Bonaire by Cruise

"Skeptic" <bcs002b@yahoo.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:
:I don't consider myself part of the problem. However, if you have any
:diving experience whatsoever, you know there are plenty of people who are
:"incompetent" or at least very green. These people, armed with gloves, do
:in fact use their hands to bounce from coral head to coral head.

I have dove in lots of places with lots of people and I have never
seen that, gloves or no gloves.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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"Skeptic" <bcs002b@yahoo.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:
:I don't consider myself part of the problem. However, if you have any
:diving experience whatsoever, you know there are plenty of people who are
:"incompetent" or at least very green. These people, armed with gloves, do
:in fact use their hands to bounce from coral head to coral head.

I have dove in lots of places with lots of people and I have never
seen that, gloves or no gloves.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

"Skeptic" <bcs002b@yahoo.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:
:I don't consider myself part of the problem. However, if you have any
:diving experience whatsoever, you know there are plenty of people who are
:"incompetent" or at least very green. These people, armed with gloves, do
:in fact use their hands to bounce from coral head to coral head.

I have dove in lots of places with lots of people and I have never
seen that, gloves or no gloves.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

We sail there in November. We've never been there. My husband is mostly
interested in the off shore diving. I'll probably do an excursion to the
Harbour Village Resort while he dives. The cruise line doesn't seem to
offer an off shore diving package. Does anyone have any suggestions? Can
we all just go to the Harbour Village by cab and maybe find a dive shop that
will allow him to do the diving nearby?

All suggestions are appreciated!

Caribbean Girl wrote:
> We sail there in November. We've never been there. My husband is mostly
> interested in the off shore diving. I'll probably do an excursion to the
> Harbour Village Resort while he dives. The cruise line doesn't seem to
> offer an off shore diving package. Does anyone have any suggestions? Can
> we all just go to the Harbour Village by cab and maybe find a dive shop that
> will allow him to do the diving nearby?
>
> All suggestions are appreciated!
>
>
>
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)

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.

-- Bob,

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 in message
news:4474752a$0$8606$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster.c om...
> Caribbean Girl wrote:
>> We sail there in November. We've never been there. My husband is mostly
>> interested in the off shore diving. I'll probably do an excursion to the
>> Harbour Village Resort while he dives. The cruise line doesn't seem to
>> offer an off shore diving package. Does anyone have any suggestions?
>> Can we all just go to the Harbour Village by cab and maybe find a dive
>> shop that will allow him to do the diving nearby?
>>
>> All suggestions are appreciated!
>>
>>
>>
> 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)

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.

I was in Bonaire this past November and the Marine Park Fee has
increased to $25 but it's definately worth it. We stayed at Divi
Flamingo and used there shop and I would recommend it. They have a good
shop and a decent house reef right there. If you want to head north and
go into town, there is a shop off the CyberCafe resturant. It was small
but I did notice that they offer dive trips and services.

-hh wrote:
> 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