This is a brief report on my long awaited return trip to Bonaire for the Christmas and New Years holiday of 2002. My last dive trip to Bonaire was in 1990. I must not let so much time pass again before returning to Bonaire. I traveled alone on this trip, staying at Captain Don's Habitat for 12 days. I was in a room in the 2-story building just North of the dive shop (#103). I liked my room and I liked being near the dive shop.

I flew to Bonaire on AA. Denver to St Louis to San Juan to Bonaire. No problems. Its a full tiring day of travelling. No lost luggage. But, they did put a big rip in the side of my new dive bag. Darn! AA sent it to a repair facility in Denver to be fixed.

I suspect that this may be a holiday thing, but... Dee Scarr (of Touch the Sea fame) does a nice slide show at Habitat on a weekly basis. The man, Captain Don himself does an interesting slide show weekly. He is truely a fascinating guy. I'm pretty sure that kids would find him boring. But most adults will find his stories very interesting. He's a true character who has really "been there and done that". These shows are open to anyone. You don't have to be staying at Habitat to attend the shows.

For food, I guess I don't have much to say. This was a scuba vacation for me, so I had a bit of trouble fitting in 3 meals between dives. I ate most of my meals at Habitat. I thought the food was good and the service was prompt and the cost was fair. I think I had pizza 3 or 4 times. They make a nice thin crust pizza in a firey oven. I found Lover's ice cream shop by accident walking around one night. Highly recommended. They have very nice ice cream.

My trip included 9 days of diving with a day off at each end and a day off in the middle to give my body a break. I did a Padi AOW class at Habitat with Roger and was pleased to learn some useful things. I did search and recovery of a 60 pound weight belt from the reef in front of the hotel. I learned that lift bags are very tricky devices. I did fourteen boat dives. I thought the Habitat boats and crew were very good. I didn't bring a dive buddy with me, so I did many of the boat dives alone. The crew had no problem with that.

I did some shore diving too. For those staying at Habitat, the reef in front of the hotel is pretty nice for day and night dives. Definitely not a waste of your time. It can be exciting when the big tarpon (Charlie?) comes by. "Is that a shark? Nope, its Charlie". He's really big. I did several shore dives mostly in the South: Angel City, Alice in Wonderland, Margate Bay, Invisibles, Red Beryl. And in the North: Oil Slick Leap. Saw an eagle ray, which is always a thrill, at Angel City and Invisibles.

I did car rental from AB for the last week of my trip. I rented a little van which makes a good dive vehicle. No problems with my car. I left windows open at dive sites and left very little in the car.

All in all, a very good trip. I'm sure to be returning again soon.

Thanks for the trip report. Glad you had a great trip...it's the PBD that hurts.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the trip report!

I've heard about the great shore diving in Bonaire and am thinking about doing a last minute trip down there. I'll likely be traveling alone since I don't know anyone who can get away on such short notice (interested in going back down in about 2 weeks?). I want to do mostly shore diving. Did you do most of your shore diving alone? Or were you able to find dive buddies down there?

Had you been to Capitain Don's Habitat before? Would you go again? Did you book directly with them? Did they charge a single supplement?

Sorry for so many questions, but I really would like to go and am a bit concerned about cost & safety issues of travelling & diving alone.

Thanks!

bonaire is a perfectly safe place to travel to and dive alone...

dive buddies are pretty easy to find if you are not shy...

most likely you will pay a little extra for the privalidge(sp?) of diving alone

Thanks for the report, Jeff. Sounds as tho you had a great dive trip. I know it felt great to be back on Bonaire....a place you cannot get out of your blood once you have experienced her beauty. Planning your next trip yet?? Carole

Bob,

Just curious, but what did you mean by 'pay a little extra to dive alone'?? I have done it for years there with no extra $ to anyone.

I was planning to do mostly shore diving. Are the entries & exits straightforward? Are there typically other divers at most of the dive sites? Otherwise, I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to be driving around alone on a island, diving alone....

Thanks,
Alice

referring to the room rate - sometimes single occupancy does include some sort of differential -one can dive cheaper in a group under those conditions and also a "buddy" might split the cost of the rental vehicle as well...

and then a lone diver might just get "harrassed" a bit - that adds to the "mental" cost...

but it is like you said glen - diving freedom at capt. don's ???

Yes, sir. Others I have boat dived with won't allow it, at least if you ask formally, and until the guide accompanying understands that you are capable.

Wow! We stayed in room #103 in September '01, our first and only (so far) visit to Bonaire. We liked the room, and Habitat, very much. Just read here somewhere that they've added TV's to every room. I find that a little sad, personally, but maybe I'll have the willpower to not turn it on during our next visit.

16 months later, and I still have PBD. Thanks for the memories!

Steve

Alice,

The shore entries/exits vary. Some are pretty easy-but some are tricky, and the shoreline is coral. The ones at the south tend to be a little more open; I found the northern ones more difficult. As far as other divers present, sometimes there are, sometimes there aren't. My husband and I have been the only divers many times.

If you stay at Cap'n Dons, Lions Dive (my favorite) or Buddy's, they're all located next to each other. Bari Reef is right in front, and many people dive alone there. It's extremely easy access-walk down the ladder-and you're in. Your gear is stowed in a locked gear room right by the pier at all three places, so lugging it is not a problem. And the reef there is great-I saw my first seahorse and first frogfish there! E-mail me if you want particulars on Lion's Dive-we've stayed there 3 times.

Hi Mary,

Thanks for your reply!

OH!!! SEAHORSES!!! That's one of the big reasons I want to go down to Bonaire so that I can finally see seahorses, in person, in the ocean....

Right now, I'm needing more of a hassle-free, relaxing week away from reality instead of an "adventure" with driving around the island alone, finding dive buddies, places to eat, paying a single supplement etc. So, I decided that I should do a liveaboard for this trip since its on such short notice. Liveaboards are so easy when you traveling alone. You don't have to worry about dive buddies, safety, food, etc, and oftentimes its cheaper than doing landbased alone....

But I definitely want to go down to Bonaire when I have more time to plan a trip, find dive buddies etc! If you don't mind, I'm going to write down your email so that I can contact you (hopefully) later this year when I can carefully plan out a trip.

Thanks!

Have a great time, Alice. Where will you be going on your liveaboard? Carole

"AL asked... Did you do most of your shore diving alone?" Or were you able to find dive buddies down there?"

I did all my shore dives alone. I suppose that I could have found an occasional buddy if I tried hard enough. I considered putting a note on the message board at the dive shop. In the end I decided to go it alone.

"AL asked... Had you been to Capitain Don's Habitat before? Would you go again? Did you book directly with them? Did they charge a single supplement?"

Never been to Habitat before. I would go back. I booked through my travel agent who uses the usa agent for habitat which is "maduro" I believe. I'm sure that I paid a single suppliment. This was an expensive trip, so I just closed my eyes and signed the credit card slip.

"AL asked... Are shore dive entries & exits straightforward? Are there typically other divers at most of the dive sites?"

Entries are mostly easy. Get the Bonaire Diving Made Easy guide book for more information on shore diving. Sometimes there were other divers at the sites I chose, sometimes I was the only one. I dove at Angel City with the Pink Bus one day also.

"Steve and Sandy Oliver said... Just read here somewhere that they've added TV's to every room ."

No TV or phone yet in room 103. I didn't miss them. I think they are planning to put in phones soon.

"Alice said... saw my first seahorse and first frogfish there!"

I had never seen a seahorse or a frogfish before this trip. I saw LOTS of seahorses. I thought that seahorses were little bitty things. But no, these Bonaire seahorses are large. I don't claim to have found any myself though (divemasters are pretty good at it).

"AL said... I decided that I should do a liveaboard for this trip"

Good choice. I've done 2 liveaboards in the last couple of years. Peter Hughes in Belize and Aggressor in Turks and Caicos. Both were excellent. Its a great way to do dive travel alone.

A reader sent me a private email with the following question. I thought that I'd share it and the answer with everyone, for what its worth.

"A reader asked... Read your post on BT and I wonder if you remember much about your last trip to Bonaire in 1990. Specifically pre hurricane Lenny comparisons in regard to reef conditions. Which reefs did you dive this time that were healthy worth doing again? Lenny crushed alot of areas. I'm planning my trip in February or March and want to map out a few reefs for the first couple of days. Any help would be appreciated."

I don't remember how things looked back in 1990; that's too long ago. I was expecting the conditions to be worse than they are. I was pleasantly surprised. The sites that I thought were most damaged were on Klein (Mi Dushi and Sampler). But Klein also has very good sites like South Bay and Bonaventura.

If you are shore diving you can't go wrong heading South. I liked the sites starting with Angel City and going South. All the Southern sites that I did were "do-overs". I didn't do as many Northern shore dives because I ran out of time. But sites like La Danias Leap, 1000 Steps, Oil Slick Leap were do-overs.

None of the sites that I dove were duds. I never came out of the water wishing that I'd stayed in bed. Here are the sites that I dove...

La Machaca (Captain Don's Habitat)
Jeff Davis
South Bay - Klein
Thousand Steps
Jerry's Reef - Klein
Something Special
Hilma Hooker
Small Wall
Angel City
Alice in Wonderland
Mi Dushi - Klein
Country Garden
Oil Slick Leap
Margate Bay
La Dania's Leap
The Invisibles
Sampler - Klein
Bonaventura
Red Beryl (there is a current at this site)

Hi Carole!

I don't have time for a long trip, so I decided to do the Nekton Pilot in Belize. Airfares were pretty reasonable. My past two attempts at dive trips in the Carribean & the Bahamas in January have been disasters due to weather. I HOPE HOPE HOPE for good weather this trip, especially since I get cold so easily..... The water temps are supposed to be in the high 70's. I might be bringing my 7mm!

---------------------------------

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your reply!

I don't mind doing boat dives solo, but I knew that I wouldn't be comfortable doing shore dives alone because no one would know where I was. I love doing liveaboards but really wanted to try Bonaire. Maybe next time. I have been wanting to try Peter Hughes. But they don't have hotubs, which I really need when water temps aren't extra warm! I'll have to try a Hughes boat at a warmer destination....

Never dive by yourself!

Ida, why not? With proper training and redundant equipment, solo diving is a viable alternative if no buddy is available. This is especially true in Bonaire where diving is quite easy (no dangerous currents on most site).

I actually prefer solo diving when I'm filming. Nobody around to scare the fish away, to wave at the camera, ....

i think insurance companies are putting pressure on US diving activities to limit claims...i think that is where a lot of the "don't dive alone" pressure comes from...

additionally, a few people tend to be just a little more judgemental so you have those to deal with as well...might just be another one of those unwritten rules...

that short haired blonde down at the belmar apartments told me it was "illegal" to dive on bonaire alone...whatever

If we let insurance companies run our diving, our maximum dept would also be around 30 feet. Actually while diving in the Keys, we almost had to bribe the dive ops to allow us to go deeper. They also gave us the story about insurance and getting sued.

(-: He Jake, next time you clean the web cam, make sure you've got somebody with you. If not you're doing something illegal.

Diving alone being illegal on the island that runs "diving freedom" as their slogan. I don't think so.

Hey Jeff,

You didn't mentioned Jake's party or your daily pilgrimage to Lovers in your trip report... I'm disappointed.

-Stephen

Safety! You never know what could happen. A dive buddy is there to save your life if needed. I love to dive but I don't want to die doing it.

If you want to dive by yourself that's up to you.

"Safety! You never know what could happen. A dive buddy is there to save your life if needed. I love to dive but I don't want to die doing it. "

Maybe so. Or they can kill you. Diving with qualified buddies you know well is no doubt safer than diving solo. But, if you are diving with unknow buddies there is no telling what you are getting into. A novice diver who tells you (or thinks) he is experienced or a macho diver full of BS is much more dangerous than me diving solo (see the "accident" at 1000 steps). I know my ability and how I react to problems. I am not recommending diving solo BUT to simply state it's safer diving with a buddy makes a lot of assumptions, ones I am not willing to make. Until I know my buddy, I assume I am diving worse than along, I am diving alone with a hazzard.

That's why my husband is my dive buddy. I can see where your coming from as far as diving with someone you don't know. I personally feel much safer with him. I have been preached to all my diving life not to dive alone.

Herman,

I completely agree with your statement about "qualified buddies". Diving with a qualified buddy is safer than diving solo. "Qualified".

A buddy is important in case of a medical emergencie, not necessarily for equipment failure. Accidents because of equipment failure are not likely to kill the solo diver because he has redundant equipment (second computer, alternative independent air source, ...). BTW, diving accidents due to equipment failure are very rare. You can check the DAN statistics on this. Most accidents fall in the categories of insufficient diving skills (wreck penetration without training), plain stupid behaviour (+60 metres on air), difficult unexpected conditions (strong currents, downstream currents, ...) and medical problems.

In my opinion, a buddy only makes a real difference in the last category. No redundant equipment can help you when you for instance have a stroke underwater. But here is the caveat. Does your buddy know what to do if a medical problem occurs? Can he save you without killing himself? Does he know how to get you to the surface? Does he have the basic rescue skills (CPR, mouth-to-mouth breathing while pulling you to shore, can he drive the car to get you to the hospital, ...)?

Most divers don't (-: except for the driving part). The majority of the PADI certified divers are OW and AOW, not rescue diver or higher. These divers are most likely not capable of handling a real emergency situation because they are not trained (QUALIFIED) for one.

So next time you go shore diving on a remote site in Bonaire with your buddy, ask yourself how safe it really is?

Jake feel free to move this part of the thread to another area since we went a bit off topic.

Safe diving to all,

Peter

Solo diving is a very controversial subject and the practice of diving solo is certainly not suitable for everyone.

Bye!

Stephen... Ok, I didn't have time to eat regular meals but I did make it to Lovers Ice Cream at least once every day. And I made it to the new years party at Jake's. There were quite a lot of people there and good food.

On solo diving... This is frequently an emotional topic and good words are spoken above on both sides. I mentioned it in my original report for those who travel alone like I do. I thought others might like to know that you can dive alone on the Habitat boats without a big hassle. And for some reason I had this creepy feeling I might have to prove I had a dive buddy in order to get a tank for shore diving. Its creepy because I've travelled all the way Bonaire and now I can't dive because I can't find someone to be my buddy. That would be a serious bummer, when I'm prepared to go alone. There were no such buddy checks at Habitat and I suspect these checks doesn't happen anywhere on Bonaire.

Dive safe and often...

Solo vs. Buddies...

I know the shop I use in Bonaire keeps a watchful eye for use of the buddy system. I feels awful, not to mention hurts the business, whenever a dive shop loses a diver because of some silly incident like somebody getting DCS'd or washing up dead because nobody was their to help when they got into trouble.

My buddy saved, if not my life, at least a day or two of diving. Despite brand new, fully redundant gear, I had a stone-cold-totally-out-of-air incident. It happened at 35' coming back to Angel City from the HH. Turns out my brand new - and tested - air gauge malfunctioned mid-dive and was reading several hundred extra psi that were not in the tank. After assessing my situation [suddenly can't sip or even even suck any air, Octo dead, valve knob turns so it ain't that...] I kicked two times and reached for my buddy's octo. She had the expected reserve of at least 600psi left, so an emergency swimming ascent was averted. If I had been diving alone that day I would have had to go for the surface. That, according to diving safety standards, would have forced me to sit out at least the next 24 hours. Worst case, I could have died.

So, my Number 1 piece of gear for diving: A trusted Buddy.

On that same vacation we met a "solo" traveller finishing his AOW course. He had no problems finding buddies; by hooking up with at least buddy pairs and then going out in trios, he was never going it alone.

-LS

Leif,

sorry to say but your gear was not really "fully redundant". With fully redundant I meant an alternative indepent air source, like a pony bottle, indepent doubles or spare air (absolute minimum). I would never dive solo on a single tank.

But lucky for you, you were diving with a buddy. An out of air situation, even at 35 feet can be dangerous.

Peter

Leif,

Unless you had an equipment failure, you were not really 'out of air'. You had breathed the tank down to the point that you could not breathe from it at 35 feet. If you had gone up, you would have been able to breathe at shallower depth, all the way to the surface. Been there, done that: it used to happen frequently in the days of J-valves and no SPG or octo when either the J-valve rod was already down or the valve had leaked through the reserve. You don't get deep breaths but perfectly adequate for surfacing. Works from any depth. Even if your 'buddy' turns away or you can't get their octo for any other reason. In clear calm water like Bonaire, my choice would always be to go to the surface, not try to chase a buddy who isn't expecting you and most likely is not practised at sharing air, maintaining depth and ascending.

I suspect your erring SPG is an example of a more common problem than we understand. I had one that read a few hundred pounds low-- that is a 'safe' direction of error but they should read right. I believe they ought to be checked by dive shops at every regulator rebuild. At least the diver will know if there is an error and have the choice of replacing the guage for safety. And if enough errors are found and reported to manufacturers (and their insurance companies) safer guages might result. I have suspected for a long time that many 'out-of-air' scuba deaths have been contributed to by high-reading guages.

I agree that one should carry fully redundant breathing air, even when buddy diving. At least spare air sized. But one really wants redundant buoyance control also!!! Spare air, split manifolds on doubles, none of the redundant breathing arrangements, gives a shot of BC air to begin an ascent. Most recommendations are to drop the weight belt. That most likely will give a shot of ascent but then you are completely out of control. The BC the Brits call a stab jacket gives that ability for an 'out-of-air' diver to get positive. Then ascent rate is controlled through your normal BC dump features-- inflator hose held up or a shoulder dump valve. A Stab Jacket has a spare air sized bottle at your right hip with a regular K-valve handle. Easy to use. The Fenzy and DACOR horse collars had the same.

You can also get a second stage to replace the power inflator valve that allows breathing from the bag, as a 'safe second'. That means keeping the BC bag clean, but we all do that as routine maintenance, don't we??? Again, been there, done that: it works.

One last it about Buddy Diving. Each diver should be trained to be self sufficient, to be available to help their buddy but not be dependent on the buddy. Vital difference.

buddy systems...

(in the navy) - a buddy is a guy that goes to town, gets a couple of BJs and brings you back one...



should be up to the individual - NOT the dive shop...

buddies are ok though...'specially ones with red toes

Bob,

Red toes or red toenails??? ;–)

When I asked the manager at the then Sand Dollar Dive & Photo, a PADI 5-star facility, about the demanded buddy diving, he said that it was because his PADI insurance required it. Bonaire Dive and Adventure (not PADI) was more relaxed about it this past summer.

Peter: Duly acknowledged. A pony bottle would have been good. (I never had a pony when I was young. I did have a bottle, though.) My reference to redundant referred to 2 regulators, and to analog gauges plus a computer (although mine is not air-int) rather than just one or the other. And besides, my buddy was wearing my complete extra set of gear. And I was wearing her extra set. I agree that adding a pony would make it more "FULLY" redundant by providing an independent air source worth another 5-10 minutes or so. Still, there are problems that cannot be solved by having an extra set of gear handy... like getting tangled in netting while penetrating a wreck after having dropped your knife, and then suffering an infarction from the extra stress of struggling to get out. Or just going way deeper than you should, like the fellow who died (his buddies didn't save him) within the past month. Then again, if you do let yourself get into such a situation, perhaps it is better that you do so alone - Darwin's principals work just fine without buddy assistance.

Glen: Actually, I meant "out" of air. At the surface, after disconnecting, I opened the tank valve and air actually did suck back into the tank, just a bit, to equalize it. While I was calmly working out what had gone wrong, at 35', I managed to suck out what remained in the tank. Thus, the pressure in the tank was actually a fraction less than 1 atmosphere even after coming up from 35'. I am considering finding a different regulator - my TUSA was so easy-flowing at low pressure that I only had about two breath's worth of "low air" before it was clear to me that it was really, really, really low... I suppose one could argue that unless possessed with herculean lung strength it is impossible to suck the tank down to a sufficient vacuum to be literally devoid of air. Gee, if that happened the tank would likely implode. No, in my book "out of air" means so low that you cannot reasonably draw another breath from the tank without spraining your diaphragm muscle.

But to stay at least remotely on-topic, maybe there should be some resource for those who want to travel on their own but not have to worry, as Jeff did, about diving solo at their destination... like maybe an area on some island-related Internet bulletin board where solo divers can hook up with buddies or small groups in mid-trip, exchange info on local dive shops that permit and support experienced solo divers, etc. Hmmmmmm...

-LS

One solution to that problem of too easy breathing with a near-empty tank would be a two hose regulator. All but the Heinke gave a few breaths warning near the end, once you had experienced it and knew what was happening. :–)

I believe most single-hose regulators give very little warning. It would seem better to have a backup for the rare occasions than move to an inferior reg for almost all of the time.