Shore entries Bonaire

[Maine Diver]

Not to mention that the water temp will not be 50!

 

[DiverVince]

Maine Diver.. Compared to east coast diving, Bonaire will be like a tranquil warm water bath! I started my diving adventures off the coast of NJ. Once I hit the Carib, I never looked back!

Assuming you have no physical disabilities and are in decent shape I doubt you would have any problems. The only think I'd recommend is a good pair of hard soled boots and a compass for navigation. You'll be fine and then you'll discover why they call Bonaire the shore diving capital of the Caribbean! Enjoy your trip!

 

[Maine Diver]

I'm sure we will be fine. Can you tell I'm excited??

 

[Mossman]

Assuming you have no physical disabilities and are in decent shape I doubt you would have any problems. The only think I'd recommend is a good pair of hard soled boots and a compass for navigation. You'll be fine and then you'll discover why they call Bonaire the shore diving capital of the Caribbean! Enjoy your trip!

A compass? Why? Navigation is basically swim out to the wall, go one way, return, and swim back.

 

[DiverVince]

A compass? Why? Navigation is basically swim out to the wall, go one way, return, and swim back.

Well Mossman, let me elaborate a bit. I've been diving Bonaire's reefs for a long time. My dive partner has weak ankles so it's vital that I return to the exact spot where I have entered. I use a compass on every shore dive I make off of Bonaire (the exception is at Klein), and rest assured my UW nav skills are pretty right on..

Many times I've seen divers surface 50 to 100 meters from where they should be for a proper exit. And I've also seen some crawl over iron shore to get back in. Perhaps one of them was you?

At any rate, to each his own. If you chose not to use a compass for underwater nav, your choice. Personally, I do not condone it.

 

[Maine Diver]

DiverVince,
You are totally right about a compass. I do have one as part of my computer console. Shore diving in New England requires it as you know. 10-20' viz and without it I would never get back. I'm not perfect with it, but I'm working on it. My dive buddy has been diving for over 30 years, is a public safety diver, and is my older cousin. He has me navigate but is ready if I go off course. Nothing like a career FF to keep your safety skills sharp!

 

[DiveMaven]

We always have a compass, but typically try to swim toward the reef ball and use that as our start and end point. When in doubt, we do pop up (gopher) to see where our truck is then simply head straight for that. A compass is always a good tool to have no matter where you're diving IMO.

 

[Mossman]

Well Mossman, let me elaborate a bit. I've been diving Bonaire's reefs for a long time. My dive partner has weak ankles so it's vital that I return to the exact spot where I have entered. I use a compass on every shore dive I make off of Bonaire (the exception is at Klein), and rest assured my UW nav skills are pretty right on..

Many times I've seen divers surface 50 to 100 meters from where they should be for a proper exit. And I've also seen some crawl over iron shore to get back in. Perhaps one of them was you?

At any rate, to each his own. If you chose not to use a compass for underwater nav, your choice. Personally, I do not condone it.

A compass doesn't bring you back to the exact spot, it merely indicates direction. Direction is obvious on Bonaire's reefs: there's only two choices, left and right, and then you have to figure out which way to go when you're back at your starting point, either shallower or deeper. To determine when you're back at your starting point, all you have to do is remember a physical "landmark" and its depth. Stay at that depth on your return swim (surely you can do a 180-degree turn on a Bonaire reef without a compass?) and when you see the landmark, turn toward shore - again, that's the shallower side, not the deeper side. See how easy that is? (Sometimes the mooring line can make a good marker, sometimes it's a recognizable sponge or coral head that serves better, but there's always something.)

No, you've not seen me crawl over iron shore, I retrace my swim out once I find my landmark, then end up exactly at my entry point without using a compass because my UW nav skills are definitely right on, so right on that I fail to see the need for a compass in Bonaire.

(Exception that I'll note: There are some spots where the shallow surface swim involves lots of bare sand and if the waves are really crashing, that can get pretty stirred up. The "house reefs" of Capt. Don's, Buddy, and Sand Dollar that have these lengthy stretches of bare sand each have some system of landmarks to enable the compass-free diver to find his or her way back in low viz conditions - most of the rest of the sites I've dove at Bonaire tend to be sand-free iron shore (to the north) or the shallows are coraled enough to create recognizable sand channel paths back to the entry.)

IMO, they should ban compasses and allow gloves. Who wants all these directionally-challenged divers climbing over the iron shore?

 

[ianr33]

Only been to Bonaire once but have done a fair bit of off the beaten path shore diving in Cayman. On rocky/uneven entries a solid stick/branch helps a lot. Steady yourself with it until thigh deep then toss it back on shore. For the exit one diver takes gear off in the water then retrieves the stick.Not needed most places but helps in the tougher spots,especially with doubles and deco bottles!.

This should all have been covered in your ASD .

( Advanced Shore Diving) Prerequisites for this class are an aversion to Cattle Boats and controlling Divemasters

 

[SeaFlea]

MaineDiver, you will love Bonaire. Turns out we will be there the same week.

We've done this for awhile. I take one of the small plastic water bottles with cap(or my LED pen flasher if near dusk), tie a string with clip on it, and clip it to something suitable and voila! here's your marker. you just need to remember the depth you place it at.

our normal dive is: swim out, set the marker, swim against current(if you can read it) till half our air is done, turn around make our way back to the marker, then a slow swim towards the shore. We make the slow swim last at least 10 min, BAM, there's your safety stop. We breathe the tank down to a couple of hundred and enjoy the view.

good dives, SeaFlea.