bonaire vs roatan

[luvtravel38]

I have been to roatan snorkeling which was great. Have heard bonaire is even better. Can someone who has been to both islands give there opinion. Which had more variety of fish? Which had better coral? Or were they about the same. Thanks

[CruizinChef]

Hi LuvTravel38:

 

I have spent two weeks on each of these Islands. Roatan in October of 2009 and Bonaire this past March. We stayed at the Island Pearl, part of the Bananarama Resort in Roatan. While I had some issues with the management there, the dive shop was first class. Marco is the instructor there and certified my eldest daughter. She still corresponds with him. He is laid back but his diving skills and requirements/ rules in the water were anythting but.

 

There is only boat diving in Roatan as opposed to the shore diving option in Bonaire. While in Roatan at West Beach, we had around 16 dives. It would have been more but some non diving members of our family wanted some of our time as well. The corals were beautiful, the fish plentiful and the water crystal clear. There were numerous dive sites close to the resort and if the ones on the south side of the island were too rough, we moved up the coast a little until the current and waves settled down. We did a great wall dive, letting the current just pull us along and the boat picked us up at the other end. It was just like sitting in an easy chair watching the wall passby before us. Another memorable dive was Smokey Hollow (or some such name). The water was very silty where a stream hit the ocean and the dive was very spooky. How Marco guided us through there was a testament to his skill.

 

Bonaire is a different story. The island is surrounded by coral and the beaches are not great. The shore diving is extrodinary. We stayed at the Carib Inn, one of the older and more rustic of hotels, just south of the capital (I can't spell it let alone pronounce it!). The dive shop is renowned on the Island as one of the best. You can rent your equipment there and decide if you want to do one of their excursions or branch out on your own for shore diving. My wife and I did our AOW there in preparation for the shore dive.

 

We were both a little apprehensive about going off on our own to do shorediving, and rightly so. There is a book about all the dive locations, with instructions on where each dive is, the entry and exit conditions and what you might likely encounter with the dive. I must stress navigation skills are required so as to be able to identify those exit points. The good thing is you are never too far off shore to pop up and get your bearings if you happen to get lost.

 

The marine park here is beautiful and well looked after. The corals are plentiful as are the fish, the water is clear and beautiful and there is virtually no rain - hence the very arid appearance of the Island.

 

If I were to compare the two, my preference would be for Roatan. It just seemed to have a lot more variety both in and out of the water. Don't get me wrong - I would go back to Bonaire in a heartbeat. In fact, we booked a cruise with Bonair on the Itinerary just so we could dive there once again.

 

We have so many good memories of both Islands it is hard to choose. But my vote would go to Roatan. In thinking this through, we were there before the second cruise dock opened in Mahogany Bay. I don't know how it has changed the Island if any. The locals were worried they didn't have the service capacity to handle such an influx of people.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Peter

[markstudy]

I'm also interested... I've been to Bonaire but not Roatan yet.

 

On Bonaire, I loved the huge amounts of coral in 4 feet of water just 15 feet off

shore. Since my wife is not a diver, we mainly snorkel on cruise trips.

 

Does anyone have any Roatan photos? I'd love to see some of the reef :D

 

Here's a few Bonaire photos... water was a little murky because I was still in the

wave break zone getting tossed around with the sand as we entered from a sandy

beach. As soon as we went-out anther 15 feet, the visibility cleared right up. We

followed a ray through a channel in the coral to get out of the waves break and into

the deeper part of the reef (The 4th photo is in about 8 feet of water and the water

was nice and clear)

 

I'm just shooting with a simple point-and-shoot camera, for not being a

photographer, I thought the Cannon D10 did a nice job.

 

 

 

 

[HarryTravels]

Having been to Bonaire twice and Toatan 4 times I would strongly recommend Roatan. The hurricanes have wrecked much of the surface coral in Bonaire.

[CRUISERTN]

Have snorkeled in Bonaire and Roatan....Bonaire was OK but I expected more; mostly drift snorkeling there and I expected visibility to be better...tried twice, both times in March, so maybe it had something to do with the time of year....Roatan is some of the best snorkeling ever, especially around the Bananarama area and Tabyana beach...shallow water for a good ways out and you walk in right from the beach....you do not have to go but maybe 30 feet out and water is shallow; maybe 5 - 10 feet deep in many areas....do not miss going to this area in Roatan....we have heard there are other good places in Roatan and we have been there a half dozen times....rather than trying a new place we keep going back to Tabyana because the beach is beautiful and snorkeling is fabulous...don't forget your underwater camera!! You will not regret going there! We are going back next month and cannot wait to go back to Tabyana! Enjoy!!

[mysolo]

Nice pictures. Ah.. makes me excited to go on my cruise and I have 6 months to wait.

Where in Bonaire did you snorkel?

[markstudy]

Nice pictures. Ah.. makes me excited to go on my cruise

and I have 6 months to wait.Where in Bonaire did you snorkel?

 

Thanks... glad you enjoyed the photos. If you click on my signature you can see

more photos from our trip (I used the Bonaire photos in the Bonaire chapter of my

scrapbook and the St Thomas chapter because my St Thomas/ St John photos didn't

turn out, water was murky after a big storm)

 

In the morning I took our ships tour- which was the water taxi over to the Marine

Park- Klein Bonaire. They drop you on a beach....If you stand on the beach

looking out to the water- head to your right and walk down to the end of the

island... then you can drift back. Coral was so dense as we entered the water (see

first photo below, taken in 4 feet of water) the only hard part was finding a channel

to get out to deeper water (8-12 feet on the outside edge).

 

Second half of the day, we took a tour with Renee. She is a private tour guide and

does shore diving from her van. I liked this options because we spent all our time

diving off of beaches in very shallow water. I like to get close and take some nice

photos.

 

The 3rd option was to take a sailboat tour (Wood Wind) but that was over deeper

reefs (15 feet of water) and more of a drift dive type situation. Easy for the vast

majority of tourist who want a simple trip, with no effort. But I like to get down to

the bottom and really look around.

 

I'm really looking forward to Roatan for my next trip or cruise. Bonaire was the best

I've seen so far, after 20 years of snorkeling in the Caribbean. Sounds like Roatan is

also going to be a great trip.