Hi, everyone. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm not going to be able to bring my own dive skin to Bonaire (I sunburn easily). Do most of the dive shops sell skins? About how much should I expect to pay there (i.e. how much more or less than in the U.S.)? Any highly recommended shops?

Thanks!

I highly recommend bruce at the carib inn . He is a super guy and always has great prices .

I would also recommend the Carib Inn. I bought a Scuba Pro Air2 there and it was about $30-$40 less than I would pay in the states. He was very helpful and I look forward to buying more gear from them next time I am there in October. I hope this helps.

David . . . . .

I would strongly recommend getting your equipment before going to Bonaire. I don't know about skin suits, but I know Bruce does not have a good selection (brands, sizes) of 3mm wet suits. He didn't have any 1 or 2mm wet suits.

The prices I saw seemed to be reasonable.

You don't have time to go to a dive shop there and pick up a skin suit?

ken

You might also check out http://www.solarveil.com/home.asp for sun protection clothing. Since you say you sunburn easily, you probably would enjoy the protection without having to slather on spf 30 every hour.

Hi, everyone - thanks for the information.

The problem was that I'm heading down in a group of four and I was getting skins for everyone (the other couple we're travelling with wanted us to do the shopping). We found a good online supplier (yes, I know buying wetsuits online is a terrible idea, but dive skins are much more forgiving and we spent a long time looking over their size charts) at a great price (Tilos skins for $29). But even though I asked the owner of the site if he had them in stock and could send them to me in time for the trip (he said he could ship them the next day), two weeks later I found out (after constantly trying to contact him) that he had some sort of personal emergency and never shipped them. Of course, now we are leaving on Wednesday morning - it is too late to buy from another online provider (next best price I found was $35, so I'd still love to get them online). Yes, I could buy from a local dive shop (all four of us bought new fins from a local dive shop a few weeks ago)... but I know the prices here in the NY area will be around 50% higher than the online prices... so I was hoping to hear that I could find dive skins much cheaper on the island.

On the other hand, buying on the island means worrying not only if the prices are ok, but if the selection is wide enough, too (my wife is 5'2" and some of the size charts I've seen for skins - depending on manufacturer - don't seem to go down that small!). Also, we're getting in Wednesday afternoon, and are heading out early Thursday morning (maybe even trying to get into the water Wednesday afternoon, if possible). Since we'd rather not spend extra time shopping, and it sounds like prices will be comparable to other dive shop prices (rather than online prices), I just went and bought them in NYC yesterday evening. While mine fits okay, and my wife's is ok... the other two won't be able to try theirs on until we're in Bonaire. If these don't fit, they can buy on the island and I'll return the ones I picked up.

Anyway, again, thanks for all the details! This board is an amazing resource for Bonaire-newbies (and probably veterans, too!).

Where did you buy them in NYC David?

In Bonaire the water temperature is between 27 and 28 C.
I dive since 1978 in the Antilles. During this time I never wore a skin.
So your very affordable alternative is to wear a T-shirt. That's what I always do when snorkelling or diving. Nowadays I have some "natural" isolation which I did not have in
1978 :-)

Me, too, Bob! I'm never cold in the water with my body frame! LOL. Carole

LOL Carole

I am another tee shirt diver in Bonaire. In Florida and Mexico, I wear a dive skin. 81 degree water is made for tee shirts.

Lets start a T-shirt group :-)

Seb, I eventually got them at Princeton Ski Shop - there used to be a dive shop right around the corner from there, which is what I was looking for - - but I couldn't find it. Didn't matter, Princeton Ski Shop was huge and had a good selection of sizes in the skins. I compared against the scuba department at Paragon, nearby. They had a few skins, but only a handful - - mostly their department was jammed full of wetsuits and rash guards.

Bob, I was under the impression that skins didn't provide any warmth...? Just looking for good total sun coverage.

I use my t-shirt for sun protection

I would have gone to Pan Aqua or Scuba Network David,(unles scuba network is the shop that closed in the flatiron bldg.) I find Paragon to be pretty pricey, Pan Aqua tends to be pricey, but they sell very good quality equipment.

I have had good luck ordering online from Divers Direct and the shipping is very good. I have also ordered from Divers Supply and bought a Dive skin from them for about $45.00 and it has lasted 8 years.

But I still like tee shirt diving.

Seb, it's been a while so I don't recall the name of the shop, but there used to be a dive shop at 22nd and Broadway which no longer appears to be there (or it moved) - not actually in the Flatiron building, though.

Actually, the stuff at Paragon is kind of all over the map when it comes to prices. Some things are rather expensive... but I saw a few microprene wetsuits, for example, that compared very well to online prices. Too bad I wasn't looking for one!

That was a Scuba Network, anything in that block is flatiron to me. I find paragon's sale prices about what the prices ought to be. Pan Aqua is very nice, 43rd and tenth avenue.