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Author: Tess van den Broek

Quarterly Clean Up | Collage

Quarterly Clean Up Dive | October 2020

 

Team up to clean up!

Our fourth and last Quarterly Clean Up Dive of 2020 was on October 17th. Due to the current situation with COVID-19, all things are a little bit different then our previous clean ups. That was not going to ruin the fun (or any day for that matter!)!

We met up with our Dive Friends staff and volunteers at our central location, Yellow Submarine. Our goal was to clean-up the Bonaire Harbor front. A big wind reversal hit this part a few days ago. There was a lot of damage to the local fishermen’s pier and the boats that are moored up. It blew a lot of trash into the ocean. Our crew and volunteers were there at the right time and at the right moment to clean up the trash!

To make sure everyone’s health and safety was guaranteed. We made a reservation schedule for checking in our 40 volunteers. The first group started at 9 am then with 20 minutes interval time. We continued until all 40 people were checked in.

The divers had a great time, who can blame them!? Going out for a beautiful dive and doing something good for the ocean, is always a good idea! The first group returned after about an hour and we started counting right away. There was a lot more trash then we expected, and bags returned full or overflowing, which is a good thing! This means the ocean is a lot of a cleaner place now then it was yesterday 😉

Collected trash

We collected 180 kilos of trash, most of which were plastic fragments. We also collected 144 glass bottles, a reef anchor and a few very new looking pieces of clothing. After sorting out all the trash we put it in separate containers provided by Selibon. They sponsor us in every clean up dive and recycle all the trash. We register every piece of trash to Project AWARE.

Project AWARE

Project aware is worldwide non-profit organization. It is based solely on the conservation of our oceans, marine life, and everything that we love and want to preserve.

The data that they receive from clean up dives all over the world, can not only lead to the sources of pollution, but also built a detailed map of all marine debris that is cleaned out by divers.

For the actual results and more details about this cleanup dive please check out our Project AWARE page, which has every single piece of trash we counted nicely displayed in a virtual graph.

More information on Project AWARE and the worldwide marine debris map.

Eco-conscious

Dive Friends Bonaire is eco-conscious and organizes monthly clean ups.  We are a 100% AWARE Dive shop! We have adopted and maintained our house reefs by doing clean up dives. All our dive shops are as eco-friendly as possible. As a result of our 100% status, we get to certify you with cool cards with pictures of manta’s, sharks, and leafy green sea dragons.

Thank you for joining this clean up dive!

In the end it was a delightful end of a very successful day. Again, we left the ocean a little cleaner than it was before, and we got to hang out with super enthusiastic divers.

A big shoutout to all our volunteer divers, crew and everyone that has made this clean up dive possible!

If you were on this Quarterly Clean Up Dive, thank you for protecting our ocean and we hope to see you a next time!

 

By: Pieter de Groot

Quarterly Clean Up | August 2020

Quarterly Clean Up Dive | August 2020

Team up to clean up, that’s our slogan for the Quarterly Clean Up Dive!

We had our third quarterly clean up for 2020 on August 1st. Due to the current situation with COVID-19, all things are a little bit different then our previous cleanups but that was not going to ruin the fun (or any day for that matter!)! We met up with our Dive Friends staff and volunteers at our newest partner location, Resort Bonaire. Location manager Eddy, together with other staff members, made sure we were well prepared for our divers.

We welcomed groups of maximum 9 divers total every 20 minutes to avoid crowds. Our buddy teams were no bigger than 3. Divers signed up in advance and chose a time to pick up tanks and listen to the briefing before entering our site for today, Bachelors Beach. It is a very popular site among locals to hang out at. There is a food truck on the beach with delicious burgers and (mucho mucho garlic) fries so we expected to collect a lot of trash.

Photographers

Pieter and Aimee were our photographers and took pictures and videos of the day. The first group started at 10 am, the last group at 12 pm. The divers had a great time, who can blame them!? Going out for a beautiful dive and doing something good for the ocean that gives you mayor karma-points, is always a good idea!

The first group returned after about an hour and we started counting right away. There was less trash then we expected, and bags returned half full or even less, which is a good thing!

We collected 30 kilos of trash and sorted it in separate containers provided by Selibon. It was mostly plastic but also some big and heavier pieces of metal. The local trash company is invested in recycling and the environment. They help us out at all our cleanups by providing containers and picking them up afterwards.

We are also lucky with our partners because one of the bonuses at Resort Bonaire is their restaurant, Paradise Pizza! They offered all the staff and participants a nice lunch deal and nobody could resist a delicious pizza and soda after their hard work.

It was a delightful end of a very successful day. Bachelor’s beach is cleaner than we thought, made it even cleaner, and we got to hang out with super enthusiastic divers. We even had a few divers participating for the first time, which is always nice!

Until then, we will focus on cleaning our house reefs at least once a month for our adopt a dive site project.

Thank you for joining this clean up dive!

A big shoutout to all our volunteer divers, crew and everyone that has made this clean up dive possible!

If you were on this Quarterly Clean Up Dive, thank you for protecting our ocean. We hope to see you a next time!

For all the results of this dive, please visit the Project AWARE page.

Hope to see you at our next quarterly cleanup dive on October 17th!

DFB Crew members | Alex and Annie

PADI Women’s Dive Day | 2020

PADI Women’s Dive Day

PADI Women’s Dive Day took place this year on July 18th. This is a tradition which started back in 2015 and is now in its’ sixth year. It was launched to bring together divers of all genders, ages, and levels of dive experience to create a global community. Over the years, it has turned into the largest single day of diving on the planet! In addition, the various organized events have evolved into having conservation causes at their heart. In doing so, all divers have an opportunity to be involved and to help give something back to the ocean.

Resort Bonaire

This year, Dive Friends Bonaire chose to offer something to the community of Bonaire. We decided to give women on the island, who had never dived before, the opportunity to experience diving in the swimming pool on the beautiful Resort Bonaire.

Due to Covid-19 social restrictions, the event was organized in a way that made sure all staff and participants were appropriately distanced and following guidelines.

Introduction

After sign-in, the equipment was set up on poolside. A brief introduction to the physics of diving was given by the instructors and then it was time to get into the pool! Several of the women that signed up were Bonairians or had been living on Bonaire for a long period of time, but had always been afraid to try diving, so this really was a momentous occasion for them.

Pool time!

The instructors started by getting the ladies to stand in the shallow end, put their regulators in their mouths and to put their faces in the water and just breathe. Once they were comfortable with this, they did the same but this time either floating or swimming on the surface. Everyone was very excited to go underwater and dive, so they did not waste any time getting down there! The result…. everyone was thrilled and most of them are now planning to do their Open Water Courses and become real divers.

PADI Women’s Dive Day 2021

The seventh edition of Women’s Dive Day will take place on 17 July in 2021. Put the date in your diary and come along to join in with Dive Friends Bonaire.

 

By: Sarah Cann

 

Participants of Womens Dive Day

PADI Green Star Award

We are very happy to announce that we have been awarded with the PADI Green Star Award!

Read how you can join us here.

The PADI Green Star Award is granted to PADI Dive Centers and Resorts that demonstrate a dedication to conservation across a wide range of business functions, including water conservation, energy use, environmentally friendly transportation practices, use of sustainable materials, conservation leadership and a donation to conservation through Project AWARE. The Award identifies dive businesses that care about the environment and are acting to protect it.

Logo PADI Green Star Award

 

We are specialized in the following environmental practices:

  • Clean Up Dives
  • Dive Against Debris
  • Adopt A Dive Site
  • Recycling
  • Citizen Science
  • Coral safe and biodegradable sunscreen

We are also a 100% Project AWARE partner.

Logo 100% AWARE

Read more about the award here.

Plastic Fantastic

Look around you, probably 90% of the objects are made of plastic or have some plastic in them. Plastic was invented at the start of the 20th century. Its was found when they tried to make plant products more durable. The first plastic was super small and not used a lot. However, when world war I and II raged, lots of natural resources got depleted and the need for new resources grew. Plastic was used a lot more during world war II for airplanes, parachutes, bullets, guns etc. Its exponential growth started in the fifties. People were rebuilding and the economy was at its lowest. Plastic was a convenient invention which was cheap to structure and hard to break.

Plastic is fantastic, it is cheap, doesn’t break, doesn’t take up flavors or smell and it can be watertight! However, we started using a lot of plastic for the wrong reasons. We are living in a world where everything has to be fast, easy, cheap, and available. However, using a plastic bottle for 5 minutes while it will outlive all of us is not the way to go.

We need to change our behavior towards plastic. Use it the way it was meant to be used. Like your diving suit and equipment. This is all made from plastic. But we pay good money for this equipment which triggers us to be careful! We deem these products worth a second chance, pay for them to get fixed.

I feel like divers are an easy crowd to tell my story to. We all love the ocean and like to be surrounded by fish instead of plastic. Because of this shared passion, it is easier to make changes in our life. I firmly believe we can make a change, yes companies and governments need to change with us. But we are the pressure that can affiliate this change. I hope you are all inspired to save our oceans by keeping them clean!

Tips and Tricks:

  • Bring your own cup and bottle for water or coffee!
    There are very nice reusable bottles for sale that keep your water hot or cold for a long time.
  • Clean up wherever you go.
    We have mesh bags to do some underwater clean ups, just ask at one of our 8 locations.
  • Use reusable alternatives.
    Use your own forks, knives and cups when you go for a BBQ on the beach!
  • Try to separate your waste.
    Selibon is doing a great job of recycling. We have separate bins for everything at our 8 locations! Don’t let it end up in the landfill.

Check out Debris Free Bonaire to see what else you can do to keep this awesome island beautiful!

“There is no green without blue” Sylvia Earl

 

By Roos Swart, Dive Master @ Dive Friends Bonaire

Clean Up Dive | July 2019

 

Team up to clean up! Another successful Dive Friends Bonaire Quarterly Clean Up Dive at North Pier Saturday, July 27th. The North (or town) pier is used by cargo/cruise/military ships; which means it sees a lot of traffic and is not usually open for scuba diving. Furthermore, fisherman choose this as a spot to dangle their lines looking for their catch of the day. Combine these two factors, and you’ll see why there’s a lot of rubbish to clean up here.

Thank you to the 84 volunteers: locals and visitors who came out full of enthusiasm and energy. We removed an estimated 440 lbs. of trash from the reef, the equivalent weight of a blue whale’s heart. This was largely due to the hundreds of glass/ceramic bottles and fragments collected. Plus, 15 tires from the help of the awesome team at Deepsea Freediving School Bonaire.

Although plastics were not the most abundant category for the first time in 2 years, fishing line remained the most abundant item. Roughly 80 km; we estimated you could stretch the line from here to Curacao! All items are sorted and counted; with the data getting reported to Project Aware. Don’t let your dives go to waste, dive against debris! See you at the next one: Saturday, October 29th 2019.

News Splash July 2019

Welcome to the Dive Friends Bonaire quarterly news update! Read about recent events and get a sneak peak in our future plans.

Excited to go diving with us? Contact us today!

We have a fresh new look on our website!

Bonaire National Marine Park tag now available online!
Click here to get yours.

STINAPA Tags

Coral Spawning

Mark your calendars! The final days in August, September and October are marked by a truly magical event: coral spawning. The reproduction of many coral species is something that can only be witnessed once or twice a year. Just imagine witnessing the entire reef coming to live – thousands of tiny eggs floating in the dark water column; smoking corals – and other animals, affected by the coral action, displaying crazy mating behavior.

Let us take you on a guided night dive to witness coral spawning. Based on predictions from research center CARMABI, the dives are scheduled on the following evenings:

August

18th – 21st

September

19th – 21st

October

20th – 22nd

Go Pro!

We have a few spots left for our PADI Instructor Development Course! Become a Master Scuba Diver Trainer with Dive Friends and start your career in the blue waters of Bonaire.

If you’d like to become a PADI Dive Instructor, please sign up for our IDC in August!

Join our Instructor Development Course!
August 11th, 2019

Sponge Transplantation
Salt Pier

Due to the renovations at the Salt Pier last year, many sponges had to be carefully removed from the area of construction and transplanted to safe as much marine life as possible. The sponges were attached by wires which we will now remove from the pillars to stimulate growth and remove the foreign materials for healthy and beautiful sponges! Dive Friends Bonaire will assist in this project and we invite our divers to assist in this.

We organize this every Thursday afternoon at 2 PM till the end of September 2019 (or when the work is done). *Please note: dives are subject to vary due to unforeseen boats at pier*

More information on this project, please email us.

Upcoming Event

Quarterly Clean Up Dive
July 27th

Join us on our upcoming Clean Up Dive at the North Pier.
Check in will start at 9:30 AM, with a briefing for all volunteers at 10 AM. Please take your certification cards (if you are not signed in with us). Non divers can also help with counting and logging the items removed from the water for PADI Project Aware Dive Against Debris.

As always, we will be hosting a barbecue at 6 PM for our volunteers at Hamlet Oasis. It is a potluck, so please bring a snack, side dish or dessert to share and we will provide the main course and one beverage.

Save the Date

Upcoming Events

July

20th
Womens’ Dive Day

20th and 21st
Ostracod Night Dive

27th
Quarterly Clean Up Dive

August

11th
Start PADI IDC (Instructor Development Course)

18th – 24th
Dive Friends Bonaire – Ocean Awareness Week

18th – 21st
Coral Spawning predicted

19th and 20th
Ostracod Night Dive

September

18th and 19th
Ostracod Night Dive

19th – 21st
Coral Spawning predicted

News Splash April 2019

Welcome to the Dive Friends Bonaire quarterly news update! Read about recent events and get a sneak peak in our future plans. Excited to go diving with us?Contact us today!

Behind the Lens

Meet our Photography Specialist

Meet Caitlin, the incredibly creative women behind the Dive Friends Bonaire Photography center.

In January we launched our Photography Department, offering Customized Photography courses. Curious how Caitlin started diving and when she fell in love with photography?

Please read it here and get inspiration out of her story.

Go Pro!

Become a Dive master or Master Scuba Dive Trainer with Dive Friends Bonaire!

Ever thought about swapping your office job for a diving job? It has never been so easy! Sign up to become a dive professional and make your dream come true!

In February Dive Friends organized another IDC on Bonaire. The IDC is intended for Divemasters who want to take the next step and become an instructor. During the IDC, which takes approximately two weeks, a Course Director and a Staff Instructor help you to prepare for the Instructor Examination (IE). You learn how to present dive theory, to prepare confined and open water presentations and to perform dive skills on an instructor level. All in all, it’s an intense, but also extremely fun and educational course!

Once you’ve passed your IE, you will take several specialties to deepen and broaden your knowledge and to further develop your instructor skills. The specialties that Dive Friends organized in February, included Deep Diver, Shore Diver, Enriched Air, Shark Awareness Conservation and Self-Reliant Diver. Not only the new instructors, but also Dive Friends staff successfully participated in all these specialties and are ready to teach you!

If you’d like to become an instructor, please sign up for our next IDC in August!

Plunge into the next IDC! August 11th, 2019

Upcoming Event

Quarterly Clean Up Dive April 13th

Join us on our upcoming Clean Up Dive at the Town Pier/North Pier. Check in will start at 9:30 AM, with a briefing for all volunteers at 10 AM. Please take your certification cards (if you are not signed in with us). Non divers can also help with counting and logging the items removed from the water for PADI Project Aware Dive Against Debris.

As always, we will be hosting a barbecue at 6 PM for our volunteers at Hamlet Oasis. It is a potluck, so please bring a snack, side dish or dessert to share and we will provide the main course and one beverage.

Save the Date

Upcoming Events

April

23rd & 24th Ostracod Night Dive

May

5th – 11th Dive Friends Bonaire – Sunscreen Awareness Week

18th – 25th Bonaire Dive Week

22nd & 23rd Ostracod Night Dive

June

8th World Oceans Day

16th – 21st Dive Friends Bonaire Ocean Reef Full Face Mask Week

21st & 22nd Ostracod Night Dive

July

20th Womens’ Dive Day

Stay tuned with the latest events and activities on our Social media!

 

How happy are the turtles on Bonaire?


Read everything about the turtles on Bonaire, where they live, what they eat and why they are happy in our newest blog from Roos, our Divemaster and environmental specialist.

Behind the lens – SeaHale Photography

Meet Caitlin, the woman behind the Dive Friends Bonaire Photography center.

Caitlin has been working hard with several organizations and photography specialists to set up a photography department within Dive Friends! Not the kind where we rent out a camera and tell you which button to press but customized photography courses! Curious how Caitlin started diving and when she fell in love with photography? Please read it here and get inspiration from her story.

What was the reason for you to start diving?

Honestly? My University boyfriend! He was out in Thailand for summer holidays, so I went out for his last two weeks and for my 21st birthday. I left as an Advanced Open Water and Nitrox certified diver with two dive site cleanups under my belt. The week we got back, we planned our next dive vacation to Egypt for that Christmas! Saying that, I grew up as a competitive swimmer and lover of the ocean. The first job I said I wanted to do was Marine Biologist so that made me predisposed to liking it.

How did you get into photography?

I will be eternally grateful to my dad for this, he supported my interest and helped it grow into what it is today. Through him I realized you could take multiple things you are passionate about and create an even larger passion! He got me my first camera, then my first underwater camera and housing, and introduced me to ADOBE Lightroom. On a basic level, I like to capture moments and memories in photos better than journaling! It started at an early age in the woods and countryside of England. Lights/shadows, colours, and structures of nature inspired me. I wanted to share how I saw the world through my lens. When I became a diver, I was picturing the reef in the same way. I have a family full of non-divers who massively support me, I wanted to share my experiences with them! He also gets the credit for the creation of SeaHale. So, what I’d like to say is… Thank You Dad!

What is your top 1 tip for beginner photographers?

Make sure your buoyancy is good and then just shoot, Shoot, Shoot (practice, practice, practice)! Try it from different angles, landscape or portrait, and get creative. Have a quick look and review the photos, is it working? Practicing this will help you develop your skills, eye, and statistically greater chance of obtaining ‘the shot’.  It’s the beauty of digital because you can delete, delete, delete.

What is the secret behind a good photo?

Underwater? I’d say lights ?. Patience is key to obtaining good photos underwater (which means having a patient dive buddy)! Sometimes it’s best to slow right down and wait for the image opportunity to present itself, let the creatures become accustomed to your presence, and I’ll repeat shoot, shoot, shoot- that takes patience too! Start learning the behaviours of the reef: how they move, at what time, what is ‘normal/abnormal’, and that will help set you up for better shots too!

What makes Bonaire so special for photographers?

Essentially, it’s a classroom and playground. For the same reason as it is for scuba divers/snorkelers and water enthusiasts in general. You can pick up your gear and go whenever you like, you have the freedom to head out and dive/shoot your heart out. In general the conditions are most ideal! You’ve got wonderful subject selection, the Caribbean nursery Bonaire for macro marvels or pull out your wide-angle on Salt Pier or Northern Sites or even head to Klein Bonaire on the boat! It’s perfect to start or level up your photography and diving skills- you can truly learn how to dive with a camera, having that extra time to learn how the camera works and pair it with fine tuning your buoyancy (that will change completely every time you pick up a new piece of gear.)