Is Bonaire worth it for a solo trip if I plan on doing guided shore dives?

[Khoujo1]

I am responding from Bonaire, thinking about which sites to dive today. This is the first visit for my wife and me, and we’ve had a great trip.

Bonaire Pros:
-Shore dives are indeed as easy as billed. A few slightly dicey entry/exits, but no real issues for our mid-50 yo bodies.
-Minimal current or surface waves.
-Can dive on your own schedule.
-The island caters to divers. Great dive shops abound. We used VIP Diving who are likely the best dive shop we’ve used anywhere.
-Great variety of coral and reef fish.

Cons:
-Less large pelagics than I was hoping to see.
-A few snoozer dive sites (Hilma Hooker esp.)
-Without a guide I’m sure we are missing some interesting critters.

A few suggestions:
-Come with a buddy, both for diving but also for time you’re not diving. Not much else to do here.
-Many dive shops in the US plan group trips here; perhaps there is one you could join and sign up with.
-Purchase the Reef SmartGuide for Bonaire; great site descriptions and maps with suggested routes.

Regardless we’ve enjoyed our time here. Take a look at Bamboo Bonaire Hotel; they have a package that includes a truck and unlimited tanks that are right on the property.

 

[dynoboy]

Tagging in on this conversation, I'm heading to Bonaire soon and will be there for 7-days and taking my PADI Open Water Certification. What should I do once I am done with the cert? Use the Buddy Board and shore dive? Sign up for boat dives where I am staying? Are the guided Eastside turtle boat dives too much for a brand new diver?

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Tagging in on this conversation, I'm heading to Bonaire soon and will be there for 7-days and taking my PADI Open Water Certification. What should I do once I am done with the cert? Use the Buddy Board and shore dive? Sign up for boat dives where I am staying? Are the guided Eastside turtle boat dives too much for a brand new diver?

Don't know where you are staying. Don't know if you're doing the entire course there. (class + pool + ocean) Or just the wet work (pool + ocean w/e-learning prior to trip?) or book and pool done before so just doing cert referral - just the 4 OW dives?

Make your instructor work you while you have the chance. Tell him you don't want to be turned loose until you have buoyancy nailed. Seroiusly consider tacking on Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty (you shouldn't have to, but for most, I think it covers what you should expect to get with plain old OW, but most don't).

Or if this is a referral cert and you're just doing the 4 OW dog & pony dives, consider the AOW course immediately afterwards. That would give you 9 supervised dives supervised with an instructor and would likely add dramatically to your confidence. If so, take another couple of dives and complete deep while you have nice, pretty, warm, deep water... (most of our local "deep" courses here are in a pit, in the middle of a quarry, which suffers from really poor viz and nasty thermoclines even in the hot hot summer and is limited to 60-65 ft. depth)

Did my rescue divin' course at Buddy Dive. That took the first half of the week, so I saved 3 days of boat divin' and used them in the last 3 days (2 dives a day ...).

I found virtually ZERO usefulness trying the buddy board. (there will also be a prejudice towards a new OW diver with the expectation (wrongly or rightly) of having to "baby sit").

Not trying to throw shade, but for a newly minted OW diver, I would have found the shore diving a challenge likely beyond my capabilities at the time unless they were mostly just on the front porch and maybe the neighboring sites. Especially since you 're by yourself. Boat diving with a group and an experienced local guide would likely be the way to go. Unless you're going with a relatively heavy-experienced diver that's been there and done some of the shore dives and understands your situation.

Be safe, take away as much learnin as you can and have fun.

 

[dynoboy]

Don't know where you are staying. Don't know if you're doing the entire course there. (class + pool + ocean) Or just the wet work (pool + ocean w/e-learning prior to trip?) or book and pool done before so just doing cert referral - just the 4 OW dives?

Make your instructor work you while you have the chance. Tell him you don't want to be turned loose until you have buoyancy nailed. Seroiusly consider tacking on Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty (you shouldn't have to, but for most, I think it covers what you should expect to get with plain old OW, but most don't).

Or if this is a referral cert and you're just doing the 4 OW dog & pony dives, consider the AOW course immediately afterwards. That would give you 9 supervised dives supervised with an instructor and would likely add dramatically to your confidence. If so, take another couple of dives and complete deep while you have nice, pretty, warm, deep water... (most of our local "deep" courses here are in a pit, in the middle of a quarry, which suffers from really poor viz and nasty thermoclines even in the hot hot summer and is limited to 60-65 ft. depth)

Did my rescue divin' course at Buddy Dive. That took the first half of the week, so I saved 3 days of boat divin' and used them in the last 3 days (2 dives a day ...).

I found virtually ZERO usefulness trying the buddy board. (there will also be a prejudice towards a new OW diver with the expectation (wrongly or rightly) of having to "baby sit".

Not trying to throw shade, but for a newly minted OW diver, I would have found the shore diving a challenge likely beyond my capabilities at the time unless they were mostly just on the front porch and maybe the neighboring sites. Especially since you 're by yourself. Boat diving with a group and an experienced local guide would likely be the way to go. Unless you're going with a relatively heavy-experienced diver that's been there and done some of the shore dives and understands your situation.

Be safe, take away as much learnin as you can and have fun.

Thank you for a nicely detailed reply. I have completed the e-learning and doing wet work at Buddy Dive.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Thank you for a nicely detailed reply. I have completed the e-learning and doing wet work at Buddy Dive.

Oh - and having done the PADI e-learning, you are gonna recognize a lot of the scenes and people from the online course - a good portion of those shots/snips/pics were done at Buddy Dive.

If they're still there, say "Howdy" to Nessa and Max. And Thor.

 

[davinajmyers]

Bonaire will be a good introduction to shore diving but definitely recommend a guide with your level of experience. There is plenty to be seen and a guide will also be able to choose good sights and spot cool stuff. In the long term, agree with other posters that the beauty of Bonaire is being able to go without a guide on your own schedule, but you must be experienced enough to do so and have a competent buddy as well.