted eagle ray was seen, again, not by us.
Shore Dive - Angel City
Right near by, again, a southern dive on the double reef system, the channel between is very close, and you can swim between the 2 to view both. Lots of activity. Saw a small green sea turtle, our southern ray, and a HUGE scorpion fish.
Boat Dive - Klein - Carl's Hill
Cool little wall dive, with the wall starting at about 25ft, and dropping down to about 80ft. HUGE Buff fish. Remember to look up (swim on your back) on this dive. Beautiful visuals.
Shore Dive - Buddy's Reef - Night Dive
Very active this night. About 6 large tarpon making their rounds. Saw my first octopus, and then another one later in the dive. Nice sized spiny lobster hanging out in a open coral head (don't know names, sorry)
Day 5
Boat Dive - Hilma Hooker
Talked into doing this on the boat, and I regret it. Really wanted the visual of swimming up on this wreck from the reef. Was a nice dive, not much life though. I am more of a reef guy than a wreck guy, but was worth doing.
Shore Dive - Margate Bay
VERY ACTIVE. Saw just about every fish you could see. Beautiful dive. One of the top 1 or 2 dives of the week.
Shore Dive - TOWN PIER - Night Dive
We were only 4 of the 40 in our group to do this dive. PLAN IN ADVANCE. You will need to fill out the paper work, give your passport numbers, and need some luck that boats aren't docked. We signed up Sunday, and barely got in on the Thursday night dive. SIMPLY AMAZING. NOT TO BE MISSED. The colors were just astonishing. ORANGE! Saw another frogfish. A first for us as well, 2 seahorses seemingly asleep on a softcoral in the sand about 20 yards off of the pier (good guide) Also saw a spotted eel eating scraps from a local restaraunt, and a baby sea turtle sleeping against one of the pylings.
DAY 6 - Last diving day 
Boat Dive - Bloodlet
Was SUPPOSED to be Rappel, but a boat was already moored there. Was a nice dive anyway.
Shore Dive - Jeff Davis
Went Seahorse hunting, as one was spotted that morning (needle and haystack anyone?) Came up short. Was escorted back to shore by a 3 foot baracuda, for at least 15 min. Rather creepy. Did see, and take a picture of, the memorial.
Really wanted to do the Lake, Hilma Hooker Shore Dive, Ole Blue, and Repel Boat Dive. Guess I will have to save those for another trip. We basically crossed the northern most dives past Karpata, and Southern Dives past Fish hut (and around Lac Bay) off our list. With our larger group, and even when it was just 4 of us on a shore dive, we didn't want to even bother with sites that may have a strong current. No point, with 50 other dives to do.
All the shore dives we did require some balance and concentration getting in the water, as there are often holes in the rock getting in that are tough to sea, and some wave surge, moreso in the north than south. No problems if you are careful, healthy, and pay attention.
ISLAND
I may not even boat dive next time I am on Bonaire. Our little Toyota Hilux 4 door did great getting us around. What a different, but beautiful island. Do yourself a favor and make the loop all the way south past the dive sites, and around past Lac Bay and then back to Kralendik. Largest Cactii I have every seen in my life, well over 40 feet. The south end is VERY interesting as well. Waves crashing up on the rocks... Very much like looking off the end of the world. North end is beatiful as well. Devote at least 2 hours to make each loops (so you have time to stop, and peak around), and take your time. Remember the shortcut if you are just diving and heading back though... Will save at least 20-25 min.
Donkey's and Lizards... That is their wildlife. Hilarious to see a pack of donkey's 4 feet off the road just sitting their staring at you. Good stuff.
SHORTCUT: About the one-way round the loops around throuh Rincon. Save yourself AT LEAST 20-25 minutes, AND see on of the best/highest views of the island, and take the dirt road short cut. Only about 500 yards after your take the right at the stop sign by Karpata (snack shack closed), you will see a dirt road to the right, marked by a red rock. Will run over one of the highest peaks on the island, and connect back at Andrea II. A little bumpy, but no problems at all.
DINING
Never had a even remotely bad meal. GREAT EATING. We did all our shopping at Cultimara, which had everything you could need. Prices were only high on the US Name brand stuff... We bought all the local brands, and they all tasted good, and were no more pricey than what you buy here at home. I always like to sample the brands/types of groceries we have never heard of, and usually like what I get. Had some real good chocolate bars. They also have a pharmacy for anything you may need. We did go to the convenience store up from Lions Dive/Buddy Dive and it was very expensive. Did have an ice cream shop next door, which was pretty good, if your not too picky.
It Rains Fishes (downtown, right on the marina) was the best meal of the week. From the service, to the atmosphere, to the very neat decorations... Was wonderful. VERY good eating too. Was $75 for the 2 of us, with drinks, apps, and tip.
Donna and Georgias (main strip, before town) was ok, but we went on Monday, when most of the other places were closed, and it was packed, slow, and annoying . Food was just ok, nothing special, but certainly not bad. Pizza was bland.
Casablanca (just past town) was a VERY close second to best meal of the week. 4 of us went, and we both ordered the Mixed Grill (it is a meal for 2), and the water laughed and said he would just bring us 1.5, and an extra plate (for about $5 I believe). The plates came, and they were the size of serving platters, with a large portion of salad, french fries, mixed veggies, and rice. THEN comes the biggy, they set up a tray beside the table, and set down a iron hibachi grill, about the size of the top TV tray (for visuals), filled a foot high with grilled/smoked meats. We had 1.5 cut up chickens, 2 large sirloin steaks, 4 short rib ends, 6 slabs of babybacks, 4 pork chops, and 2 different types of sausage (4 links each). With 4 people, 2 of us being big boys, we couldnt come near finishing it, and took 2lbs of meat home. (nice that lion dive has a full refrigerator) WONDERFUL MEAL. Again, aps and drinks, and tip --> $70
Croccantino (just before town) BEAUTIFUL home converted into restaraunt, with dining inside, and outside in the front, side, and back courtyards. This is a Tuscany style restaraunt, and the food was tied for 1st. WONDERFUL. Salmon pasta, and the wife had Fish Au Gratin. 2 of the best dishes I have ever tasted, regardless of locale. (Yes, I know, I loved all 3 of these places) $72
Pasa Bon Pizza (just before town, closest to traffic circle) Picked up a pizza after our Town Pier night dive. One of the best pizzas I have had in a long time, and since I have never been to NY (this is authentic NY pizza), I must say I am jealous. Huge, and delicious. Was about $26 for a large with 3 toppings, but it fed me (big eater) and wife for dinner, and lunch the next day.
Lions Dive Restaraunt. Our first meal of the week, and it was very good, and very fairly priced. We just like to get out and about, that is the only reason we didnt eat here more. They actually hosted a party for us down on the "beach" the last night, since their were 40 of us, and had a BBQ, and a steel drum band. Was fun.
We had lunches at the Lost Penguin (right at the detour of downtown - good, but slow, burgers were very good), City Cafe (middle of downtown on harbour - VERY GOOD, and nice looking place - fajitas were amazing), ZZizch (not sure I am spelling that right, atmosphere was nice, had A/C - food was ok, burgers were good). other 3-4 lunches we made sandwichs in the room, or had leftovers. We only ate breakfast out of our room twice, both at Lions Dive. Good breakfasts, and $10 gets your choice of meal, with juice, water and coffee. Honestly, didnt eat one bad thing the entire trip.
We have a credit card, MBNA, that only charges the 1% conversion (the 1% that visa charges, not the extra 2% that most(all?) other cards charge, so we just used that.) Exchange rate was about 1.78, but ALL retailers give you 1.75, so you do better with the Guilders
Resort
We loved Lions Dive Inn! Nothing bad too say, but we did get a great room. Not all the rooms are the same, at all. We had a bottom floor room, and the sliding glass opened up right onto the pool deck. We only used the front door once all week, left it locked and bolted the whole rest of the week. We are trusting folks, and with it all being interior, we just left out the sliding glass, and left it unlocked. Many of the rooms had a door on the back that you could lock, that would have been even better, but we came out ok. Nothing of value was in the room (well, money and jewelry and travel dox we locked in the safe), and all of our dive equipment was locked in their equipment room (nice touch). Bon Bini Dive shop was great. Had tanks at the shop for the boats and the dives off their pier, and a drive thru shop by the road where you could sign tanks out for shore excursions.
All I can think of folks. WONDERFUL TRIP. This is the first report I have ever done... Hopefully it will ad some useful advice for someone... I felt I got so much good info from here in the months leading up to our trip, I thought I should post it. I have underwater pics as well, if someone can tell me how to post it, or link a gallery (they are uploaded at snapfish)
Ryan
Auburn, AL USA |
By Ryan Schoonover (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 11:18 am: 
