There's a bunch of them. Here's some of the easier logistically off a cruise ship. A couple are IMO on the better dive sites as well.
As mentioned ^ Dive Friends is in town right by the cruise dock. I didn't find diving
there anything special but if your time in port is limited it might be the best option. If you've got all day - IMO any of these is better:
About 5mins. by cab north of town is Wannadive at Eden Beach. There's a shore dive there plus it's a nicer place for lunch. They also have a satellite facility south of town at Windsock Beach, an easy entry shore dive south of town you can find on most dive maps/listings.
Wannadive Diving - Wannadive 'Scuba Diving on Bonaire'
Maybe 1/4? mile further north from Wannadive - is arguably one of the better known shore dives on Bonaire - Bari Reef. Due to the naturalists at Bonaire Dive and Adventure - it has one of the highest counted species of fish in the Caribbean - they do REEF counts there with guests. My buddy did one, his count was 185 on one 60min. dive - accompanied by the naturalist for a fee who pointed them out. Nice dock/stairs but don't jump off the side - it's about 4-5' deep.
Bonaire Dive and Adventure is located in the Den Laman condo complex.
Immediately next door and still on Bari Reef is the Dive Friends shop at Sand Dollar condos - pretty convenient since since BD&A started restricting use of their dive dock/steps some years ago to non-paying guests - they built their own tank storage hut and steps right onto the beach there. .
Locations & Hours - Dive Friends Bonaire Don't walk over to use BD&A's dock though lol..
Next is Buddy Dive - lots of divers there if you need a buddy. IMO they're not on the best dive site but one of the more popular so if there's seahorses or frogfish currently there - the shop will know where to find them that morning. Actually most of the shops will.
Diving at Buddy Dive - Buddy Dive Resort I personally have not dove there but been in the shop once.
Directly north of Buddy is Capt' Don's Habitat. They're very set up for shore diving - if you cab up, get out at the turnaround (you'll see the bar at the end of the building) since there's a ramp there that goes right down to the dive dock although the shop is on that level.
Good facility, showers, lockers, (bring a lock) tank storage and dive dock with good (slick) wood stairs. Off the north dock you can access the south end of the Cliff dive - one of few vertical walls on Bonaire then drift back into the LaMachaca wreck off Habitat. Don't make the Machaca your main goal, it's a small boat and upside down.
Diving in Bonaire - Captain Don's Habitat - Bonaire
About 1/4 mile north of that is the last Dive Friends shop at Hamlet Oasis - they dive Cliff from the north off a rocky beach. Habitat has the dive dock and it's a 10 min. swim north to the same spot - you decide...we did it from the south to just past the memorial b4 doubling back.
Bonaire Shore Diving - Dive Friends Bonaire
Most offer a 1 day unlimited package on-site. It's going to run you $20-30 or so.
None of this is very far from Town Pier so should be easy to manage via cab. If you're on a big ship, it's the tallest thing downtown so easy to see - Bonaire is pretty flat.
Ask about the Marine Park Tag also - on a cruise dive they sell it for $10 (one day pass) and I think there's just a brief orientation, at the resorts there's a daily orientation in the morning but the tag is like $35 or more. I don't cruise so no idea how that works.
People have posted Dive Friends offers the orientation all day as well - it's just a brief lecture/demo often with a weight check included. We just made that our first dive instead.
have a good trip.
