Who: Tom Nic and wife Cindy, Tim M. and wife Kit, Bnboly and Bassman. The wives were the only non-divers, so deserve special kudos for enduring four smelly divers for two weeks. Much thanks to each of my friends for managing to put up with my craziness for a whole two weeks. Wonderful company, great peeps, ‘nuff said!
What: Two weeks of (hopefully) rest, relaxation and DIVING OUR FACES OFF! (Yes, I understand that those things can be somewhat contradictory, if not mutually exclusive.)
Where: Bonaire, Dutch Antilles. Bonaire is in the Southern Caribbean, 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Due to the far-sightedness of a few individuals the waters around Bonaire have been a Marine Park since the 1970’s. No spearfishing or fishing or collecting of anything from the shoreline to the 200 fsw level is allowed, and this has been fairly strictly (not perfectly) enforced.
Bonaire truly lives up to it’s billing as a Diver’s Paradise, IMHO!
Almost the entire leeward side of the island is diveable, and if you include the small leeward island of Klein Bonaire there are around 80 named dive sites on the Bonaire, most of the marked with a painted yellow rock, plus many more places that you can dive that aren’t marked.
Bonaire is a fairly small island that you can easily drive in a couple of hours tops. The resident population is around 12,000 people and approximately 75,000 divers a year visit the island and purchase a Marine Park Tag ($25.00) which allows you to dive for the calendar year. The annual diving fee and a $10.00 snorkeling fee for non-divers go to Stinapa, the organization that oversees the Marine Park.
Our Accommodations – there are multiple properties for pretty much every budget available for the visitor to rent, ranging from fairly Spartan to pretty luxurious homes. Most places can set you up with a rental truck and a dive package that includes tanks and weights and either air or nitrox. (Why wouldn’t you want to use nitrox for the diving here?!?) Most of the places that you get your tanks, weights, and gas through also have rental gear available should you so desire. Some places have meals that can be included in the price of your stay, and there is a fairly nice selection of restaurants if you want to go that direction. Info Bonaire and Bonaire Talk are two good places to start your research.
We stayed at The Golden Reef Inn, a small property to the North of the main town. It has 8 apartments, a small pool, and breakfast available. (They can make arrangements for other meals if you’re so inclined, but the price isn’t that great IMO.) I’ve stayed here every time I’ve come to Bonaire and just love it! It is clean and comfortable and a good value for the $$, and since my priority is diving (not laying by a swimming pool and getting a massage) it is just perfect, YMMV. They have a variety of packages available and have treated us very well every time we’ve gone.
The Diving: OH-MY-GOODNESS! I did 37 dives in two weeks and was definitely not pushing it. Most of the folks who came with us did around 30ish dives – we did mostly shallow, slow, 1 hour dives – I called them our “extended safety stop diving” as we would end up spending a good 30 minutes or more in the 20 to 25 fsw range taking pictures. Three of the four of us are photography junkies and even Bassman got into it with the underwater case for his Casio.
If your priority for a trip is DIVING then you’ll have a hard time finding a better bang for your buck than Bonaire, at least in the Caribbean. That’s a pretty bold statement, & in terms of some liveaboards or places with lots of great boat diving there are certainly comparable destinations. However, for sheer life and health of the reef combined with “grab your tanks and let’s go diving 24/7/365 and not dive the same site twice in 3 weeks” Bonaire just can’t be beat.
Bonaire bills itself as “the home of diving freedom”, I couldn’t agree more. On arrival we pick up a map of the island (complete with listings of around 80 dive sites – what island map has THAT on it?!) either in the airport or when we get our vehicle. In 4 trips and over 100 dives I’ve hit around 60 different dive sites, marked and unmarked, and never been disappointed.
Before you get there pick up the “Bible” of Bonaire shore diving, Susan Porter’s “Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy”. It’s a small book, no pics, but worth WAY MORE than the glossy, picture filled books you’ll pick up on Bonaire. It is a “go to the big rock pile and turn left after the second tree” kind of book, and INVALUABLE for safely diving Bonaire’s abundant but sometimes not so easy to get into shore diving sites.
After getting our truck we purchase our Stinapa Tag, pick up weights, and proceed to fill up the truck with tanks and GO!
The Critters: Besides the diving freedom and 100’ viz Bonaire is about the critters for me. Do yourself a favor and pick up Humann and Deloach’s 3 Volume Reef set before you go. You can find it on Amazon for around $75, or you can get it at the REEF site and pay a little more but consider it a help to the cause.
The West (leeward) side of Bonaire has TONS of smaller fish and invert life – not many pelagics, though you may (and I have) see dolphins, stingrays, eagle rays, large tarpon, and great barracuda.
Sharks and more larger critters are more abundant on the East (windward) side of the island and there are operations that go there, and most of your diving ops will do guided trips for you. The East side is not called the wildside for nothing, and diving there on your own can literally get you killed if you’re not careful, and maybe even if you are careful. Save yourself the headache and do guided dives here, or better yet come in September when the trade winds die down and diving gets much easier here.
After the initial joyful “rush” to get tanks and weights and get in the water we begin to settle into a simple, daily, at times almost monastic routine. We talk over when and where we’re diving the next day, then grab some breakfast, sometimes take lunch, and head out for 2-4 dives.
Perhaps it’s because Bonaire isn’t new to me, perhaps it’s because I have 2 weeks instead of 1, perhaps it’s because I’m old and tired, but I find myself relaxing, slowing down, and letting the 85 degree water and underwater beauty soak into my soul. At first I take lots of pictures of as much stuff as I can, then I find myself slowing down even more and watching and waiting for that “one thing” that each dive seems to produce if I’ll watch for it. Sometimes that “one thing” will be a Reef Squid laying eggs or a Lettuce Slug or a Flamingo Tongue Cowrie.
Sometimes it will be as subtle and delicate as a cleaner shrimp, or Secretary Blenny, or even an unusually colored Christmas tree worm.
On some days it was a quarry that we had been hunting for some time, like a Seahorse or Frogfish.
Some days it would be an encounter with a school of Jacks, or the attack of the killer damselfish, or the unexpected opportunity to shoot a pic of a fish that to this moment would simply NOT hold still!
On other days it would be the absolutely unexpected – like this open jawed moment with an otherwise stationary Scorpionfish that left Keith and I shouting into our regulators in amazement.
Whatever the event, every dive brought its magical moments, and as one dive turned to two, then three, and as our days come one after another we entered a child like state of wonder and amazement combined with an anticipation that would deepen with each passing day.
I’ll always have a special place in my heart for this amazing little island, and God willing will always find time to return. This report doesn't even begin to cover our experience of two weeks. If you’re fortunate enough to get the opportunity to dive there I’m betting you will feel the same!
Thanks for reading,
Tom Nic
...and of course I've never done much for property values anyway, so too bad about the neighborhood! 
