La Dianas Leap

The entry is on the ledge to the left, and is only a meter above the water. The coral cliff is very rough and jagged. Due to the difficulty of this dive, you should only do it with a guide. The entrance is difficult to find, and parking is limited to 2 or 3 cars. This is the type of water you'll be diving: crystal clear with diveable depths right up to the cliff.

I think about this dive all the time. Loved it, hard to get to, hard to find, leap was difficult and will definitely do this dive again.

Short of a dive I had on Hawaii Big Island with a Humpback Whale encounter, this site is my favorite site anywhere! But it is not for beginning divers for sure. Once you pass Tolo, you'll crest the top of a small hill where there is a single parking spot on each side of the road. You'll see a large pile of coral and a path heading down. The path begins fairly steep and goes over ancient coral which is sharp. Good booties needed! The path decreases in grade and turns to dirt until you approach the cliff edge and then it gets sharp again. You'll see a large yellow rock just above the entry point. There is about enough room for one diver to don their fins and giant stride off the 5 foot drop. I took the plunge first and my wife tossed me her fins and then jumped in. I pulled her away from the cliff assisted her with her fins and then kicked out a short distance to the buoy. Drop down and about 70 feet you'll drop over the vertical wall that is well over 100 from the 70' edge'. You have now entered nirvana! Clear water, no 'snow' and absolutely stunning views! It takes about 5 minutes to get past the wall and you enter topography similar to Karpata with steep UW ridges and sand chutes in the draws. As you near Karpata you'll notice a ridge that is less steep than what you've been seeing, that's your ridge out to the Karpata platform. There is a large old anchor on this ridge, but you may or may not see it so just use the topography to guide you. It takes about 20' minutes from the Leap to Karpata at a leisurely rate. So if you can consistently get 50 min. out of your tanks you should be fine. But! There is no out between the two sites. On our 2nd dive here on this trip when my wife jumped her reg' went into a massive free flow and I had to turn her valve off to stop it. Boom! Just like that 900 psi gone! We ended up diving the upper zone above the wall down to Karpata just to be safe. It just goes to show you, sometimes good plans go awry and you better be able to deal with it on a dive like this one! However, I'd do this dive again tomorrow if I was there!

We wanted to dive this site, but never found it. We asked a number of locals and they weren't sure about the location. We tried to find a number of entry points between Tolo (AKA Ol' Blue) and Karpata. We came to the conclusion that the entry may have grown over and the site is rarely dived now.

Have done both as a dive, and snorkeling. Great for both. Snorkeling we kept close to shore where the wall has great fish life and decent living sponges and coral. Lots of coral rubble inshore, which is storm broken, but great hiding for many different fish. Water over 5 meters is full of good coral and great for surface diving. As a dive it is hard to beat. The first portion is a true wall; vibrant an alive from 10 to 30+ meters. It is pretty easy to tell when you are approaching Karpata as the slope changes, and some long sloping ridges go well out from shore. Only divers who have navigated their way before, and are not intimidated by the 'no return' aspect of the entry should do this. Snorkelers should be decent swimmers who are comfortable with a good sized choppy swell. Be advised that the current at the surface may not be the same as the current below 15 meters.

This an excellent dive site on Bonaire, but some caution should be exercised. Once you giant stride in from the rocks, there is no getting out until you reach Karpata. So I would could consider this an intermediate to advanced dive site. With that said, La Dania's Leap (correct name)is a wall dive and therefore stands alone on Bonaire. Watch your depth here as it's easy to get down to 100' or more pretty easily. The wall is spectacular as is the entire dive down to Karpata. It's not that easy to spot the anchor but you'll come to an UW ridge that is not as steep as the previous topography. This should put you pretty close to the exit point at Karpata which is well marked with stairs. I paced it on the road, and it's exactly 1/4 mile and both my wife and I made in 1600 PSI even reaching the 100' depth. The previous review was correct, the yellow rock is gone, but there is a noticeable pile of coral and a few slim spots to park. You'll have to march your gear down maybe 300' to the cliffs and much of this is rough, sharp rock. There is a yellow rock down by the water, but I think it was named in French. When we dove it, the tide was out and we found a small ledge to enter from only about 1 meter above the water. Great dive if you're up to the skill level.

Just did this dive on 4/25/08. It was one of my favorite sites on Bonaire. The entry is not much different than Oil Slick Leap (both are a lot of fun and both require some planning to do safely) but La Dania is harder to find. The yellow rock with the name of the site was not present out at the road. Someone has placed a pile of coral there to mark the spot, though. As others have noted, the only exit point is at Karpata. We expected it to take us 40-45 min to get there, but it actually took about 30 min. When you see a very large anchor at about 35 ft depth, you are at Karpata and head for shore. There are a couple more anchors in the area, but I never saw them.

The drift north to Karpata is world class.

I just got back from 4 weeks in Bonaire. I did this dive 8 years ago and it is still very enjoyable. I did it this time with my wife. She has just 40 dives, all in Bonaire, and did her open water and advanced here-- no problem! I do not think you need a guide as long as you have enough experience. It will take you 40 to 45' to reach Karpata. I never had any current. The wall is impressive, and you can go as deep as 40-45m. I would really recommend this dive to anyone who wishes to have an unforgettable dive.

This review describes the La Diana's Leap to Karpata drift dive. The entry is down a volcanic trail to a cliff 3-5' above the water. It is not easy to don your fins and enter. The best approach is to have the most athletic diver jump in with fins, then have all other divers jump in while holding fins. The diver in the water should pull all subsequent divers away from the cliff until they can don their fins. Once in, the only out is Karpata. One should be sure they know when they should head over the shallow reef to Karpata [a guide is advised]. Karpata is interesting. Again, the most athletic diver should time the surge and exit to the concrete pier at Karpata. The first diver should remove their fins and help all subsequent divers. Subsequent divers should, one at a time, time the surge and exit at the pier. The first diver should help all subsequent divers stand up and remove their fins. If one knows what they are doing, entry/exit are not hard but the situation exists for divers inexperienced with this dive to get in trouble. One can descend to whatever at the entry point. One cool idea is to descend to 100' and about 100 yards off the reef and look back. Very cool. Except for the entry, the dive is a 25-35' drift dive, probably the best on Bonaire.

I dove Bonaire for 2 weeks and this was one of my favorite dives. More uw life then other sites - perhaps because of the entry. In retrospect, the entry looks worse then it is. I seem to recall several people on my dive trying to get out before the "pier" and having fun navigating the firecoral (wet suit good). Best uw topography of the island as well. Well worth the drive.

The shallow area is seaming with life, from turtles to seahorses. Slight surge but manageable. At depth of 65' the wall was pristine. One of the nicest dives on the west side of the island.

This is one of our favorite dives. We do it every year. The entry is actually not that tough. Usually it is a relaxing drift dive on a very impressive wall of coral. We always see something spectacular on this dive. I think the name is really La Dania's Leap, not Diana though.

One of the best dives on Bonaire. Have dove it many times solo and with buddies. Usually drop gear then drive truck to Karpata, park and walk back. Never felt much current in 8 visits to Bonaire. Go deeper 150'-165' right after the jump in, for some "caves" with grouper, tarpon and sometimes nurse sharks. Long dive to Karpata, you'll know you are there when you see the research grids. Great dive!