Bonaire/Curacao for Beginner divers????

[farsidefan1]

I generally disagree with folks saying Bonaire is easy diving for beginners (Yikes flames already). Untill you get more experience I think you are much better diving with a divemaster - guide. After you build up your diving chops then you can go exploring on your own. That said I took my daughter and her friend to Bonaire it was their first dive since open water certification. We had a great time. Of course I had over 100 dives in the prior 2 yrs and my wife had 50. Even so as it was my first time to Bonaire I hired Bas to be our guide for the first 3 days there. I told him to keep his eyes on the rookies so I wouldn't have to worry about them. He was FABULOUS. He took us out for a night dive using uv lights. WOW factor was huge. I have since bought my own uv lights and filters - it was that cool. WARNING: Bas thinks it is fun to stand on the highway behind the runway as jets take off. He encourages you to share the blast - DON'T join him , jet exhaust is not fun for most people. Pretty stinking funny. My wife laughed her head off as we got creamed. She stayed in the car. As I gasped getting back in she asked, "well wht the hell did you think was going to happen, its a freaking jet". Anyway the point I'm trying to communicate is that if both you and your beloved are rookies you want to dive with a divemaster. If the dive group is offering that - knock your selves out. Otherwise don't task overload by adding navigation - calculations of when to head back, absolute bottom time - why bother? Ambergis caye has wonderful diving as well. Just make sure you have an experienced guide with you - wherever you decide to go. After you have been on a few dive trips then Bonaire with self guided shore diving will still be waiting for you, why rush it?

 

[Seaside Curacao]

Hi We are all geared up for the winter season with excellent home stays to choose from. We are in the Coral Estates resort and all clients get full use of the facilities of the resort. Hydrate at the bar, toast on the beach, dive the great house reef then up to your home for the breeze and sunsets! All sea views and nothing but pure Caribbean relaxation.

There are plenty of great dive sites for beginners on Curacao. The house reef here is fantastic with full PADI resources. If you choose Curacao then we are very happy to show you a great time! We came and stayed!

Seaside Curacao

My wife and I manage homes for American owners who have set things up for a properly relaxing stay.

 

[jeepguy]

My boyfriend and I are considering lots of different places for our trip in May 2011. We thought we had it narrowed down to Ambergris Caye in Belize, but are still looking and researching other areas.

We are very new divers, only one dive trip to Cozumel in May. When I read about all of the shore diving in Bonaire and Curacao, I wonder if it is more geared toward experienced divers rather than new divers.

We still feel we are learning, so we prefer to go with a group, and to follow the DM underwater, or hire a private DM just until we feel more experienced and confident.

The shore diving sounds amazing, but to go by ourselves is a little intimidating right now.

Any insights are very much appreciated.

Thanks!

As new divers, Bonaire on your own can be a little intimidating. A divemaster or guide would help you get more out of your experience. A perfect setup would be The Dive Bus - WELCOME in Curacao. Diving similar to Bonaire, small groups, they gear the dive to your abilities and wants. You can make a few dives on Pierbaii (house reef) on your own to help gain independence but they supply divemaster to take you to the other well known and beautiful sites. IMHO they do excel in the type of dive adventure that you seem to be looking for. Plus, they are just plain fun people. Checkout website and/or email Suzy for info or with general questions about Curacao. We're going back in August for our 7th dive trip with them. Can't wait. Good luck with your plans wherever they take you:cool2:
Tom

 

[chs8084]

I have been to both Bonaire and Curacao as beginners, and returned to Bonaire with a little more experience. I did largely boat dives when I was there last summer. Both Bonaire and Curacao could have guided boat dives.

 

[jennfl]

I am incredibly addicted to all of the information on this site! It is imensely helpful. Thanks to everyone for replying.

We are going to Bonaire for sure! We already bought the tickets. We plan to hire a guide for the first couple of days and see how we feel. If we think we can go on our own after that, we will. If not, we will keep the guide with us.

We want to get a few dives under our belts before we venture out alone. I appreciate all of the insights from everyone.

Jenn

 

[gypsyjim]

Good luck Jenn. You will do fine. You will never find easier shore diving than is available on Bonaire.

My gf has back problems, so Bonaire shore dives are her favorite. Both my nephews did their OW referral dives on Bonaire last year.

You will quickly see that after those first few dives with a guide, you will do very well on your own. One thing a good local guide can do, is show you some of the smaller life that divers often miss.

Enjoy!

 

[chauncy19]

Highly recommend you line up Bas Noij before you go. I am not a beginner but I'd still use him and wish Bonaire and Bas was available to me when I started out. You'll have a great time.

 

[diversteve]

Some things that may help as Bonaire beginners:

Look at this dive site map - anything marked advanced is not for you now. Mostly due to swift currents that can be all but invisible at the surface. Or depth or difficult entries. Bonaire Diving Information--Dive Sites

A lot of the dive sites - especially to the south are entries over ironshore and coral rubble. At some the ironshore extends into the water and is slick. So pick your entry points carefully. And lean on your buddy as needed.

If you observe the area - you'll likely see small areas where there are sand channels cut through the ironshore out to the reef. One thing we did was mark them using the truck or something visible as a reference - the channels are harder to spot from the water.

An example can be seen here: Scuba Shore Diving Site Page for: Vista Blue of Bonaire South, ABC Islands - although Vista Blue is considered an advanced site.

All of the Bonaire sites with entry pictures and details can be found here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands
All the brown stuff seen just offshore in many of the pictures is ironshore not seaweed.

The reef parallels the shore at almost all the sites. So simply determine the current direction (if there is any) and swim into it for the first part of your dive then do a 180' back to your starting point. You'll see the mooring ball ropes often as the water is really clear. At some of the south sites, the rope may have Fire Coral growing on it so don't touch it.

Most of the resorts have named dive sites as their house dives. So starting out after your dives w/Bas you may want to try them as they'll have dive docks and facilities. Most are free as long as you notify the dive operator - Habitat charges $5. There's also many really good easy dives off Klein Bonaire accessible via dive boat. We did about 8 dives off a boat - 6 might have been better.

If you haven't read it yet, when shorediving on your own, leave nothing of value in the truck, windows down, doors unlocked. There is a theft problem at times at the more remote sites. We never had a problem in a week of dives but others have. Personally I think it's just bored teens.

Once you get your BMP tag and attach it to your BC, you'll never need to show your c-card again so leave it at your resort. No one takes tanks so you can leave them in the back of the truck but leave valuables at the resort.

You can buy a small case like this for money/dl/cc etc. from LeisurePro or your local dive shop.
Small Sport Cases | Official Witz Sport Cases Online Store I've dove with the same one for about 10 years w/o a leak.

 

[drrich2]

If I were sending someone for the first time, I'd try to get a handle on some fairly easy entry/exit sites. I like Windsock for this; it's a southern site so no issues with stairs, big giant strides, a one way road (which is an issue heading to Karpata, up north; you come back differently than you drive there), and there's a large wooden pier that's a hand reference for where you can come out (which I especially like when night diving at Windsock).

The Invisibles is pretty easy entry, but a long swim out. This is where we've done some of our check-out dives at the start.

I remember Aquarius had an easy entry, but the channel for it was fairly narrow. So if you can't find your way back well, could be an issue.

Tolo/Ol'Blue had a decent entry & exit as a I recall; a northern site & a good one.

But I'd 'cut my teeth' on Windsock, if I were you.

Oh, and there's a 'Windsock Resort,' but that's not the Windsock dive site.

Richard.

 

[jennfl]

diversteve, you are my new favorite person!!!

But my boyfriend is going to kill me because now I'm going to be in here on the internet for hours (even more hours than normal on this site, ha ha), reading all of that information you just posted!

I can't thank you enough. Very valuable information for someone who knows nothing about the island and not much more about diving (yet)!

Everybody, thank you!