Bonaire: March, 1997

Travel We visited Bonaire during the third week of March, 1997, as part of a group from Seaside Dive Shop, St. Clair Shores, MI. We traveled from the US mainland to Kralendijk via ALM Airlines from Maimi. We rented a Suzuki 4x4 from Budget at the airport and drove a short distance to our condo. We recommend reserving a vehicle in advance as many that did not reserve them could not get them when they arrived (particularly 4x4's). If you intend to visit Washington-Slagbaii National Park (highly recommended), get a 4x4. If you only plan on using the vehicle on paved roads for shore diving, you can get by with a 2WD vehicle.

Accomodations The Sand Dollar is a fabulous condominium resort, right on the beachfront. There were four of us in our group so we arranged a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with full kitchen. There was also a living/dining room complete with cable TV (although I only recall watching CNN to see how bad the weather was at home). We also had a patio with chaise lounge chairs for relaxing in the sun. Our condo was on the first floor about 50 yards from the dive shop which meant that we didn't have to worry about getting to the dive boat late. The Sand Dollar offers numerous different room arrangements that can probably satisfy anyone.

Food Sand Dollar has a pretty nice restaurant on site -- The Green Parrot. I think that you can arrange a meal plan although we did not. We only ate there one time. The food was fine, just expensive. We did drink there more than once though!!!! This trip was about diving and nothing else so we did most of our cooking at the condo. Groceries were available in town, but prices were steep. Fortunately, we had packed lots of dried food like noodles and rice. We picked up milk and cereal for breakfasts and of course beer for after diving.

Activities You mean there's more to Bonaire than diving? There sure is! In my opinion, the best way to tour Bonaire is in a convertible 4x4 vehicle. However, if you plan on doing this, remember that you will need lots of sunscreen!! Don't miss Washington Slagbaii National Park. It's one of the few places on Bonaire where you can see flamingos! If you're into hiking, you can climb to the highest point on the island. It only takes about 2 hours round trip and it is worth the view. Just remember to bring lots of water!! If you're not into hiking, there are snorkeling and dive sites within the park that make a really nice stop. We made a day out of the trip. A drive to the south will take you past the Solar Salt Factory. If you're lucky, there will be a ship at the pier filling it's hold with salt. Drive a little further and you'll come to the slave huts. It's frightening to think that people actually lived there. If you make the drive around sunset, you may see flocks of flamingos on their way to Venezuela for the night. If you head over to the windward side of the island you can do some windsurfing!

Diving If you are going to Bonaire, you are going to dive. We had arranged a package with the Sand Dollar Dive and Photo (on-site) for two boat dives a day plus unlimited shore diving. If I were to go back, I might just opt for shore diving. Sure, you cannot get out to Klein Bonaire except by boat, but almost every other dive site is accessible from shore. Besides, you cannot beat the freedom of shore diving. The Sand Dollar runs orientation first thing Sunday morning to get you familar with their system. Everyone is assigned a number and all of the dive boats are listed on a big board each day. To sign up for a boat, just put your number on the board -- it's that simple. Just make sure that you show up for any dive you sign up for. Tanks for shore/night diving are reserved the same way. We started with a check-out dive off the pier at Sand Dollar. Everyone is asked to do a check out dive to make sure that you're bouyancy is good. The people of Bonaire are very concerned about the health of their reef system and they don't want you crashing down on it because you are overweighted. The reef off Sand Dollar (Bari Reef) is excellent during the day and even better at night. There is a good sized snook that follows behind night divers waiting for them to blind a small fish with their lights so it can get an easy meal. The first time it happens to you can be a bit alarming! Bonaire is about reef diving, not wreck diving. Nonetheless, the Hilma Hooker wreck is very popular. It lies on it's side in a sand channel at a depth of just about 100'. There are some really nice swim throughs and good photo-ops. We encountered a huge school of horse-eye jacks while we were there. Our favorite dive site was Aquarius. We did it as a shore dive. It was the site of the giant sea life. We saw the worlds largest spiny lobster, a 5' blue spotted coronetfish, and a loggerhead turtle. Every dive on the island was fantastic.

Copyright © 2001 Kris Warmann. All Rights Reserved.