Trip Report Bonaire: Divi Flamingo Resort July 10-17, 2021

[OH2OD]

MiloR: I’m sure our paths crossed at some point. I talked to a few divers with a group from Ohio that week. We sat by members of that group on our flights to and from Bonaire.

We did get downtown to Gio’s a few times for gelato. It is a great treat anytime of the day.

 

[scubaNYC16]

How long were the boat dives? Were they timed or you could dive your air?

 

[Doctorfish]

Interested to hear OPs response but I have rarely been out on a day boat anywhere when constraints on depth, time, or both were not set. There might be some leeway under unusual circumstances but they generally need to keep to a schedule.

If you want long bottom times on Bonaire, go from shore.

 

[scubaNYC16]

Yes the second question was silly. I’m just curious how long the dives were.

 

[OH2OD]

All my boat diving experience on Bonaire has been as part of a group.
I seem to recall a 45 minutes dive length being mentioned in most dive briefings.
We generally had 50-60 minutes of bottom time with 35-40 minutes of surface intervals. This will vary because some are always first back on the boat and a few always in the last few on board.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

How long were the boat dives? Were they timed or you could dive your air?

The 2 tank morning boat dives used to be 45 minutes time limit with a 30 minute si.

The afternoon single tank dive is limited to 60 minutes.

 

[azstinger11]

I like Divi, wish they would rent the dive lockers to people not diving through their dive shop though. We stayed in the old timeshare area last time so had an adequate balcony area to dry off gear. The remolded rooms, balcony space appears greatly reduced.

 

[scubaNYC16]

Do you think Divi would be a good option for a solo diver? Had another trip canceled and friends can’t make it, I’ve always done shore diving there with buddies. Thinking it could be a good place for some boat dives and meet some other divers with truck and tag a long for shore dives. Would go end of the month.

 

[OH2OD]

scubaNYC16: I think Divi would be a good place for a solo diver.
They have a section on the dive boat schedule for sign up of individual divers.
I recall seeing a few solo divers at the resort this year.

 

[divingwahine]

I am a solo traveler/diver and I have stayed at Divi twice. There is no single supplement which is nice. When I was there, there were 2 dive groups, each of which had its own boat. I was on what I affectionately called "the leftover boat". I enjoyed it because we only had between 4-7 divers/snorkelers on the boat in the mornings, so it was not crowded. Last time I was there, I was able to hook up with some people for afternoon dives off the house reef. This trip, I wasn't able to do that, but we had enough people on the leftover boat to do 2 afternoon boat dives. However, I was graciously accepted as an honorary member by one of the dive groups on their afternoon boat, filling in for the divers who wanted to hang at the pool and drink all afternoon. I did a few night dives on the house reef with that group as well. Long story short, I had no issue being a solo diver.