I have just returned for a week diving in Bonaire. The trip was organised by my local dive school in the UK and six of us went. Bonaire is not the easiest of places to get to from the UK and required a short hop to Amsterdam before a transatlantic flight to Aruba. After a 90 minutes stop for the plane to be cleaned, it was a short hop to Bonaire. On arrival at Bonaire we had to purchase a vista, which we were not expecting. It was a now scheme started this year. This is in addition to the STINAPA park fees.
After clearing customs we were picked up by the hotel’s private transport and taken to Belmar Ocean View apartments. After checking in, we selected our rooms, showered and turned in.
On arrival a mini bus took us to Belmar OceanFront Apartments, our accommodation for the week. In the morning we registered in reception and collected the keys to our flatbed trucks. It was now time to dive.
For the 1st day we decided to dive on the apartments house reef. On the 1st dive we were lucky enough to see a beautiful eagle ray swim passed as well as plenty of other fish and corals. On the 3rd dive we found a seahorse hiding in hard coral. To finish the day a few of us jumped in for a night dive. It was not long into the dive and 3 or 4 tarpons joined us for the rest of the dive. As we were all tired, we decided on wincing our kit and visiting the restaurant across the street for a pizza, before turning in for the night.
After a quick breakfast in the accommodation, we decided to head north for the day and we agreed on the dive sites. We tested our Nitrox cylinders and loaded the kit into the trucks before heading off. Unfortunately, we did not have a decent map of the island and we left our valuables, including phones in the room, so we followed our noses as we drove through Kralendijk, the capital and headed north. There appeared to be only one road following the coast north and we soon found our first reef of the day, Andrea 1. We parked in the carpark, kited up and left the trucks unlocked as recommend. Walked along a wooded path for 30m to the entry point and started our dive. Nice coral and plenty of fish but nothing noteworthy.
After the dive we exited the water and walk back through the wooded area to the trucks. We drove further north to our next dive site, 1000 Steps. The car park was large and busy, it appeared to be on of the stops for the cruise liner island sightseeing tours and a popular beach. We kitted up and walk down the steps to the beach, fortunately around 90 steps not 1,000. Again, another interesting dive but nothing out the ordinary. After the dive we slowly walked back up the steps with our kit on and changed at the trucks, before heading to lunch at Blennies restaurant, Buddy’s resort. After lunch we went through the drive through tank exchange, to analyse and collect fresh tanks before driving to Oil Slick Leap for our 3rd dive site.
Again, it was a large car park but there were only a few trucks there. We kitted up and walked to the entry point. It was an uneven approach to the edge, then we needed to do a giant stride into the water. On this dive we saw a couple of large moray eels swimming in open water. On returning to the entry / exit point, we removed our fins and climbed the metal ladder and walked back across the uneven surface to the car park.
We returned to our accommodation, winced our kit and showered. We had decided to return to Blennies for dinner during our lunch break, so we meet up at the trucks and drove back through Kralendijk and had an enjoyable but slow meal beside the sea.
After a quick breakfast and loading the trucks, we drove the short journey to Salt Pier, and working pier for loading salt onto the ships, from the slat lakes. We checked to see if the dive site was open, as it is shut when a ship is due or alongside the pier. Wow, what a dive. You start by swimming across a sandy bottom and here you can find juvenile turtles, just swimming and playing with each other. Once you start to reach the pier and the reef drop off, you start to notice all the shoals of fish clustered around the pillars of the pier. Swimming over the drop off we found a few tarpons and barracudas swimming along the reef wall. This was my favourite dive site of the week.
We surfaced, changed our cylinders and drove to our 2nd dive site of the day, the wreck of the Hilma Hooker. Again, there was a short swim across the sandy bottom before heading over the reef. As we descended, we noticed the bow of the wreck coming into focus. The Hilma Hooked lays on her starboard side with her bottom to the reef wall. Its an interesting wreck with easy swim throughs and plenty of wildlife.
After surfacing, we changed and headed back to Belmar for a quick bite to eat and collect full tanks, before heading back down south for an afternoon of diving. We selected Red Beryl and Alice in Wonderland as our two dives. Both dives were similar with a short sandy swim and then a reef wall. Beautiful corals and plenty of fish but noting noteworthy.
We returned to Belmar to rinse our kit and change before going to dinner at El Bigote, a Mexican restaurant which was recommended to us. Probably the best dinner we experienced during our stay on Bonaire.
For day 4, we decided on a split day. We planned on diving the morning in the north before returning to our accommodation for a quick lunch break, collecting full tanks and heading south for the afternoon. Our 1st dive of the day was Ol’ Blue (Toto) and the 2nd Karpata. Both very enjoyable and highlighted the difference between north and south of the island. Both these dives the reef is close to shore and deep drop offs, providing a wall to dive along. In contrast the afternoon dives at Jeannie’s Glory and Aquarius, highlighted the to shallow sandy bottom before the start of the coral and shorter wall down to another sandy bottom. After diving the normal routine kicked in and we returned to our accommodation for kit rinsing, showering and then heading out for dinner. This evening we went to Rum Runners for another excellent meal. Over dinner we all agreed we were glad we had dived the sites up north of the island but we preferred diving in the south.
As a result of the discussion the previous evening we decided to select 4 dives towards the south. We 1st drove to the southern tip of Bonaire but due to large waves and a strong wind, we scrubbed that idea and headed north a bit to find calmer water. The dive site we finally dived were Vista Blue, Invisibles, Pink Beach (Kabaye) and Salt City. Invisibles was an interesting site, as there was a double reef with a sandy bottom in between, with sand eels poking out their borrows. After the usual process of kit and personal cleaning, we returned to El Bigote for dinner. Over our food we agreed to return to our three favourite southern sites for our last days diving.
After the normal quick breakfast in the apartment, testing the tanks and loaded the trucks, we set off for our last day of diving. For the first dive we returned to Vista Blue, before moving onto the wreck of the Hilma Hooker and finally finishing on everyone’s favourite Salt Pier. Salt Pier offered so much, from turtles on the sandy shallows, shoals of fish around the pillars and tarpons on the wall. We returned to the apartment, washed our kit, hung it to dry and then we all agreed to drive around the southern part of the island. Once we got to the eastern side of the island, we visited Lac Bay and stopped for a drink at Sebastian Beach. For our last evening meal, we pushed the boat out and went to Sebastian’s.
For our last day we had agreed with the Belmar reception, we could checkout and return the trucks to the main Buddies Resort. We spent the day around the pool before being collected and taken to the airport.
Andrew Grundy (#AGScuba) 
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