Dive into Bonaire Tek

It might not have been your first thought, but the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire is ideal for all levels of diving, including technical diving! Located close to Aruba and Curacao, Bonaire offers great diving conditions year round. 

Bonaire is a small island (294 km²/113 mi²), located less than a hundred miles off the northern coast of  South America, near western Venezuela. It was claimed by the Spaniards in 1499 by Alonso de Ojeda and Americo Vespucci.  Its current status is as a special municipality of the Netherlands, and its resident population is around 21,000 people. 

The island’s position just outside of the hurricane belt guarantees near-perfect diving conditions year round, with an average water temperature of 27°C/81°F and an average visibility of 30 m/100 ft. Diving conditions on the west side of the island are pretty much perfect — sometimes as good as “pool diving conditions.” Bonaire also has a sister island called Klein Bonaire (“Small Bonaire”) located half a mile away from the main island, and it’s been fully protected from development for almost 20 years. 

For technical divers, there are a few sites in Bonaire that you simply can’t miss. 

If you’re looking for endless walls, your search will end at ‘Karpata’ and ‘LaDania’s Leap’. Both of them are located in the North of the island and are easily accessible from shore. Dives of up to 150 m/500 ft have been done in this specific area.

When looking for unique underwater topography, you should try visiting the double reef system which starts at the ‘Lake’ and runs all the way to ‘Pink Beach.’ This unique formation provides two separate reefs divided by a sand channel with rare opportunities to spot eagle rays feeding in the sand, and technical divers will love the largely unexplored second reef.

If you love history and enjoy searching for old anchors, look no further than ‘Red Slave.’ At this dive site, you will find anchors from the 1700s and 1800s, most of them located between 40 to 60 m/130 to 200 ft—but some others as deep as 130 m/430 ft!

The island of Klein Bonaire offers a wide range of possibilities as well. Both the shallow and deep areas of ‘Forest’ offer some of the best diving on the island. ‘Monk’s Haven’ offers a practically untouched second deep reef, and ‘Just a Nice Dive’ offers a fine selection of recently discovered ancient anchors with a depth range from 50 to 80 m/165 to 265 ft.

Wrecks of Bonaire

Arguably, the most famous wreck on the island is the Hilma Hooker. IThe 72- m/235-ft-long cargo boat was transporting drugs when she experienced engine problems close to Bonaire in 1984. After some consultation with marine park and dive operators, authorities decided to use the contraband ship as an artificial wreck. She lies on her starboard side at 30 m/100 ft deep and is accessible from shore. Hilma Hooker is a great recreational wreck dive or technical decompression dive for those qualified to penetrate wrecks. 

Now, if we want to talk about a wreck only accessible for technical divers, we would have to talk about the famous Wreck of the Windjammer or Mairi Bhan (Gaelic for “Bunny Mary”), a 72 m/239 ft square rigged-bark that was hit by a terrible storm the December 7, 1912 while passing Bonaire. She is located in the Northern part of the island and is lying on her starboard side at the depth of 60 m/200 ft with two of the masts (one with a crow’s nest attached) resting at the bottom slanting down and away in deeper water.  

One hundred and five years ago, the Mari Bahn, a three-masted merchant vessel, was taking a full load of asphalt tar from Trinidad to Marseille, France, but  never made it to her destination. Now all that asphalt lies on top of the sandy bottom creating a unique landscape. While it is true that the wreck is accessible by shore, divers need special permission to dive it. Penetration of the wreck is possible but poses a risk due to the level of deterioration of the ship.  

There are some other smaller wrecks on the West side, and most of them are not marked, so take some expert advice from the local divers and visit them!

If you are looking for a place to stay in Bonaire with full technical diving support, check out Buddy Dive Resort and Buddy Dive Tek. Besides their Drive & Dive package that includes everything needed for a week of diving (accommodation, breakfast, unlimited air/nitrox, and vehicle rental), they can support a wide variety of technical diving needs: from GUE courses to all types of O₂ and trimix blends, GUE standard gases, aluminum cylinders for CCR, bail-out tanks, sofnolime, sofnodive, and equipment for diving doubles or CCR. 

Over the years, Buddy Dive Tek has built itself a reputation on Bonaire as the premier technical diving facility on the island. 

Buddy Dive Resort offers full technical support throughout the year, but one event that is not to miss is the yearly returning Bonaire TeK event. A week fully dedicated to technical diving with special guests from several agencies and demo sessions from a variety of manufacturers. 

Immerge yourself in the world of technical diving and join Bonaire TeK 2023 from September 30 – October 7, 2023. 

For more information visit www.buddydive.com/tec.