We are a family of novice divers (certifying this summer) and planning to go to Bonaire next March. Given our limited (non-existent) experience, I think we would do better with dive boats having smaller groups. Can anyone give advice on which operations have smaller boats? Or, other suggestions on operations that would be better for newbies?

Hi! Welcome to BT!
Size of boat doesn't matter.
Larger boats sometimes have smaller numbers of divers. It just depends on the day or week.
TELL the dive masters you are all novices and ASK them to dive with you. They will give you extra attention.
Yesterday there was a newly certified, small ten year old boy on the boat and for both dives both dive masters stayed with the boy and the two adults with him. On the second dive, the dive master played with the boy.
Remember to stay shallow. You should not go below 60 feet with new certifications, and you can stay shallower than that and see lots of wonderful things on Bonaire reefs.
Bonaire is a great place for newbies. You're going to love diving here!!
Tish

Bob, don't overlook the joys of shore diving in Bonaire as well. You can hire a divemaster to take you shore diving if you are nervous at first. After one or two trips with divemasters when we were new divers we then relied on the book Bonaire shore Diving Made Easy to help us choose easy sites. Once we chose our spot we would swim to the marker,take a heading, drop down and check the depth of the buoy(usually about 20 feet), choose a direction based on current, turn around at half of our air and then head in from the marker. We were hyper-vigilant about depth, time, air but soon gained confidence because Bonaire is so easy.

Greetings Bob!

I have to chime in on the incredible dive masters in Bonaire. I was with a large group, 35, that got split into two groups. I was on the "small boat" and our dive masters dove with us on every dive. If we expressed a desire to see something special, they tried their hardest to find it. The only thing we didn't get to see from our wish list was a frog fish. They even taught some of our divers how to blow air rings underwater.

We hooked back up with the rest of our group for an awe inspiring night dive - LOTS of novices on that one, including myself. They gave excellent dive briefings, had two marker lights for our boat and stationed a dive master in the water near our boat with a light to direct us. They went way above and beyond for us.

No fears being a novice in Bonaire!

Bob

You're gonna love it....the Sand Dollar (Bonaire Dive and Adventure) has smaller boats and great DM's

Bob
I will echo the other comments here.
I was a novice on first trip last year, and part of a larger group. Never felt uncomfortable on
dive boats or shore dives. Even did first night dive at town pier. With normal caution , you will enjoy Bonaire

Carib Inn has small boats, incredible DMs and patience and knowledge of fish and the reefs.
They will have lots of tips for bouyancy and navigation.. We went there right after certifying and had a great expereince doing boat dives with them, until we felt comfortable diving on our own.

Carib Inn is known for it's personal attention.
I also took wonderful Fish Id courses from Linda who is a DM there.

Bob, Welcome to Bonaire Talk!

WannaDive Bonaire has a smaller boat, they are a great group of people to dive and spend time with. Then again I am biased as I have been diving with them for years. Their main dive operation is at Eden Beach Resort, which is a great place to stay and is the home of the web cams.

Jeanine Clark posted: "I was with a large group, 35, that got split into two groups. I was on the "small boat""


wow some one boat had at least18 divers - my rule is that I don't want to dive with more than 12 divers - the fewer the better as far as I am concerned.