One more Boat diving Question

[DavidHickey]

Was just wondering, when I'm in Bonaire doing the boat dives, how does the dives actually work? I'm going with my Fiancee and a group from our LDS. Does everyone generally stay together? Or does the dive master just tell you about the structure and currents and then you and your buddy explore at your own pace? Was just thinking myself and the fiancee always seem to take longer to get our ears cleared and would just hate for them all to be waiting for us at the bottom. And I'm an admitted HOOVER! Which means shorter dives than most.

 

[H2Andy]

the way we did our dives in Bonaire was that the whole group would follow the
DM, more or less, with the various buddy teams sticking to themselves ...

so you'd have sort of a largish group made up of buddy teams ... the DM would
often point to things of interest, for what its' worth, so it could pay off to
stick close to the DM .... the only seahorses i saw were pointed to me by the DM

 

[TheRedHead]

If the group is large enough, you may have your own boat and DM. Bonaire viz is so good that it is easy to see the group and the DM. With Buddy Dive, there was a DM in the water, but my buddy and did our own thing with the group's bubbles in sight.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

The DM will give a briefing about the location, profile, things to see, estimated time and currents (if any at all). Depending on the operator, you will all drop in and wait to submerge as a group or be told to meet on the bottom.

The best thing about Bonaire is the small stuff. If you want to see them, stick close by the DM. He is the one who knows where and what they are.

Yes, generally you dive as a lose group, following the DM. If you know you are a Hoover, then try to be the last ones off the boat and the first ones on.

Hope this helps. You're gonna love Bonaire.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[boulderjohn]

In my experience, it was pretty much up to you and your buddy, but....

Everyone will, of course, start into the current. Most people will drop down to roughly the same initial level to start and then slowly work their way up. They will turn around at about the same point in their air supply. Consequently, most people were in a rough group.

When I was there, and I had Chris of Captain Don's as my DM on about half the dives. (Do a search in the Caribbean area and see what that means.) Thus, my experience had nothing to do with a helpful DM pointing out all kinds of neat stuff for you. On our dives, the DM was like an appendix--perhaps it once had a function, but it had no apparent use when I was there.

 

[Walter]

On my first trip to Bonaire, my buddy and I went off on our own, exploring where we wanted to explore, looking at what we wanted to look. Sometimes the DM was in sight, often not. Most of the folks stayed with the DM.

On my second trip to Bonaire, I soloed, the rest of the group stayed with the DM. There was little to no current and we often didn't even go in the same direction.

On my next trip to Bonaire, I'll set up a package with no boat dives, there's no reason for boat dives in Bonaire unless you want to cruise over to Klein.