Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Diving & Snorkeling Bonaire

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tim totally "Rocks"! This is the most up-to-date, useful, and well laid-out diving guide when going to Bonaire. Tim's descriptions made it very easy to plan dives, especially shore dives (Bonaire has tons of them!). Combined with his great pictures, we felt like we had already visited each site before actually getting there! The only (very minor) discrepancies were on some sites which were classified in the (blue shaded) summaries as "Boat" access, whereas they were described in the text as shore dives also (and we confirmed this while there). We can't wait to try out Tim's guides to other locations. Thanks!

We thoroughly enjoyed reading this guidebook, while on vacation recently in Mexico. Bonaire will be our next stop! Tim Rock is obviously a very accomplished photographer. The photos are beautiful. Each dive site has a description of the shore entry, depths where the best diving is found, commonly seen species, and notes about current, surf, misc hazards, etc. My only suggestions for future editions would be even more photos showing what the entries look like, and more detailed information about how far offshore the reef dropoff or mooring buoys are. Sometimes the description says "it's a long swim out", but I'd like to know what kind of distance we're talking about. And maybe a star rating for the dive sites? I know it's subjective, but it would provide a starting point when trying to pick from so many potential dive sites.

I brought this book to Bonaire and it was excellent for providing insight into the many, many dive locations around island. This book will enhance your experience on the island and is well worth the cost.

Notice how the title of the book is "LP Diving AND SNORKELING Bonaire?" Well, let's just say that Tim needs to: 1) update the book - it's from 2006; and 2) get some additional info in here about the phenomenal snorkeling opportunities (or change the title.) I understand it's primarily a diving guide, and that's fine, but if you add the bit about snorkeling, well, then my expectation is that it will contain plenty of information about snorkeling opportunities. It doesn't. Nevertheless, I give kudos to a well done book because if you combine this info with the tourist guides/maps from Bonaire you'll find everything you need. The reality is that the Bonaire Tourist Center in downtown Kralendijk will have EVERYTHING that you need and it will do a better job of highlighting the snorkeling spots, and you'll save the $16 or whatever I paid for this book.

The bottom line: could be better, but works quite well as a supplemental guide book. Once you're in the water you'll understand why the dive sites are so popular. I happened to be pretty impressed with the snorkeling and IMHO, the book falls a bit short in that department. In case you're wondering, no - I don't dive. But you don't have to dive to appreciate the incredible marine life in the waters of Bonaire - it is an amazing place - and is by far the BEST snorkeling my wife & I have ever encountered. Forget Grand Cayman, or St. John, or Cozumel - I could live out the rest of my life on this underwater paradise.

Recommended, but you don't have to buy it since you can get everything that is inside the book elsewhere, for FREE.

A definite guide to Bonaire diving and snorkling spots. Only thing missing is are the GPS coordinates which would help in finding the lesser popular dive sites. This guide helped me get to the proper sites.

This little book is great: up to date info, good pics, details, easy to read.

This book does have good descriptions on the various dive sites (shore and boat) in Bonaire - we read the summary the book had before our 25 dives last trip. Only thing that is lacking is some good overall Bonaire info, like resturants, places to stay, and map.

With the wonderful photography and great overall general information on Bonaire, this book us a very useful pre-trip planner. It also makes a terrific pocket guide to take along to all the shore dive sites around the island. The site names and indexing agrees with the local site markings and the dive descriptions are right-on!

A highly recommended take-along companion for your Bonaire trip.

We bought this book after our first trip to Bonaire and before our second, and it was an excellent guide with just the right amount of detail and some very helpful tips that we didn't already know. I highly recommend it.

If you are a diver and going to Bonaire, this is a great book to have.