Trip Report Bonaire: Den Laman and Dive Friends, August 17-31. 2022

[Compressor]

Fantastic report. Fabulous photos.
Really enjoyed it.
Thank you.

 

[scubadada]

Thanks @RIHappyDiver @morecowbells @rmorgan @staggsSevin @Catito @jonhall @drrich2 King of the Trip Report, and @Compressor glad you liked it, my pleasure to share a fantastic trip

 

[azstinger11]

That new boat looks great! Last time I was there and used the ponga boats my back didn’t really like the setup.

 

[scubadada]

That new boat looks great! Last time I was there and used the ponga boats my back didn’t really like the setup.

Yes, the Tiki Diver is a very nice boat. Smooth, fast, dry, even in good size swells, unlike their other boats. Plenty of room, normal height seating, real under seat storage. A camera table and a couple of nice camera rinse tubs. You can ride up front or up top. Two easy side exits and a couple of good ladders.

They take up to 14 divers, could hold more. With two groups, that is fine. At least once we had a single group, far too many divers. A group of 6 or 7 is all I easily tolerate and was, generally, the rule. We took it each day except for one day on the Pascal, that reinforced my fondness for the new boat.

Will you and your wife be taking your new rebreathers to Bonaire one of these days? Every visit we make, my wife and I see more divers on sidemount, scooters, and rebreathers.

 

[agmason]

Thanks for the great write-up and photos! You gave me frog fish envy and also got me looking forward to my trip to Bonaire next year.

 

[azstinger11]

Yes, the Tiki Diver is a very nice boat. Smooth, fast, dry, even in good size swells, unlike their other boats. Plenty of room, normal height seating, real under seat storage. A camera table and a couple of nice camera rinse tubs. You can ride up front or up top. Two easy side exits and a couple of good ladders.

They take up to 14 divers, could hold more. With two groups, that is fine. At least once we had a single group, far too many divers. A group of 6 or 7 is all I easily tolerate and was, generally, the rule. We took it each day except for one day on the Pascal, that reinforced my fondness for the new boat.

Will you and your wife be taking your new rebreathers to Bonaire one of these days? Every visit we make, my wife and I see more divers on sidemount, scooters, and rebreathers.

View attachment 746733

Perhaps! It would be a nice spot to build hours, it’s also just such a great spot to enjoy the simplicity of a streamlined/minimal open circuit setup.

 

[staggsSevin]

Hi @staggsSevin

I look forward to your review of Bellafonte. What is the house reef?

I'm actually not sure what it's called, I can't say I've ever dove anywhere between Bachelor's Beach and the Lake before. I'm certain it won't be as good as Bari though...but at least it has a house reef. I will be diving with VIP Divers this go too this go, and I've never used them before. I've heard nothing but good things and positive stuff about them. (They keep Bellafonte stocked with tanks).

I would have stayed with Den Laman for this trip but I just wasn't certain on Chogogo noise levels and was going to go check it out when we went for the next trip. It's been one of our favorite places to stay.

With any luck (like you had) there will be atleast one frog fish there for us on the house reef

 

[staggsSevin]

The Den Laman/Sand Dollar pier got a major facelift since our last visit, new planking, benches, and table. I'm not sure what the frame is for that is over part of the larger bench.

Edit: I heard back from Dive Friends. There is now fabric on top of the frame to protect from the sun. We could have used that at the end of August, It was very sunny and extremely hot.

View attachment 746703

Wow, this looks like a big improvement!

 

[scubadada]

Perhaps! It would be a nice spot to build hours, it’s also just such a great spot to enjoy the simplicity of a streamlined/minimal open circuit setup.

You're not kidding. I had a fantastic solo 95 min dive on Bari Reef one afternoon when nobody else wanted to dive. Avg depth 43 feet. Yellow frogfish, the gorgeous school of jacks seen in the photos on post #5, and all the usual reef fish and creatures. Most relaxing.

 

[azstinger11]

Dive Operation: Dive Friends Sand Dollar/Den Laman is located between the two resorts. Divers staying at either resort have access to the gear storage room and to the pier, for easy access to Bari Reef. The pier has gotten new planking, benches, and table since our last visit in 2021. The rinse tubs are now smaller, to save water?

Drats, meant to ask this on my other post. Any chance you have any photos of the gear storage room? How secure was it? We like staying at Divi but used Dive Friends which meant we couldn't use the on-pier dive storage at Divi (though it looks like their pier got trashed in the last storm), so always curious. If we take CCRs they would obviously be coming back inside the room with us, but thinking if we return and dive OC.