Hello

We are planning a dive trip to Bonaire in November.I got my own equipment but my partner would have to buy a BCD and regulator+octupus.Is it worth buying it on the Island or are the prices over inflated there? We live in Europe Portugal.Thx for any advice or help!

cheers

Richard

I asked the same question a few months ago. Check out the link for the replies and my findings.

Neil

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/30/228765.html?1120042747

wow thx for the quick info!!!

Richard,

Wow, coming from Portugal! I vacationed there summer 2004. Stayed near Paderne a few clicks north of Albufeira. Did some diving with Atlantic Diving / Albufeira and Blue Ocean Divers / Lagos. A bit too cold for my taste. Bonaire’s waters are MUCH warmer.

One thing that you should be aware of is DIN versus Yoke style regs. DIN is the style in Europe, yoke is the predominant style on Bonaire. If you have DIN, then you may want to contact whomever you are diving with to find out if they have any DIN style recreational tanks. I’ve only seen a few on Bonaire. Perhaps other BTers can give you more info on this.

I also recommend that you contact Bruce Bowker at Carib Inn before you go to find out what equipment he has.

Have a great vacation!

Richard,

Does your partner expect to be a longer term diver or simply diving this trip....if diving occasionally, your partner may prefer to rent equipment once he/she gets to bonaire. As others have said, Bruce Bowker generally has very competive prices if you partner prefers to purchase

Just a note - I inquired about renting a shorty for my husband on this trip from Bruce since he's never snorkeled and may hate it.. and Bruce only rents to folks who are staying with him. I'm sure he sells to others, but renting is a no-go. Just FYI.

Kelly, do they make a shorty that would fit Kitten?

(Message edited by cyndelee on September 22, 2005)

You kill me.

Apparently at WannaDive they can help us out.. I told them how tall he is.

Most dive shops sell and rent equipment and have a wide selection...Bruce's operation is fairly small so I would not expect him to have a high variety of rental gear. I would go to Bruce if I were purchasing.

The only problem in that is a lot of shop do not carry larger size suits in rental as i.e. cost to use of suits

Be careful, a shorty is not sufficient protection from the Bonaire sun. Bring or buy a dive skin that covers arms and legs as the sun is very intense in that part of the world. Don't forget a high SPF sunblocker as well.. Ron

Thank you all for the suggestions

I already got a email from bruce with some good prices...my partner is already diving for sometime and i wanted to buy some gear for her for a while now. We dont dive too much here in Portugal as the waters are way too cold and there isnt that much to see but we travel at least once a year to some warmer waters.I myself am a divemaster and have worked in Thailand last year..unfortunately the Tsunami cut our stay a bit shortSo this year we decided to indulge ourselves and make a no work trip!

From what i have seen Bonaire seems to be really nice and i'm sure we are going to love it!

Thanks again for the excellent feedback all of you gave us

cheers and see you all in November!

Richard, you will love Bonaire! Were you there when the Tsunami hit?

yeah we were there....i was standing on the beach seeing this beautiful perfect 3 m wave come in..we just had loaded our boat to go out diving.The water did no receed at all before so i wasnt too worried but immediately knew it was a earthquake related event as the sea there is dead calm.The island was located further south than the indonesian tip and we had an island in front of ours that took the whole energy from the main wave.So we just had some boats tossed on the beach and the water never even reached the resort.My instructor friend was in the water right off the beach giving a scuba introduction to a girl.They were both whitewashed and thrown around but not injured at all.What amazed me is that we didnt feel the earthquake at all and we were really near to the epicenter.Further away on the mainland building shook a lot so i'm still puzzled why we didnt even feel the slightest tremor.If you want to check out the location the island is called Koh Mook.Here's a link of the resort were we worked http://www.kohmook.com/location.htm

cheers

Wow Richard...thank you for sharing. Thank goodness you were in an area that was not heavily destroyed...I cannot even imagine what that must have been like, being in that area during that time.

A agree about Bruce Bowker, he is great and honest. I was having mask problems, and we went to Bruce, he took it into his back room & checked it out. His conclusion was that the mask was fine it was probably me. He has helped us a few other times and has been great. That is where we go to buy anything. He knows what he is talking about!

We bought Eva new fins from Bruce and a new mask from the downtown WannaDive store.

Prices were as good or better then US and we had expert folks being very helpful.

And I was drinking beer, barefoot in the store...can't do that in the US.

I intend to buy my stuff on island from now on....less stuff to haul down.

I bought a pair of Mare's fins from Bruce my last trip! I love them! I think they were $75, but they have these clips that you just clip down when putting them on. Never have to adjust after first adjustment and I just flip them up after my dive/snorkel and I don't have to worry about losing any part of my fin coming in from the water! Best fins I ever had. Great place, I agree!

Agree about Brice's knowledge, service and prices.
Have puchased my regulators and my husband's wet suit and my nephew just got his BC from him this trip. Prices more than competitive and overall knowledge of what you need and don't is great. I spent a while getting a new mask and no one rushed me.