Great info! We're heading to Bonaire Buddy Dive from December 25th -31st. Used to diver there a lot in the late 80ies/early 90ies as we lived in Venezuela and sailed a boat over to Las Aves and Bonaire multiple times each year. Haven't made it back since then.
Thanks for all the great Vids on Bonaire, Going to make our first trip great. We are going December to January and plan on doing 3 to 5 dives a day. With your help its going to be Awesome.
Great video with your Q&A's. Regarding currents, on my previous three trips I recall current twice out of 54 dives. However, I was there the third week in August and was surprised how strong the current was on several dives. More than I have seen before. This is similar to what you noted in your video. Everone has their favorite dive sites - mine include Tolo, Karpata, Invisibles, Angel City, Something Special. This past trip we dove Vista Blue for the first time and it was very beautiful especially the soft corals.
Yep, not sure what was happening late Aug and early Sep with the currents. They were all over the place, as well as an ever changing thermocline. Glad you enjoyed Vista Blue. It’s Liz’s favorite site. Thanks for watching Scott!
Dude. I'm with you on your 3 favorite sites, except my most favorite is margate, then tolo. Except sometimes its smallwall. No no... Its nukove. Wait, its the outer reef.... (thanks for your videos. I enjoy then immensely between trips)
Hey folks, thanks for watching! We've time stamped the questions in the video description for easy reference. They're also marked as chapters on the scrub bar. Enjoy! *UPDATE* - beginning Jan 1, 2023, there will be only one calendar year fee of $40 that covers all water activities in the Bonaire National Marine Park. This one fee also includes entrance to Washington Slagbaai National Park.
Are you planning on visiting Bonaire soon? I'm planning on visiting later this year. I don't see any videos newer than 6 months ago. I miss your videos!
We use and recommend Telerin. They have older vehicles, but are great to work with and super responsive if you have issues. The best thing is that they meet you at the airport with your truck upon arrival. When you’re finished you just leave it in the airport parking lot; super easy. You can reach them via email at marcolva@hotmail.com and telerinbonaire@gmail.com. They do not have a website. Thanks for watching!
Looking at the tanks you carry in the water there, they look like steel tanks, given the round bottoms and the top of boots they have on them. That seems odd, but maybe it’s not. Every place we have been, and granted, that’s not too many, as we typically dive around our home area using our own tanks, the tanks we end up renting are aluminum 80’s. The tanks in your videos look like steel HP80’s. We are preparing for our trip in a month, and trying to figure out weights, as we are used to diving fresh water in dry suits, with steel tanks. Any input on this is helpful! Thank you in advance!
Hi Mahnke! Good catch, those are indeed steel 80’s (or something close to it). That’s why we use Tropical Divers as our on island dive shop. Most dive shops on Bonaire only rent out AL80’s. Even Tropical is phasing out their steel tanks and moving over to AL80’s. As you know calculating how much lead you need can be difficult. For me on Bonaire when using the steel tank and wearing my 3mm neoprene jacket over my frog skins top, I use 7 lbs (sometimes 8). I’ve tried 6 lbs a few times and it just isn’t enough for hanging out in the shallows at the end of the dive. I’m 6’0 and usually weigh 175 to 185. Liz uses 10 to 12 lbs and wears a 5mm full suit over a skin. I bring two 1 lb weights with me from home so I can fine tune what we need. You’ll be hard pressed to find a 1 lb weight on the island. Your dive shop will have plenty of 2’s, 3’s and maybe a 4. I hope that helps.
It really depends on what’s in it. I’d just put an o-ring kit in the glove compartment and maybe hide a multi-tool somewhere in the truck or surrounding area. With so many dive shops around the island, anything major can be handled relatively quick.
I don’t think I’ve ever timed it, but to drive a loop Kralendijk to Karpata to Rincon to Sorobon (back way) to Kralendijk (up west coast), or a figure 8 Kralendijk to Karpata to Rincon to Kralendijk to Sorobon (down west coast) to Kralendijk (past Donkey sanctuary) WITHOUT stopping, would probably take 1.5 hours (maybe 2). I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t include stops. The tour I cover in this video can be done probably in 5 to 8 hours depending on time at stops What to do with only ONE day on Bonaire! ua-cam.com/video/VhFo27LEFpE/v-deo.html.
Great info! We're heading to Bonaire Buddy Dive from December 25th -31st. Used to diver there a lot in the late 80ies/early 90ies as we lived in Venezuela and sailed a boat over to Las Aves and Bonaire multiple times each year. Haven't made it back since then.
Thanks for all the great Vids on Bonaire, Going to make our first trip great. We are going December to January and plan on doing 3 to 5 dives a day. With your help its going to be Awesome.
Thanks Patrick! Have a great trip!
Great video with your Q&A's. Regarding currents, on my previous three trips I recall current twice out of 54 dives. However, I was there the third week in August and was surprised how strong the current was on several dives. More than I have seen before. This is similar to what you noted in your video.
Everone has their favorite dive sites - mine include Tolo, Karpata, Invisibles, Angel City, Something Special. This past trip we dove Vista Blue for the first time and it was very beautiful especially the soft corals.
Yep, not sure what was happening late Aug and early Sep with the currents. They were all over the place, as well as an ever changing thermocline. Glad you enjoyed Vista Blue. It’s Liz’s favorite site. Thanks for watching Scott!
Dude. I'm with you on your 3 favorite sites, except my most favorite is margate, then tolo. Except sometimes its smallwall. No no... Its nukove. Wait, its the outer reef.... (thanks for your videos. I enjoy then immensely between trips)
Love me some Margate Bay! It might even be a better site overall, but those Tolo shallows/top of the reef…
Hey folks, thanks for watching! We've time stamped the questions in the video description for easy reference. They're also marked as chapters on the scrub bar. Enjoy! *UPDATE* - beginning Jan 1, 2023, there will be only one calendar year fee of $40 that covers all water activities in the Bonaire National Marine Park. This one fee also includes entrance to Washington Slagbaai National Park.
Are you planning on visiting Bonaire soon? I'm planning on visiting later this year. I don't see any videos newer than 6 months ago. I miss your videos!
We’re definitely heading back to Bonaire and will have more videos soon. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for information and recommendations. Can you recommend a truck rental company? Going down first November. Thanks , Allen
We use and recommend Telerin. They have older vehicles, but are great to work with and super responsive if you have issues. The best thing is that they meet you at the airport with your truck upon arrival. When you’re finished you just leave it in the airport parking lot; super easy. You can reach them via email at marcolva@hotmail.com and telerinbonaire@gmail.com. They do not have a website. Thanks for watching!
Looking at the tanks you carry in the water there, they look like steel tanks, given the round bottoms and the top of boots they have on them. That seems odd, but maybe it’s not. Every place we have been, and granted, that’s not too many, as we typically dive around our home area using our own tanks, the tanks we end up renting are aluminum 80’s. The tanks in your videos look like steel HP80’s. We are preparing for our trip in a month, and trying to figure out weights, as we are used to diving fresh water in dry suits, with steel tanks. Any input on this is helpful! Thank you in advance!
Hi Mahnke! Good catch, those are indeed steel 80’s (or something close to it). That’s why we use Tropical Divers as our on island dive shop. Most dive shops on Bonaire only rent out AL80’s. Even Tropical is phasing out their steel tanks and moving over to AL80’s. As you know calculating how much lead you need can be difficult. For me on Bonaire when using the steel tank and wearing my 3mm neoprene jacket over my frog skins top, I use 7 lbs (sometimes 8). I’ve tried 6 lbs a few times and it just isn’t enough for hanging out in the shallows at the end of the dive. I’m 6’0 and usually weigh 175 to 185. Liz uses 10 to 12 lbs and wears a 5mm full suit over a skin. I bring two 1 lb weights with me from home so I can fine tune what we need. You’ll be hard pressed to find a 1 lb weight on the island. Your dive shop will have plenty of 2’s, 3’s and maybe a 4. I hope that helps.
What about a SAD kit in the truck, I know it fair game, but is it likely to go missing?
It really depends on what’s in it. I’d just put an o-ring kit in the glove compartment and maybe hide a multi-tool somewhere in the truck or surrounding area. With so many dive shops around the island, anything major can be handled relatively quick.
How long does it take to drive the island end to end on the main road?
I don’t think I’ve ever timed it, but to drive a loop Kralendijk to Karpata to Rincon to Sorobon (back way) to Kralendijk (up west coast), or a figure 8 Kralendijk to Karpata to Rincon to Kralendijk to Sorobon (down west coast) to Kralendijk (past Donkey sanctuary) WITHOUT stopping, would probably take 1.5 hours (maybe 2). I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t include stops. The tour I cover in this video can be done probably in 5 to 8 hours depending on time at stops What to do with only ONE day on Bonaire!
ua-cam.com/video/VhFo27LEFpE/v-deo.html.
You didn't mention the price for tanks if you're getting them from independent shops...standard air and Nitrox?
Pricing will vary from shop to shop. Most shops have a website that lists their pricing info. Thanks for watching Jonnie!
@@KevinandLizGrogan Okay...will check them out.