Boat Diving in Bonaire?

[dannie708]

Been to Buddy Dive twice. Excellent diving operations. You can do 3 boat dives daily with them, they schedule 3 trips each day. There are many sites that are accessible from boat only like Klein Island.

 

[South4Scuba]

I really appreciate all the helpful advice. I will review all the suggestions and the various web sites. It sounds like one can do boat dives in Bonaire.

As always, when you visit an island for the first time there is a learning curve. Sometimes it takes two or three trips to fine tune you favorite resort.

 

[lsorenson]

It is nice to be able to do it the first time around though; is it not??? As said many times, yes, boat dives are available and if I remember correctly from your first post, you were looking for the boat dives for the ease for your wife... By all means, please do cause we do want the ones we love to enjoy the sport we have come to love so much even at twice the cost... lol The dives will be good regardless of how you get there!!!

If you do do Buddy Dive, you can walk off the end of the dock if you like to enter (@ a 7' drop) or go down the steps or ladder... easy in and out. Please remember, you can always set your wife's BC in the water at the bottom of the steps and help her get situated...

Best to you and yours...
lee

I really appreciate all the helpful advice. I will review all the suggestions and the various web sites. It sounds like one can do boat dives in Bonaire.

As always, when you visit an island for the first time there is a learning curve. Sometimes it takes two or three trips to fine tune you favorite resort.

 

[Altamira]

Stayed at the Habitat last year for a week and thoroughly enjoyed both the boat and shore dives. Some of my favorite dives were at Klein Bonaire which pretty much requires a boat to reach, and some of the northern spots which were a bit of a challenge for us when doing the shore dives in that area. Some of the northern sites require you to haul your gear up a lot of steps, and in one case a vertical ladder to get back up to your truck. If you are young and in great shape, may be no problem. But if you have any knee or hip issues, you might want to save those for boat dives.

 

[South4Scuba]

Well, I ended up selecting the new all-inclusive package from Plaza Resort. They include everything you could want in a week (food, drinks, diving, vehicle, nitrox . . .).

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[chauncy19]

just dove with plaza etc in June. had a great time. you won't be disappointed. a bit of a hike to water from where we stayed but that was the only nit.

 

[ernani]

I have never used boats in Bonaire and can not contribute to this part of the question/discussion. I return to Bonaire yearly just because of the "diving freedom" and the possibility of top shore diving. I would like to second and emphasize an earlier opinion according to which there are MANY dive sites where once you put your wife's equipment into the water, the dive starts there and she will not have to neither carry her equipment nor go through long surface swims.
I would say you can post a thread asking for ideas about these dive sites, rent a truck for a couple of days only and try - it might add considerably to your Bonaire experience.
yuval

 

[MX727]

Just got back. Stayed at Divi and dove the 11 dive boat package. Even added two extra boat dives for the last day. Couldn't have been easier. Did the two tank morning and single afternoon several times. The rest of the time, hit the two tank morning boat and then did a night dive. At least half of the boat trips were out to Klein. More often than not, we were able to request the sites. I tended to either try to get them to go to Klein or the sites that are typically listed as boat only dives. So, with that in mind, there was plenty of freedom. Since it was low season, the boats weren't crowded and they crew wasn't under a time crunch, so the dives were nice and long.

 

[weinerr]

I'm with Todd. Did Divi Flamingo a few weeks ago and couldn't have been more pleased with the resort, dive op, boat size and layout, dive selection and the absolute ease of getting your gear from your locker to the boat. Add to this the simplicity of shore diving from the house reef and it was perfect. My family of 5 did a dozen boat dives and a bunch of shore/night dives from the house reef. All your gear is stored in large full size lockers on the dock literally a few feet from the boat. The lockers fit 2 divers worth of gear and were well ventilated (you can buy a lock for $5). No stinky gear! My wife and I took a drive to Habitat, Buddy's and Plaza and without question Divi is far and away the easiest boat diving. For house reef diving our lockers were maybe 4ft from the giant stride or 20 ft from the stairs. The other dive ops are outstanding for shore diving, but for boat, Divi is my top choice. Huge rinse tubs (camera, regs, several gear) a shower and a hose were also just feet away from your locker and boat launch and we available 24/7. There was often a choice of 2 boats you could sign up for i for the morning dives, depending on what you wanted, a Klein trip versus a trip north or south. When selecting the reef the crew always asked if the divers had been there already and always changed the reef if requested. Add to this the well laid out resort (nothing is far), onsite restaraunts, 2 large pools and excellent large rooms, and Divi is my return choice.