Bonaire & Dive Guides?

[choiahoy]

Kerry, You've gotten some good advice already, so I'll try not to be redundant.

I think it might a good idea to do a guided shore dive early on your trip. I'd be surprised if your dive shop didn't offer a guided check out dive as an option, so you could do so on your very first dive on the island. Once you've been through the shore dive, your wife would have a better idea of what it all entails. And I wouldn't tell you not to boat dive in Bonaire--just wait until you're down there to book your trips.

Note that if you and your wife do decide to head off in a truck for some unguided shore dives, certain sites are a bit "harder"--meaning slightly more complicated navigation (double reefs to the south) or harder entries (some northern sites)--so it might be a good idea to start on your house reef and other easier sites (Buddys, Cliff, Eden, Bachelor, many more...) and then work your way out.

We're planning our next trip to Bonaire in February, and we'll do a boat dive or two (to Klein or other sites not reachable by shore) and probably even a guided shore dive--there are opportunities for some "different" guided shore dives like UV night dives, Ostracod night dives, macro dives, east coast (if you do it, go later when you're more comfortable). We'll probably use VIP diving for those.

Enjoy you're trip and post a report when you get back!

 

[gkrane]

If you found it - how about the link you asked for. I love Bonaire, love BSDME, and would gladly pay $40 for a book that is better. Actually I'd pay that for a book that was as good but had a different perspective/approach.

Dive guide Bonaire: Marloes Otten: 9789081875417: Amazon.com: Books

 

[lmorin]

As others have said, navigation at Bonaire dive sites is generally very simple. I would suggest, if your wife is at all willing to give self-guided diving a shot, that you go to a resort with an excellent and easily accessible house reef. Buddy, Sand Dollar, Captain Don's, among others. You can enter in shallow water and venture deeper at your own pace, always within a few 10's of meters from the entry point. Using the entry point as your focus, making semicircular arcs in your dive route, left to right and back, while learning the underwater features that will aid in your return to the starting point. The arcs can become bigger such that your furthest point from shore becomes both greater and deeper. I suspect that it will take only a few of these arcs before your wife realizes that it is extremely simple to venture north or south along the shore for a way, then reverse direction, returning to the starting point slowly going from deeper to shallower while following landmarks you have already learned. Simple. And the basis for nearly all self-guided navigation on Bonaire. If you ever become truly worried, do an appropriate ascent to the surface, look to the east and surface swim back to your starting point, never very far away.

 

[kerrycorcoran]

appreciate all the great insight. I am working with the wife and hoping to calm her nerves and get her talked into this. i know if we take it slowly she'll be fine, she just needs to realize that as well.Thanks again!!

 

[hroark2112]

Regarding the experience level needed for the east side, I know divers with under 50 dives who I'd gladly buddy with on an east side dive, and I know instructors who I'd come up with any excuse possible not to dive the east side with. 70 dives and Bas as a guide and they could handle Cai on an average or better day.

As as far as as not wanting to babysit a group of divers spending the week at Capt. Don's house reef?? I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable about Bonaire diving as Bas, and I'd turn down a week of that too. Yawn. I don't like repeating the same site 2 days in a row, no less spending a whole week doing a house reef. Bash him all you want for it, but those kind of divers would have a MUCH better week doing boat diving and staying with the boat guide, and they would save money doing it.

I'm sure Bas will do west side diving. I've talked to him about it at length. I just don't feel the need to ask him to do it, I'd rather solo dive the west side sites.

 

[gkrane]

As as far as as not wanting to babysit a group of divers spending the week at Capt. Don's house reef?? I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable about Bonaire diving as Bas, and I'd turn down a week of that too. Yawn. I don't like repeating the same site 2 days in a row, no less spending a whole week doing a house reef. Bash him all you want for it, but those kind of divers would have a MUCH better week doing boat diving and staying with the boat guide, and they would save money doing it. /QUOTE]

Perhaps you and Bas share the same lack of regard for PR and his lack of desire for repeat business to dive the East side once they get more experienced. Yawn nothing, the guy is running a dive business and who cares where he dives as long he he is building his client base as well as getting paid. I'm sure all of us would love a bit more diversity in our jobs and not have to do the same thing a week in a row. Heck he is diving for a living, not digging ditches.

 

[hroark2112]

I regularly turn down work I don't want to do. At least 2 or 3 times a week I pass on projects because I prefer not to do those kinds of jobs.

Bas as is free to do the same. He works for himself, if he wants to decline certain kinds of dives, that's his prerogative. If someone chooses not to dive the east side with him because of that, that's their loss. I missed Bas on my last trip to the island because I spent most of my time training, I wish I had been able to catch him. Next trip!!

 

[gkrane]

I regularly turn down work I don't want to do. At least 2 or 3 times a week I pass on projects because I prefer not to do those kinds of jobs.

Bas as is free to do the same. He works for himself, if he wants to decline certain kinds of dives, that's his prerogative. If someone chooses not to dive the east side with him because of that, that's their loss.

 

[redacted]

Sometime it is not about what you do as much as how you do it.

 

[fncop]

Kerry,

My husband and I went with another couple to Bonaire when we all had about 40 dives under our belt. It was our first dive trip out of the States on our own. The couple we went with were quite nervous about us going out into the ocean without a guide. We used Dive Friends Bonaire as our dive shop for tank refills. We took their PADI Shore Diving class to gain some confidence. As they explained it to us, the class teaches stuff that you would eventually figure out on your own; but instead of taking 20 dives to figure it all out, they teach it to you in the classroom and two guided dives.

For our other couple that was not as confident, taking this specialty course was exactly what was needed. And since the course came with two guided dives, it allowed us to get our feet wet with a guide before striking out on our own. This could go a long ways in helping your wife get the confidence she needs to do shore diving without a guide.

Although Dive Friends Bonaire offers the PADI Shore Diving course, I would think there are probably other dive operators on the island who would offer it as well. However, I would highly recommend using Dive Friends Bonaire. They are very knowledgeable and friendly plus they have 5 different locations on the island. You can rent tanks at one location and drop them off for refills at a different location depending upon which location is closest to where you choose to dive that day. Plus they will provide guided dives if that is what you decide you need to get your wife to go diving in Bonaire.

Even though we did not have much experience when we went there, Dive Friends Bonaire was still able to use a hand-drawn map they had at one of their locations and give us underwater diving directions to two seahorses. When we got underwater, we were able to follow those directions and found the seahorses without any difficulty. That is just one example of how helpful they are.