"solo" diving in Bonaire

[scubadobadoo]

I didn't do boat dives so I can't answer. As for shore diving, I saw MANY solo divers while shore diving with my wife. None of them looked like they should have been solo diving if ya know what I mean. As others have said, Bonaire was the most relaxed place I have EVER been to as far as SCUBA police rules go. If you are shore diving, chances are you won't see other divers on about half your dives, especially at the less popular sites or at night. Is it smart to solo dive? That's up to you to decide. Just don't sneak up behind me and tug on my fins and ask me if I have seen a frog fish while you are solo diving because I might stab you with my shears like I almost did to one guy who scared the piss out of me.

 

[livingstone]

I had found Sand Dollar to be "proactively unfriendly" about it
-hh

I'm not sure about years past but Sand Dollar is a condominium and, as such, has nothing to say about solo diving or otherwise. Bonaire Dive and Adventure is the dive shop at Sand Dollar and when I was there this past April, as well as the previous April, I heard no complaints whatsoever from them about the number of solo divers I saw using their cylinders and pier and diving on Bari Reef. Also, they were quite happy to accommodate lone divers diving from their boats--me being one of them.

-- Dan

 

[H2Andy]

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.

not in my experience. they never asked, i never told them.

i just put tanks in my truck and went diving. nobody ever said anything.

as far as being in a boat, i just kept my mouth shut when they asked
if someone didn't have a buddy. again, no one said anything when
i was obviously solo under water.

 

[Edd]

I stayed at Capt Don's last year and solo was fine. You can dive on the house reef or on boat it is OK to go w/o a buddy.

 

[Damselfish]

In my experience Captain Don's Bonaire pretty much means it when they say "home of diving freedom."

 

[cbborromeo]

Special feature in Scuba Diving magazine on Bonaire this month.