Anyone been to Bonaire???

[K&Rwedding]

Hey ladies-

 

We are in full swing of planning our honeymoon and since we both are looking forward to a honeymoon filled with diving we were considering Bonaire over Cozumel.

 

Has anyone ever been to Bonaire? If so where did you stay? How many days would you suggest staying there? What did you do while you were there?

 

Any info would be great.

 

Best

Kathy

[DGG]

We haven't been to Bonaire - but we are thinking of going there for our honeymoon also We love to dive also and Bonaire is supposed to have some of the best diving in the world. We have been to Cozumel and had a good time and the diving was decent, but we've been to better places.. so I would choose Bonaire

The other place you may want to consider is Belize - we first got certified there years ago - it is great diving and there are some nice places there.. We actually said we were on our honeymoon at one the resorts we stayed at and so we stayed in a private cabana on the beach with an outdoor sun shower.. it was really romantic (even though it wasn't our honeymoon ) - I could give you more info if you are considering there

[DGG]

I just realized your wedding is one day before ours - so we'll be on our honeymoon at the same time

[katrina]

i've been to bonaire, belize and cozumel. all have great diving but are very different experiences

 

bonaire:

- much more european, it's part of the netherland antilles and everyone speaks dutch and is very blonde and fair skinned. it's kind of like being in a tropical europe.

- it's the kind of place where you can just walk right into the water and start seeing sea life. nothing large, but squid, eel, brightly colored fish all hang out very close to shore so you can snorkel without much preparation. of course for diving you have to go far out. but the diving is great. all of the water around the island is zoned as a national park so it's very clean and well taken care of.

- it's very dry and barren. if you head inland there are salt flats everywhere. there is a lot of history there and the tours are very interesting, but expect nothing but sand and cactus. the beaches are a bit rocky also.

 

belize:

- grittier than bonaire. locals are generally poorer but sweet as hell. also, locals and tourists really mix together. everyone goes to the same places. tons of american expats and retirees.

- to see any sea life you pretty much have to take a boat. but there are a ton more options than bonaire. shark ray alley, blue hole, hol chan, etc. you can go to each spot and see different things. the reef is the second largest in the world so we've never seen as much as we've seen here. sharks, rays, eels, turtles, the biggest parrot fish ever, etc.

- belize is basically a jungle. so it's a great balance between water activities and land activities. there are ruins and ziplines. you can go to guatemala for the day to see even more ruins. the jungle spas a great also. we traveled along the panamerican highway, which for history buffs like us was pretty cool.

 

 

personally i liked both belize and bonaire better than cozumel. cozumel's diving was definitely great and actually cheaper than both other places. but i thought the other places had more to offer overall. cozumel became a little boring to dh and i after a little while.

 

let me know if you have any questions.

[K&Rwedding]

DGG-

 

I would love your info on where you stayed in Belize. I love the whole outdoor shower thing. I went to Belize 4 years ago and loved it but didn't spend enough time there. That could be an option.

 

Bonaire is high on our list, so maybe we will do their and Belize.

 

Let me know where you decide to go. Also PM me your email I would love to stay in touch. Plus I too live in NYC and we are doing a bridal happy hour next month. Lets meet up.

 

Katrina-

 

I remember your honeymoon pics. I loved them. I liked the whole private plan and landing in the middle of nowhere. YOu guys had to have had a great time. I would love more info from you about Belize and where you suggest to stay in Bonaire. If you could PM me. I would love to email you more questions if you don't mind. Thank you for all the feedback. Sounds like we like the same kind of vacations. I didn't want to do Cozumel because I felt it was too touristy and Cancun like. Did that for spring break didn't want to do it again.

 

thank you both so much