Where is Bonaire?
Bonaire is located south of the hurricane belt in the Caribbean, about fifty miles north of Venezuela.
Where are you located?
Wannadive Bonaire is located on three oceanfront properties:
Eden Beach Resort, Windsock and City Café and Accomodations.
Eden Beach Resort is located 5 minutes north of the capital of Bonaire while City Café can be found right in the center of town. Windsock is just south of the airport.
The Wannadive Hut is located in the middle of Eden Beach Resort and City Café and Accomodations, it's only a 10 minute walk to these locations.
What is the weather like?
You can expect very sunny weather year round! The weather is extremely stable with temperatures almost never dipping below 75 degrees Fahrenheit / 20 degrees Celsius in 'winter', and seldom higher than 95 degrees Fahrenheit / 35 degrees Celsius in summer. As a consequence the water never gets colder than 75 / 28 degrees, even at depth! Complementary of the weather gods, Bonaire is laced by constant trade winds that make our climate extremely enjoyable.
What time is it?
Bonaire is in the same timezone as New York. Official GMT -5, except Bonaire doesn't have DST.
What about currency?
Unlike the Dutch, the Netherlands Antilles still have their Guilder. It is pegged to the Dollar (and not the Euro!) at about 1.78 Guilder to a dollar. Dollars are accepted island wide at that rate. Traveller cheques and most major ‘plastic’ is widely accepted.
What utilities are available?
Tap water is desalinated seawater, produced on the island, of excellent quality, and delicious. You can safely drink it, and we recommend, if we may, to do so regularly to avoid dehydration. Electricity is 110 volt 50 cycles. If you are planning on using it, such as to charge batteries, we would recommend to bring a surge protector. The power surges in distribution may be such that it occasionally burns adapters and chargers. At our hotel we also have 220 volt outlets available. There are several gas stations on the island, and gas is available cheaper than in Europe but about double the price of that in the US.
Tam Tam or....?
Bonaire has modern communications available. There are at least 4 cyber cafe’s to choose from in the capital of Bonaire, Kralendijk. Most hotels offer e-mail, fax and phone service, including ours.
For the people from Europe: the most telecom providers are supported nowadays, so your mobile phone is very likely to work over here.
Shopping?
Located right between our two locations is a small convenience store for your first needs. Larger grocery stores are in town, about a five minute drive. There you also find all kinds of other shopping.
What about night life?
Bonaire is not exactly known for its' spectacular night life. However, there are some cozy little bars in town and there are two casinos. There is live music every weekend and salsa dancing for those with loose hips. There are plenty of good restaurants to choose from and given the fact that everything needs to be imported, reasonably priced.
Wetsuits anyone?
We have seen just about anything. People attempting to kill themselves trying to put on seven mill. wet suits in 95 degree heat and people wearing nothing but a T-shirt getting too cold at the end of a dive. Basically in winter we recommend some protection such as a shorty or a three mill. full length suit. In summer a shorty or a diveskin should be sufficient.