Rebreather support on Bonarie

[OTF]

That's the other one I saw. Do you have any experience with them? I'm always afraid of using "tech" shops in primarily rec diving areas because they're definition of "tech" and mine are often very different and can lead to not actually having the stuff you need. I'm likely going to use Mr G if he has the gear for us since he's a great guy and knows tech/ccr diving. Unfortunately when we used him at Buddy he was great, but his staff weren't as great. I assume that was just a buddy dive thing, but I wanted to get other options in case its the same old same old at his new endeavour.

What is your definition of tech? TDS is run by a couple of very competent (and wonderful) CCR tech divers. They can provide doubles/sidemount/rebreather support, sorb, scooters, various sizes of bottles, reasonably priced trimix, dives or advice on technical sites, etc. etc.

Get in touch with them well before your trip to reserve whatever you need.

 

[rddvet]

What is your definition of tech? TDS is run by a couple of very competent (and wonderful) CCR tech divers. They can provide doubles/sidemount/rebreather support, sorb, scooters, various sizes of bottles, reasonably priced trimix, dives or advice on technical sites, etc. etc.

Get in touch with them well before your trip to reserve whatever you need.

I've had some experiences where a shop has a nice website and claim to have a full fleet of tech gear for rent and can support rebreathers. Then you get there and the reason they claim they're a "tech" shop is one dude 6 years ago taught an AN/DP class, they have one old OMS horseshoe bondage wing on a pair of out of hydro 80s, and a Kiss classic thats been on display for 18 years and never dove.
That's the kind of place I'm trying to avoid. And although that sounds over the top, that's a true conglomeration of my experience at several "tech" shops located in historically recreational diving locales.

 

[tursiops]

Buddy Dive still supports tech/CCR.

 

[rddvet]

Buddy Dive still supports tech/CCR.

Thanks. Sorry I did know that. We had a great experience when working with Mr G. The experience with the staff at the main part of Buddy wasn't great. Also Mr G was off 2 days we were there and his guys that took over for him really were not easy to deal with. So without Mr G I'm hesitant to go back there.

 

[tursiops]

Thanks. Sorry I did know that. We had a great experience when working with Mr G. The experience with the staff at the main part of Buddy wasn't great. Also Mr G was off 2 days we were there and his guys that took over for him really were not easy to deal with. So without Mr G I'm hesitant to go back there.

Understood. But I see many people using them for sorb and tanks and stuff without any apparent issues.

The biggest problem right now isn't the CCR support, it's the damn SCTLD. Buddy Dive, Capt Dons are both RED, so once you dive there you are stuck in RED for the rest of the day, under STINAPA guidelines. You can decontaminate from RED, but you are supposed to then dry overnight. German's place (Oil Slick Leap) is still ORANGE, but that is not likely to last.

 

[rddvet]

Understood. But I see many people using them for sorb and tanks and stuff without any apparent issues.

The biggest problem right now isn't the CCR support, it's the damn SCTLD. Buddy Dive, Capt Dons are both RED, so once you dive there you are stuck in RED for the rest of the day, under STINAPA guidelines. You can decontaminate from RED, but you are supposed to then dry overnight. German's place (Oil Slick Leap) is still ORANGE, but that is not likely to last.

I'm sure buddy dive is fine. We definitely didn't have an awful experience. When Mr G was there we'd drop off tanks in the early evening and they'd be waiting for us outside his dive shed the next am or mid morning. The days he was off the guys that were supposed to be taking over didn't fill our tanks, then we oculdn't find them anywhere, and when we went to the office to get it all figured out it was a huge headache of cofusion and bad customer service. Then when the guys were found one couldn't find the keys to the dive shed and the other didn't want to fill our oxygen. We almost missed out on a day of diving and with only a week there I don't need the stress.

I didn't know about the SCTLD until I logged in to make my post yesterday. That sucks.

 

[JoeTPhilly]

I'm sure buddy dive is fine. We definitely didn't have an awful experience. When Mr G was there we'd drop off tanks in the early evening and they'd be waiting for us outside his dive shed the next am or mid morning. The days he was off the guys that were supposed to be taking over didn't fill our tanks, then we oculdn't find them anywhere, and when we went to the office to get it all figured out it was a huge headache of cofusion and bad customer service. Then when the guys were found one couldn't find the keys to the dive shed and the other didn't want to fill our oxygen. We almost missed out on a day of diving and with only a week there I don't need the stress.

I didn't know about the SCTLD until I logged in to make my post yesterday. That sucks.

Mr. G can probably support your needs. Send him an email at mr_g@area9.dk or mr_g@gue.com. Below are the website and Facebook links. I know both he and Jimmy dive GUE configured JJ rebreathers and also Ulrick and his wife are rebreather divers. I would bet they can support you during your trip.

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center is a high-end dive support and educational research operation. Founded by a small group of long-term diving professionals, tech divers and educational researchers. Full support for rebreather, technical and recreational divers. Specialized underwater photography

www.masterydiving.com

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center | Kralendijk Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center, Kralendijk. Gefällt 488 Mal · 4 Personen sprechen darüber · 112 waren hier. Tauchschule

www.facebook.com

​

 

[rddvet]

Mr. G can probably support your needs. Send him an email at mr_g@area9.dk or mr_g@gue.com. Below are the website and Facebook links. I know both he and Jimmy dive GUE configured JJ rebreathers and also Ulrick and his wife are rebreather divers. I would bet they can support you during your trip.

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center is a high-end dive support and educational research operation. Founded by a small group of long-term diving professionals, tech divers and educational researchers. Full support for rebreather, technical and recreational divers. Specialized underwater photography

www.masterydiving.com

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center | Kralendijk Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center, Kralendijk. Gefällt 488 Mal · 4 Personen sprechen darüber · 112 waren hier. Tauchschule

www.facebook.com

​

I've seen his website, but thank you. I'll be honest while I think the name of his new adventure is very cool, it actually makes it a bit confusing as to what he's doing. I know now he's a high level GUE shop so he's got to be doing regular dive shop stuff. But the whole "diving research center" makes it sound like a place that doesn't provide regular dive shop services. I'm sure he does and his website just focuses more on the high level diving and research he does.
We typically dive fathom ccr's in either sm bailout configuration or in a tec configuration very similar to a GUE JJ (we're GUE trained among multiple other agencies). Normally when we dive bonaire we just sling a 40 for bailout. We're going back and forth on whether to just stick with the 40 or try to dive in the JJ style configuration. But honestly we'll likely just stick with al40.
We're the weirdos everybody stares at when we're there cause we're in drysuits and ccr's

 

[berndo]

But the whole "diving research center" makes it sound like a place that doesn't provide regular dive shop services.

It does look weirld and not like a dive shop. However, I have noticed that some of the more upmarket shops are now promoting their trips as 'expeditions' or 'projects' rather than just group trips or dive packages.
I contacted a place that was looking for cave divers for some 'project' on fb. It turned out to be a dive shop selling (very pricey) dive packages (fills, boat, etc.). What they were really looking for was customers.

Don't know if that's what they're doing but it sounds alot like stuff I've been seeing.
I think you're going to see this more and more.
When you click on 'Exploration' it show the Windjammer and some reef. AFAIK the Windjammer has been dived on plenty over many years.

 

[JoeTPhilly]

I've seen his website, but thank you. I'll be honest while I think the name of his new adventure is very cool, it actually makes it a bit confusing as to what he's doing. I know now he's a high level GUE shop so he's got to be doing regular dive shop stuff. But the whole "diving research center" makes it sound like a place that doesn't provide regular dive shop services. I'm sure he does and his website just focuses more on the high level diving and research he does.
We typically dive fathom ccr's in either sm bailout configuration or in a tec configuration very similar to a GUE JJ (we're GUE trained among multiple other agencies). Normally when we dive bonaire we just sling a 40 for bailout. We're going back and forth on whether to just stick with the 40 or try to dive in the JJ style configuration. But honestly we'll likely just stick with al40.
We're the weirdos everybody stares at when we're there cause we're in drysuits and ccr's

If I recall correctly, the name comes over from Ulrik's other site and background in medical and educational field. Area 9 of the brain controls higher learning or something like that. Below is a copy and post of a page announcing his speaking at the GUE conference this year:

GUE Conference Speaker Highlight:
Dr. Ulrik Juul Christensen (MD) is a renowned expert in personalized and adaptive learning, learning engineering, curriculum design and hybrid education models. He is the CEO of Area9 Lyceum which is one of the leading education R&D and infrastructure companies globally. He has pioneered five generations of intelligent, adaptive learning technologies ranging from intelligent simulation and debriefing technologies to some of the largest and most pervasive adaptive learning platforms used by millions of higher education learners and professionals. Christensen is a passionate diver (OC/CCR/Tech), underwater photographer, dive instructor and as of 2022 also a GUE diver. In 2022, he co-founded the Area9 Mastery Diving Research Center in Bonaire to support technical dive training, exploration and dive education research.
Dr. Christensen will be speaking about the next generation of GUE learning programs. These will further expand the utilization of cutting-edge human factors research as well as learning technology and design. This session will provide an architectural analysis of the next generation GUE education approach incl. personalized and adaptive learning, continuous certification and skills maintenance, skills and character engineering, mastery-based learning and competency frameworks, experience monitoring, flipped classrooms and analytics and AI-aided curriculum development, design and maintenance.

They just started last summer so I would guess the website is probably low on the priority list. I also think the name is cool and the logo looks very cool on all their wings.