StCroixCruiser Posted October 26, 2008 #1 Share Posted October 26, 2008 I will be on Bonaire on November 6, 2008 off a Princess ship. I am a PADI SCUBA Instructor and am seeking suggestions on a dive operator who can/will provide the type of diving I'd want to do that day. I am not interested in being grouped in with the Discover Divers and inexperienced divers on an overcrowded reef in a large group situation. Are there any shops or private guides who'd be interested in setting me up with some high quality diving? Boat or beach diving OK, whichever happens to work for the most interesting dives. I live on St. Croix and am not just an occasional vacation diver, so am really hoping to experience the best of what Bonaire has to offer that can be accessed within the constraints of a cruise ship port day. Thanks for any suggestions. I'd love to hear from dive operators! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Kat Posted October 26, 2008 #2 Share Posted October 26, 2008 ... Are there any shops or private guides who'd be interested in setting me up with some high quality diving?... ... I'd love to hear from dive operators! Howdy StCroixCruiser! Welcome to the Ports of Call - Bonaire Forum! Thank you for your post. Per the Guidelines we all agreed to follow when registering for our free membership, shops, private guides or dive operators cannot reply to your requests. ... Other Cruise Professionals, Tour Operators, Destination Website Owners, Guides and Property & Business Owners Cruise Professionals, tour operators, tour guides and property & business owners (and their associates, employees or designated representative) are also encouraged to participate in the discussions on the Cruise Board and establish themselves as experts on a particular topic by responding to members' inquiries with useful answers. They may not, however, list or refer members to their World Wide Web sites. They may not include their "business name" in their signatures, nor may they include their website link in their profile. No promotional material or conducting tour business, is allowed. This includes mentioning pickup locations, scheduling times of tours, confirmation of events/deposits/e-mail receipt, etc (and any other discussion determined to be of a customer service nature in the sole discretion of Cruise Critic. Only items of a general nature may be posted on the forums. Local experts living in ports of call are encouraged to contribute, as long as their recommendations are general in nature. Those living in ports of call who recommend individual business or tour operators will find that their posts have been removed and their posting privileges suspended. *Effective February 12, 2006* - While we welcome the legitimate recommendation of tour operators, guides, property & business owners in ports of call, please post your recommendation in response to a request for that specific information. Cruise Critic considers requests to be E-mailed for additional information as soliciting and will delete those postings by any tour operator, guide or anyone trying to sell or promote themselves on Cruise Critic. Additionally, attempts to circumvent our rules may result in your company name being censored from our forums without notice. Please, abide by our Community Guidelines so that legitimate recommendations by our members regarding guides and tour operators may remain on the forums! From time to time, Cruise Critic management is contacted by Tour Operators/Guides/Business who request removal of negative posts about their company. Cruise Critic will not remove negative posts from the boards at the request of any tour company, cruise line, store, shop, taxi company, driver, guide, etc. One-Post Wonders This phenomenon essentially amounts to single or multiple posts created by a brand-new member which tout tour operators/businesses in ports of call. Posts of this nature will be removed from the boards without notification to the author. Cruise Critic considers these types of postings an attempt to circumvent our rules and may result that company name being censored from our forums without notice. Cruise Critic reserves the right to remove any material from our message boards without notification to members, the author or the company being recommended... You will need to browse/research the boards for reviews by other members. Use the Search this Forum feature on this forum as well as the Scuba and Snorkeling Forum at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40 to help narrow down the threads you will want to read. Be sure you do not try a search with too many or too common of key words at one time. This will sometimes overwhelm the search feature with too many threads to scan and will cause a time-out. From time to time, you may receive an error message that says "Search function is down". PLEASE TRY AGAIN in a few moments. This message will often pop up during the busiest times of the day. Please remember, there are 382,599 (and growing!) members at the time I type this reply. There could be many others trying to search at the same time. The main thing to remember when using the feature is to click the Go button. Do not click Advanced Search. It has been disabled. The same instructions apply when using the Search this Thread feature on a thread. Click here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/index.php for the list of all Cruise Critic message board forums and be sure to read all Announcement and Sticky threads at the top of the various forums for very important information or instructions. In our Guidelines, please note the Please Browse BEFORE You Post section since many of your questions may have been asked and answered before. I sincerely hope this information will be helpful! Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StCroixCruiser Posted October 27, 2008 Author #3 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Hmmm.... I thought people were allowed to respond to direct requests, just not to post ads. If I can't even ask for recommendations, it's pretty danged tough to find something. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Kat Posted October 27, 2008 #4 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I am sincerely sorry there was a misinterpretation of my post. Yes, of course other members can reply to a request for information about shops, private guides or dive operators. I was just explaining that per the Guidelines shops, private guides or dive operators cannot reply to your requests. Wishing you lots of with replies from other members! Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimw Posted October 28, 2008 #5 Share Posted October 28, 2008 check http://www.bonairetalk.com rectekscuba and Larry's wildside diving come well reccommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHSF Posted November 10, 2008 #6 Share Posted November 10, 2008 I have a person perfect for what you are asking contact me dalehollowscubafriends@yahoo.com Kristi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StCroixCruiser Posted November 11, 2008 Author #7 Share Posted November 11, 2008 I have a person perfect for what you are askingcontact me dalehollowscubafriends@yahoo.com Kristi Thanks for being ready to make a suggestion, but I have already returned from my trip. I went with Buddy Dive. I was happy with their service, but not as blown away as I'd hoped to be by the two dive sites selected. They were good, but very similar to what we have here on St. Croix. I did enjoy the experience. We had only 3 divers plus the divemaster and boat captain on a boat that other shops would have put a dozen divers on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimw Posted November 11, 2008 #8 Share Posted November 11, 2008 What divesites did Buddy's take you too??? Anything on Klien Bonaire? How was the viz, etc. We are going for a week in December and wondering what the temp and viz are like......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StCroixCruiser Posted November 11, 2008 Author #9 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Both sites were on the backside of Klein Bonaire. One was called "Forest" and the other was called "Rock Piles" Water temp was 82 F. Viz was 100+ Expect about the same in December, maybe a degree or so cooler but no big difference. On the second dive, there was a small sea turtle (about a 12-14" shell) that I got quite a few pics and some video footage of before he decided to get shy and hide down in some soft coral. We continued on our way only to have him chase after me a minute later almost demanding that I continue the photo shoot. It was pretty funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikita Posted January 6, 2009 #10 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Thanks for being ready to make a suggestion, but I have already returned from my trip. I went with Buddy Dive. I was happy with their service, but not as blown away as I'd hoped to be by the two dive sites selected. They were good, but very similar to what we have here on St. Croix. I did enjoy the experience. We had only 3 divers plus the divemaster and boat captain on a boat that other shops would have put a dozen divers on. I know this was posted a while back but if you're still here...my DH would like to dive off Klein Bonaire and the ships excursion doesn't say they go there. Could you tell me how long you had in Bonaire? We are only there 7-1pm. Did Buddys provide transport from ship and back to ship? Any details like how you arranged your dive would be appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikita Posted January 6, 2009 #11 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Thanks for being ready to make a suggestion, but I have already returned from my trip. I went with Buddy Dive. I was happy with their service, but not as blown away as I'd hoped to be by the two dive sites selected. They were good, but very similar to what we have here on St. Croix. I did enjoy the experience. We had only 3 divers plus the divemaster and boat captain on a boat that other shops would have put a dozen divers on. I know this was posted a while back but if you're still here...my DH would like to dive off Klein Bonaire and the ships excursion doesn't say they go there. Could youI tell me how long you had in Bonaire? We are only there 7-1pm. Did Buddys provide transport from ship and back to ship? Any details like how you arranged your dive would be appreciated. Thanks! (sorry for the double post - forgot to check the box for email notification - please respond to this post - thanks!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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