Hi, My family is newly certified for diving. We will be traveling to Bonaire in July for ten days. We want to bring our own BC's and octopus. I am looking for advice on regulator and BC's. We have talked to a number of dive shops and gotten their opinion. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are going to be recreational diving only, mainly in warmer waters, fresh and salt. Thanks for any advice, Mary Lou

Mary Lou, have you checked Rodale´s Scuba Diving magazine? It is very informative and has several gaer review articles. Their on-line version is at "www.scubadiving.com". For any queries, check also their Newsgroup/Forum.

Thanks Antonio, I have the three issues that had regulator comparisons and am using that information. I will check out their Newsgroup/Forum. I was also hoping for general public advice as well. Thanks for responding, Mary Lou

Mary Lou, you might want to narrow down the top recreational regs and pick one that a local established dive shop can service at any time. It's important to have a shop that can service and overhaul(yearly at least) the regs when needed. I've been very happy with my Oceanic Alpas and Deltas, but there are many other brands to choose from. Remember it's your most important piece of equipment you will purchase. Good luck and safe diving!

One other thing to think about........if most of your diving will be in resort areas (as opposed to your local area), be sure to buy a brand which is popular enough for resort areas to have parts and tools (some brands need specific tools). We see many regulators for service for which we may not be able to assist because of lack of parts or tools.

My two cents......Susan

Thanks Ron and Susan, I have been talking to my local dive shop, and will probably get the regulators through them. I have read and heard good things about the Oceanic but unfortunately my closest dealer is a state away. I am trying to stay with common ones for your reason, Susan, I would hate to get somewhere and be landlocked!! Thank you both very much for the advice, Mary Lou

Mary Lou,

I've been through this myself as has probably everyone at one time or another. After reading the reviews in Rodales (Scubadiving magazine) and asking on their forum on the Net I decided on the Seaquest Spectrum XR2 . It was one of their best buys and rated very well. It's not the best regulator on the market but I don't drive a Porsche either, yet! :-). It was rated near the top 10 if I recall and if you think about it with all the regulators on the market that means it is an excellent piece of equipment. Anyway after a year and a half I still think it's a great regulator and would buy it again, look for a price in the mid 300's or thereabouts.

Now as far as a BC goes, we wound up with Mares. This time it was not because of a review because I couldn't find many reviews on Mares BC's at the time but because they fit great, were built great and look cool! :-) We wanted integrated weights and found a model each of us liked with them. Louise wanted a standard BC I wanted a Back Inflation.

SeaQuest also makes some top rated BC's , the new Pro QD looks dynamite! It's had some great reviews by new users over the last few months on the board as well.

Bottom line with the BC is whatever FITS! Try it on, jump in the pool with it if you can and go with a name brand.

Most of all have fun shopping!!!

George
(DiverX)

Hi George, thanks for the advice! I will check out the Seaquest, sounds good, I don't drive a Porsche yet either, so the price range sounds good. I will check out the BC's too. Thank you for taking the time to respond I need all the help I can get. I think most of the divers my local shop deals with are urchin divers not recreational divers so the stuff there is not really for women, and is pretty much working gear. The shop will order stuff in but it helps to know what to ask for!!:-) Again thanks for the input, a shopping I will go! Mary Lou

Who wants a Porsche? It is too small! Plus, you can't drive in Washington-Slagbaai Park in it! :-)

Rental equipment on Bonaire is of good quality and generally plentiful. I figure renting is far less expensive if you only use it two times a year.

Does anybody know if any of the Bonaire dive shops stock the new type of split fins? They were introduced last year by Apolo (Apolo Bio-fins) and Scubapro and others followed this year.

Hi my family is looking at taking a weeks diving in Bonaire. Whats the diving like and what depths are there.

The diving is great, especially for novice divers, but certainly for experienced divers , too. Very protected, with virtually no current...can be dived from shore or boat. Reefs generally start at the 15-20 range, and drop off from there on a slope. Some locations offer a double reef, with a sand bottom at about 100 feet before the second reef rises parallel to the first...very interesting. Pristine, or as close to that as can be found at a popular island, good visibility year-round, wonderful people and dive staffs at virtually all the resorts. (Can you tell we love Bonaire?)
You will find much more diversity of corals than many other places, both hard and soft corals, gorgonians, etc., and a tremendous variety of marine life of all sorts, but do not expect to see large pelagic species. Turtles, sting rays and eagle rays, large tarpon, and decent sized groupers are much more common. Certain uncommon species, such as seahorses and long-lure frogfish, are also found often. Incredible night diving!
World's best family diving location, IMHO.