Questions re Bonaire for New Divers

[rx7diver]

Bonaire Scuba Aficionados,

I am considering options for taking my daughters on a scuba vacation. I am wondering if Bonaire would be a good choice. They all three graduated high school relatively recently, and at this time they are not certified. I am thinking late spring or early summer 2022 for this vacation. My questions:

1. What do you think about having them do their classroom training locally, and their open water training while on Bonaire?

2. Is Bonaire shore diving something you would consider for brand-spanking-newly-certified divers?

3. How do you prepare for emergencies? Is there 911 (or similar) that can be contacted via cell phone, and a hyperbaric chamber on the island? Do you rent a DAN emergency oxygen kit (or similar) and take it with you in your rental car when you head out driving to a shore dive? Etc.

4. Anything else I should be considering?

TIA,

rx7diver

 

[arew+4]

The only potential downside to your plan is being out numbered. We got our kids certified on Bonaire at the ages of 13, 13, and 15. It was both my wife and I we had been to Bonaire several times before, and so we felt pretty comfortable with the three of them and no guides. The diving is very easy. If the girls are good swimmers and diligent about monitoring gauges and each other you should be fine.
If your daughters have never been on scuba before I would suggest doing a bubble blower class thing here before taking the full class. Better to find out early of one of them has issues or just decides "it ain't for me". We did this with our guys prior to starting certification, because,

1. They were pretty young and we wanted second opinion on their readiness.
2. we wanted to make sure they still wanted to do it after trying it out.

 

[scubadada]

Your plan is infinitely doable. We stay at Den Laman and use Dive Friends Sand Dollar. I'm sure Dive Friends would be fine for your training needs. After certification, you could do a combination of boat diving and easy shore diving.

 

[agd]

Bonaire Scuba Aficionados,

I am considering options for taking my daughters on a scuba vacation. I am wondering if Bonaire would be a good choice. They all three graduated high school relatively recently, and at this time they are not certified. I am thinking late spring or early summer 2022 for this vacation. My questions:

1. What do you think about having them do their classroom training locally, and their open water training while on Bonaire?

2. Is Bonaire shore diving something you would consider for brand-spanking-newly-certified divers?

3. How do you prepare for emergencies? Is there 911 (or similar) that can be contacted via cell phone, and a hyperbaric chamber on the island? Do you rent a DAN emergency oxygen kit (or similar) and take it with you in your rental car when you head out driving to a shore dive? Etc.

4. Anything else I should be considering?

TIA,

rx7diver

1. Referrals are good in that vacation time is not "wasted" studying, etc. But is it possible to do the class and pool sessions over the winter, with the open water dives completed at a local lake or reservoir in the spring? This allows continuity in training with the same people, allows them the opportunity to hit the ground running as certified divers, verifies that they are somewhat comfortable with diving ahead of the stress of doing it on vacation and, generally, is less costly than referrals. Both of those options have pluses and minuses, as does doing the whole thing in Bonaire where they would have good continuity and gain comfort with the people and place throughout the process.

2. There is lots of very good diving suitable for beginners in Bonaire. You know your daughters better than anyone else on the board, so your judgement on being able to supervise and monitor 3 newly minted divers, where there will almost certainly be at least some minor issues, must govern whether or not you choose to strike out on your own for shore diving. Some new divers are better off on guided dives, but depending on your experience and their abilities, heading off on your own can be a great experience and confidence builder. Choose your sites and conditions well and it could be optimum.

3. Yes, there is 911. Yes there is a chamber, and good experienced staff. Your idea of renting an O2 cylinder makes me uneasy. Protecting the well being of your family is commendable, but choosing sites and conditions, depth profiles, dive durations and SIs that would make on site O2 anything more than remotely advisable indicates it may be wise to make a re-assessment of your plans.

4. Have fun and best wishes, my opinions are solely mine!

AGD

 

[tkaelin]

Highly recommend Bonaire for what you have planned. Took our kids in 2009. Class pool work at home with open water dives in Bon. Very easy to arrange.

Bon is the perfect place for new divers. Very easy diving. Rarely any currents (at least on the main diving side of the island).

Enjoy.

 

[Doctorfish]

Agree completely with tkaelin, perfect place to learn scuba.

We took our daughter there age 12 after she had done her class and pool work at home. The dive school at buddy dive had her repeat all the pool skills in the open ocean and then took her for her check out dives.
We dived with her from shore for the rest of the trip. There are many easy access shore sites on the west side with little current and straight forward navigation. Some are at dive operations and have docks or steps for entry and are supported from shore. In fact, that first year we dived exclusively from the dock at Buddy Dive or Habitat. We did that strategically. There is lots to see in 40 feet of water or less.

Many of the other shore sites are a bit stressful to enter/exit and the last thing you want to do with a newbie teen is to have them slip and get bashed up. Sure way to turn them off diving forever.

Highly recommend this plan.

 

[tkaelin]

Our kids then 12 and 15, now 25 and 28, still have the love and passion for diving and still dive with us today. I credit their continued interest and love of diving in large part to the great start and foundation laid diving in Bonaire. You could not pick a more perfect place to start.

 

[Lorenzoid]

3. How do you prepare for emergencies? Is there 911 (or similar) that can be contacted via cell phone, and a hyperbaric chamber on the island? Do you rent a DAN emergency oxygen kit (or similar) and take it with you in your rental car when you head out driving to a shore dive? Etc.

I have never heard of anyone bringing oxygen. Dive conservatively--you have all the time in the world when you're not at the mercy of a boat schedule or dive site closing times. And since the sites are gentle slopes, your ascent can be lazy, with oodles of time at safety stop depth. Also, the vast majority of dive sites are not that remote that you couldn't drive to the hospital or get an ambulance fairly quickly. Maybe for diving way up in Washington Slagbaai park an oxygen kit would be a good idea, but I have to wonder if even local guides do. Because the 911 system probably works well enough for dive accidents, I bring a cell phone in a waterproof dive canister--the kind that if boat diving offshore I would normally take a PLB in instead of the cell phone. Others I know have used a kind of lockbox or safe in the truck to keep their phone and money in. And then there are those who take their chances leaving a phone "hidden" in the truck. In researching your trip, you have probably read this many times, but be careful about leaving anything of value in your vehicle at a dive site.

 

[lionfish-eater]

There is a 911, but you can't leave anything in your truck, so you need a waterproof case to take the phone diving with you.

If you shore dive anywhere other than the house resort, you will be by yourselves. If something happens to you can your kids handle the problem?

I went with my young son years ago and after a shore dive or two, with no problems, I still felt uneasy so we spent the week doing boat dives and house reef dives.

Virtually no emergency support will be available at other shore diving sites

Diving was great and currents were mild, but each diver should be experienced and self reliant for a comfortable trip.

You won't need a guide for navigation, but having a boat with a radio and an O2 kit might come in handy if needed.

 

[Lorenzoid]

4. Anything else I should be considering?

The Bonaire forum here has to be the greatest repository of Bonaire diving information in the world (he says with due exaggeration ). If the question hasn't been raised there, it's nothing one needs to know. Relax and enjoy the trip. I'm looking forward to my next one in April.