Bonaire Trip Report April 17-24

[drrich2]

"I need to tag along with others making this trip. The wife and I have only performed boat dives, approximately 60+ plus each, however I cannot seem to convince my wife that we could shore dive. She is convinced we'd get lost at sea. I think if we headed there with a group she'd feel more comfortable."

Others have pointed out elsewhere it's possible to treat Bonaire as a boat dive destination, so you might get her there aiming for that, with an option to try shore diving if she likes what she sees. Be sure you pick a resort with a nice-easy entry house reef (e.g.: Buddy Dive Resort). Couple of house reef shore dives go well, you might have yourself a convert.

I've not done Curacao, but I suspect you could try the same approach with it. If she's paranoid that any attempt to get her to Bonaire is a plot to shore dive (which of course it is), you might have better luck selling Curacao. Which I'm told also has a lot more nice, sandy beach, & easier (albeit I'm told somewhat longer swim out?) entries.

I'm more worried about getting lost boat diving than shore diving. A boat doesn't stick up out of the water as high as an island, and an island isn't going anywhere. Plus, the island is a whole lot bigger & longer. It's much harder to lose an island than a boat.

Richard.

 

[Doctorfish]

Hard to get lost boat diving Bonaire either. Minimal or no current and miniwall diving. As long as you know the depth of the mooring and do 1/3 tank out, 1/3 tank back, and come back to that depth, the mooring and boat should be right there. Also, you can follow the DM.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
Others have pointed out elsewhere it's possible to treat Bonaire as a boat dive destination, so you might get her there aiming for that, with an option to try shore diving if she likes what she sees. Be sure you pick a resort with a nice-easy entry house reef (e.g.: Buddy Dive Resort). Couple of house reef shore dives go well, you might have yourself a convert.
. . .

Richard has the right idea--ease into it. Buddy Dive has a really nice deck/dock, with stairs leading down to the water. It's completely set up to make it easy for divers to get in and out of the water. In the immediate area, the water is shallow and you can just swim around to your heart's content as you observe a steady stream of divers passing you on their way out to and back from the reef wall. Do what they do. You'll see they swim out until they see the flat area give way to a slope or drop-off, and they then either make a left turn or a right turn, and keep a steady depth as they follow along the side of the slope. Turn around when you hit your turn pressure. Voila. This is hardly some remote site where you may not see another diver, yet the quality of the dive is as good as any.

 

[mmmbelows]

I need to tag along with others making this trip. The wife and I have only performed boat dives, approximately 60+ plus each, however I cannot seem to convince my wife that we could shore dive. She is convinced we'd get lost at sea. I think if we headed there with a group she'd feel more comfortable.

A little tip to help ease her mind - ease of major navigation on a shore dive : if the bottom is getting shallower you're heading back to shore...if it's getting deeper you're going the wrong way...

That takes care of 50% of your navigation skills needed on a shore dive

 

[DiveMaven]

Okay, I agree shore diving is easy and you should give it a try but boat diving a waste of money and time? There are some folks that just seem to really dislike and put down boat diving in Bon. Not sure why. I love both on Bon. Where else do you get a boat dive for around $30 bucks or so. Just walk to the boat, gear up and jump in. You get to sites you can't get to by truck. Both are fun. Don't be talked out of doing some boat dives. You will be missing out

We've done boat dives on Bonaire and just didn't think they're worth the time and money. Other folks clearly have a different opinion, which is cool too.

 

[Doctorfish]

I disagree Great White. Boat Diving on Bonaire is relatively cheap and there are sites you can't easily get to from shore including Klein, La Dania's and others.
I enjoy the boat trips as well. There is pleasure and beauty to be had out on the ocean and it's fun to mix with the other divers on the boat to share experiences.
Nice to get out of the water and enjoy some cold fruit.
I don't think it takes any more time to get to most sites by boat then by truck and getting into and out of the water is certainly easier.

Further, you don't need to worry about leaving your things on the boat.

I've been out on boats 3 times over the years when a pod of dolphins has turned up. The captains all turned around to go with them and it was a privilege to watch the dolphins riding the bow wave, swim along side and jump out of the water. Never would have happened on a shore dive there.

both boat and shore diving are fun on Bonaire.

 

[Jersey]

I disagree Great White. Boat Diving on Bonaire is relatively cheap and there are sites you can't easily get to from shore including Klein, La Dania's and others. I enjoy the boat trips as well. There is pleasure and beauty to be had out on the ocean and it's fun to mix with the other divers on the boat to share experiences. Nice to get out of the water and enjoy some cold fruit. I don't think it takes any more time to get to most sites by boat then by truck and getting into and out of the water is certainly easier.

I've been out on boats 3 times over the years when a pod of dolphins has turned up. The captains all turned around to go with them and it was a privilege to watch the dolphins riding the bow wave, swim along side and jump out of the water. Never would have happened on a shore dive there.

Totally agree - can't dive Klein easily without a boat - though we have kayaked over and snorkeled. Some days I just don't feel like lugging the gear to truck, loading up tanks, fighting entries. Walking to the dock, handing a DM my gear and getting a chauffeur to the site is nice. We've made many friends over the years on the boats, met some like minded photo folks and critter spotted for each other doubling or trebling the likelihood of finding an interesting creature. I find the first couple days of the week the boats are a cluster as everyone gets the hang. After that, folks tend to relax, spread out, slow down. Tides ran a bit this trip and we did a couple drift dives with Guen (Mr. Lazy!) extending our bottom times. One of those dives ended with a dolphin encounter such as you describe. My buddy got some great GoPro footage of them riding the bow. You can actually see them swim in to jump on the bow wave.

My take - there is rarely bad diving on Bonaire.

 

[ericjespersen]

I need to tag along with others making this trip. The wife and I have only performed boat dives, approximately 60+ plus each, however I cannot seem to convince my wife that we could shore dive. She is convinced we'd get lost at sea. I think if we headed there with a group she'd feel more comfortable.

Buddy Dive is a great spot to try your wings at going without a group. Go in at the dock and follow the rope down to whatever depth you are comfortable with. Numerous structures will help guide you back whichever way you turn when you leave the rope path.