#46
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I recommend Bonaire (80 east of Aruba) and part of the Netherland Antilles and it’s also a Dutch colony so they will have a restuarants and night life/party atmosphere and bars and casinos also, and they have several repetible dive shops (I know the guys at Wannadive and Buddy’s Dive Shop personally) and would go back in heartbeat to their outfits anytime. There are 60-62 dives sites off the main island (from beginners to advance) and most are accessible from shore by driving (most people rent a small Suzuki SUV type vehicle or pickup), and of course you can also reach the dive sites by boat with the diving/dive shop operators but at $40-50 per a two tank dive depending on the distance we had to travel (I did 6-8 boat dives mostly because I didn’t know anyone and was single when I first arrived, until I met a couple from New York to hang out in the water with), but diving at your pace and desire is the way to go on Bonaire. (at that time, it was unlimited air for the week for $110, although I think I got a punch card that allowed 20 punches and when I used that up, I simply asked for a new card with no questions asked). There is also a small island (Kleine Bonaire) that is only accessible by boat off the Main Island with another 26 dives sites, it’s more than a few miles directly west from the capital, that has some intermediate to advance diving due to the winds and strong currents, but the ocean life is immense there in Bonaire (being a a total regulated diving and ocean/marine environmentally protected habitat (boats can only be moored at the dive sites- no anchoring anywhere else, and divers are not allow to the take anything in their goody bag (so leave that home unless you planned to take with to the casinos or the bars at night), and preferably not to hand walk or touch the reefe either, so they prefer you have good buoyancy skills and your not even allowed for your fins to touch/scrape the reef, plants or sponges - wearing gloves could be construed that is you have intentions to touch and acquire things, so my DM told me to leave those in my equip bag, bc if you get caught you might lose your diving license and privileges to dive in Bonaire - a tag that is affixed to your BC for the time you are there. There a few deep wreck dives (100-120 feet), but I prefer longer bottom times over deeper footage - most times 100-150 visibility and the water is very warm in the summer, 84-86 degrees F, I never ever got cold even once doing all the diving I was doing being submerged for long times with just a swim suit on over the week I was there. Check out below web site.
http://www.bonairedivingpro.com/about_bonaire.html
P.S the only thing that I would do different is instead of flying in San Juan, Puerto Rico from the US, I’d fly to Aruba, and take a shuttle/prop plane to Bonaire - there was, at that time and probably still exists, only one flight to Bonaire from San Juan, unfortunately it does not leave until 5pm or so, so I spent most of first day of vacation hanging out the airport for 7-8 hours, okay place if you want to sleep and stock up booze from the duty free shops, but there is not much to see, and definitely no marine life around anywhere, so if you want sleep or read a nice novel that you want to catch up one, go to San Juan. There is a shuttle to Bonaire just about every hour from Aruba.
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