Taking new divers to Bonaire

[wwguy]

We loved Bonaire as our first warm water destination as new divers 20 years ago. After becoming a dive instructor later I've brought many new divers here for their first OW ocean experience, including my 12 year old son and other family members. The sea conditions are usually calm with minimal current, the sand flats are great for practicing new skills, and the gradual contours of the reef are forgiving for new divers still mastering buoyancy control and navigation skills. It's also a great location to enjoy a lot of great diving within the 60' max depth limit recommended for OW divers.

I've enjoyed Roatan and Cozumel too, but wouldn't rate it high on my list for new diver destinations unless I was confident in the skills and situational abilities of the particular divers. Steep bottomless walls and currents can add task loading to some new divers and that's not the ideal situation to discover it or deal with it. Also, DMs in those locations are primarily dive guides responsible for the entire group and not hand-holding new divers.

On Bonaire you can walk into the water at easy sandy entries like Salt Pier, Cha Cha Cha, Something Special, and Bari Reef etc. or you can just dive off the dock at one of the big resorts like Buddy Dive or Habitat etc. That's about as easy as shore diving gets. Of course you also have options for guided boat dives and booking a private DM if it makes you feel more comfortable. Same for shore diving.

We're looking forward to returning again next year with two new divers, a father daughter buddy team, who are planning to do their OW referral dives here and then embark upon their own diving adventures.

 

[diversteve]

If you plan to go that far east (from SFO) Curacao is a way better option for new divers than Bonaire. Others have already mentioned the difficult shore dive entries on Bonaire - on Curacao 80% of them are off a flat, sandy beach instead. One other difference is that once you leave town there are no facilities at any Bonaire dive site - even very little shade. It's recommended to carry a gallon of water per dive - both to drink and to shower with post-dive.

Compare entries here and see why Mom/Sis will have a much easier first experience on Curacao. Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands All the brown stuff in the Bonaire shots isn't weed, it's ironshore. At a couple sites I stepped off it into 3-4' of water. Some areas are covered in small urchins also. Bonaire is the only location where I had to purchase special treaded boots to dive.

On Curacao more dive sites have full facilities than don't - including a dive shop - eliminating the need to haul tanks like on Bonaire, food options, showers, occasionally lockers and the all important bathrooms.

It's the same low-current diving as Bonaire with easier entries. You have to specifically ask for a drift dive if wanted (either island) There's only 40 listed dive sites on Curacao vs. almost 70 on Bonaire but 25 of those are boat dives to Klein Bonaire 10mins. away.

The West End of Curacao is as quiet as Bonaire but there's also better shopping, nightlife, restaurants etc. in Willemstad 45 mins. away. It's a bigger island so more driving between sites but they're more varied also. There is nothing else like Curacao's Musthroom Forest - they grow on top of each other so dense in places there's no sand. Both have a signature deep wreck but Curacao also has a shallow one - the Tugboat is a signature dive 17' deep. The pier nearby at 40' is another good dive.

Also getting to Curacao is easier - American and a couple other large carries land on Curacao. From here (Phoenix) I can be there by 2PM - Bonaire is either a red-eye or an after dark arrival. And we're the former USAirways/American hub.

I've obviously been to both and I don't honestly get why Bonaire gets all the praise when IMO Curacao is better diving and certainly more diverse conditions. Any of the south Bonaire double reef sites blur together - once my buddy asked if we'd dove "this site" before and I had to check my log.

How do you fly from Thailand? To the western US? You might stop on Maui and meet Mom/Sis there. It's a non-stop flight for them, conditions are very benign, shore dives are off beaches, even the boat dive operators do their cert. dives in the afternoon at several locations in less than 60'.

Not much of South Maui is more than 40' deep from shore unless you have a scooter. Maui Dreams, Shaka Divers, Scub Mike, Tiny Bubbles are all shore dive operator options. Plus from South Maui, inside Molokini Crater is good protected diving. At one shallow site it's possible to see Manta's during the day also. Most of the reef sharks either ignore you or flee - you're bigger than they are.

 

[divesergeant]

We've been to Roatan once (Anthony's Key) and Bonaire twice. Third trip to Bonaire is planned for this spring.

Roatan was fine but crowded on the boats.

Bonaire is much more relaxing and you can get in a bucket load of dives for not that much money. And you are diving at your own pace so the new divers can take their time and not feel rushed by a herd of others. Shore entries have to be considered in light of the physical ability of the divers.

If you are comfortable with having two rookie divers in your care, and they are in decent shape to handle a bit of surge on some entries, then I'd go with Bonaire.

As for the crime. Well, yeah, there is that and it pisses me off that the attitude seems uncaring about it. Here's my theory though. It is like Zika virus or any of the other tropical diseases. You vaccinate yourself and take adequate precautions and then don't spend energy fretting over it. Anti-crime "vaccine" consists of following the advice of not leaving valuables in the car, leavng it unlocked/windows down, locking your stuff in the in-house safe when you go out of your condo, not flashing lots of jewelry/cash about etc. So, the problem exists but take precautions and don't let it ruin your vacation.

 

[travlbum]

If you plan to go that far east (from SFO) Curacao is a way better option for new divers than Bonaire.

How do you fly from Thailand? To the western US? You might stop on Maui and meet Mom/Sis there.

Two great points! I'll definitely look in to Curaçao. I hadn't considered Maui either - how would you rate the diving there vs Roatan (my frame of reference)?

 

[bethie]

Absolutely Bonaire! I did my open water dives and pool work there to get certified and then spent another 2 weeks practicing what I learned. Bonaire is pretty inexpensive and do it yourself. You never need to get in a boat to have spectacular dives. If your dive/equipment is no quite right, no problem getting out of the water and readjusting, or trying another site. You are not tied to anyone's schedule.

There are many sites that are very easy entry/exit, the reef is always in the same orientation relative to shore, there is an extraordinary amount of sea life, water is always warm, no hurricanes, what more can I say? Oh, and there are flamingos and crested caracaras and parrots in case you are also a birder.

I have been diving 4 years and have been to Bonaire 4 times. Every time I return I am amazed at how wonderful it is for so many reasons. Enjoy!

 

[oldschoolto]

My son did his OW in Bonaire... Had a great time and had one on one instruction to boot... Did it in a day and a half, And came home with 20 something dives... There are a lot of easy sites to dive at and some others are only hard if the waves are up...

Jim...

 

[diversteve]

I hadn't considered Maui either - how would you rate the diving there vs Roatan (my frame of reference)?

Maui is different since the substrate is Lava. Although the sand is white, things are harder to find. You learn to watch for motion and then try to find what's hiiding. There's acres of certain types of coral but also a lot of open sandy spaces ideal for training if they've been taught the kneel method.

There's going to be almost no fans or soft corals. However the Cathedrals (famous dive site) and others were formed by lava erupting on the ocean floor then quick cooling 100's of thousands of years ago - one of my favorite things is to take a dive light into a submerged lava tube during daylight and shine it on the ceiling - often find octos etc. that way.

I've literally seen 4-5000 Moorish Idols and Butterfliies schooling off Lana'i (DM estimate) And about a dozen white tip reef sharks picking off strays. You also see a lot of smaller turtles - at a dive on the Carpathian (deeper) they'll often swim off the wreck to meet you. There's even a few small WWII wrecks (one's a tank) off south Maui in pretty shallow water. Shark Condos deeper off Molokini is pretty well named.

The Kihei boats always dive Molokini or the south Maui coastline as they launch daily from the ramp. And early to beat the tradewinds in the afternoon by 6AM they're all out. The Lahaina boats often do Lana'i, Lahaina Divers there also sends one boat to Molokini every other day and they have a blue water Hammerhead advanced dive to Molokai weekly. It's not a guarantee so if there's no Hammerheads pretty much a long rough ride. Not for Mom/Sis - I think they require an Advanced card.

Coming from Roatan you'll think it's pretty featureless. It's almost worthwhile to hire a guide first so you learn where to find stuff. One dive I probably stared at a "rock" for 10 seconds till it moved. It was an octopus. Another good shallow dive is Old Airport Beach, your family might enjoy poking around the junk left when the sugar ships pulled out - there's old masts, machinery, bottles. Most of the ends of the masts that were hollow had octos in them.

Maui is much more expensive than Roatan also but all the shore diving offsets it somewhat. Boat dives are pretty high compared to other locations I've been.

As a non dive destination the scenery blows away Roatan also. On a non-dive day either the drive to Hana or the West Maui helo flights are worth the time/money. Both have amazing waterfalls - at the pools near Hana you can get in them. Our helo hovered close enough to a 50' waterfall to have the water misting off the canopy - I looked over and a goat was staring back from 20' away quizzically. Many of the beaches are also dive sites but shops are typically 10 mins. or so away in town. Maui Dive Shops have several locations, a dive site map and fill card options. A quirk of Maui diving is they rent weights also (not included with tanks) unless you're boat diving.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Interesting, so you would rate the diving in Roatan as better than Bonaire?

I could fly them out here, it's definitely an option. Phuket itself, the diving is pretty bad. There's a liveaboard trip up to the Similans which is good, but not great for beginners. There are a lot of good options to take them here that are good and cheap, but honestly I haven't been in the Caribbean in years. It's where I took my first big trip, it's easy diving, topside is pretty good (way better than asia), and it's a close flight for them (San Francisco).

For newbies it's great too. They value visibility and colorful reefs. I could take them to Lembeh, but I don't think they really appreciate digging around in black sand looking for critters the size of my thumb

Are there other Caribbean options I'm overlooking?

I found Bonaire to be pretty weak compared to Roatan. As a photographer, I would always be looking to take a few pictures that would be different from the ones I took a few minutes before. It was hard because it seemed like the same little fish all over against a 45 degree slope. It has a few sites such as the wreck and the salt-pier that offer some nice photo opportunities but it was nothing like Roatan.

In Roatan one one dive you will be doing swim throughs and on the other it will be a wall! Dolphins have chased our boat and when we got in they were still hanging around. Amazing experience.

 

[Kharon]

... Shore diving for their first few dives allows them time to develop their buoyancy skills and get comfortable with the gear before adding mandatory free accent and descents.

Finally, it's a lot easier to "do your own thing" on Bonaire. If your new divers want to stay shallow, looking at coral and fish they can do so.

Bonaire is NOT the place to develop buoyancy skills. There are already far too many inept divers smashing the reef to hell. Take them someplace that is already beat to crap to practice. There are plenty of those that offer shore diving. Take them to Coco View and let them do all their diving from shore. Go to Bonaire once they have their buoyancy and trim down. Pristine coral is NOT the place to practice.

 

[drrich2]

See how they do with the course, what their confidence level is. If they're feeling a little shaky, some boat dives could be useful. You could even have them take another course of some sort, something easy, to get some supervised diving in. If they're confident, and you feel good, taking them shore diving may be fun.

Couple of things I've seen happen with divers in Bonaire, in case you are the one mother henning them.

1.) During an OW training dive, one woman basically headed off sight-seeing, and didn't realize she was heading downward at an angle. She was seen and retrieved fairly quickly, but Bonaire's waters are often so clear and so warm without thermoclines that new divers can inadvertently head way deep without realizing it.

2.) A women who recently finished nitrox certification was delighted to see a large hawksbill sea turtle and headed down to meet it at its level...around 130 feet deep...while she was diving EAN 32%. No bad effect noted, but there is the potential for 'Look there goes a chicken!' distractions.

Okay, Curacao vs. Bonaire...the ongoing debate. I've been to Bonaire 8 times, haven't dove Curacao, and I follow the running debate because I think about whether to go there vs. somewhere else. So far 'somewhere else' has won out because I hear the diving is similar, and I've been exploring diversity. I've already read Curacao tends to have longer swim-outs and instead of a west coast-hugging road, it's got an inland road with turn offs to get places, so there's more driving/navigation to get to some shore sites. As for facilities at sites, I can see the appeal, but on the other hand, I like the idea of bringing my own rental tanks, no fees to use, etc... Different strokes.

I keep a list of threads exploring the Bonaire vs. Curacao angle, to help me plan a potential future Curacao trip someday, and help other people considering the same:

Curacao vs. Bonaire - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/473036-curacao-vs-bonaire.html

Bonaire vs Curacao - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/bonaire-vs-curacao.535918/

Curacao 1st Timer Trip Report - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/curacao-1st-timer-trip-report.527457/

Curacao Trip Report - Curacao Trip Report

Curacao Suggestions - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/curacao-suggestions.536523/

Place to stay in Curacao - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/place-to-stay-in-curacao.518346/ See Damselfish Post #3.

Curacao Trip with Teenagers in June - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/curacao-trip-with-teenagers-in-june.525886/