Dive Review of Divi Divers/Divi Flamingo in
Bonaire

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Divi Divers/Divi Flamingo, Jun, 2009, by James A Heimer, Texas, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports). Report 4870.
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	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We were in the 700 series of rooms, which are time-share units adjacent to the dive shop facing the pool. These rooms are in the process of being renovated and updated as part of the hurricane recovery work. We were in an updated room, which had a small, well-furnished kitchenette (coffee maker – but no coffee is provided - blender, bar refrigerator, microwave and cooktop, plus dishes and utensils) and a shower-only bathroom. The showers have both fixed and hand-held showerheads and a six head spray bar. An excellent selection of soap and shampoo was provided. The sleeping / living area was spacious, reasonably well lit, with plenty of desk and table space to set up photographic equipment. Each room had a screened in porch (ground floor) or balcony (second floor). The AC kept the room cool, and the rooms were serviced every day. The room was a notable improvement over the unrenovated room we had in 2008. Our 12-dive package included two meals a day, a buffet breakfast and buffet lunch at the outdoor Calabas restaurant. The food was adequate for a one-week stay. The breakfasts offered a variety of pastries, breads, eggs cooked to order, precooked French toast and pancakes that could be heated in the toaster, a good variety of fruit and cereals, and cold-cuts and cheese. Some persons did not like the lunch, which usually consisted of a fish dish, pasta or a stir fry, steamed vegetables, and hamburgers. We ate several meals at the more “upscale” Chibi Chibi restaurant at the resort, and they were good. There are several restaurants a short walk outside the gate to the resort – Richards on the water away from town and La Luna, Bambu, Casablanca, Unbelievable, and Donna & Giorgio's toward town. All are pretty pricey, but very good to excellent in quality. Our group of 60 divers participating in the shootout was divided among four boats. We had the Sunshine, a boat-hulled flat top vessel with a small storage compartment for dry gear on the bow. Two of the others were more conventional shapes with enclosed cabins forward of the dive deck; the fourth was flat-decked with an awning. We dove two morning dives, with the afternoons reserved for seminars, workshops, and downloading and working with digital images and videos. You loaded your gear on board in the morning and hooked up your own equipment, geared up in place and walked to the stern to do a giant stride entry. The crew handed down cameras, and one accompanied and conducted each dive. We had two dive masters, Luis and Geertja. The former was on the “timekeeper” side, while the latter was more helpful in finding the “featured creature” (seahorse, frogfish, juvenile drum or trunkfish, etc.) at each site. Although large sea life (except one eagle ray, apparently resident at Captain Don’s Reef on Klein Bonaire) was absent, the reefs were in excellent condition and there was a great variety of the usual tropicals, including turtles and reef squid. The shootout crowd is a little different from the random group of divers you might encounter – most were very experienced and considerate divers, but there was a definitely a spirit of competition to get the best shots during the dive. Besides the boat diving, we dove the house reef (Calabas Reef) several times. We did not pursue other shore diving opportunities during the shootout, but others rented trucks and did.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Tahiti, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, California, Mexico, Texas Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, Honduras Bay Islands, Belize, US Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Aruba, Bonaire, Norway
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, choppy, no currents
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Dives were limited to 45 minutes and depth specified as 70 feet on the first dive, 50 to 60 on the second to meet the Digital Shootout schedule.
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
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Each boat had a multi level camera shelf, which provided adequate storage for travel to and from the dive sites. Each boat also had two camera rinse tanks, one of which was provided especially for the digital shootout due to the large number of photographers on board. Additional camera rinse tanks had been set up in the gear rinse area on the dive dock. The only place to put cameras while gearing up or after rinsing was on the dock or on benches in the locker area. The covered tank storage bins that were previously available, have not been rebuilt after the hurricane. In the past, cameras could be stored on top of these bins.

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Dive Review of Divi Divers/Divi Flamingo in Bonaire

Divi Divers/Divi Flamingo, Jun, 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 Divi Divers/Divi Flamingo in
Bonaire