Hi, We're spending a month on Bonaire this summer (first time visit) and Grandson is spending a week of that with us. He's 10 years old and wants to do the Junior OW course. Does anyone have any recommendations? There is also a 3 year old who's going to want some kind of activity.

Hi Ronald. My daughter is junior OW. The depth limit is 40ft...just FYI.
The 3 yr old???? really?

Bette has some real interesting info about compressed air and young lungs...maybe google it? Or if Bette is lurking? Your advice Bette was eye opening!

My son was certified at 10 & my daughter just a few weeks after her 11th birthday. As with adults, it all depends on the kid (person). My kids have grown up in & around the water and had snorkeled on Bonaire for 5 & 1 years, respectively, before they were certified on the island. Both were competative swimmers when they were certified, have a healthy respect of the water and love the ocean.

When my son was certified at BelMar in Feb08 there was a 12-13 yo boy doing referral dives. The instructor pulled the parents aside after the first dive in the pool and told them he would not be certified, as he didn't listen and clearly did not have the skills.

If your grandson has experience snorkeling and is comfortable in the water, and can listen, then he might be ready. There has been much debate on this board, but I am a strong proponent of doing the classroom, pool & open water work at the same time. You will have consistency of instruction and more hands on time. If you stay at a small place like BelMar, you may end up having the instructor all to yourself. It really only takes an additional day vs just doing referral dives on the island and is much cheaper than doing the course work in the US & then referral dives on the island.

To prep our kids for the class, we bought the PADI video & textbook ahead of time & had them watch & read it before they arrived. While they still needed to watch more videos on the island, my husband & I were able to review some info (especially dive tables & some of the theory) with them before the trip.

Hi Krispi, Did your daughter do her junior OW on Bonaire?

Hi Ronald,

My son did his junior openwater last year at wanadive. He just turned 11 then.
He had no preparation at home and had to do classroom, pool and open water during 4/5 days in Bonaire.
I had to help him studying in the evening, which was a nice refresher for me.
Theory was more difficult than he anticipated; pool and open water was easy for him.
After that, we could dive together and he made his first nightdive under the supervision of a divemaster.

I think my son was 12 when he certified. That was PADI's limit at the time. He did advanced open water in Bonaire with Laurel at Divi. She was very good with him.

It's all about attitude and focus. I've taught 10-year olds that were little fish, but couldn't lift the tank by themselves. I've taught 60-year olds who shouldn't have been near the water.

The biggest problem with 10-year olds is often Mom and Dad.

Ronald,

We just returned from Bonaire on Easter Sunday. The week before my wife and three teens 13, 15, 17 took the open water course with Wannadive at Eden Beach. Their instructor, Onno, was very patient and taught an excellent class, all passed without difficulty and he was very patient. The 13 yo, Jared got chilled after a long pool session and couldn't do an open water dive with the rest of the class so he sat out and after lunch Onno took him out by himself and they worked on his skills. They then came in and the whole class ((5 people total jared )Jared is second from right.), went back out for another dive. He got the second highest grade on his written test too

So I posted before I was finished. duh anywho, Bonaire is a good place for a kid to learn how to dive and I think a good instructor with patience will work well with your grandson. Understand though there are depth restrictions on kids and he needs to dive with a responsible adult.

Just to add, my daughter did her OW with Toucan @ Plaza in 2004. It was basically a private class - I think she had one person doing a check out dive on one of her 4 open water dives.

My son also gets chilled very easily & Chrissie at BelMar took that into account when she planned his certification dives. (We knew this would be an issue and bought him a small hood before we arrived. I have also found a way to distract him from the cold is to give him my UW camera when he turns the dive).

Since Bonaire is on 'island time' it is a great place to do the full course without stress. I look back to my OW certification on boat dives with 4' swells in the Keys and am jealous.

Ronald, no she did her cert in the states.
She has a lot of work to do on bouyancy, but then, so do a lot of divers!
I am looking forward to bringing her with me to BON in October. She will love it! So will your Grandson! have fun! It will be a great memory for you...

Thanks for all the help. My daughter-in-law talked to the Toucan people and they were very helpful. They're going to let the grandson do the Discovery Dive course and if he's ready then count that as day one of the OW course, if not then maybe wait until he's more comfortable. Right now he has locked in on 20' as being his fear factor for some reason.

I am in the same boat as many of the rest of you. I plan to be at Belmar in June and will be diving with 2 new divers - my son who is 11 (has finished his open water dives over spring break in Florida) and my wife who'll do her referral dives in Bonaire. My question is what sites are particularly good for Jr. Open water divers with the depth limits and so on. What I am looking for are relatively easy entry, not too far of a swim to the reef and decent shallow reef (40 feet or so). I do have Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy and plan to look for "Easy" dives. But I am interested in others input on where to actually dive with the young new divers.

Hi Ben, we will also be at Belmar in June (arriving June 21). This will be our 5th trip to Bonaire and we normally spend two weeks. This will be our third visit to Belmar. Our son is 12 and this will be his third summer diving with us. We have another son who is 9 who won't be diving. Anyway, if you are there when we are we would be happy to talk about great dive sites for your family.

I found the BelMar reef was great for new divers. The depth is what you make it, as the reef slopes gradually there and there is plenty to see at 20-30'. The other sites the kids liked were: Windsock, North Belnam, Bari, Oil Slick and Ol Blue.

We tried to avoid tougher entries (especially in the south), as younger kids don't have the strength, also some of the sites can deeper than the 40' a JOW is restricted to.

Ron - I can relate to your grandson. When I was first certified, I swore I wouldn't go below 25-30', as that was my comfort zone. After I got confident with my equipment, etc, I lost that fear and now like to be 40-60' to avoid surge & surface turbulance.

Hi Janet,

We arrive on the 13th and leave on the 21st. We might cross paths on the tarmac. We are flying in from Houston then out to Newark (all via BWI); this gives us an extra day in Bonaire. It will be our second trip to Bonaire. Last time I had my daughter who was 12 and we were able to get in about 17 dives. I would have probably done another 10 if she'd had the stamina. She is a very good little diver with about 48 dives under her belt. This time I will have a lot more options. My wife and son will be newly certified and both will be itching to dive. Also my brother who is quite advanced (we've both been diving caverns and advanced open water since the early 80s) will be joining us. I may just get enough diving in for the week with 7 of us diving.

Sue, thanks for the feedback and specific dives. I will keep these in mind. I am sure we'll do a few at Belmar (hopefully a couple of night dives too).