Bonaire dive vacation
 

The DW and I are booked for two weeks commencing next December 27th. Anybody have any recommendations of favorite dive and snorkel sites, restaurants, pubs, things-to-do other than diving, etc?

I found this cool underwater webcam at Curacao which we may take a side trip
to: Reefcam

Set the refresh rate to 1s.

You'll have to tell me where you booked this trip! I can't figure out a good way to get to Bonaire from YYC... seems flights from ATL, MIA, or IAH are highly seasonal.

I've heard Bonaire is incredible for shore diving. You can just roll off the dock and be in paradise. I'm sure any dive shop can tell you the good shore entry areas.

Would love to hear about your experience in getting there and lodging!

We fly Calgary to Houston via Air Canada (thank you AirMiles!) and Houston to Bonaire via United. The Houston to Bonaire is a weekley red-eye, departing Houston on Friday nights at 11:59 pm and arriving in Bonaire at 6:40 am. The return flight to Houston is 8:30 am Saturdays.

Bonaire is definitely not the easiest place to get to, but you are right, it is supposed to be one of the top rated places in the world for shore diving. The problem is, there are so many shore dives it may be difficult deciding which ones to do.

Found it! Thanks!

I can't seem to find that flight directly on United's website... weird. That flight you described, however, can be found on SellOffVacations website.

Let me know how your trip goes! Hopefully you'll have pictures to share.

I booked it through Expedia and got the AirMiles.

I have stopped into Bonaire 3 times in the last 3 years on Princess Cruises. Unfortunately the cruise ship is only there for the day. Fortunately the ship takes you off to yet another great island the next day.

As someone earlier said you can jump in the water anywhere and enjoy great snorkeling.

The easiest and best snorkeling is on Klien Island, which is a 30 minute ferry ride. There is no accommodation on the Island just great diving and snorkeling.

Tom R

so I didn't make it to Bonaire... but I made it to Curacao back in Oct.

Here's a GoPro video of some snorkeling (I still have to go through my scuba diving video clips)

http://youtu.be/JTdx7vX1ZQU

Nice! Thanks for sharing.
Which pole are you using? I just picked up a Hero 4 Silver and am really looking forward to trying it out in our upcoming return trip to Bonaire.
I am leaning towards a Quikpod Sport.
I am also contemplating a tray so I can add some lighting and reduce the shakiness.
Are you using a red filter for snorkeling? I picked up this set from SRP .

Looking forward to seeing your dive videos.

that pole you're looking at is almost exactly what I'm using, except I got mine at Best Buy and it's branded DigiPower

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...501680956een02

it's great because it's very collapsible for travel. I also have the GoPole but don't actually like it, it doesn't allow as much freedom of positions near the mount. The only thing bad that has happened with it is that the lanyard cord ripped fairly easily, so I jerry rigged a keychain hoop with a dive flashlight lanyard and it's been fine ever since.

I don't use red filters shallower than 20 feet. For diving, I use the BackScatter Flip 3.1 combo (recommended by a fellow Canreefer). I had it imported from California total cost about $150 plus about $15 in duty.

http://www.backscatter.com/sku/bs-flip31-combo.lasso

However, food for thought, I hear Aqua Sport Scuba in Marda Loop has become a Go Pro dealer, not sure what they may have but could be worth a visit.

Have fun with your Hero 4, I'm just using a Hero 3+ Black

I went with the SRP because as I understand, you cannot use macro with Flip3.1. Unfortunately changing filters with the SRP is not nearly as simple as the Flip3.1.

We are regulars at Aqua Sport and were just in there a couple of weeks ago dropping off our regs for servicing, and I did not see anything GoPro at that time, but will definitely check again when we pick them up.