Bonaire by Cruise

Caribbean Girl wrote:
> What kind of transportation would be involved in this plan? Would he just
> take a taxi to the rental shop and to the dive spots?
>
>
> "Joe English" <joeenglish2@wisperhome.com> wrote:
> >
> > Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
> > book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple of
> > tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how long you
> > are in Bonaire.

One hitch with this will be the Bonaire Marine Park "permit" and
checkout dive requirement. To avoid losing a lot of time on a single
day visit, it may be wise to do some prior arrangements.

For who/where to dive with, if the cruise line is using the pier that's
south of town, a very short walk south gets you to the Divi Flamingo
hotel complex, where there's a diveshop.

Its been a few years since I've been to Bonaire, but I'd say that this
is probably only a 100m walk (from the Flamingo, we used to walk past
the pier when going into town for dinner).

I'd also recommend checking out: http://www.infobonaire.com/

And asking for advice on the discusion groups at:
http://www.bonairetalk.com/



-hh

Caribbean Girl wrote:
> What kind of transportation would be involved in this plan? Would he just
> take a taxi to the rental shop and to the dive spots?
>
>
> "Joe English" <joeenglish2@wisperhome.com> wrote:
> >
> > Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
> > book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple of
> > tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how long you
> > are in Bonaire.

One hitch with this will be the Bonaire Marine Park "permit" and
checkout dive requirement. To avoid losing a lot of time on a single
day visit, it may be wise to do some prior arrangements.

For who/where to dive with, if the cruise line is using the pier that's
south of town, a very short walk south gets you to the Divi Flamingo
hotel complex, where there's a diveshop.

Its been a few years since I've been to Bonaire, but I'd say that this
is probably only a 100m walk (from the Flamingo, we used to walk past
the pier when going into town for dinner).

I'd also recommend checking out: http://www.infobonaire.com/

And asking for advice on the discusion groups at:
http://www.bonairetalk.com/



-hh

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Joe English wrote:
>> Caribbean Girl wrote:
>
> < I wonder WHY the same post under two different subjects >
>
> Ok, I take it as a valid reason that the one I responded to was posted
> ONLY in rec.travel.cruises, and perhaps as an after thought that the
> scuba divers may know more, that this was cross-posted to three
> other groups, including rec.scuba and rec.scuba.locations -- the latter
> should draw useful INFO about diving in Bonaire.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
>> book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple
>> of tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how
>> long you are in Bonaire.
>>
>> Doesn't need a boat - just gear and tanks (you can rent the gear too)
>
> Good advice about the shore diving on rented tanks. The itinerary:
>
>
> Day Port Arrival Departure
>
> 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico 11:00 PM
> 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
> 3 St. Kitts, St. Kitts & Nevis 7:00 AM 3:00 PM
> 4 Grenada 9:00 AM 3:00 PM
> 5 Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles 12:00 PM 7:00 PM
> 6 Aruba 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
> 7 At Sea
> 8 San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM
>
> There are scuba diving opportunities at St. Thomas, St. Kitts
> (crummy),
> Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba.
>
> For those like myself who are over the 4-5 dives a day on liveaboards,
> this will be a suitable "dive cruise" to do one or two dives per port
> over
> several of the well-known Caribbean dive locations.

Then any reef shore dive off any of the common sites in Bonaire would be
spectacular. By far, the best diving of the places above. St Thomas, imo,
had some pretty nice diving and I was pleasantly surprised, although I was
there only briefly (via a cruise). Diving in Aruba is just a watered down
version of diving in Bonaire. Aruba has many other things to offer and I'd
recommend spending your time and dollars elsewhere. If you haven't been
there, I'd recommend one of their "jeep adventure tours" which gets you to
most of the cool sites and you get to drive across the back side of the
island in a jeep, which is fun all by itself.

As another poster mentioned, you should try to take care of getting your
marine dive permit which is required (annually) to dive in Bonaire. I
think it's still $10.

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Joe English wrote:
>> Caribbean Girl wrote:
>
> < I wonder WHY the same post under two different subjects >
>
> Ok, I take it as a valid reason that the one I responded to was posted
> ONLY in rec.travel.cruises, and perhaps as an after thought that the
> scuba divers may know more, that this was cross-posted to three
> other groups, including rec.scuba and rec.scuba.locations -- the latter
> should draw useful INFO about diving in Bonaire.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
>> book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple
>> of tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how
>> long you are in Bonaire.
>>
>> Doesn't need a boat - just gear and tanks (you can rent the gear too)
>
> Good advice about the shore diving on rented tanks. The itinerary:
>
>
> Day Port Arrival Departure
>
> 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico 11:00 PM
> 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
> 3 St. Kitts, St. Kitts & Nevis 7:00 AM 3:00 PM
> 4 Grenada 9:00 AM 3:00 PM
> 5 Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles 12:00 PM 7:00 PM
> 6 Aruba 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
> 7 At Sea
> 8 San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM
>
> There are scuba diving opportunities at St. Thomas, St. Kitts
> (crummy),
> Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba.
>
> For those like myself who are over the 4-5 dives a day on liveaboards,
> this will be a suitable "dive cruise" to do one or two dives per port
> over
> several of the well-known Caribbean dive locations.

Then any reef shore dive off any of the common sites in Bonaire would be
spectacular. By far, the best diving of the places above. St Thomas, imo,
had some pretty nice diving and I was pleasantly surprised, although I was
there only briefly (via a cruise). Diving in Aruba is just a watered down
version of diving in Bonaire. Aruba has many other things to offer and I'd
recommend spending your time and dollars elsewhere. If you haven't been
there, I'd recommend one of their "jeep adventure tours" which gets you to
most of the cool sites and you get to drive across the back side of the
island in a jeep, which is fun all by itself.

As another poster mentioned, you should try to take care of getting your
marine dive permit which is required (annually) to dive in Bonaire. I
think it's still $10.

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Joe English wrote:
>> Caribbean Girl wrote:
>
> < I wonder WHY the same post under two different subjects >
>
> Ok, I take it as a valid reason that the one I responded to was posted
> ONLY in rec.travel.cruises, and perhaps as an after thought that the
> scuba divers may know more, that this was cross-posted to three
> other groups, including rec.scuba and rec.scuba.locations -- the latter
> should draw useful INFO about diving in Bonaire.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
>> book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple
>> of tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how
>> long you are in Bonaire.
>>
>> Doesn't need a boat - just gear and tanks (you can rent the gear too)
>
> Good advice about the shore diving on rented tanks. The itinerary:
>
>
> Day Port Arrival Departure
>
> 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico 11:00 PM
> 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
> 3 St. Kitts, St. Kitts & Nevis 7:00 AM 3:00 PM
> 4 Grenada 9:00 AM 3:00 PM
> 5 Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles 12:00 PM 7:00 PM
> 6 Aruba 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
> 7 At Sea
> 8 San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM
>
> There are scuba diving opportunities at St. Thomas, St. Kitts
> (crummy),
> Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba.
>
> For those like myself who are over the 4-5 dives a day on liveaboards,
> this will be a suitable "dive cruise" to do one or two dives per port
> over
> several of the well-known Caribbean dive locations.

Then any reef shore dive off any of the common sites in Bonaire would be
spectacular. By far, the best diving of the places above. St Thomas, imo,
had some pretty nice diving and I was pleasantly surprised, although I was
there only briefly (via a cruise). Diving in Aruba is just a watered down
version of diving in Bonaire. Aruba has many other things to offer and I'd
recommend spending your time and dollars elsewhere. If you haven't been
there, I'd recommend one of their "jeep adventure tours" which gets you to
most of the cool sites and you get to drive across the back side of the
island in a jeep, which is fun all by itself.

As another poster mentioned, you should try to take care of getting your
marine dive permit which is required (annually) to dive in Bonaire. I
think it's still $10.

Skeptic wrote:
> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> >
> > Joe English wrote:
> >> Caribbean Girl wrote:
> >
> > < I wonder WHY the same post under two different subjects >
> >
> > Ok, I take it as a valid reason that the one I responded to was posted
> > ONLY in rec.travel.cruises, and perhaps as an after thought that the
> > scuba divers may know more, that this was cross-posted to three
> > other groups, including rec.scuba and rec.scuba.locations -- the latter
> > should draw useful INFO about diving in Bonaire.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
> >> book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple
> >> of tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how
> >> long you are in Bonaire.
> >>
> >> Doesn't need a boat - just gear and tanks (you can rent the gear too)
> >
> > Good advice about the shore diving on rented tanks. The itinerary:
> >
> >
> > Day Port Arrival Departure
> >
> > 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico 11:00 PM
> > 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
> > 3 St. Kitts, St. Kitts & Nevis 7:00 AM 3:00 PM
> > 4 Grenada 9:00 AM 3:00 PM
> > 5 Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles 12:00 PM 7:00 PM
> > 6 Aruba 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
> > 7 At Sea
> > 8 San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM
> >
> > There are scuba diving opportunities at St. Thomas, St. Kitts
> > (crummy),
> > Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba.
> >
> > For those like myself who are over the 4-5 dives a day on liveaboards,
> > this will be a suitable "dive cruise" to do one or two dives per port
> > over
> > several of the well-known Caribbean dive locations.
>
> Then any reef shore dive off any of the common sites in Bonaire would be
> spectacular. By far, the best diving of the places above. St Thomas, imo,
> had some pretty nice diving and I was pleasantly surprised, although I was
> there only briefly (via a cruise).

Had a few good dives there; and a few forgetable dives there. Nothing
to get excited about.


> Diving in Aruba is just a watered down
> version of diving in Bonaire. Aruba has many other things to offer and I'd
> recommend spending your time and dollars elsewhere. If you haven't been
> there, I'd recommend one of their "jeep adventure tours" which gets you to
> most of the cool sites and you get to drive across the back side of the
> island in a jeep, which is fun all by itself.

Pretty good idea. To see the blow holes and the "other" side of the
island. Unfortunately the "Natural bridge" was blown down by the
hurricane last year. But the island has many quaint sightseeing
sites,
including a huge anchor (on land) that seems 10-15 feet tall.

But for a 1 day port of call on a cruise, you can't see even a small
fraction of everything that's worth seeing.

-- Bob.

Skeptic wrote:
> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> >
> > Joe English wrote:
> >> Caribbean Girl wrote:
> >
> > < I wonder WHY the same post under two different subjects >
> >
> > Ok, I take it as a valid reason that the one I responded to was posted
> > ONLY in rec.travel.cruises, and perhaps as an after thought that the
> > scuba divers may know more, that this was cross-posted to three
> > other groups, including rec.scuba and rec.scuba.locations -- the latter
> > should draw useful INFO about diving in Bonaire.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
> >> book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple
> >> of tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how
> >> long you are in Bonaire.
> >>
> >> Doesn't need a boat - just gear and tanks (you can rent the gear too)
> >
> > Good advice about the shore diving on rented tanks. The itinerary:
> >
> >
> > Day Port Arrival Departure
> >
> > 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico 11:00 PM
> > 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
> > 3 St. Kitts, St. Kitts & Nevis 7:00 AM 3:00 PM
> > 4 Grenada 9:00 AM 3:00 PM
> > 5 Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles 12:00 PM 7:00 PM
> > 6 Aruba 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
> > 7 At Sea
> > 8 San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM
> >
> > There are scuba diving opportunities at St. Thomas, St. Kitts
> > (crummy),
> > Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba.
> >
> > For those like myself who are over the 4-5 dives a day on liveaboards,
> > this will be a suitable "dive cruise" to do one or two dives per port
> > over
> > several of the well-known Caribbean dive locations.
>
> Then any reef shore dive off any of the common sites in Bonaire would be
> spectacular. By far, the best diving of the places above. St Thomas, imo,
> had some pretty nice diving and I was pleasantly surprised, although I was
> there only briefly (via a cruise).

Had a few good dives there; and a few forgetable dives there. Nothing
to get excited about.


> Diving in Aruba is just a watered down
> version of diving in Bonaire. Aruba has many other things to offer and I'd
> recommend spending your time and dollars elsewhere. If you haven't been
> there, I'd recommend one of their "jeep adventure tours" which gets you to
> most of the cool sites and you get to drive across the back side of the
> island in a jeep, which is fun all by itself.

Pretty good idea. To see the blow holes and the "other" side of the
island. Unfortunately the "Natural bridge" was blown down by the
hurricane last year. But the island has many quaint sightseeing
sites,
including a huge anchor (on land) that seems 10-15 feet tall.

But for a 1 day port of call on a cruise, you can't see even a small
fraction of everything that's worth seeing.

-- Bob.

Skeptic wrote:
> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> >
> > Joe English wrote:
> >> Caribbean Girl wrote:
> >
> > < I wonder WHY the same post under two different subjects >
> >
> > Ok, I take it as a valid reason that the one I responded to was posted
> > ONLY in rec.travel.cruises, and perhaps as an after thought that the
> > scuba divers may know more, that this was cross-posted to three
> > other groups, including rec.scuba and rec.scuba.locations -- the latter
> > should draw useful INFO about diving in Bonaire.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> Bonaire is well known for its shore diving - my advice would be to not
> >> book thru the boat - if he has his gear go to a dive shop rent a couple
> >> of tanks and dive - he can probably get in 3 - 4 dives depending how
> >> long you are in Bonaire.
> >>
> >> Doesn't need a boat - just gear and tanks (you can rent the gear too)
> >
> > Good advice about the shore diving on rented tanks. The itinerary:
> >
> >
> > Day Port Arrival Departure
> >
> > 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico 11:00 PM
> > 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
> > 3 St. Kitts, St. Kitts & Nevis 7:00 AM 3:00 PM
> > 4 Grenada 9:00 AM 3:00 PM
> > 5 Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles 12:00 PM 7:00 PM
> > 6 Aruba 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
> > 7 At Sea
> > 8 San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:00 AM
> >
> > There are scuba diving opportunities at St. Thomas, St. Kitts
> > (crummy),
> > Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba.
> >
> > For those like myself who are over the 4-5 dives a day on liveaboards,
> > this will be a suitable "dive cruise" to do one or two dives per port
> > over
> > several of the well-known Caribbean dive locations.
>
> Then any reef shore dive off any of the common sites in Bonaire would be
> spectacular. By far, the best diving of the places above. St Thomas, imo,
> had some pretty nice diving and I was pleasantly surprised, although I was
> there only briefly (via a cruise).

Had a few good dives there; and a few forgetable dives there. Nothing
to get excited about.


> Diving in Aruba is just a watered down
> version of diving in Bonaire. Aruba has many other things to offer and I'd
> recommend spending your time and dollars elsewhere. If you haven't been
> there, I'd recommend one of their "jeep adventure tours" which gets you to
> most of the cool sites and you get to drive across the back side of the
> island in a jeep, which is fun all by itself.

Pretty good idea. To see the blow holes and the "other" side of the
island. Unfortunately the "Natural bridge" was blown down by the
hurricane last year. But the island has many quaint sightseeing
sites,
including a huge anchor (on land) that seems 10-15 feet tall.

But for a 1 day port of call on a cruise, you can't see even a small
fraction of everything that's worth seeing.

-- Bob.

On 24 May 2006 18:35:53 -0700, "Reef Fish"
<Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote:

>Unfortunately the "Natural bridge" was blown down by the
>hurricane last year.

Hi Everyone,

As a clarification the above is not correct. Here is one of the many
news reports available. Of course there was no hurricane at the time.


Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
--

On 24 May 2006 18:35:53 -0700, "Reef Fish"
<Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote:

>Unfortunately the "Natural bridge" was blown down by the
>hurricane last year.

Hi Everyone,

As a clarification the above is not correct. Here is one of the many
news reports available. Of course there was no hurricane at the time.


Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
--