Leo from Oak Park's Dive Log

Another relaxing, comfortable site. Park, gear up, walk to the water, dive. In addition to the usual suspects here we saw several turtles.

This is one of our most favorite sites in Bonaire. Easy access and a scenic, winding network of sand channels. We usually do it in the afternoon as a two-tank dive. During the surface interval we drive to the bay for a quick refreshment at Jib city, then back for the second dive. A compass may be handy here because it's easy to lose track of which way the shore is!

This was our 'house reef', as we stayed at Den Laman. It was our choice for a quick and lazy dive when we were too tired to drive. We dove Bari over 10 times and, of course, each time was different. Plenty of eels, a few turtles, squid, tiny shrimps at cleaning stations, friendly and curious angel fish, and a few barracudas that kept following us.

This was a very comfortable dive. The parking space is somehow limited but depending on the time of the day you may be lucky. You don your gear, step down to the shore, and in the water you go, in no time. Easy entry, short swim to the drop off, plenty of aquatic life to keep you busy. This was a very relaxing dive.

The challenge here is the 60-something steps from the road-side parking to the shore. Some divers would don their gear first then take the steps down. At the end of their dive they'll climb up the steps with their gear on. Others will run the gear down, gear up, dive, then take the gear off, and bring it upstairs in multiple trips. We've tried both ways. There is no easy way. Once you get over the physical challenge presented by the steps, the dive is awesome. Relatively easy entry, quick swim to drop-off, plenty of aquatic life.

Good old Hilma is one of the deepest dives (for non technical divers) in Bonaire. Access from the shore requires 5-6 minutes of swimming toward the buoys first. Some divers prefer to submerge at the shallows and dive the drop off. This is fine too but I'd rather conserve all my air for the wreck. Start your descent from the northern buoy, explore the length of the wreck, then take the slope up to the shore. The deepest end of the wreck is at about 100 ft which may be at the safety edge of higher Nitrox mixes. Keep an eye on your gauges. The wreck is safe for EAN32 through which is the standard Nitrox mix at the island.