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Snorkeling?

coiran

By coiran,
in Bonaire

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  • 2 months later...
LFM

LFM

Posted
Posted

:confused: I'd also be interested in the snorkeling. Is Bonaire a destnation for scuba only or is there good snorkeling as well? How are the beachs, hotels, etc.? Any help would be appreciated.

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  • 4 weeks later...
simonv

simonv

Posted
Posted

Almost all the hotels there are dive resorts. There are good snorkeling right in front of hotels but the best would be Klein Bonaire, across the main island. No usable beaches to speak of. I've been to Bonaire with Sea For Yourself www.seaforyourself.com, an outfit specializing in snorkel trips. They based the tour on a dive resort there, reserved a dive boat for our use and took us to different spots everyday. They've taken us to, besides the regular places, an up-side-down jellyfish marsh and a night snorkel by the town pier. Incredible. If you are serious snorkeler, then the best bet is going with them.

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  • 2 weeks later...
muggo11

muggo11

Posted
Posted

We (Mom, Dad and 14-year old) spent a week on Bonaire and went on a guided snorkel tour with Caren, a marine biologist, who calls her 1-woman company Sea & Discover. You might be able to arrange a trip with her. We spent about 1/2 hour learning about fish behavior and then went to Andrea I one of the scores of dive and snorkel sites on the island. You can reach her at info@seandiscover.com. She knows her stuff (and will pick you up and drop you off). Tell her Margot and David and Guy recommended her.

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  • 6 months later...
10X

10X

Posted
Posted

We were in Bonaire just a week ago and enjoyed our short stay very much. I'm a scuba diver but my wife is not, although she very much enjoys snorkeling.

 

We had arranged for her and two friends to do a snorkeling excursion with Renee, but due to surgery, Renee could not make it. The three of them approached a gate guard and asked if he knew where they could snorkel and he said he heard the "Airport Beach" was good. It was a $10 one-way cab ride to the beach where they had some of the best snorkeling of our 14 day cruise. They saw two Octopus, eels, and a variety of fish. My wife came back with some excellent photos of the octopus. The original excursion was going to cost them $25 each, for $75 total. The cab rides totalled $20 and the snorkeling was great. If you want to save some money, I would recommend that you explore this option.

 

For scuba divers, Divi Flamingo resort is literally the first building to the right of the cruise ship. It's about a 200 yard walk and easy to do even if you are carrying all of your own dive gear, which I was. Their "house reef" is Calabas Reef, which provided for two excellent dives. We actually could have gotten in a third dive but some in our group wanted to go souvenier shopping.

 

A one-day dive pass to the Underwater Marine Park is $10. Divi's charge for unlimited shore diving is about $21, and they will supply the tanks and weights. Other dive gear can be rented as needed. The tanks are at the end of their dock and you just take what you need, while placing the empty tanks in an adjacent area. All of the tanks are AL80.

 

Calabas Reef is about 30 yards off the end of their dock. It starts at about 30' and drops down to about 100'. The start point is marked by a small row boat that is attached to a large anchor and the edge of the reef. Below, the anchor provides for an effective marker as to where to start your trip back to the dock. You don't have to go far to see a lot of things. In 2 dives I don't think we ventured more than 40-50 yards either way of our point of entry. We did go up and down the reef though, venturing down to 92' at one point.

 

We were informed that recent weather had stirred up the water so visibility was down but we still had 50'-60'. There wasn't any current and the water was calm.

 

We were literally diving about 300 yards off the bow of our ship, it's that close to the pier.

 

It will probably be a couple of weeks before I can get my photos enhanced and uploaded to the Internet, but when I do I'll post the info here for you to reference.

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gizmo

gizmo

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Posted

I used Renee back in Nov and it was certainly worth the $25.00.

 

One of worst things is what do you do with your things you are carrying when you are in the water? Using Renee, you left your things in her locked van. She also provided cold bottled water and sodas.

 

She was very sensitive to our needs, since one person in our party does not do very well kicking do to hip replacements. She took us to a place that was very calm where he could more or less float around and see everything.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...
10X

10X

Posted
Posted

Fuzzy,

 

I used an Olympus C5050, 5MP in an Olympus underwater housing. I also use an Inon D2000 strobe. My wife, who only snorkels, uses a Canon A95, 5MP in a Canon underwater housing. She does not use a strobe.

 

Which date do you cruise on the Crown Princess? We also will be in Bonaire in February aboard the Crown Princess. We are sailing back-to-back cruises 1/27/06 and 2/3/06. We will be in Bonaire on 2/7/06.

 

Being as we are very water oriented people, I did not check out any non-water related excursions. I will likely be diving there again and my wife will be snorkeling.

 

Denny

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10X

10X

Posted
Posted

Jackie,

 

Everything I've been able to find out about Bonaire is that it is geared toward everything water. My suggestion would be to snorkel, and if you don't know how already, learn to before you get there. It's pretty simple and takes all of 5 minutes so go for it.

 

My wife will probably go to the beach at the airport (I will be scuba diving) where she thought the snorkeling was better than any she has experienced at any other port. Since you can snorkel from the beach you can go as shallow or as deep as you want and easily come and go from the water.

 

Bonaire is pretty flat so I don't know that there is much to see by land. Perhaps there is someone out there reading this that has a land tour can give you better information.

 

We will be there again on February 7th so if you want me check out something for you just let me know. I can respond from the ship.

 

Denny

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OOM

OOM

Posted
Posted

My wife and I love snorkeling and have a couple of questions:

 

1) Does any one know how long the boat ride or ferry is to Klein Bonaire?

2) If Klein is a great option, should we use Renee?

3) 10x, when your wife goes back, will she go to the airport beach again or use Renee?

 

Thanks,

 

OOM

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My guess is she'll probably just go back to the beach at the airport. She saw an octopus or two there and she thought the snorkeling was outstanding. We have not discussed Klein Bonaire at all and she hasn't expressed any desire to go there.

 

Denny

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