The biggest differences I noticed between Bonaire and Coz were the visibility, amount of life, and general reef structure. Cozumel has spectacular visibility (I have experienced up to 200' horizontal, compared to the average 60-80 we had in Bonaire...not complaining at all though:)) and this goes hand in hand with the reasonably paced drift diving. However, the reef in Bonaire is jam packed with life. The great thing is the lack of current, and how the reef is conveniently in 15-100 fsw. This allows for endless hours of slowly looking over and under every part of the reef. I did miss the spectacular building sized reef structure that the southern Cozumel dives offer, but you quickly forget all previous dives when you are effortlessly gliding around taking in the beautiful scene. I can't say which is my favorite, but I will definitely be trying to go back to Bonaire next year.
Bryan and I decided to stay at Buddy Dive Resort. Being just the two of us, and our first time out to Bonaire, we wanted a more "all-inclusive" atmosphere. Buddy gave us a spacious apartment/kitchen, quick access to a truck and more importantly endless tanks for diving. Their "drive-thru" fill station was wonderful. Of the 26 dives we made over 6 days, I believe only 2 or 3 were on air. The rest, of course, were on nitrox. It was glorious, pulling up to the tank station, throwing empties down and helping ourselves to already filled 32%! Buddy was also nice, because it had a fun house reef which was easily accessible from their dock. At the beginning of the trip, they let you know where the "secret" key is. Midnight or 2am diving was not out of the question
. We opted out of the boat diving, and stuck to shore entry. Don't regret it one bit, only, some new friends we made at the resort spotted frogfish on Klein which requires a boat. No frogfish sightings for us :(. Of the many many sites we visited, the ones that stuck out were Alice in Wonderland, night dive on the Hilma Hooker, Karpata, Angel City, Invisibles, La Dania's Leap ("drift" to Karpata), Candy Land, and 1000 steps. We soon realized that many of the southern sites are similar, and to the north similarities abound as well. Not sure which I preferred, but it was no problem as we drove one direction in the morning, had lunch at home base, grabbed new tanks, and then drove the other direction for afternoon diving. The southern sites had nice easy entries and a beautiful double reef system on many of the dives. However, I loved what the northern sites offered. Perhaps the more difficult (still easy compared to some NW shore dives!) entries had a bigger payoff.
I love Caribbean reef fishes, and Bonaire is the place to see them in abundance. My favorite things were the two bait balls that surrounded us. It was a first for both of us, and each time the fish had passed we would look at each other with ecstatic faces and just put our hands on our heads. Truly amazing to see that many fish moving as one, and then to see the crowd of larger tarpon etc quickly chasing. Other things we saw included trumpetfish, spotted drums, spiny lobster, banded butterfly, goldentail chain and green morays, porcupinefish, stingrays, scorpionfish, arrow crab, french angelfish, grouper, octos, flamingo tongue, cowfish, slender filefish, jawfish, sharptail eels, garden eels, barracuda, too many lionfish :(, turtles, squid, spotted eagle ray, and of course many many christmas tree worms and nudibranchs. Loved seeing the cleaning stations, with the little guy waving his "arms" and doing a little dance to let you know it was cleaning time. Also, the house reef had a resident tarpon named Charlie who loved dive lights just like our harbor seals at home.
I am probably forgetting something, but I hope I haven't understated how great the diving on Bonaire is. It is just so much fun driving a truck around, pulling off the road and saying, "this looks good", and ten minutes later gliding over a vibrant and alive reef. The nitrox and lack of boat timing allow for a great amount of this too!
If you are a Bonaire veteran, I am glad I jumped on this bandwagon. If you have never been, please go and I will see you there next time! Here is a glimpse at what it looks like...
Safe diving
Jacob
