I have not been to Bonaire, but am thinking about a trip. This check out dive I've read about? Can that be done the morning of your first dive. I'm thinking about boat diving. Does a person have enough time to do the check out and catch the morning boat dives?

Thanks

Probably not Kevin, there is an obligatory lecture on the Marine Park rules in order to get your tag allowing you to dive in the park, and the resort staff will want to show you where to get and leave tanks for shore diving. All stuff you need to know. The shore diving is not to be pooh poohed, I have not been on a boat dive in Bonaire for years.
The up side is once you are fully educated you can dive to your hearts content around the clock, you don't need a boat or someone else's schedule.

To add to Seb's info, the "check out dive" is not monitored in any way...at least not the one's I have done. You get a walkthrough of the resort and the park rules, buy your park tag ($10) and do an unsupervised dive at the resort. The main purpose of the actual dive is to get your bouyancy and trim setup before venturing off to other sites. It's not a checkout dive like you would have in a training course.
Like Seb, the only boat dive I have done in the last 5 years was to join my dive buddies on their required boat dive when they were getting their advanced cert. Other than that, we have not gotten on a boat. We may however venture over to Klien Bonaire next year which will require a boat ride.

The checkout dive is great, because it's your first experience in Bonaire! Not monitored, just a chance to check bouyancy, etc, as was posted above. It definitely won't hamper your diving!

On my only trip to Bonaire the check out dive was unsupervised and very informal at Capt. Don's. Does anyone know if Lagoen Hill's scuba setup is the same way? I will be in town 4 days before my parents arrive to watch the baby but maybe my wife and I can switch off the checkout dive so we can go out as soon as possible. ;)

Personally, I would not buy a package that includes boat diving in Bonaire. You can dive your brains out right from shore - unless, of course, you want to go to Klein Bonaire. But you can always add a boat dive or two to your schedule once you get there.

Larry
I stayed at Lagoen Hills last March and did the package with Toucan. If that's who you're diving with, it's just about the same. I'd be glad to try to answer any questions you might have about Lagoen Hills. We really liked it but we opted for a house in Belnem this next trip (that would be 21 days from today) just for the closeness to the beach.

Happy Holidays
Joe
also known as MACARONI AND CHEESE MAN

since july 1 we have done almost 65 dives on bonaire and only 11 have been boat dives...a few sites are accessible only by boat and the comeraderie and chance to meet other people on the boat is a plus. but for the freedom of diving just about anywhere you want, whenever you want i opt for shore diving.

Rappel is a must see boat dive.

The shore diving in Bonaire is great. You really don't need a boat except for a handful of sites on Bonaire and Klein bonaire.
The best dives we did were shore dives. Margate Bay had the best concentration of life than any of the other sites we went to. You could go to Bonaire, do NO boat diving and have done some fantastic diving.