Bonaire by Cruise

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 .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)

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouperm> wrote in message
news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa. o...
>
> 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 .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_Grouperm> wrote in message
> news:1148490616.335393.117770@j55g2000cwa. o...
> >
> > 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 .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.

-hh wrote:

hh, you MISATTRIBUTED again! It's

> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouperm>
> >
> > As far as our islands are concerned, only the ABC Islands were somewhat
> > threatened by hurricane Emily
>
> "Our islands"? Obviously stolen without attribution.

It was OBVIOUSLY taken from some webpage on ABC. Anyone can
find the source by simply searching for any of the cited phrases.

In your zest to exercise your self-declared "Permanent Grudge" against
me, you wasted no time to jump on Ray 's ABUSE wagon,
and completely overlook the fact that the important FACT in the post
in which Ray used TWO ADs to flame was:


The Natural Bridge of Aruba NO LONGER
exists, after the hurricane season of 2005.


The rest of hh's exhibit on his "permanent grudge" is just his exercise
on pedantic cites that are FAR from central to my statement above.

-- Bob.

-hh wrote:

>
> Yes, the "blame" goes to Hurricane Bob, a Category k00k :-)


B00b-a-loo is a stinking cruise puke - what can one expect.


--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Agree with the first post.

You can go down to the oil tanks....or you can go to the reef at sorobon!!
where the lagoon meets the ocean....or you can...hell walk into the water
near the slave huts...either the white ones or the pink ones.....and go it
200 feet and your in 800 feet of water!!!

anyway....dont go to the north light house there you will die if you
dive....otherwise have fun....and go to sorobon beach resort while you are
there and take off your clothes!!
"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)

I've done the majority of my dives from shore. Lots more stuff to
consider...I recommend a good robust set of booties (the best I've seen are
felt bottomed), a full wetsuit, snorkel, and gloves. Rocks, reef, surf, and
surface swims, ya see...

Boat diving can spoil you if ya aren't careful--nothing wrong with being
spoiled though ;-)

--
Rapid Rick
"Just dive, baby"

"ginmill01" <ginmill01@cox.net> wrote in message
news:Snsdg.87698$TK1.6326@fed1read06...

My first time I was a bit anxious because I had
> only done boat diving.