Hi all, my husband and I will be in Bonaire July 12-18. He's an advanced diver who is totally comfortable in the water. I'm a novice diver. We're excited about the shore dives, but I'm not crazy about the idea of just having the two of us in the water without a DM or any other people around (I've only done boat dives with a group except for one shallow shore dive in Cozumel just to practice my skills). Not sure if this is the right category to post this, but I wanted to check and see if any people are going to be in Bonaire during the same time and might be interested in doing a few shore dives with us.

If you're interested, please reply here or email me at: pam933@gmail.com

Hi Pam! Welcome to BT. I unfortunately won't be on Bon during that period but want to suggest that you pick a copy of Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy by Susan Porter. You and your husband should be good to go on any of the sites she describes as beginner. I think you should try Windsock as there is a real nice easy beach entrance just a little south of the buoy. Have a blast!

Pam -

My wife and I had about 80 dives logged, but limited shore diving experience when we went to Bonaire last month. We bought Susan Porter's book that Tribs recommended and it was very helpful; I think Tribs' advice is perfect. We did dives on our own at a number of sites, including Margate Bay, Invisibles and Something Special that were very easy. BSDME gave good tips for each location. Diving from the dock at Capt. Don's couldn't be easier - giant stride entry and stairs for an exit, with the rope "highway" to ensure that you'll always find your exit route along the reef.

We also decided to go with a guide for several dives and found that extremely enjoyable. We selected Bas Noij - you'll find multiple references for him on Bonairetalk - and he did our checkout dive with us and took us several places that we wouldn't have attempted on our own. He also took us to Something Special and showed us a frogfish and a seahorse. We went back to Something Special on our own, but didn't find either critter. So even for experienced divers, a good local guide can add value to the trip.

We've been back only a couple of weeks and we're already planning a return trip; I'm sure you'll have a great time.

As a "P.S." - if you happen to go to Bobbejan's BBQ, take bug spray! We were hardly bitten during our first 7 days on Bonaire, but when we went to Bobbejan's on our last night, we almost got sucked dry before we found some bug spray. The mosquitoes were relentless!

Where are you staying, Pam? I won't be there, but wanted to say that many resorts have ladders right off the dock that make diving about as hard as getting into a pool. If yours does, that's gonna make for some easy dives to get you comfortable. And many of those dives have a rope or some other marker to indicate where to turn to get back home.

Once your get more comfortable in a small group, you'll love the freedom it brings you...

Thanks for the responses! I have been lurking on Bonairetalk for a while and we are definitely planning on getting Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy and looking up the places to dive.

I'm not so worried about getting in and out of the water on the shore dives- I'm more concerned about if something happens (like equipment failure) while we're diving. If something happened to me my husband would know exactly what to do. But if something happened to him or his equipment I might not be able to help him correctly (just from lack of experience). And if he got really hurt there's no way that I could get him back to the truck from the shore because he weighs almost 100 pounds more than me (although I know that's not likely to be necessary).

Probably the worst thing would be if something happened to his equipment and then he could use my air to get back to shore, or if he got hurt he would be in good enough shape to get back to shore okay, but I read stuff about accidents that happen. I'm trying not to worry to much but also make sure that he'd be safe.

Maybe the best idea is to start off diving near the resorts (we're staying at Divi Flamingo) where I'm assuming there will be at least some people around. And then if I still don't feel comfortable we could get a dive guide. I think that once we done a couple dives I'll feel more comfortable.

Thanks for the tip about the bug spray! And I'm definitely looking forward to the freedom of shore diving.

Divi is a place that has a ladder that takes you to a nice shallow sandy bottom to start with. It is a great place to do a few dives and get comfortable....I could burn a tank just watching the bait balls swirl around there. I often see octopus hunting, and there was a very sedate resident turtle last time I was there. You can do several dives without getting so far out that you couldn't summon help....you can follow the reef along the shoreline past Divi and Carib Inn without going heading out to sea.


Sometimes the entries and exits are the part you would indeed worry about....the coral and rubble can make them a little stumbly, so I think you'll see that the ladder is indeed a plus to get you started.

And, yes, I always ran into enthused divers who wanted to take me along to see the sea horse, so I bet you'll make diver buddies....

go to almost any dive site on the south end in the morning and there will be plenty of divers going in. We almost always don't go in the morning to avoid this rush. You can dive any profile you want from shallow to max depth to suit your comfort zone.

Pam, welcome. I understand your concern. My husband and I were at 1000 steps a few years ago, just snorkeling. But I looked up and could not see anyone in any direction or the road or a boat. It was rather spooky. I didn't like the feeling that if anything happened, no one could see us.
That sounds silly. We go to Bonaire to have uncrowded experiences. Too used to civilization I guess.

After only a couple of weeks back in the US - and I'm filled with travel envy that you're on your way to Bonaire!

On our dives at the south end, we saw other people on the shore at every site, and we frequently saw other divers while were were swimming in or out to the mooring. So I think on that part of the island, you'll feel comfortable that you're not too alone. But it was interesting, that only only one dive did we actually have other divers really close to us.

When we went farther north, like to La Dania's Leap and Taylor Maid, we saw nobody else. Of course the road became unpaved by the oil port and it meandered through the kunuku, and it would have been impassible without a truck... so it's probably always going to be less traveled.

We dove from Divi's dock and it was very easy and a pleasant dive - but please make sure you venture away from the resort. We're hoping to trade a timeshare week into Divi, so we wanted to check out the reef. We were advised that Omar's waves particularly damaged the area around Divi and that it got silted up worse than other areas. Like I said, it was a good dive, but not great. We found the dives north of town (including Something Special, Capt. Don's and Cliff), as well as those in the south, to have better coral and sealife.

Have a great trip - you're gonna have fun!

Yeah, I'm sad to say that I think that reef has had happier days, but there's still plenty to see while you, uh, get your feet wet....