Dive Review of Bonaire Dive and Adventure/Den Laman in
Bonaire

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Bonaire Dive and Adventure/Den Laman, Mar, 2009, by Bob Barada, CA, USA ( Contributor 13 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 4695.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Our first trip to Bonaire. Large group of 20 (18 divers) were from very experienced instructors and dive masters to one young woman with only 15 dives. Den Laman has very comfortable condos with large rooms, good furniture, good air conditioning, with some rooms having balconies overlooking the water. Very good value. The restaurant had good food, but very poor service. Bonaire Dive and Adventure (BDA) is just plain lazy. Most dive masters responded to direct questions asked, but not really helpful. Our package included 6 boat dives and the most anyone did was 5, with most only doing 4. You were required to follow the dive leader and were very limited on the time of the dive. Most of us were diving Nitrox, but were limited to 20 minutes at the Hilma Hooker wreck dive, and 60 minutes for shallower dives. Small boats, with much jostling going on while hooking up your own gear. One dive on Klein Bonaire had such a ripping current that even the strong, experienced divers could barely swim against it. Two divers were swept away and had to be recovered after eveyone surfaced. The dive masters should have checked the current before hand and located another site. The shore diving was outstanding. The package included unlimited tanks, including Nitrox. Each room had a 4 door mini truck. Just throw your gear in the back of the truck and drive to one of the marked sites along the island. Very short swim to the reef, do your dive and return to the truck. Very calm on the lee side of the island with easy entries and exit. We would usually do 2 dives in the morning, return to the condo for lunch, and many would do 2 dives in the afternoon. Top it off with a night dive on Bari reef in front of the condos and you could get in 5 dives a day! Very good reef system, once you got deeper than about 30 feet. The shallower reefs were hit by Omar late last year. Very good fish life, with small fish abundant. Very few larger fish. A few turtles, occasional frog fish and sea horses were the things to search for. No rays, a few eels. Water clarity was less than the Cayman Islands or Cozumel, but still good. Water was about 80 degrees, so some used 3 mil or even 5 mil wetsuits. I was comfortable in a 0.5 mil unless I did 5 dives a day.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Cayman Brac, Cozumel, Belize, Fiji, Bora Bora, Hawaii
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Boat Dives were limited in length of dive. Shore dives were dive your computer.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Bonaire Dive and Adventure/Den Laman in Bonaire

Bonaire Dive and Adventure/Den Laman, Mar, 2009,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Bonaire Dive and Adventure/Den Laman in
Bonaire