My husband and I are planning our first trip to Bonaire next month. Am wondering whether we should go on guided dives. I'm not so much concerned with having someone to show me exactly where cool creatures are, but don't want to end up swimming over bare sand, unable to find the reef. With Bonaire shore dives, once we go to a site and get into the water, how hard is it to find the reef? I know that guided dives can be purchased through VIP diving and probably some resorts will have that option.
Guided dives?
- Thread starter jomcclain
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You just swim out a bit and you'll literally be on top of it. Pick a direction to go in and swim. Turn around and swim back the same distance. Diving doesn't get much easier than on Bonaire.
Just make sure you have sturdy booties with thick soles. The ironshore can be pretty murderous.
drrich2
Contributor
My Research Notes for Bonaire - My Research Note For Bonaire
You will probably be focusing on the mainstream west coast sites, roughly no farther north than Karpata or farther south than Red Slave (and you might not go that far south!). If you want to try east coast shore diving, Bas Tol with BasDiving.com is a good guide to contact.
In a nutshell, it's not hard to find the reef. You're on the island's west coast, looking westward into the sea; that's the direction of the reef. Wade in waist deep, don your fins, then swim out in a westerly direction over the sand and/or rock to the drop off, which varies but might be around 20-30 feet deep or so. You don't miss it. To come back in, keep heading east.
Depending on what part of the island you're on, you might want to make it a bit northwest or southwest, yes, but finding the reef isn't hard.
I haven't dove with VIP divers, but everything I've heard about them has been good. If you want to hire them for your first day, to help you get accustomed to the dive 'work flow,' that could help.
Speaking of which, I linked you my research notes to help give you some idea what the shore and entries are like. That's going to be more of an adjustment than finding the reef.
You will probably be focusing on the mainstream west coast sites, roughly no farther north than Karpata or farther south than Red Slave (and you might not go that far south!). If you want to try east coast shore diving, Bas Tol with BasDiving.com is a good guide to contact.
In a nutshell, it's not hard to find the reef. You're on the island's west coast, looking westward into the sea; that's the direction of the reef. Wade in waist deep, don your fins, then swim out in a westerly direction over the sand and/or rock to the drop off, which varies but might be around 20-30 feet deep or so. You don't miss it. To come back in, keep heading east.
Depending on what part of the island you're on, you might want to make it a bit northwest or southwest, yes, but finding the reef isn't hard.
I haven't dove with VIP divers, but everything I've heard about them has been good. If you want to hire them for your first day, to help you get accustomed to the dive 'work flow,' that could help.
Speaking of which, I linked you my research notes to help give you some idea what the shore and entries are like. That's going to be more of an adjustment than finding the reef.
ThatDogDontHunt
Oscar Meyer Weiner
Finding the reef is easy, as explained above.
To reassure yourself before you go pull up google maps satellite view and look at the western coast. You will clearly see the narrow band of shallows - sometimes sand sometimes not, along the coast.
I found the hardest part of shore diving in Bonaire is locating the best ingress/egress routes from/to the shore to reduce the likelihood of injuring an ankle, stepping on spiny urchins that love to nestle in the pockmarked ironstone in the shallows, or doing a face plant trying to negotiate your footing. I remember on site (can't remember which one), where we existed slightly south of our entry, only to find an impassible colony of urchins blocking our egress. We had to swim back out, and realign ourselves with the inbound track. Keep your regulator in.your mouth until you are past the risk of falling down. If you have any major mobility issues, consider boat dives.
Catito
Contributor
We stayed at Buddy Dive (I highly recommend it). They put a guide in the water for boat dives. We hired someone from their op to guide us on a few shore dives. It was nice, but looking back, not needed. When we go again we will not hire a guide.
Have fun. Great dives there.
Kriet
Registered
I really like VIP diving. great prices, they have 100cuft nitrox tanks and providing it's not "busy" they do not care if you take a couple extra tanks. the extra tanks was big for us as we do not always make it back to exchange tanks for the next day...at least we have a set for the morning dive we take before they open.
now, their guided dives - only done a couple. Two night dives - one for the ostracods and the other I don't recall but it was a night dive. I would not say they were necessary for either - I would not say they were bad, good .. they just dove with us - more of a helper / additional diver if anything. I have no idea on their daytime "help you find things' dives.
Others above have explained how easy shore diving is; I thought I would toss in that I am a repeat VIP diving customer (using them this Dec) based on price, tanks (size, availably, etc.) and they are very friendly people to deal with.
The "checkout dive" with them is watch a video, discuss the rules and off you go. We generally go there right after getting our truck do all the checkouts and then grab tomorrows tanks then even though our 1st day of diving does not officially start until the next day. (they let us do that so we can get a morning dive in without waiting for them to open.
now, their guided dives - only done a couple. Two night dives - one for the ostracods and the other I don't recall but it was a night dive. I would not say they were necessary for either - I would not say they were bad, good .. they just dove with us - more of a helper / additional diver if anything. I have no idea on their daytime "help you find things' dives.
Others above have explained how easy shore diving is; I thought I would toss in that I am a repeat VIP diving customer (using them this Dec) based on price, tanks (size, availably, etc.) and they are very friendly people to deal with.
The "checkout dive" with them is watch a video, discuss the rules and off you go. We generally go there right after getting our truck do all the checkouts and then grab tomorrows tanks then even though our 1st day of diving does not officially start until the next day. (they let us do that so we can get a morning dive in without waiting for them to open.
Many
Most of the marked (yellow rock with name) dive sites have a mooring that is close to the edge of the reef. From shore you can se it easily. Hilma Hooker site has three such moorings: bow, stern, reef near mid-ship. Some surface-swim to the mooring and descend, but if you do that you miss a lot of cool stuff over the shallower area. Many take a compass bearing from their entry point to the mooring, and swim that direction underwater until they see the mooring. Return to the mooring anchor after exploring the reef, and swim the reciprocal course back to the entry/exit point.
I suggest you also take a few boat dives to some sites up north or on Klein. There are some very good sites that you cannot do as a shore dive.
Kriet
Registered
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