Bonaire dive test?

[slackercruster]

I heard you have to take a dive test in Bonaire in order to dive. What does the test consist of?

Thanks

 

[Tom Smedley]

You have to name all counties that border on the Mississippi River from Davenport, Iowa to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

 

[Walter]

The first time I was in Bonaire, it was go diving, they never got in the water with us. The second time, they didn't even pretend to give a test.

 

[MarkUK]

You're probably referring to the check dive that you are required to perform before you are left loose to dive on your own/buddy pair/group.

Basically, you have attend a short lecture/video presentation, when the dive staff tell you all the stuff we already know (stay off the coral, don't molest marine life, etc, etc), you buy your Marine Park tag, and then you will be required to go for a dive off your dive centre's house reef (which is a dive you would have done anyway, and probably will several times during your stay) and that's it.

Mark

 

[Norm Cover]

My wife and I stayed at the Divi last year and all we had to do was to pay for the park pass and do a check out dive. We were told to dive on the house reef and make sure we were weighted properly and all of our gear was in working order. We also had to sit through a short orientation on the park rules. No test. After the checkout dive we were allowed to go on the boat dives or take tanks for shore dives.

 

[DeputyDan]

I think the main reason for the check out dive is to make sure that all your gear works - while at a populated area - and that your weighting is OK.

No test - no staff person looking over your shoulder - no pressure.

 

[D_O_H]

At the Plaza/Toucan, we did have a DM from the dive shop join our group for our check out dive.

I still wouldn't call it a test though - he seemed to be interested in pointing out cool critters, rather than scrutinizing our dive skills. I'm sure he would have said something if anyone in our group was crashing into the reef or corking to the surface, but I'm just as sure they would have been turned loose to dive on their own after a bit of coaching.

 

[Scuba65]

Same with us at the Plaza/Tucan dive center. our DM was just pointing out stuff when we did our checkout dive. so, no need to worrry about it.

 

[The Chairman]

Some of the BEST testing occurs when the students don't even know it's happening!

 

[scubaaaronh]

When we dove with plaza toucan the DM was in the water and just went on his way and as he would swim by every now and then just ask if u were ok.