"solo" diving in Bonaire

[ernani]

Does anyone know whether Bonaire's operators [who rent you tanks, weights etc] care or check whether you have a buddy for the diving or not. Any other limitation on "solo" diving in Bonaire [I do not mean to start a discussion regarding the idea of diving "solo" - only the practicalities during a visit to Bonaire, please]. Thanks.:shakehead

 

[sasscuba]

Does anyone know whether Bonaire's operators [who rent you tanks, weights etc] care or check whether you have a buddy for the diving or not. Any other limitation on "solo" diving in Bonaire [I do not mean to start a discussion regarding the idea of diving "solo" - only the practicalities during a visit to Bonaire, please]. Thanks.:shakehead

If you are diving solo off a boat , they will buddy you up with somebody on the boat or you will buddy with the DM. Diving solo on a shore dive....:shakehead

 

[smokey braden]

ernani,
welcome to this board.
i know they need for you to do a checkout dive.
you then are given a permit tag to dive their protected reefs.
as stangscuba98a has stated you'll have company off a dive boat.
as far as shore diving, there is no one going around counting heads.

i've gone to bonaire twice and i never had trouble finding a "buddy" when needed.
regards,

 

[herman]

There are no scuba police on Bonaire so even if they don't want you doing it, there is really no one to stop you. Is it a good idea? Well that depends entirely on you. I have on occasion dove solo on Bonaire. I have many hours on the Bonaire reefs and quite a few of them on the reef I was diving in front of the resort I was staying at. Bottom line, don't make it obvious and it's not likely anyone will say anything.

 

[Walter]

The last time I was there, I had a buddy on all my shore dives, but dived solo on all my boat dives......

 

[Drewpy]

Been there done that...
Solo to your hearts content-the freedom to do your own thing is what makes Bonaire great-among many other things!
Skip the boat dives unless they go to Klein..or unless you do a dive with Larry on the wild side! (highly recommended BTW!)

Have a great trip!

 

[D_O_H]

When I was there, Tucan at the the Plaza didn't seem to enforce any rules even on the boat dives other than be back to the boat in 60 minutes. Sometimes my buddy and I dove with the DM and the herd, sometimes we did our own profile and even direction, site permitting.

Nobody seemed particularly concerned about where we were going and whether we were buddied up.

 

[AXL72]

If they let the thug-tards get away with stealing your stuff from your rental truck, I seriously doubt they will scold you for solo diving

 

[-hh]

Does anyone know whether Bonaire's operators [who rent you tanks, weights etc] care or check whether you have a buddy for the diving or not. Any other limitation on "solo" diving in Bonaire...

I had found Sand Dollar to be "proactively unfriendly" about it when diving with them several years ago, be it on their boats or merely coming into their beach area from the outside. They even gave me hassles trying to get my pony bottle filled. One very well known DM (who regularly attends the USA trade shows) went as far as to state that he would physically remove solo divers from "His" beach, regardless of if they were Sand Dollar customers or outsiders.

Captain Don's is no hassle...pure freedom.


-hh

 

[ernani]

Thanks everybody for the answers and information. It sure sounds good and I am looking forward for my first Bonaire experience. Thanks again.