Bonaire Questions

[scuba_willy]

Some additional thoughts- sorry if these are obvious:

For the shore dives you will want to rent a pickup truck. The dives sites all have truck access and marked with a yellow stone. You can just drive up, don the gear from the truck and go dive. Well at most of the sites. You can dive the resort sites too ( sometimes they enforce a fee- often not), but there are many great sites not linked to a resort.

The shoreline at bonaire is ironshore- pitted, craggy, uneven rock shelf. Its a little tricky to walk on and can be easy to fall. When people talk about easy entry vs hard, its typically about how hard it is to go over the rocks. Its not that the shelf is a lengthy walk, but many people take an unpleasant stumble at some time or other. A key recommendation is to go with some reasonable dive shoes/ booties. A tennis shoe like sole is best. Going barefoot or with dive socks only would be very brave !

The shore dives themselves are fairly easy. Usually little current ( except perhaps the most northerly or southerly sites). Navigation is reasonably straightforward, but finding the exact exit point can take a little experience. Many sites have a dive buoy in 15-20 feet of water that helps. Of course surfacing to take a peep is fine- provided you can recognize your vehicle/ beach from the water! Nothing to sweat over, just suggest you take a final look at the beach and landmarks before you go under- just in case.

Have fun in Bonaire. Its a great place to dive.

 

[drrich2]

Scuba Willy's post brought a thing or two more to mind.

SeaSoft Sunrays are the boots I've found useful. I had an old pair or regular thin-soled 'booties,' and I messed up a foot (it healed) in Bonaire walking geared up on iron shore wearing them. Now, my foot shifts around in the Sunrays a bit, but the thicker sole is way, way better!

Rental trucks in Bonaire are manual transmission/stick, unless you make arrangements otherwise. It tends to cost around $150 extra for an automatic. I can't drive stick; don't know whether you can.

Richard.

 

[uncfnp]

We have always used Dive Friends and have been able to do the check out dives at our convienence. They have lots of locations but they do not have the 24 hour availability that Buddy Dive offers.

There is no charge for that dive but you will be required to pay a Park fee at that time, 25 dollars - cash only. This is true for all dive ops.

We have made 3 trips so far and have yet to dive at a resort or on a boat. There are so many wonderful shore dives that we just haven't felt the need yet. Maybe next time.

No DM needed unless you plan to do a shore dive on the east side or you just want a guide to point out the marine life.

If you haven't seen them yet, here are 2 of my favorite Bonaire threads:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bonaire/443482-general-questions-first-timer-bonaire.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bo...e-shore-dive-site-would-insert-drum-roll.html

Have fun!
Lisa

 

[wwguy]

Past Sand Dollar there's a circular roundabout, and there's a road off that with a yellow rock telling you 'Bari Reef,' and you can go shore dive it there.

True... if you're driving south towards town. If you're driving north from town towards the resorts and northern dive sites you'll encounter the roundabout and public access to Bari Reef before you come to Den Laman and Sand Dollar resorts.

 

[gypsyjim]

Access to Den Lamen is right on that circle, and if you take the dirt road just past (immediately south) their entrance, it leads to the access point for Bari that avoids having to deal with the resort op's unwelcoming attitude.

 

[11HGrunt]

Thank you everyone for all of the input!!!!

 

[SailNaked]

there are too many easy dive spots with no supervision by anything more intelligent than a donkey. snotty resorts will not get any of my money at their bar if they are not willing to let me dive.

the checkout dive is just a weight check. do it anyplace you like and go have some fun in the beautiful clear water.

 

[Lorenzoid]

The "check-out dive" concept is not unique to Bonaire. Resorts elsewhere in the world sometimes ask you to do a check-out dive off their house reef to make sure your weighting is correct, your gear works properly, etc. Even on a liveaboard the first dive is often an easy "check-out dive." Rarely does a check-out dive involve someone sizing up your skills (though if it did, I certainly wouldn't object--I don't want a DM to believe I'm any more skilled than I actually am).

 

[wwguy]

the checkout dive is just a weight check. do it anyplace you like and go have some fun in the beautiful clear water.

Not exactly.

From the Bonaire National Marine Park Rules & Regulations:

"Orientation: All SCUBA divers must attend an orientation with their dive operator (the center from which air tanks are obtained) before diving in the BNMP. The orientation consists of a ‘dry’ part and a ‘wet’ part. The ‘dry’ part is a briefing on the Bonaire National Marine Park rules. The ‘wet’ part of the orientation is the check out dive, which is always supervised by the dive operation providing air. Repeat divers are required to attend a dive orientation and perform a check out dive every time they are back on island."

Some dive operators may be more relaxed than others regarding interpretation of "supervised", but "​do it anyplace you like" is stretching things a bit.

 

[Gdog]

Well, all I can say is when it came to the wet part, we were told go do a dive out front here and make sure you are weighted properly. Completely unsupervised. We made a nice dive out of it tho!