Hello,

Are there any other dive shop near Eden Beach? Do you like them? What are the prices like for completing the Certification when we bring referrals from home?
Thanks.

Natalya

Sorry, I accidentally clicked twice

hi natalya..."near eden beach" is a relative term since nothing on bonaire is far away. i'm not sure about other places but i just checked the carib inn brochure and their referral course is $175.00. carib inn is about a 10 minute drive from eden beach.

Natalya, everything is relatively close to each other there. Nothing is more than a 10-15 min. ride.

But I do highly recommend Wannadive for what it's worth. I've used them the past two years and they are wonderful.

I second Kelly... I used Wannadive in October (albeit their city center location) for my AOW certification and they were awesome.

I have to say that the WannaDive staff is great, and they are extremely friendly and helpful. It is much more convenient to use the dive shop that is on the property you are staying at than to have to drive to another property to use the dive facilities. Bart and Bob are awesome (along with Klemo ;-)

Thanks all. I have another question. How many dives it is better to make to be comfortable enough to do the shore dives on our own. We will be complete "newbies". I certainly wouldn't want to do something dangerous on my own if I am not ready for it.

Cyn, don't forget to mention Chris, Paul and Marjolein. All of the staff at WDB are fun yet very professional.

Don't forget Jeffrey either, he's a riot!

Becky, thank you for speaking up. I can not speak for Jeffrey as I have not had personal experience with him. I have only seen him in passing and he too seemed like a fun person.

No problem... I had such a good experience at city center with Chris and Jeffrey, I just can't say enough about them!

Paul...that's the one I forgot...oh, and Chris adn Marjolein (I didn't get to know them though)...but I'm sure they are great as well...

Natalya, you ask a difficult question. It will depend on how comfortable you feel once you are certified, and your navigation skills (which doesn't take much on Bonaire..most sites anyway). I would do a few boat dives after your cert, and maybe hire a DM to go with you on your first shore dives. I hired a DM a few years ago to do my checkout dive as my buddy wasn't on island yet, and I don't do the solo thing...yet? It was $15.00 for the hire at buddy's...

I know Marjolein is a great instructor. She was trained at the same dive shop I was trained in Holland. If you meet her, please say hi from Martin. And tell her I WILL show her my skills are OK next time. She'll know...

natalya, i agree with cynde (as usual). i'd do a few boat dives first so you can be in close proximity to the DM and get comfortable. once you feel comfortable underwater you can work on feeling comfortable walking in and out of the water with your gear on. on our first trip to bonaire i think we only did one shore dive and it was almost a disaster...the exit amounted to crawling out on our hands and knees onto the shore. but now we do almost exlusively shore dives. i think in our last 100 dives on bonaire we've only used a boat for three of them...but boats are nice places to meet other people and get more tips on easy places to shore dive.

Pat, there's always shore diving from the "dock" LOL...easy entry...easy exit..no "waves" to worry about. (Unless there is a good surge going on...then it gets "interesting.")

We need to make sure we hook up and dive together next time we're on island at the same time. Norma and I are going to do some serious 2006 chick trip planning tomorrow night :-) Poor Michael...he has to kid sit :-(

Natalya
Best be realistic about this. Spend the entire week with a guide from some resort. It probably makes no real difference which one.
10 to 15 dives is not a lot of experience and the consequences of a mistake can be really serious. Diving with a guide is not all that terrible after all. You'll plenty of time in the future to shore dive on your own.
My 2 cents Mickey