Boat dive package in Bonaire

[junkyard_dawg]

I did a guided east coast shore dive at Cai with Bas Tol of BasDiving.com; there's also Bonaire East Coast Diving, if you want to boat dive the east coast (which I have not done). In my very limited east coast experience, east coast diving is far different from the mainstream west coast diving, to the point it's like a different destination. You might want to spend a day trying it out.

Richard.

I'm thinking about trying Bas this trip. Never dove the East coast in all the times I've visited. You make it sound worth it!

Trey

 

[drrich2]

It's worth it. A very different experience. If you shore dive, a guide is a really good idea, as I found out - A Whole New Cai. The sea grass, larger fish, it's an environment I haven't seen the like of on the mainstream west coast; I've dove as far north as Boka Slagbaai and as far south as that lighthouse on the southern tip, and I don't recall anything that looked like Cai did.

I've never done a boat dive over there. My only 2 boat dives in Bonaire were Mi Dushi off Klein Bonaire and Small Wall off Bonaire.

Richard.

 

[Bonaire11]

You're better off doing an unlimited tank package with Dive Friends and sign up for the boat dives you want to do on Klein or up North. The East Coast dives are awesome but as drrich2 mentioned above you only have 2 options. Look on the board at Dive Friends for where they're going out and just sign up. If you need more attention (or this is your first time to Bonaire) and don't feel comfortable doing it on your own just stay at Buddy Dive.

 

[rmorgan]

Diving with Bas and diving with ECD are each unique. Bas (who is indeed worth it) will take to you a site he likes for the day (and your skills), and train you how to enter and how to exit. (As to the importance of this, read Richard's Cai thread.) Bas took my wife and me, after confirming that she did not wear nail polish, to Boka Spelonk; there was considerable current going opposite the usual direction, but Bas is one with the sea and the dive was challenging but terrific.

But the OP asked about boat dives, which of course is, on the east coast, ECD. They use a purpose-built boat, and the dives are basically drift, with a healthy amount of finning. The trips are two tanks; the first is a reef shoulder similar to the west side but scaled up and with some different animals. The second tank is a whole different thing; first, a shallow sandy bottom with everything from sea horses to nurse sharks (and, once when we were there last year, 13 eagle rays together), and then a laugh-through-your reg extravaganza of turtles. We've been in some pretty good chop and swells other there.

As to boat dives generally, I don't think packages, although widely available, need be arranged in advance unless you want to work with a particular resort or an operator like Dive Friends. We have settled on two operators; Div'Ocean, (divoceacnbonaire.com) is a two-man operation; they run a quick outboard with max six divers (usually fewer, and sometimes two), and go to the north sites, all around Klein (including less-traveled sites like Southwest Corner and Forest, when conditions allow), and the southern sites. Ebby Jules (divewithebby.com) has an even faster outboard and is a lot of fun to dive with; he'll go wherever you want if conditions allow.

Lots of folks look askance at boat divers, but we're oldish, my buddy's got a good bit of titanium, and I haul a camera along. We usually do about 2/3 shore dives, three or four of which are at night, and 1/3 boat dives, and we choose boats whose captains don't mind if we're a little late to the dock. That's what I call "dive freedom."

 

[dflaher]

Divi Flamingo has a dive and stay package. I really liked the setup. There's an onsite dive shop and the diving is all by boat.

With a nice house reef to boot.

 

[drrich2]

after confirming that she did not wear nail polish

Okay, I'll bite...what was the issue with nail polish?

 

[rmorgan]

Okay, I'll bite...what was the issue with nail polish?

I didnt ask, but I think it was a proxy for whether she’d worry more about that than grabbing the right rock. Of course, she was perfect, and I got mildly swamped on the first try.

 

[scubadada]

When I was on Bonaire, the last two weeks of August, boats were not going to the 8 northern sites not accessible from shore that they usually visit, La Dania's Leap, Rappel, Bloodlet, Country Garden, Bon Bini Na Cas, Kalli's Reef, Barkadera, and Small Wall. La Dania's Leap and Karpata were closed due to possible SCTLD. Boats were not visiting the other sites as a precaution.

I have not heard any follow up on this topic since the end of August. The accuracy of identification of SCTLD has been questioned Has SCTLD Been Identified on Bonaire?

See follow up regarding SCTLD Karpata and La Dania’s Leap Dive Sites Reopened I assume boats will resume going to the northern sites following the reopening of La Dania's Leap and Karpata.

 

[scubadada]

See follow up regarding SCTLD Karpata and La Dania’s Leap Dive Sites Reopened I assume boats will resume going to the northern sites following the reopening of La Dania's Leap and Karpata.

I heard back from Dive Friends, the northern sites inaccessible from shore are open to the boats again and they are going there.

 

[Snoweman]

One of my dive buddies wants the boat dive experience you would receive in Cozumel for an entire week. That means following the dive bubbles, and taking care of the gear between dives (changing tanks, etc....). He's willing to pay extra. Who would you recommend?