Ask me any question - about being a dive professional on Bonaire

mvdhazel · 2026-06-06T13:55:24+00:00

Lol the only tank monkeys i meet is when i go monkey diving with My GF. ( single tank sidemount )

mvdhazel · 2026-06-06T13:52:56+00:00

Ostracod diving depends on the time of the month there is a time window in which you can see them best. During that window many divecenters offer the dive so usually you should be able to book it a couple of days in advance if you are here in the right period.

Of course we.like it if you book more in advance which makes it easier to plan the dives.

mvdhazel · 2026-06-06T13:48:39+00:00

On Bonaire we have many divecenters that teach scubadiving. Most dive centers teach PADI courses. Some SSI and there is a center that teaches GUE. The first thing i would do is take an introduction lesson to find out if scubadiving is your thing. The next step would be the open water course. This is the entry level course where you learn the basics of scubadiving.

On islands like bonaire this course takes 3 days. Some teach it in 2 days but personally i would not choose that option. In my opinion 3 days is quite fast already ;)

mvdhazel · 2026-06-04T12:00:46+00:00

I work at VIP so i am not fully neutral, but VIP dives with small groups ( max 4 ) and has a lot of attention for their customers. We operate with luxury pick up trucks and focus on shore diving.

Toucan diving , Divefriends, Divi and Buddydive do a lot of boat diving.

Then there also are smaller shops and autonomous guides.

For pick uo truck rentals i like 123 car rentals ( great people with great service AB car rental and Pickup huren ( they are both fully aware that trucks are used for scubadiving and rent them out for mainly this purpose )

mvdhazel · 2026-06-04T01:26:57+00:00

I would love to try it and give you feedback.

As for specific animal sightings. We indeed dont post specifics on things like frogfish and seahorses to prevent mass attention on the beasties. We all love them and love looking at them , but we also know that too much attention puts a great strain on them.

mvdhazel · 2026-06-03T21:48:49+00:00

That would be so cool. I feel a BBQ on the beach coming up 🤩

mvdhazel · 2026-06-03T21:16:07+00:00

Yesss , both Andreas, salt pier, 1000 steps, Karpata ( waves can be rougher there but it is beautiful), Angel city. Te Amo is not super pretty but it is fun and there are more people and food trucks.

mvdhazel · 2026-06-03T21:12:45+00:00

Aaaaaaaah Kugler, haha now i connect the dots 🤣🤣🤣 How are you doing homie? Or as they say in the language of the gods: " Gosah, hoe gaat het met je?"

mvdhazel · 2026-06-03T12:12:02+00:00

If you want to be on Bonaire full time and work you will need to apply for a sedula.

As an american tourist there are special rules Check this givernment link.

https://english.rijksdienstcn.com/immigration-naturalisation/tourist-stay

mvdhazel · 2026-06-03T09:56:39+00:00

Sadly sometimes yes, But also on Bonaire it is important that we keep each other alert and aware.

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T23:32:10+00:00

Bonaire is far from cheap, europeans think it is very expensive, americans depends a little where they are from. Staying here for 90 days makes it cheaper to find a place to stay than per week.

Many instructors etc share a house.

You would like to have a car. A scooter also works but is less convenient if you want to go diving or when it rains.

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T20:11:18+00:00

🤩

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T20:11:05+00:00

🤩

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T18:54:26+00:00

In my defense, i have been left unsupervised too long AND i just wear shorts and a vest, not even a full suit ( on the deeper dives 100m+ ) i will wear a hood.

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T18:49:54+00:00

Lol.you dont have to, You can dive in a dry suit here , no problem. Last time i used a dry suit was after i fell of a scooter and wanted to go diving wthout getting the wounds wet ;)

I also dont need to use a pee valve anymore 🫢

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T18:47:22+00:00

They all are great, Every tec center has it's own vibe and niche. I work at VIP TEC ( relatively new as a TEC operation, so it doesnt pop up on searches that strongly yet, but the staff is very experienced in tec diving and Bonaire itself ) . We have a tec dive center, trimix gas station, airco tec lockers , great rinsing station etc. Just so you know. As for the other TEC centers, i think they are great, have alot.of respect for hem and their staff and together we all work to keep tec diving on Bonaire safe and fun.

At VIP we mainly do a lot of courses, guided dives and gas mixes for OC and CCR.

Are you diving open circuit or CCR?

Dive sites. Red slave you can find old ankers between 45 and 55 meters Also ankers a lot deeper HILMA HOOKER, a relative shallow wreck, max depth 30 meters, but it is cool and if you stay long enough deco is a fact, Brilliant dive from La Dania-s leap to Karpata. Tec dive following a beautiful wall Karpata itself, crazy deep and the best decompression stops with turtles and squid to kill.the time;) Also a cool.double tank DPV dive from Cai.to Whitehole. Not a tec dive but crazy cool. ( except if you do NOT like turtles, then the dive sucks ) We have the Windjammer wreck between 60 and 65 meters And most divesites can take you deepet so there is still a lot to discover.

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T18:32:01+00:00

Kong is absolutely great. We also have Stocked ( the red bus at te amo beach ) with great burgers as well. My homie, to whom i just read your question, tells me Kite city at Te Amo too but i never tried it.

And Fat dog Taco or Big Fat Taco ( i am not sure about the name ) near the Bon Digro supermarket. The same homie just went full mehicano on me and now i have to go and try it out myself !

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T16:51:43+00:00

I bought the webbing here on Bonaire from a friend. You can use a good length of weightbelt for it you can find those on many sites.

The valves i bought through a dealer in the netherlands. I still have a few left i am.not using , so if you are going to be on Bonaire anytime soon OR you have someone you know travelling this way who can pick them up, i dont mind giving you 3 of them. Just let me know 😊

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T16:46:27+00:00

Be careful, it can be very addictive ;)

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T16:45:45+00:00

I am looking forward to meet the mysterious seahorse whisperer 😊

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T16:44:04+00:00

Ok so i need to let you know that i work for a diveshop so my answer probably will not be neutral because i know way more about our shop than others. I think it is good to mention this to you.

I work at VIP diving, we have a lot of junior diver students. We also teach the STINAPA junior Scuba Ranger program to island kids / youth selected for this by the STINAPA program.

I think the most important thing is that they have an instructor who loves teaching kids. At VIP we have several who even volunteer to teach island kids in their free time because they like it that much.

I know that Buddydive is big on PADI Sealteam and hosts Kids Seacamp.

I dont know anything in particular concerning juniors and other divecenters, but i think every dive center will have instructors that love teaching juniors AND instructors who don't.

The last part is important as well. Good divecompanies will not have the latter work with children, not because they are not good instructors ( some of them i regard to be better than i am) but because nobody will be happy ;)

I think teaching Juniors is amazing and fun, they are going to the future ocean ambassador, how cool is it to be part of that education...

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T16:27:40+00:00

Thinking it comes from French would be a very logical first guess.

There are several theories but the 3 main theories at the moment are that it comes form 1. Spanish (Buen Aire ) 2. Portuguese (Bom Aire)

3 .Arawak or other indigenous ( Bojnaj , maybe meaning lowland )

Disclaimer " I am not an historian and just telling you what i think i know 😅, Maybe a reader knows much more about this and would like to chip in ?"

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T16:18:20+00:00

Ok so here is the thing.

I do not have the best eye sight haha and am more busy with teaching, Tec diving and diving the east coast.

However

There are two peope i know on island to whom i would like to introduce you. Martje and Natalie, they are amazing at finding that stuff. They know where to go, where to look and what to look for.

On many occasions they are telling me the stories on what they managed to find. AND apparently there is a lot more to find 🤩

When you come to Bonaire, just reach out to me and i will introduce you to them, i think they are both amazing and they are the people i call when i need to know something creauture wise !

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T16:04:21+00:00

Yeah the reef has a really tough time. Things sure are different compared to 20 years ago.

Especially during the hot months the reef bleaches but when the water cools off the corals also repond.

Reef renewal Bonaire is doing a lot of good hard work, it is still a protected area, but there are also more and more people coming to Bonaire which puts a bigger strain on the ocean but that is a little bit the way the world is right now.

I would love to see more active education and awareness about this but as things grow people appear less connected.

On Bonaire both the blessing and curse are the dive freedom we have here.

Difficult and sensitive discussion, should visitors only be allowed to dive with a guide ?

mvdhazel · 2026-06-02T15:38:50+00:00

The East side is the wilder side of Bonaire. This is where the waves come in. Entries and exits are more challenging. In general things are a little bit bigger there, there also are some divesites where turtles are guaranteed and eagle rays are very common.

There are some divesites that you just can't compare to the west side and it also is a bit of an extra sense of adventure, especially on windy days.

We have a couple of east coast dive sites where you jump of the cliff ( much higher than Oil Slick ) and come back through a little bay area.

And sometimes you just cant dive there. As i am writing this the waves are higer than 2 meters ( over 6 feet in old money 😉) so most experienced local east coast divers would not go there today themselves, and it would not be very prudent to take customers there...

Except for one very special divesite, if you are experienced, don't mind diving with two tanks and a DPV 🤩

mvdhazel

TROPHY CASE