FishWatcher747
Contributor
I have been planning and dreaming of doing my first Bonaire Dive trip since I started diving and reading Scubaboard almost 2 years ago. It was supposed to happen 17 months ago but was cancelled due to the shutdowns. In hindsight I am glad it was postponed because I was able to gain valuable experience in Key Largo and Cozumel prior to the trip.
As I travelled alone (wife doesn't dive) without a buddy I arranged to take SDI solo with Xprodiver on dive day one of the trip. Xprodiver has a shop about 200 yards north of town on Kaya Grandi. Huge thanks to the staff Hens, Sigrid and my instructor Martijn Klijnstra. If anyone needs a good Dive shop or is looking to do a scuba course in Bonaire I highly recommend you go to Xprodiver. I was the only person taking the course and the one on one instruction was fantastic. I'm sure this is why I couldn't find anyone to teach the course in Cozumel. Not a money maker for an instructor.
As far as the course goes we covered lots of topics but you do lots of gas switches over and over on all the dives until it is just muscle memory. Because of the course I brushed up on my compass work and got lots of practice in the course but especially in the dives on my own. I am much more confident using a compass than ever before.
I stayed just north of town in an AirBnB. Air package through AB dive which was convenient because I was in Van Der Tweel (grocery store) which is next door to AB dive almost every day as I do my own cooking.
A big thanks to drrich2 for his trip reports and research posted about Bonaire. Also some personal advice he gave me. I found this very helpful.
Thank you to Kevin and Liz Grogan for their helpful Youtube videos about the Dive Sites on Bonaire. I carried a collapsible 3 section hiking pole for shore entry and exit on all the sites except oil slick leap and found it very helpful. I would stow it on my right side BPW harness on 2 bungees one up high on right shoulder and one near lower right rib cage.
Thank you to the Reef Smart Guides Bonaire authors. I used this guidebook extensively and because of them had a plan for every dive.
Thank you to tursiops for all his posts and advice about Bonaire, very helpful.
I mostly did the dive sites north and south of town. However I did do Cliff which I found to be very nice. Am a little confused about the parking though. I did park in a space with a sign that says "Parking for Dive Friends and Oasis". Not sure I was parking in the right place.
I must say having done the Hilma Hooker multiple times the 8 inch step up getting out of the water onto uneven mossy ironshore with waves breaking was about the hardest thing about diving in Bonaire. There was usually an audience waiting for you to fall and several people did or nearly did. I might have to train for that before going back to Bonaire. Put 80 pounds on my back, find an uneven rock in my yard and have my wife direct a jet of spray from the garden hose at my feet as I repeatedly step up on a rock.
As I travelled alone (wife doesn't dive) without a buddy I arranged to take SDI solo with Xprodiver on dive day one of the trip. Xprodiver has a shop about 200 yards north of town on Kaya Grandi. Huge thanks to the staff Hens, Sigrid and my instructor Martijn Klijnstra. If anyone needs a good Dive shop or is looking to do a scuba course in Bonaire I highly recommend you go to Xprodiver. I was the only person taking the course and the one on one instruction was fantastic. I'm sure this is why I couldn't find anyone to teach the course in Cozumel. Not a money maker for an instructor.
As far as the course goes we covered lots of topics but you do lots of gas switches over and over on all the dives until it is just muscle memory. Because of the course I brushed up on my compass work and got lots of practice in the course but especially in the dives on my own. I am much more confident using a compass than ever before.
I stayed just north of town in an AirBnB. Air package through AB dive which was convenient because I was in Van Der Tweel (grocery store) which is next door to AB dive almost every day as I do my own cooking.
A big thanks to drrich2 for his trip reports and research posted about Bonaire. Also some personal advice he gave me. I found this very helpful.
Thank you to Kevin and Liz Grogan for their helpful Youtube videos about the Dive Sites on Bonaire. I carried a collapsible 3 section hiking pole for shore entry and exit on all the sites except oil slick leap and found it very helpful. I would stow it on my right side BPW harness on 2 bungees one up high on right shoulder and one near lower right rib cage.
Thank you to the Reef Smart Guides Bonaire authors. I used this guidebook extensively and because of them had a plan for every dive.
Thank you to tursiops for all his posts and advice about Bonaire, very helpful.
I mostly did the dive sites north and south of town. However I did do Cliff which I found to be very nice. Am a little confused about the parking though. I did park in a space with a sign that says "Parking for Dive Friends and Oasis". Not sure I was parking in the right place.
I must say having done the Hilma Hooker multiple times the 8 inch step up getting out of the water onto uneven mossy ironshore with waves breaking was about the hardest thing about diving in Bonaire. There was usually an audience waiting for you to fall and several people did or nearly did. I might have to train for that before going back to Bonaire. Put 80 pounds on my back, find an uneven rock in my yard and have my wife direct a jet of spray from the garden hose at my feet as I repeatedly step up on a rock.
