First timer, going in July

[KeithG]

If you are really serious about food making a difference, then try At Sea and Capriccios. They are a notch above everything else on the island.

At Sea has a tasting menu that I am looking forward to trying next week. Will also be diving into Capriccios wine list.

La Guernica is good for tapas. Bistro Paris has slipped a lot since it moved to the new location. Am also interested in trying the kite food trailer as it is run by Hagen formerly of now closed Cactus Blue.

Then there is a long list of okay restaurants and a few must avoids (Karels, chibi,...)

We do night dives off the Divi dock. Fairly similar to the Bari reef at captain dons. Lots of interesting stuff at the crest of the reef as well as in the rubble shallows. I just use the target lights from my strobes. More than enough light.

 

[tstormdiver]

Please "just say no" to the can light. Let me be blunter than the rest - you will PO everyone you come across if you have a can light. Most of our night dives have been spent with our hands over the light so that it barely shines through our fingers.

Well I'm sorry,.. you'll just have to be PO'd. I can be just as blunt. I know how to control my light & had a lot of practice at it, thank you. BTW, if I do any technical level dives,... it is a primary means of communication. I had not said anything up to this point, trying to be polite.

 

[boat sju]

Tammy,

I don't care what you do with your can light on technical dives, but on a 35' night dive on a Bonaire house reef I've seen video lights and can lights used to make it look like aliens were landing. It's not necessarily just a matter of controlling where you're pointing the thing.

Are you telling me you don't have a little 4AA LED that you can use as a primary and your can as a backup?

boat

 

[tstormdiver]

I seriously doubt I'll be much at 35' much. The rebreather is much harder to control at shallower depths, as it constantly adds O2 to maintain a constant PPO2, to keep the loop safe. I have dove with my can light in the Caymans & Bahamas with no issues, in fact everyone I've dove with while using it have been glad to have a point of reference (even if I'm moving). I am respectful with it,... If someone is doing photography, I stay away. I do have awareness of what & who is around me. I like to use it to really explore deeper under corals & things & the can light is perfect for that. Yes, I have some LED back- up lights & that is what they are used for.

 

[boat sju]

If you're diving tech profiles and as considerate as you say, then great. I was replying to your OP from the standpoint of a typical recreational diver on Bonaire who does an occasional night dive on a house reef. Let's just leave it at this: On any given night in front of Captain Don's, at 40ft there's enough light for a football stadium.

 

[T.C.]

Boat, cut her some slack. She's not a clueless vacation diver. She could dive with an airplane landing light, and still many divers would be flashed and blinded.

Not by her, but by the clueless vacation diver with a little 4AA LED they just bought for their very first ever night dive. Given the skills and experience she professes, she knows how to control her light, much better than the vacation diver who thinks the best way to alert every diver they found a sleeping fish is to flash their little 4AA LED light straight into their face.

 

[wwguy]

Bonaire is famous for "diving freedom" because it offers the most opportunity to those who are flexible and creative with schedule and activities. Diving with 36 other people is not an example of how to do this. The only thing I can think of that's less fun than diving with a group of 18 other divers is encountering an another group of 18 divers midway through any dive. One of the fantastically unique characteristics of diving Bonaire is that you can distance yourself from the cattle drive.

Enjoy your trip. I sincerely believe you'll have a good time. But I don't believe you'll be making the most of your opportunity to enjoy Bonaire.

 

[T.C.]

Bonaire is famous for "diving freedom" because it offers the most opportunity to those who are flexible and creative with schedule and activities. Diving with 36 other people is not an example of how to do this. The only thing I can think of that's less fun than diving with a group of 18 other divers is encountering an another group of 18 divers midway through any dive. One of the fantastically unique characteristics of diving Bonaire is that you can distance yourself from the cattle drive.

Enjoy your trip. I sincerely believe you'll have a good time. But I don't believe you'll be making the most of your opportunity to enjoy Bonaire.

Have to concur with this. If the whole group tries to stay together, they'll miss the point and fun of Bonaire. Not everyone can go on the same shore dive. Not everyone will fit on the boat. Break them up if they all try to stick together; with a stick if necessary.

 

[Jersey]

Bonaire is famous for "diving freedom" because it offers the most opportunity to those who are flexible and creative with schedule and activities. Diving with 36 other people is not an example of how to do this. The only thing I can think of that's less fun than diving with a group of 18 other divers is encountering an another group of 18 divers midway through any dive.

I can't imagine 36 people on a dive anywhere. Would like to be the proverbial fly on the wall watching... Does pose logistical problems getting all the cars parked at sites.

 

[gbf]

I can't imagine 36 people on a dive anywhere. Would like to be the proverbial fly on the wall watching... Does pose logistical problems getting all the cars parked at sites.

This conjures up an image.

Back in the olden days we used to be entertained by the hordes at Devils Eye/Ear on holiday weekends. This was before there was a parking lot at the Ear, and a 'horde" could be defined as "two couples with 2 inner tubes". Usually we'd go somewhere else if there was more than 1 truck already parked in the woods.

Sounds like this is going to be the horde. I'd probably pull up and watch just for the entertainment value - with that many divers its gotta be sorta like a boat launch on the 4th of July.

Surely the plan is not for 36 to descend on a dive site...