My husband and I will be down for a week in early Jan. This will be the first time we have gone out without a group. Any safety tips beyond the standards? Are there currents to be concerned with and where do you get the information on currents on a daily basis?

we have experienced currents at various dive sites but they were nothing to be too concerned with. we always tried to start into the current and finish with it...altho we did miss a few exit points. some people have told us that if they dive the areas south of town they do the entire dive with the current then exit and leave one person watching the gear while the other hikes back to the car. we've never tried that but it seems like it should work.

Jeri,

Welcome on board. Most of the dive sites are real relaxing and have very little current. I've only experienced a lot of current once in the 6 visits I've made to Bonaire in the last few years.

If you want to know the currents on a day-to-day basis, you can ask it at your dive center.

Enjoy your trip!

Martin

Jeri, I agree with Martin Last time we had a little stronger current (but nothing compared to some I've experienced where we live and dive locally)...just put your arms out beside you and use your fins as a tail rudder and enjoy the ride! the sites south are very easy to locate your entry exit point using a compass

There are strong currents on occasion at the far northern and southern dive sites: Boca Bartol and Willemstoren. They can be offshore going, with Panama your next sure landfall. Otherwise gentle.

Drift diving works among the hotel properties north of the marina also; really anywhere except way north where the entries are few.

If you're planning on doing any night diving, I found there could be some pretty good currents around the Front Porch, Something Special area. I think because its so close to Klien Bonaire its kind of a bottle neck.

Darryl

There was some current when we dove the spots that are on Klein Bonaire directly across from capt Don's. I think the name of the site may have been Jerry's Reef. Even then, that current was manageable. The difficulty on that site was that the mooring in in 130' of water, so you swim to shore, drop in '30, find a mark. Then you have to re-find that same mark on the way back before doing a mid-water swim back to find the boat. Vis was about 80' when we did it and we could see the boat clearly, although we were swimming into a mild current to get back to it.