Tropical Wall Diving from the beach?

[scubadada]

Bonaire, you'll be in heaven Out of interest, do you have a solo cert?

 

[plaamook]

Bonaire, you'll be in heaven Out of interest, do you have a solo cert?

Yep. SDI

 

[rick00001967]

wall diving from shore can certainly be done from grand cayman or curacao. these are the only two i have been to where i know for sure.

however, you said "solo" wall diving.

i believe it is still illegal to solo dive in grand cayman? maybe someone else can verify this. it was when i was there.

on curacao i am unsure whether it is illegal, but it was certainly not allowed when inquired about it.

i am if you wanted to do it, there are ways around it

 

[Centrals]

I hope every agency who is offering solo diving certificate has a list of all affiliated centre which allowed solo diving.

GOZO DIVING MALTA-Guided & Unguided

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Not too far from Spain.

 

[Brett Hatch]

I did a week in Bonaire a couple years ago, the shore diving is excellent. Drive to the beach, walk into the water over sand / small rock entries with 1' waves. Gradual slope down to 25' deep or so, approx 200'-300' from shore. And then the wall goes straight down to 100' or so, +/- 20' depending on the site. There are dozens of easy shore dives along the west coast of the island, and another few dozen on the little island Klein Bonaire, although I didn't make it out there, I have heard it's good.

As for the solo aspect, I was with a group so I didn't ask about it -- the forms I signed all said I would dive with a buddy. I went with Buddy Dive Resort, they have support for tech (trimix, ccr), so may or may not be interested in supporting a solo diver. But a competent diver with an SDI solo card should be able to find an op that will work with you, somewhere.

By the way, if you do go to Bonaire, the Hilma Hooker wreck is kinda cool. It's not cleaned for penetration, but it's a good-sized boat and I had a fun time swimming around it -- plus it's right next to the 100' wall reef. I took a cattle boat there, which was fine, but next time I would just do it as a shore dive. There's also a robust coral reef restoration project happening on the island, which I enjoyed participating in.

 

[scubadada]

wall diving from shore can certainly be done from grand cayman or curacao. these are the only two i have been to where i know for sure.

however, you said "solo" wall diving.

i believe it is still illegal to solo dive in grand cayman? maybe someone else can verify this. it was when i was there.

on curacao i am unsure whether it is illegal, but it was certainly not allowed when inquired about it.

i am if you wanted to do it, there are ways around it

I dive solo in Bonare frequently, there are no scuba police, all is good. I am also SDI certified

 

[Brett Hatch]

I dive solo in Bonare frequently, there are no scuba police, all is good.

Is there a particular dive op that you can recommend for this? The lovely folks at Buddy Dive really wanted me to dive with a buddy, but I don't have a self-reliant/solo card, so maybe it's different if you have one.

 

[scubadada]

Is there a particular dive op that you can recommend for this? The lovely folks at Buddy Dive really wanted me to dive with a buddy, but I don't have a self-reliant/solo card, so maybe it's different if you have one.

I dive with Dive Friends out of Sand Dollar/Den Laman.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Is there a particular dive op that you can recommend for this? The lovely folks at Buddy Dive really wanted me to dive with a buddy, but I don't have a self-reliant/solo card, so maybe it's different if you have one.

Reports from others indicate Buddy's is satisfied with the SDI Solo card: Solo diving at Buddy's

 

[drrich2]

i believe it is still illegal to solo dive in grand cayman? maybe someone else can verify this. it was when i was there.

It's not, but there seems to be a pervasive anti-solo influence behind-the-scenes. Solo diving is a 'thing' on Cayman Brac with services provided by Brac Scuba Shack, so there's no Cayman Islands law forbidding solo diving that I'm aware of. But Grand Cayman is a 'first world' sort of place, which has its advantages, but unfortunately tends to bring regulation, enforced social norms and political correctness. Also be aware some dive op.s on Grand Cayman teach solo courses.

In the past, some of us have repeatedly tried to dig down and extract the truth behind the resistance of supporting solo shore diving in Grand Cayman.

Back in Dec. 2, 2020, @Divetech Cayman made post #9 in a thread in response to me stating "...sounds like a good time for some op.s on Grand Cayman to dispense with their opposition to solo shore diving. Require a redundant air source and you can rent out pony bottles, too." and stated:

About 6 months ago, this very issue was raised before the CITA. A CITA watersports meeting was held for discussion of the topic. As was expected, some members were dead set against it, other members were in favor of it, and others had no opinion. (Remember that the CITA watersports segment includes many more snorkeling operators than diving operators.)

The issue was tabled so the proposal could be more clearly re-written, and it was slated to be voted on again. However since then, CITA held their annual elections and a new BOD was voted in. I am pleased to say that I am one of the CITA Board members, representing the Watersports sector. The current priorities of the CITA Board of Directors is working with Government to formulate a safe reopening plan for the islands.

I later posted "Thank you for the update! Very good to know. I understand that many people don't want to engage in solo shore diving, and some may not want to support it via their business, which is fine. I remain perplexed that some people seem to be, to use your term, dead set against other people doing it. Live and let live..." And in Post #21, he replied:

The gist of the proposal was this:

• Solo divers had to be solo certified from a recognized agency
• Solo divers had to be equipped with separate, redundant air sources
• No dive shop, dive boat, dive guide HAD to accept shore divers. Only if the facility approved of solo diving, and the diver's plan

It was felt by some, that solo diving would increase Cayman's accident rate. At some point we will revisit the issue when things return to normal, and I'll likely be soliciting support from solo diving enthusiasts.

Here we see concern that solo diver accidents and deaths might make the Caymans 'look bad.' Ah, politics...

And they also have a post from Feb. 2, 2020, where @tkaelin posted "Urgh. Once again unless it changed cita addresses solo diving when boat diving. Nothing about shore." Then @Divetech Cayman replied:

Right but the last time we had this discussion, it was Caydiver I believe who said this - CITA doesn't specifically address it in their rules and regs, but this is because the document is poorly worded. CITA has made it clear at our water sports meetings that they don't want solo diving from shore or boat, so we adhere to their wishes.

From what I understanding CITA is not a government agency. It's not clear why a dive shop that might want to allow solo shore diving couldn't ignore their disapproval. That nobody seems to do that suggests to me the behind-the-scenes politics on Grand Cayman make it somehow unwise.

I greatly appreciate Divetech Cayman's Tony giving us the details he did. This topic had been coming up for years, answers demanded as much as people could, and even with a few Caymans dive industry folks appearing on ScubaBoard occasionally, getting a definitive answer to why there was so much resistance to solo shore diving was like pulling teeth. I felt stone-walled.

It's my understanding that in Grand Cayman, the main shore diving sites tend to have onsite dive operators (or you need to stay at that condo. to dive there in at least one case), and it's expected to rent tanks from them as access is by their property. In Bonaire, lots of dive sites are public access with nobody to tell you what you can and can't do, solo-wise.