Bonaire Trip Report

August 5-12, 2006

This was my 2nd trip to Bonaire. I stayed last summer and this time at the Plaza. I traveled with my husband. Last time we did mostly boat dives with Toucan Diving, we had a couple of shore dives on our own. This trip we planned to do mostly shore dives and we did. We really enjoyed making our own schedule and the “adventure” of finding each spot and exploring it. We did lots of research before we left and made lists of people’s favorite dive sites and restaurants. Our biggest problem in Bonaire is how to fit everything in that we want to do. I guess that is why we have already booked 2 weeks for next year. We will be bringing our sons (ages 7 and 10) next time and staying at the Belmar. Here are some details from our trip. I hope you find it fun to read and maybe helpful in planning yours!

We flew with Continental on a Friday night from Milwaukee to Houston and then Houston to Bonaire, arriving about 5:30 am. Our flights were all on time, including when we left Bonaire. We had a much better experience flying with Continental then Air Jamaica last year. We rented a truck with AB Carrental. Their website says they are not there before 6am without an extra charge, however they were up and running when I got there. A short drive to the Plaza, we checked in and had their buffet breakfast. Our room was not ready yet, so we had to store our luggage. We just dug out our diving stuff and swim suits and we were set for the day. We put our dive stuff in the dive locker at the Plaza (one locker for 2 people). We did just one dive on Saturday (our check-out dive) on 18th Palm. It was a great first dive. The visibility was less than what we had last year (we knew that going in from reading posts on Bonairetalk), but it was still a great dive. We had dinner at Casablanca – as good as we remembered from last year. We went to bed early to catch up on not having too much sleep from the flight the night before.

I brought empty water bottles and a soft sided cooler bag along. As soon as we arrived we filled the bottles and put them in the fridge. Each day as we went diving or to the beach, we brought our water along. Worked great (and free).

On Sunday, we dove Alice in Wonderland. I liked this dive site, there was a lot of fish and coral. We saw a free-swimming green moray eel swimming right at us! We had purchased the book “Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy” and I would highly recommend it, because it helps you to find the dive sites and has lots of info on entry/exit, etc. I found I really enjoy shore diving vs. going on a boat because my husband and I can go at our own pace and not feel like we have to keep up with a group. If we want to go slow (which we usually do), it is nice not to feel rushed. We also did a night dive in front of the Plaza (18th Palm). We saw an octopus, eels, sea cucumbers and 2 big tarpon. The tarpon were hanging out under the dock by Tipsy Seagull and then they swan with us for our whole dive. It kinda unnerved me for some reason. It’s a little scary to move your flashlight around and keep catching a huge tarpon swimming by you. I found out later, that is common for them to do that. We had dinner at Richard’s. I like the view of the ocean and my husband enjoyed the Wahoo, which I had wonderful shrimp. Most of the restaurants are “quaint” in Bonaire, but do not have beautiful ocean views like Richard’s. *One note about restaurants, they all have different days they are closed. Some are closed on Mondays, some on Tuesdays, etc. If you have one that you really want to go to, make sure to plan ahead so you don’t miss out. I had really wanted to try Mona Lisa, but it was closed all week when we were there.

On Monday, we did boat dives with Toucan Diving. We went to Forest and Divi 3, both on Klein Bonaire. The Forest was a wall dive. It was very beautiful. At Divi3, we saw 2 juvenile trunkfish and a grouper. We ate dinner at Wil’s Tropical Grill. I really liked this restaurant. They offered “different” choices and both my husband and I loved everything we ordered.

I am still not the best at naming all the fish I see, so I only listed the highlights that I put in my dive log. Sometimes, I waited too long (a day or two) and got a little rusty on what I saw, but all the dives were great.

On Tuesday, we did shore diving. We went to Karpata and Cliff. Both dives were great. One thing we didn’t realize though is that the road shortly before Karpata becomes one way (to the North). In planning our dives, it would have been better to do Karpata second and a dive site south of Karpata first. The road to the North is fine, but when you have to go South, the driving is very slow because it is just a gravel road. We ate dinner at Pasa Bon Pizza. The pizza was outstanding.

On Wednesday, we went shore diving again. We dove the Hilma Hooker first (our max depth was 90 feet). It was fun to see a wreck (we have only seen a few). We then went to Angel City. Another diver we had talked to on Tuesday, had highly recommended this site. It was incredible! We saw so many fish and so many schools of fish. I loved this dive. We went to the 2nd reef at Angel City and headed South. We stayed at about 40 feet most of the time. This was one of my favorites. We ate dinner at Swiss Chalet. Everyone recommends the potatoes that come with dinner and they were delicious. We also did two night dives. It was a full moon, so a beautiful night for diving. We had talked to Christian (a DM with Toucan Diving) about a guided dive to Salt Pier and Town Pier. He was not able to get permits for salt pier, but he did for Town Pier. We had talked to him about this on Saturday. If you want to do these dives, make sure you plan ahead. Since we couldn’t do salt pier, we first went to Salt City. We saw an octopus, which made the dive for me. We then did Town Pier. We didn’t put in until about 10 pm, so it was not very busy with lots of divers. That helped. The highlight of the dive was a large brown seahorse. This was the biggest seahorse I have seen.

On Thursday, we did shore diving. We went to Vista Blue and Pink Beach. I really liked Pink Beach. It felt like I was on a fish “highway”. Lots of fish swimming by. We at dinner at Bistro de Paris. It was good.

Friday (our last day L), we did boat dives. We went to Thousand Steps and Nearest Point (Klein Bonaire). I was glad that I didn’t have to do the steps for this site (if I was shore diving).

I didn’t put specifics in for our dives, but basically all dives were 1 hour for time. Most dives were between 40-60 feet max depth.

We were happy with our accommodations at the Plaza. We stayed in a Grand Suite Ocean View. It had a beautiful view of the ocean and it was nice to have a fridge in the room. I like having the beach at the Plaza. Toucan Diving is an excellent dive shop. The staff at Plaza was very polite and helpful. We even left an ipod in the room after we checked out and they mailed it back to us. The only drawback is that Plaza is quite large, so you get used to walking to get to things (pool, dive shop, restaurant, etc.), but it’s not that bad. Next year, we are bringing the kids and want full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, etc. The villas at the Plaza are not on the ocean, and we wanted a smaller resort. We visited several while we were in Bonaire and decided on Belmar for next year.

Sorry, I don’t have pictures worthy of posting. My $40 underwater camera just didn’t take high quality pictures (imagine that!)

Thanks again to all the quality posts on this site that helped us to plan our trip.

Janet,
Great report, thanks for taking the time. It's not helping my PBE though (4 weeks and counting). This island is just addictive, isn't it?

Delightful report, Janet! I like the way you told your story.....

Nice report, Janet. One comment though: I believe it's "Divi Tree", not "Divi 3".

Great report, Janet ! Trip reports are my favorite part of BT and I get all excited when there is a new one!

I was wondering myself about the "Divi 3" dive site... lol... maybe you got a divemaster with a speech impediment? LMAO!

One, Two, Tree, Go !!

Glad you had fun and would still love to see pics... frankly bad pics are better than no pics ! And even a bad pic is still a Bonaire pic !

Wonderful report Janet! You'll love the BelMar. We stayed there last year with our two boys and absolutely loved it (so much so that we'll be back again at the end of this year).

Excellent report Janet, thanks for taking the time to post. I was wondering about Divi 3 also.

Agree about the Plaza, nice place to big. I got real tired of that walk from the parking lot/dive shop to the room. I felt like I spent half my vacation walking the Plaza.

sounds like you had a wonderful trip. I'll bet you are already looking forward to the next trip with the boys. thanks, scott

Thanks for sharing the great report!

This was just about the clearest most concise and efficient trip report I have read in the last five years... excellent. Just enough info. Glad you had a nice time!

Carl

Nice report Janet..You'll like Belmar which is one of our favorites..In fact we're staying there this Feb.. Much more intimate then Plaza. However, the only thing I'm not crazy about at Belmar is the lack of privacy on the seaside terrace with the adjoining terraces of your next store neighbors.

\image {view from our room}

This is the Town Pier.

Here is some staghorn coral and a beautiful seafan.

Thank you for the nice feedback. I read so many great trip reports, I was nervous about posting mine. You asked for some pictures, it took me a few tries to figure out how to post them but I think I got it to work.

Nice shots, Janet. Post more!

Janet - thanks for you thorough report.
And thanks for the pic's - you're doing just fine
More pic's? Please

Great report... more pictures, please ???

Notice we don't care about the quality of your pics Janet?? We have PBD so bad, we MUST see anything you have to offer!! Actually that sea fan pic is really cool!

Thanks for your trip report and pictures. We are leaving from Houston on the 29th for a week on Bonaire. This will be our 4th trip and your report sure makes me wish the next 16 days would hurry up and go by.

Thanks again
Andy