How many of Bonaire's dive sites are available 24 hours a day. Can I dive the reef at any hotel at any time? I guess my question is no matter where I stay, can I dive every site on the island at any tme? How many of the 80 or so sites are open now? Do some dive operations only fill tanks during specific hours?

The dive shop we used, Bon Bini, was open until 5 pm. However, you signed up for night dives and could pick up tanks in their locker room. There's LOTS of freedom in shore diving in Bonaire!

As Mary said all the dive shops close at nite, but you can pick up tank/s for night diving. You can dive any where (except private property) any time, such is the level of "Diver's Freedom".

There are several sites that because of current, beach entry and wave conditions require advanced skills.

A word of caution, the island tends to disappear in the darkness when returning from a night dive. Unless you are VERY familiar with the dive sight I suggest only diving those sites with sufficient night lighting (such as the resorts). And, it is not uncommon for the island generator to suddenly quit leaving the island in total darkness.

Or you can do what we do and have someone stay ashore with the car and turn the headlights on for a reference point.

Make VERY sure the divers can see the car lights from the water. A very unfortunate accident occured on Bonaire several years ago when new night divers car lights were apparently obscured by the contour of the beach and the divers were lost.

If you are night diving other than a resort, as someone said, don't count on lights - EXCEPT if you can see the WEB plant from where you are. Even when power goes off island-wide, WEB has backup generators that kick in automatically. It's still no sure thing, though.

One thing to always remember - come in underwater when the dive is over....that way you follow the contour of the bottom - shallow, shallower, dry land...

In Kelly's reference to the unfortunate accident several years ago. I was involved with the search (no rescue here) and it's the worst feeling you could ever have. The two divers were lost and never found. It effected the whole dive industry on Bonaire.

Dive smart and make redundancy part of your getting back to shore alive and safe.

gee a lot of doom and gloom here.. couple of thoughts... A lot depends on the phase of the moon and weather when you dive.. full moon you almost don't need a dive light.. Remember to give your eyes a chance to adapt.. while its is good to get a feel of the contour of the bottom, it is also important to spot your landing spot...It's not bad to have one buddy keep their eyes closed on surface well the other use dive light to spot the best place to land.. that way you have the best of both worlds
Important thing when beach diving is night dive a spot you dove in day time..
As far as yoru questions on regards to night diving in resorts.. It is courtesy to check out diving a resorts house reef with the resorts dive shop BEFORE you dive it.. most cases there is no real problem..
bottom line... its some of the most spectacular diving you can do and it's just as safe as any other diving with a litte common sense and little preparation..with freedom comes personal responsibility

About 60 plus sites are located off of Bonaire. (The other 25 plus are off Klein Bonaire)

We dive at night with a strobe light attached to a weight. We leave it in the shallows out of the surge to help locate the exit easier.

great idea Linda...

"You can dive any where (except private property) any time, such is the level of "Diver's Freedom"."

Can I dive the water off the private property If I enter from a legal access point. Isnt this how people dive small wall?

The water itself (and the reef under it) is not owned privately (it's under Marine Park control), so it can be dived anytime, technically.

However, traipsing on public greenways at 2am in the morning in a residential neighborhood (such as where Small Wall is off of) will likely cause lots of commotion as the activity will freak out all the neighborhood dogs and alarm the residents. Not recommended. If you need to dive at odd (dark) hours, either dive from your oceanfront accommodations/resort or pick a dive site which can be accessed without disturbing the rest of people who live here - that leaves you about 50 dive sites to choose from.

Jake

Got it. Im amped!

One other note, just about all the resorts will allow divers from other resorts to utilize their docks for entry, however, it is common courtesy to check with the dive operation prior to using the dock, rinse tanks, luggage carts etc.. As an operator, I can tell you that it gets pretty frustrating when the divers from my own resort can't get to the water because a group of 20 divers from another resort decided to take over our dock without even asking. Had they asked we could have advised them of a time when it would not have been interfering with our own guests who are paying for the privilege of diving from our piers. Sorry, just thought I would add my 2 cents worth. Have fun, your're gonna love Bonaire.