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Pittsburg, Kansas | In years past I have done boat diving here on Bonaire. I have one friend that is not very comfortable with shore entries and when she comes down (hasn't been here in a few years) we will do some boat dives with her.
If a person wants to dive Klein Bonaire (small Bonaire) it has to be by boat. Excellent diving there but not any better than the shore diving on the main island.
Bonaire is very unique to Caribbean diving in that about 3/4 of the dives can be done either off a boat or from the shore. That is very unusual. Most diving destinations is mostly or all diving from boats because the reef is far enough out it can't be reached or as in the case of Roatan there is just not any access to diving areas from the shore.
We do lots of boat diving in other diving destinations. When we go to Roatan or Utila it is all boat diving. But down here we mostly just throw the gear in the back of our pickup, drive to the dive destination, and get in on our own schedule. Boat diving you have to be on the boats schedule and you have to get in and out according to the group of divers and the boats need to stay on schedule. On Bonaire we can do our own thing on our own time schedule.
That may change though. The older and less able I get, boat diving can be a lot easier. Depending on the dive operation you can get it where you almost never have to touch the gear from setup to rinsing after use. In Fiji we never touched our gear except to slip it on and off. The divemasters took care of everything. There is kind of everything in between, depending on the location and resort. The place we are staying at (and have for many years) in Bonaire is a "take care of yourself" kind of place. We take the tanks to get filled and handle all the gear ourselves (we even own our own tanks and a pickup truck down here). As we both get older, the more service oriented destinations and operations may become more desirable for us. And I'm ok with that when the need arises if it keeps me diving. | |
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Not every day is a good day for scubadiving
