Overview
Becca and I spent a week on the island of Bonaire diving with Buddy Dive Resort for my birthday. This was our first time to the island of Bonaire. We stayed in a suite at the resort which had a kitchen, living room, and private patio. It was really nice to have all these amenities in addition to everything the resort offered. I think we only ended up cooking for ourselves twice though.
Dive Sites & Conditions
Conditions underwater were phenomenal with 60-120 foot visibility the whole time. Above the water we had clear skies, with daytime high temps ranging from 92ºF to 98ºF, with 100ºF on one day. It was pretty hot above the water, but the diving was comfortable and easy. There were no real waves to speak of, and no current.
- Saturday:
- Buddy Reef (sunset dive)
- Sunday:
- Buddy Reef
- Buddy Reef
- Monday:
- Knife
- Tuesday:
- Karpata
- 1000 Steps
- Hands Off
- Wednesday:
- Joanne’s Sunchi
- Ebo’s Special
- Hilma Hooker (wreck dive)
- Thursday:
- Captain Don’s
- Bon Adventure
- La Matcha (night dive)
- Friday:
- Country Gardens
- Small Wall
Here’s a map of all the sites we dove on this trip:
Dive Operator & Experience
The divemasters at Buddy Dive Resort are awesome. They were all very friendly and knowledgeable. They started each dive with a thorough briefing and description of the site. The boats were never packed—most people come to Bonaire for the shore diving, not the boat diving. I think the biggest group we had was eight. We even had a couple afternoon dives where Becca and I were the only divers on the boat, other than the crew. I really enjoyed the boat diving, it was pretty easy to get the gear together and board the boat. There was no hassle driving around the island or looking for places to park. We still dove all the same places we’d have dived if we rented a truck and went shore diving, it was just easier. The only downside is that you are following a guide, your bottom time is limited to 60 minutes, and you only dive on the boat’s schedule. Still I thought it was worth it for the ease of the diving compared to driving around on our own.
Dive Log
Saturday — Day 1
We arrived at BDR in the afternoon, got our gear unpacked, and did a required checkout dive as the sun set. We spent some time in the shallows checking buoyancy and making sure all our equipment functioned correctly. Then we made our way out to the reef where there is a gentle slope running from about 20-feet down to 100+ feet at the bottom. We were able to watch the light fade underwater, and all of the night critters come out.
Sunday — Day 2
We missed the window to get in on the boat dives for our first full day, so we did 2 dives at the resort on their house reef. This actually worked out pretty well as it gave us plenty of time to do stuff on our own schedule.
Monday — Day 3
Our first boat dive with BDR wasn’t until the afternoon, so we started the day running some errands, getting some groceries, and exploring. Then we hopped on the boat and headed over to Klien Bonaire (little bonaire) and dove the site called Knife.
Tuesday — Day 4
This started our regular boat dive days. In the morning we wolfed-down some breakfast, got our gear together, and boarded the morning boat. The morning boat trips are 2-tank trips—meaning we did two dives while out on the boat. Our fist dive was on the northern end of the island at Karpata, and then we dove 1000 steps on the way back towards the resort. Both dives were fantastic! After a few hours on shore, and a nice lunch, we boarded the afternoon boat and dove at a site called Hands Off out on Klien Bonaire.
Wednesday — Day 5
In the morning we went back out to Klien Bonaire and dove a site called Joanne’s Sunchi, we then moved to another site called Ebo’s Special. In the afternoon Becca and I had the boat to ourselves and we went down to the wreck of the Hilma Hooker. This is a slightly deeper dive, with the bottom of the boat at about 100 feet. We entered the water and followed the mooring line down to the wreck. When we were at the surface, you couldn’t see the wreck, so it was a little nerve-wracking feeling like you’re just following a rope down into the deep blue. By the time we got down to about 15-20 feet you could start to make out the wreck and the rest of the dive was very enjoyable.
Thursday — Day 6
On Thursday morning it was back out to Klien Bonaire. This was one advantage we had over shore diving, you can only get to Klien Bonaire by boat, so there were never any crouds and we got to dive sites we never would have if we were trucking it. We dove two sites, Captain Don’s was first, then Bon Adventure was after. We skipped the afternoon boat dive to rest, and we did a night dive on the house reef. This site goes by two names: Buddy Reef, and Reef Scientifico. The second name comes from the fact that there are coral nurseries at Buddy Dive Resort. We swam north all the way to the next dive site called La Matcha. We saw a seahorse, a couple spotted moray eels out hunting, and we had an escort of 5 or 6 very large tarpon. These tarpon don’t pose any risk to humans, but they are very large, and have no fear. In fact they have learned to use the dive lights to help them spot prey. As a result the come in very close while your diving. Their large size and the fact they come out of nowhere can make it a little disconcerting.
Friday — Day 7
Our last day of diving was all done in the morning. You always need to give yourself at least 24 hours to off-gas the built-up nitrogen in your blood and tissues before you hop on a plane to fly home. We went back up north to a site called Country Gardens. This site is located next to Karpata and is equally lush with vast fields of soft corals. Our second dive was at Small Wall. This is the closest Bonaire comes to a wall dive. There was a small cavern in the wall and in there was the biggest green moray I’ve ever seen in my life. No exaggeration, this thing was as thick as my thigh, and at least 6 feet long, probably longer.
Photos & Videos
Gallery
Here are some photos from the trip.
