Captain Don’s boat dock — right beside your breakfast table!
Boat diving on Bonaire is a bit different than a lot of dive destinations. Dive sites are clustered around Klein Bonaire (less than half a mile off the main island) and up and down the leeward coast (all within 50 yards of shore). This makes for very short boat trips which require less fuel — and that helps make boat dives pretty cheap compared to most places. The fact that Bonaire shore diving is so accessible and plentiful helps keep the price of boat dives very reasonable (remember, you don’t have to have a boat package to enjoy Bonaire diving.
That being said, how do you argue the pleasures of an attentive crew and a speedy boat to transport you to the best diving on Bonaire? And with a dive master aboard to point out that elusive seahorse or frogfish? Schelping all that gear around, in and out of trucks, and wondering where my swim ladder and transom deck are when it’s time to end a perfectly relaxing dive?
Nuff said. Boat diving works for lots of people. On Bonaire, you ‘ll find many operators such as Captain Don’s and Bonaire Dive & Adventures running multiple boat departures throughout the day, making the short trips for a single tank dive. A few operators, such as Divi Dive, Toucan Diving and Dive Friends offer morning 2-tank trips and afternoon 1-tank trips, as well as Buddy Dive offering a combination of both. At Wannadive, they mix 1-tank boat diving with guided shore diving on packages, depending on demand and the diver’s preferences. And all these come as multi-day packages including shore diving.
Many dive vacation packages come with a specific number of boat dives and shore diving, and these can yield the best value. In some cases, you can customize as desired and get exactly what you want. Be a bit flexible, and a professional will help point you toward the best deal for your Bonaire dive vacation. You can also check out some Dive Package Deals.
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Can you tell me anything about snorkeling on Bonaire? I’d like to stay in an area where I can just walk out of my hotel and into the water to snorkel. I’d like to avoid renting a car, if possible.
Hi Linda — you can stay at any number of oceanfront properties on the island with snorkeling right off shore. Plaza Resort would have some of the best with easy beach access. You can also hire snorkeing guides to take you on special excursions.
I am a diver, but I have told so many folks how wonderful the snorkeling is as well! You can get site recommendations from just about any dive shop. Plaza Resort is terrific, but there are so many, you really can’t lose! I have always liked Windsock!
I stayed 5 days at place in July 2004 on the Southwest side of the island, about one block south of the the southern most Town’s Docks, with a pier just in front of the establishment. It was owned and operated by an American woman and her guy friend. Their was an attached dive shop and had approximately five double, twin bed rooms and maybe three aprtments, all facing the water. I would like to contact them again, but can’t remeber their name…can you help with contact info?
Hi Gregg — that sounds like the Dive Inn … and they are building a new property on that location (luxury oceanfront apartments spring up in place of old oceanfront units on Bonaire like flowers in spring). The dive shop is still there and owned and managed by Dive Friends.
Carolyn — there is a really great spot between Windsock and the Port Bonaire property. My 10 year old son and I were snorkeling in 5 feet of water with a permit the size of a washing machine at this location last summer. Not sure how it fared after Omar, as the elkhorn coral was really dense here in the shallows.
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