Hey all,
I will be on Bonaire March 14-22 and as it is my first time there was wondering if I should buy a dive light for day/night dives. I suppose I could rent one from the Divi Flamingo where we will be staying. Does anyone know if their equipment is any good? Also if I should buy a light, which would be best for Bonaire's waters? Any and all advice would be much appreciated.
Best Regards,
JC

Personally I think a UK 40 is plenty, takes 4 AA batteries and widely available for about 20 US, at carib inn if nowhere else, buy two each so you both have a backup and go to, night diving rules!

Seb - you mentioned Carib Inn in your posting. Does this mean you have stayed there? We are scheduled to stay there - in the 3 bdr house - for a week in May. What do you think of the facility. I was reading something, somewhere the other day that said the house was not on the water and it was a bit shabby and run down? Any input?

JC
Seb is correct in suggesting that a "minimum" requirement for dive lights in Bonaire would be a pair of UK 40s. Definately, have a backup.

But, FWIW IMHO (I've always wanted to use those discussion group abbreviations) they would be a minimum and if you are not completely comfortable on night dives then more light is better. And if you dive one of the sights between Harbour Village and Captain Don's at night and illuminate a small reef fish in front of you, you may find a 5 footlong Tarpon suddenly appear right in front of your mask. It can be a quite impressive sight and also scare the **** out of you. So, though I can't tell you that the same thing wouldn't happen with a larger light, I would still like to present them as options.

I prefer the UK SL6 as a minimum. It holds 4 C cells and provides ample light to keep track of that Tarpon so as not to be surprised so often. It is also flat so that it does not buldge out your BC pocket if you are carrying it for day dives to look in the holes or under ledges. I also use it to strap to my Nikonos V Strobe as a framing light as well for general illumination. Two knife straps work great holding it on to the round strobe. I also have a UK 40 attached to my mask strap to be able to make camera adjustments and read my film counter.

I had been using the Princeton Tec Shockwave 2 (which is comparable to a UK C8)as a primary light for night dives. It requires 8 C cells and has a nice primary beam and secondary wider beam for a wider area of coverage.

But now let's talk about thge other end of the spectrum. I recently purchased a UK Cannon HID Light. It uses a metal Halide bulb which along with its 8 D cells provides an intense very white light(unlike the yellow you get from standard halogen bulbs). I used it Bonaire last August, it is very impressive.

So you have to weigh capabilities against cost and make a decision. Good Luck.

Lou

PS Don't forget to bring your used batteries home with you for disposal

AHHHHHHHHHH.
Whew, sorry Lou, I hadda vent a second. Okay, we are really not about landing any aircraft here. I have a UK 60 as well, and generally on a night dive I like to have three or four lights altogether, one UK60 and 2 or 3 40s. Also a yoke light, the screw replacement kind. But I also like to turn all of the lights off and take a look around. There is a lot of moonlight filtering down, and you can see some pretty amazing stuff come out that you can then scare the hell out of with your light. I saw (briefly)a copper lobster at Oil Slick Leap. Also if the time is right there are incredible light shows of flourescence when you sweep your light around in an arc and turn it out. I typically hold my fingers over the end of the light and use my fingers as a shutter/douser.

Thanks for all the responses. I feel better prepared already. I still will need to rent certain items from the divi flamingo dive shop. Does anyone know if their equipment is good? Should I rent from somewhere else? Thanks again.
JC

let me recommend some sort of retractable lanyard/clip for securing a larger dive light(or a smaller one) to yourself (small lights will fit in BC pockets)...the wrist strap provided on the dive light may not be all that convenient to use (i need both hands free when descending) so the clip will help with that...if the clip is retractable/extendable then you can use it and drop your flashlight without losing it...i have dropped lights before;)

and those UK light cannons do put out an awesome blue/white light - i shined it across the backyard into the neighbors window (300 yards) - hardly any spread in the beam - too cool ;)

All of the dive shops on Bonaire keep their gear in good shape. Just make sure your gear fits well before you go snorkeling on the other end of the island. There has been several discussions on BT about how to fit your gear and which kind of fins to use.

J.C.
We dive with Dive Bonaire at the Divi yearly. For our night dives, we rent flashlights and use our own as backups. The fee is about $7/24 hrs. Serge, the manager, purchased new dive gear last year for the shop. Look at Divi's website for more info and prices.
Sue

Thanks again for the responses. I do have one more question for you guys though: what kind of visibility should I expect when I go (March 14)? Does anyone i know what kind of visibility people are experiencing right now? Thanks again.
JC