Anyone been to Bonaire for scuba diving?

[npgraphicdesign 3]

Thinking of going there for two weeks around late June/early July to get my license and then just stay and dive for the rest of the time. Any suggestions/hints from anyone who has gone scuba diving there? Would be much appreciated!

[headoverheels 333]

Yes, been there 3 times. Nice easy diving, would be a great
place to learn.

You should give strong consideration to getting your rating before going -- would probably be cheaper, and you could get right into the fun stuff. Another option is to do a referral rating, where you do the bookwork and pool dives at home, then just do the open water dives when you get there. That will get you done with your rating in two days, leaving more days for more interesting diving.

OTOH, if you are going for two weeks, rather than one, not such a need to learn ahead of time.

If you haven't already, check out the Bonaire forum on Scubaboard.com. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bonaire/ Another useful site is bonairetalk.com

I don't have much suggestion as to who to use for lessons there.

Not that much to do in Bonaire other than diving.

[npgraphicdesign 3]

headoverheels

Yes, been there 3 times. Nice easy diving, would be a great
place to learn.

You should give strong consideration to getting your rating before going -- would probably be cheaper, and you could get right into the fun stuff. Another option is to do a referral rating, where you do the bookwork and pool dives at home, then just do the open water dives when you get there. That will get you done with your rating in two days, leaving more days for more interesting diving.

OTOH, if you are going for two weeks, rather than one, not such a need to learn ahead of time.

If you haven't already, check out the Bonaire forum on Scubaboard.com. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bonaire/ Another useful site is bonairetalk.com

I don't have much suggestion as to who to use for lessons there.

Not that much to do in Bonaire other than diving.

Thanks a lot for the tips. Much appreciated!!

Looking at Aruba too....torn between the two. And I have friends that live in Trinidad and Tobago...looking at that as well. Damn it!!!

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

PADI has eLearning if that helps you out with the bookwork. It saved me tons of time because I just can't sit in a classroom at night after working all day and retain anything important. Do the class online at your own pace (but make sure it's not longer than a year or you'll have to purchase the course again).

Diving is awesome. Good luck!!

https://www.padi.com/elearning-scuba-registration/

Always be kinder than you feel.

[npgraphicdesign 3]

LuckyMcSwervy

PADI has eLearning if that helps you out with the bookwork. It saved me tons of time because I just can't sit in a classroom at night after working all day and retain anything important. Do the class online at your own pace (but make sure it's not longer than a year or you'll have to purchase the course again).

Diving is awesome. Good luck!!

https://www.padi.com/elearning-scuba-registration/

Thanks!! I'm so 'lucky' to know ya ;)

[decompresion 2]

I started writing this post with one thing in mind but it turned out to be a massive thread drift, Sorry.

If you are still unsure of where to go...
Many of your local shops will probably have some kind of deal that you do the confined water(pool) and class work before you go on vacation and then do the open water dives with the referral program.
The referral program is available pretty much everywhere in the world. Definitely the Caribbean.
In some cases the sateside and island shops have a partnership.

I have been to Roatan in Honduras. It is cheap and suitable for beginners. There is an international airport on the island where the dive shop will pick you up. All the dive shops speak English.
Bahamas is easy diving and slightly cheaper than Cayman.
Cayman is really good diving. The govmnt there has taken steps to certify the dive shops. They are slightly more expensive but it is a subtle difference. Lots of mid range hotels and some sketchy low end ones.
Costa Rica diving was a blast! I heard some mixed reviews before I wen there but I had a blast and the diving was properly good. The pacific side was a completely different type of sea life than the Caribbean side. Plenty of reef sharks and good visibility.
Playa del Carmen and Cozumel are easy destinations. I would rent a car in Cancun if you want to explore after diving but if you just want to get drunk just take the bus to Playa del Carmen. Cozumel is expensive and worth it for open water reef dives, but I prefer Playa del Carmen for the cavern/cave dives. I thought the day trip to ChiChen Itza is worth it.

I am going to Puerto Rico to dive for a few days. I've never been there so I have no idea what it will be like yet. Any ideas?

It looks to me like there is a large enough cross-over between skydiving and SCUBA (There are quite a few skydivers who also SCUBA dive) I kind of want there to be a thread for "Jumpers who dive" with tips and trip reports.
For example: The owner/operator of "fish n' fins" in Palau is Navot. I met him in Elsinore, he is a WS flyer. So if you go there, give him a a call and maybe he can hook you up with a skydive over Palau?
I know a guy in Roatan who have an ultralight seaplane and if you bring your rig and the weather is ok he'll let you jump off (3,000ft) but it might take some convincing.

Anyways, sorry for the thread drift and hijacking.

Seriously though-any recommendations on Puerto Rico will be massively appreciated.

There are no dangerous dives
Only dangerous divers

[skydiver30960 0]

Bonaire is WONDERFUL diving. I've never been to Aruba but will offer a comment from another diver I spent a week with who had been to both, something along the lines of "Aruba is good if you have a family and you're the only diver." The idea was that the diving is decent, but there's more for other folks to do there as well. Again, not my words or opinion, just recalling the words of others.

...Bonaire, OTOH, is top-to-bottom for divers... there really isn't much else other than beach/pool lounging. Good news is there is TONS of wonderful diving.

My recollections from Bonaire: the reef is pretty consistent, with tons of smaller "macro" stuff to look at. You'll find yourself cruising slowly, looking into every nook and cranny. There aren't many bigger animals to be seen, other than the rare turtle and everpresent tarpon. When we were there currents were nearly zero. My favorite dive on the island is the Hilma Hooker, a seized drug boat that they sunk and a hurricane later rolled over a bit.

Pros and Cons for being a beginner at Bonaire:

Pro: the reef is pretty consistent no matter what depth you're at. That is, what you see at 45 feet is pretty much the same as what you'll see at 75 feet. This means you can go with more experienced folks and not miss much.

Pros: light current, plenty of dive sites.

Con-ish: the island is a shore diving paradise. Most experienced divers will skip the boat dives, rent a vehicle, load the trunk with cylinders, and spend every day driving from site to site, snacking and getting surface intervals along the way. The reason I call this a "con-ish" for beginners is that in such a situation there tends to be less supervision. Even though my wife and I were both Advanced Open Water certified when we went, it felt nice to have a dive guide in the water with us, even though they weren't acting as an official divemaster. What worked for us: we did two boat dives in the morning, which also got us to the few dive sites at the island that aren't accessible by road. Then, we had lunch and loaded up a few cylinders and spent the afternoon shore diving together and learning to stretch our wings diving unsupervised. If you aren't comfortable with that by the time you go there, several of the resorts on the island offer daily morning and afternoon dive trips (two dives each); just be ready to pay a bit and sign up for the boats early as they do fill up.


The recommendation above for ScubaBoard is golden: as far as I'm concerned it's the SCUBA equivalent of dizzy.com.

Elvisio "can't wait to go back" Rodriguez