Bonaire Wannadive- is it just me?

[El Orans]

I sent them a link to this thread. Let's give them some time to answer this.

 

[herman]

I'm guessing but I suspect your just talking with the wrong person, this does not sound like a resonce I would expect from Bart or Rob. If however it is their policy to not fill or rent ponys, contact Walt at RecTec.
Rec Tek Scuba Bonaire - We do it silent. We do it deep. Techincal diving.

 

[salth2owannabe]

I'm going to Bonaire in about a week and I'm taking my own small pony. Probably won't use it on every dive, but the option is there if "I" choose to. I e-mailed Capt. Don's awhile ago, who is our air provider, and they refered me to another dive op on the island that does tech diving. Memory doesn't serve right now as to which one that is. I just found a site called dive friends Bonaire that does rent a pony pretty cheap, but I don't think that is the op that Don's refered me to.
Anyway-I also find it pretty rediculous that a dive op would tell you they don't allow a pony, or bail-out bottle. You and I know that the discussion isn't about air management. I'm extremely anal about air management, but in certain situations I like the security of a bail-out bottle. Those that choose not to that's fine too.

 

[salth2owannabe]

Herman beat me to it - Rec Tek is the op that Don's refered me to.
Thanks

 

[lmorin]

This issue seems very bizarre. Although I don't use a pony, I thought I understood their merits. It seems to me that a pony is total superfluous until it is needed. Then, it becomes rather useful.

 

[ianr33]

When I was in Bonaire I did a lot of solo dives with independant doubles. Just picked up 2 tanks and went diving.

Another idea would be to take your pony and a transfill whip. That way you can fill it on your own.(And you wont even have to pay for a VIP due to having an empty tank )

 

[ClayJar]

Another idea would be to take your pony and a transfill whip. That way you can fill it on your own.(And you wont even have to pay for a VIP due to having an empty tank )

I'll have to ask the shop we're using whether they'll fill my pony at the beginning of the week. (I'll even give it a full inspection just before leaving, with an auxiliary recheck on arrival -- it's nice to be certified. ) If they'd have a problem with that, I'll certainly be bringing my transfill whip. I'd rather save the weight, so if they don't have a problem, I'll leave it at home.

I would not dive without the pony, and *certainly* not while I'm being DM for several other people (which I will effectively be doing in Bonaire, even though they're friends who won't pay me :biggrin. While I have not even once run out of air (even having experienced two sudden-onset O-ring failures with nary a leak prior), things have a habit of occurring at the least opportune moment. Sharing air makes dealing with even small additional problems much less straightforward, but diving a pony means I can simply address any coincident problems as the dive is thumbed.

 

[stu_in_fl]

I{snip}
My surprise and the real point of this post is that here we have a dive shop telling a customer that they are not allowed to use a pony tank! :mooner:
( this was not meant to be a discussion as to if one really needs a pony tank or not.)

ahh, i see - probably you can read into their statement that they don't have any to rent, and they don't really want to fill yours if you brought one (I guess they have their compressors going all day filling the maximum numbers of big tanks they possibly can for people to pick up, so would just mean a bit more hassle for them)...funny statement of "not allowed" though ...maybe just somethign got lost in translation, as apart from picking up tanks from the wanadive, you'll never see them (unless you get hungry for lunch and go for the monster "Bongo Burger")

 

[RICHinNC]

My one and only visit so far ...Buddy Dive filled my pony with no problems.....

 

[dvrliz1]

Hi All!

Let me help a bit. I spoke with Wannadive today:

They do not have pony tanks to rent, but they will fill your pony tank if you bring one no, problem.

I think the "not allowed" in the email is actually a mis-translation. I have been trying to translate a dutch document into english here on Bonaire and it is VERY difficult! For example, I was translating a single dutch word, and it's "meaning" (as the word itself translated into something in english that had nothing to do with the subject matter (but in dutch it does), and the "definition" was over 4 lines long....once I sat and read the definition 5 times, I finally concluded that the word that, actually meant "building permit".

So, yes they will fill your pony, but unfortunately they do not have any to rent.

Hope this sorts things out!

Liz