I went to Bonaire for 2 weeks and decided to take a boat dive to Klein Bonaire to see what it was like off the small island. The dive instructions were "We're going to get into the water and head that way, up current, till we reach half pressure. Then we will turn around and return to the boat. Nothing about buddying up, what to do in an emergency situation, what depth to maintain - just, we swim out and swim back (not real happy with the dive operation).

OK - on the way a diver behind me saw something he wanted to photograph and swam right up my back kicking me in the back and head. I was bumped into at least 5 times by people who had no idea where they were, nor where I was. I actually got shoved twice. Some of these bozos were yoyoing from 50+ feet up to 20 and back down at ascent rates that were seriously scary.

I ran into the only other unpaired diver some days later and he asked me about my pony and commented on the complete ignorance and lack of necessary skill in the divers on the boat.

Let's see, 7 other divers, only one of which who had any place in the water, getting beat to crap by ignorant divers, people doing seriously dangerous things with no idea of what to do if something went wrong. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture?

A buddy at home suggested that if they Effed up the first thing I should do is see if any of there gear was an upgrade, and go get it after they drowned. Funny but NOT. Anyway, I skipped the second dive from the boat. I went to Bonaire to escape aggravation, not to embrace it.

So, I did 1 boat dive, I aborted 1 dive minutes in because I forgot my compass, and did 18 solo dives. I love diving solo - I absolutely hate diving with people who are clueless.

u should have said something to the manager when getting off boat. that is a serious problem.

I gave up the Bonaire boat diving several years back and went strictly shore diving. I enjoy it much more. The group thing certainly detracts from the dive.

Bonaire is such a great place for shore diving there really is little reason for experienced divers to put up with the follow the leader style of diving.

You are preaching to the choir .
I have been to Bon 4 times for a total of 81 dives .
Two boat dives with Larrys Wildside , 79 shore dives with buddy of choice or solo.
Boat diving on Bon is like taking a ham sandwich to a buffet .

Well Bert that is one of the reasons many of us eschew boat diving on Bonaire. But embrace what Bonaire has; you can basically dive by yourself if you so chose anywhere & anytime. That to me makes it all worthwhile.

And as far as neophyte divers, well that does go with the territory. We all started at one time (for me it was a long time ago in a place far far away from Bonaire). Personally, at times I prefer to stay on shore and simply watch the show. It can be mildly amusing from a different vantage point, and you can always lend a helping hand to assist a diver from the shore instead of being "in the thick of it".

While I agree with Burt and generally try to stay as far away from large groups of divers as posssible when I am on Bonaire, Vince's comments are spot on. We were all new divers with crappy air consumption and even worse buoyancy control at one time. For me it was 1972. New divers gotta become experienced divers somewhere :->

Even though I much prefer to be away from the crowd when diving for myself, as an active instructor, I do enjoy watching my students learn the sport and their sense of accomplishment when they complete their certification. Even after 500+ dives with students in our local quarry, I still enjoy going there. It's like seeing diving all over again through their eyes.

I'm with KOB. If a group of divers heads right, I go left, and I prefer shore diving at my own speed and schedule to answering to someone with a clipboard(Problem with authority? Me? Really????).

But as an instructor, I know everybody is somewhere different on the learning curve: I remember when I was thrilled but flailing, and try for patience. Yes, there are idiots out there, but I'd rather think that most people are trying to improve, and I hope they just flail a bit less each time until they get it right.

For no reason, I'm reminded of George Carlin, who said that in his father's vocabulary, there were only two kinds of drivers: idiots and maniacs....

Ahem..And I'd venture to guess the idiots are the ones in front of you & going too slow. The maniacs are the speed demons who are passing you by.

Whatever speed you happen to be driving at of course is the correct one any normal driver would drive at.

Vince....EGGGZACTLY........

My idea of the perfect boat dive has me in the water last.
I then watch the group fade away.
I take my time, seeing all the critters the mob frightened peek out again.
I dive most times with a camera.
I don't want to fight for a shot, so I avoid mobs.
Especially mobs with cameras.
As the group comes back from the herd dive I am ready to join up again.
It's amazing how little air you use just hovering in one spot.

I've been giant stride-d on, have been crashed on (my back) by uncontrolled descent diver, been crashed from underneath by uncontrolled ascent diver, had weight pockets whiz past my head from above, knocked off the ladder by freaked diver scrambling to get on the boat, been kicked about the head, and once my fin was pulled off by a panicked diver. Why? Because I love boat diving, (live-aboards) and off Klein!

I only hope that in the early days of my 19 diving years, I haven't done that to anyone. Perhaps (probably) I have kicked someone early on, but I know not the other things for sure!

You meet some people you never want to see again, but, you also meet some amazing people, whose paths you may never have crossed if not for scuba.

Regardless, I don't let anyone or thing steal away my dive trip bliss.

Back when you could night dive Town Pier, I was about 18" off the bottom watching this little nudi. Some diver from a group passing by must have thought I was on to something, so down he came. Uncontrolled, crashing right into me and driving my face into the mud (and probably the nudi).

can't resist, this is also why i love bonaire and tend to NOT do boat dives. Although there are lot of good divers who use camera's it a red flag when i see one. few boats dives I have done the people with the camera are ones to be avoided at all costs :-0 I am generalizing but its been my experience.
anyway my limited experience, love the pictures but...
maybe wrong but one of things I liked about some of the boat dives I've done on Bonaire is the lack of supervision and limited instruction. you're on your own ofcourse that doesn't mean you're on your own to run into other people :-)

Oh, Town Pier....on my 1 and only dive there I found a seahorse, thought it was proper to show the dm (Sunset Beach days), who, of course, called the herd over. That was the end of the seahorse, met his demise when outta control, excited divers crashed him, and a 5' radius of the area.


To this day I will only point out free swimming critters (never sleeping turtles, that's another story) to anyone other than my buddy.

I just got back a few weeks ago and was also on a boat dive, some "professional" jackass with a huge camera was all over the place, actually laying on the coral and putting his camera setup wherever he felt like, constantly adjusting his strobes that were always resting on the live coral. No fault of the boat dive crew who was excellent. This photographer was just an idiot with not a concern in his mind other than his precious photo.

I have to chime in and say that ninety plus percent of the "photographers" I see need to stop taking a camera underwater.

Maybe STINAPA could ban cameras, like it bans gloves? Just a thought. just kidding...don't get riled up photogs on BT.

I agree that if there is someone crashing into the reef, they invariably have an elaborate camera setup in their grips.

I was shoved out of the way by a diver with camera several times on one boat dive. (And yes, I said something when we got back in the boat, and received a blank stare in return.) Too often I see divers with cameras using the one finger approach. (Steady themselves with one finger on live coral, as if they are minimizing the damage.) I have also seen divers with cameras hover a foot away from coral without touching anything. I tried taking pictures once with a disposable, and found that while I think I have good buoyancy control, my buoyancy really stinks while I am looking through a view finder.

I think all divers on boat dives, not just photographers, should be watched by the dive masters, and maybe given a few pointers when they get back on the boat. I dove with one dive master on Bonaire who constantly pulled people up so they weren't touching the coral, dragging their fins, etc, and gave a nice lecture after the dive. More like him would be helpful.

I'm one of those "camera divers" and I think peak buoyancy should be a requirement of any diver before he/she is allowed into the water with said camera.
I rarely boat dive because of past beatings from divers (not just the camera toting types)!
I've had my mask knocked off more times than I can count and got quite good at reg retrieval.
I love solo diving though I do not have that cert.
My 2C

So, I've been coming to Bonaire since 1990 and am amazed at what I am reading here. My experiences boat diving have been 90% just the opposite of what I have read here. Really, in reading this one would think the only people who dive in Bonaire are inconsiderate novices who just got certified and that the operators are mostly oblivious to the people they serve.

My observations have been very different. I see the DM's all over anyone who touches the coral. Photogs like the ones mentioned are told if they touch the coral again they will be banned from diving in Stinapa.

I too am an avid solo diver and an instructor. 30+ years of diving has taught me to be helpful to novices not scornful. If divers are inconsiderate or obnoxious then say something to the operation manager. I have had my share of morons on the boat and I usually ask to go on another boat to avoid them.

Remember folks, planning your dive and diving your plan goes well beyond what you so underwater.

Kevin..Welcome to BT..I DO suspect some of this stuff is "tongue in cheek". It's human nature to remember the incidents which are negative. We've all had dumb things happen to us on dive boats, but I can say the vast majority of my experiences were indeed positive. Some folks just post as a method of venting.
Having said that, many times I have made it a practice when the group goes left, I go right.

Vince may be right. A journalism saying is, "it is not news when a dog bites a man. When the man bites the dog - that's News!" We do focus on the exceptions. I am not all that experienced a diver. I have an advance OW certification and I am working on Nitrox, but I have less than 50 dives under my weight belt. I am going to Bonaire for my first time in 4 weeks and 5 days -- not that I'm counting or anything. I have encountered a few incidents that I would call brushes with me. I have encountered a few people who have collided with the marine life. I probably have been the offender a few times when I started out. I have never seen the abusive behavior noted here.

I do photograph when I can, but I also stay within my limitations while down there. To protect myself, the divers around me and the marine life, I made peak bouyancey and photograph two of my modules in the advanced course.

Please don't lump all photographers together. I find diving with a camera more interesting and I will hang off the back to do "my thing". I have been going to Bonaire every summer for 10 years and I always dive with the same shop and I like boat dives. The Resort DM's know me very well and will intentionally look for me when the find something interesting or their boat is headed to a new location. I too have been swum over and kicked, watched obnoxious photographers with huge cameras damage the coral, lay on it, kick it, wedge their fins in it, etc. and yes it make me mad. But like a responsible diver nothing attached to me dangles. Everything I have is tucked inside or tightly attached to my BC so absolutely NOTHING hangs down. I'm sure many of you can't say that. Next time out check your gauges as they dangle behind or underneath and bumps into the coral. To me that is just a bad. I like boat dives, I like to go to sights I can't via shore diving. As most of you said education is important. And how many dives have you been on where you accidentally bumped the coral with your body, tank or fins. You know stuff happens and we all try to do the BEST we can to avoid contact.

Thanks gottadive,

I, too, carry a camera on most dives and try to be very considerate of both the reef and other divers. I will hang back for others to check out a critter before trying to get a picture, even if I spot it first.

We photographers have no corner on the rudeness market. I have seen non-camera folks also bump reefs, overrun other divers, etc.

Still, it is much easier to get distracted with a camera if you are not careful, and when I see a clod with an oversize camera I also tend to groan!

AMEN!!!

You tend to see the elaborate camera rigs on boat dives because hauling one along on a shore dive is difficult and cumbersome. These folks are too cheap to book a private dive tour.

With u/w photography, no touch, neutral buoyancy control is essential. If I can't frame a photo without touching anything, then I just pass on it, no picture.

When it comes to diving around others, if I am sticking my head into some one else's fins, then I deserved to be kicked. It's really annoying when situationaly unaware divers run into my fins. Oftentimes it's just one or two people who do this repeatedly. There's no cure for stupid.

RE: "...These folks are too cheap to book a private dive tour." Ha ha... that's a good one. Personally, the money saved by shore diving funds a couple of extra weeks on the island every year. The independence, flexibility, and underwater solitude are bonuses. If anything, I spend more money annually on Bonaire because I stay longer and partake in more activities.

RE: "...then I deserved to be kicked." I'll take your word for it. This doesn't usually happen on shore dives.

RE: "...There's no cure for stupid." Perhaps, but it probably doesn't hurt to keep your options open.

To each his own. For most of us, there's no cure for Bonaire!

Just re-read my post and wanted to clarify: I spend more money now, shore diving and staying longer, compared to what I spent during years where I did mostly boat diving.

I didn't mean to imply that either diving preference was better or worse than the other. Just that shore divers aren't "too cheap" to do boat dives.

Roger, re-read my post.

I did not refer to shore divers (I'm one myself) as cheap.

I fully agree with the OP who criticized some photographers, with elaborate equipment (or not), who demonstrate poor diving skills.

I think I am in general agreement with this thread, that one is much more likely to encounter bad divers on boat dive.

When boat diving, I and the people I routinely dive with like to get in the water last, preferably after the crowd has drifted away a bit. We then stay way to the side or way back to avoid the teeming masses. I go slower than the speedsters anyway. I am in no hurry to get out of the water.

I too have had my reg knocked out, my mask kicked and flooded, and once got hit in the head with a tank. Why, oh why don't those people think to keep their distance from other divers? I mean, its not like there is a shortage of space in the sea. If you aren't my dive buddy, don't come anywhere within touching distance of me. 12-15' feet is close enough.

One downside of boat diving with a group and a "guide" is that some things of interest get scared away before I get there, but I guess that is the price for a peaceful dive.

On a brighter note, if you hang back enough it can be funny to watch; kind of like those clowns getting into a little car at the circus.

I usually carry a camera. I do not grab, lay on, stand on or crash into coral, harass or touch critters, push people out of the way or "hog" an interesting creature, but have seen others do all of these things. It gives dive photographers a bad name. Please remember, we don't all do it. Withhold judgment until you see us as individuals in action.

I don't really see the point of boat diving on Bonaire. But to each his own.

(Message edited by draq on March 22, 2011)