Bonaire Diving

Sunday, November 11, 2001

012-9.000 N
068-16.800 W

The diving in Bonaire is spectacular. Their license places say "Diver's Paradise" and they don't lie. Bonaire undoubdtly has some of the best diving that I've ever seen. Visability is generally 100+ feet.

The reef surrounding the island is very steep. Typically there's a small flat area of reef at about 30 feet and then a very steep wall that drops off to 130-200 feet. For example, BlueJacket was moored in 11 feet of water. Amidship there was 11 feet and there was 53 feet at the transom.

The dive guide lists 86 sites, all of which are 3 or 4 stars (4 being best). At each dive site there's supposed to be a mooring bouy where you can attach your dinghy or boat. I chewed through lots of gasoline (at $4/gal) zipping between sites with dive gear. You quickly learn the limitations of a 9.8 HP motor!

A boat named Journey was in Bonaire & we dove together most of the time. That was nice. Jim & Mary were new divers, so they're going to be spoiled.

Our favorite dives were on Klein Bonaire, which is a small island just off Kralendijk, where we were moored. The dive sites around "Rock Pile" were our favorites, however getting back from there in a dinghy proves to be a wet/jolting proposition. We also learned that you have to be veyr cautious of strong surface currents.

From here it's on to Curacao & then back home to Boston.

-- Geoff
Log ID: 137