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? Send an email to info@divefriendsbonaire.com today!
Happy New Year!
We all wish you the best wishes for 2019 and many beautiful dives!
New logo
Dive Friends Bonaire has changed its logo as we are not just Yellow Submarine anymore. We have 7 locations where you can dive and 4 retail stores and chose to create a new logo that would represent all our locations and we are very happy with the result!
Meet the crew!
There has been a big change within our reservations department as Eva left us for a new adventure! Janneke has taken over this department and is now fully trained and ready to take over. Janneke grew up in The Netherlands and has been travelling and diving for the past 10 years. She settled 3 years ago on beautiful Bonaire and plans to stay here for many more years. We would also like to welcome Floor, Chris, Jack and Maaike to our team! You will find their story on our website soon!
We are all ready to dive in, how about you!?
Clean Up Dives, very successful!
Thank you to everyone who helped with the Dive Friends Bonaire Quarterly Clean Up Dive on October 20th and the Holiday Clean Up on December 27th. With the help of 101 amazing volunteers, Dive Friends Bonaire cleaned up along the harbour front in the center of Kralendijk; in effort to combat trash created by the Bonaire Regatta the weekend before. In this busy boating area, we collected 1,647 items of trash (roughly 510 kg), 403 glass bottles and approximately 328 meters of fishing line. The glass bottles were the most abundant item on this clean up dive. This issue is something Dive Friends Bonaire is looking to combat with our new glass recycling program.
Thanks to the collaboration between De Statiegeld B.V., Bonred and Selibon, the collected glass is no longer dumped on the landfill! In addition, there are our ‘statiegeld’ products, which are returned empty after use and will be returned to the country of origin. Here the crates and bottles will be recycled properly. For the residents/entrepreneurs on Bonaire it’s a small step, but the impact on Bonaire will be of great significance. We are proud supporters of this effort and you will be able to recycle all glass bottles at every one of our locations!
Join us on the next Clean Up Dive: 26th of January 2019!
Thank you to Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire, Selibon N.V., STINAPA Bonaire and STINAPA Bonaire Junior Rangers for co-hosting the event. BIG thanks to sponsors: Project AWARE, La Cantina Bonaire, Supermarket Warehouse Bonaire, @Ikelight Bonaire, East Coast Diving, Caribbean Dive Trading, Bonaire Logistics and Foodies
New Photography Department!
PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!
We’ve all had that before, right?! It is hard to describe to non-diving friends and family the thrill, beauty, wonder and excitement we find below the surface. Or how can we prove to our friends that we so totally saw that whale shark? For many, the closest we can get is by capturing our memories underwater with photos and videos, but so often we do not get the results we see with our eyes. The equipment is out there but it’s hard to know where or how to start!
Bonaire is the perfect place to start or advance your underwater photography. Her unique geography has created miles of leeward coastline with easy shore access and almost perfect dive conditions providing a perfect training ground! Que: Photography@ Dive Friends Bonaire!
NEW! Customized Photography Courses
Our photography department has been created to help share ours and your passion for Bonaire and capturing her beauty. Our customized courses help develop individual needs in their underwater photography. These are flexible and our photo instructor will work with you to develop your pictures the way you’d like to! Courses include a theory portion to provide increased understanding of a camera and photography concepts applied to the underwater realm.
You’ll have the chance to really learn how to dive with your camera, applying concepts learnt in the classroom on your dives. The dives begin with dialing in buoyancy before camera use. Mastering diving with a camera is essential to become a comfortable, confident and environmentally conscious underwater photographer. All diving portions of the course have a strong emphasis on a strict conservation code of conduct: no damage is worth a photo. By the end of the course we encourage manual use of camera and lighting, allowing you to have increased control over the images produced. It’s a lot of fun to start pushing yourself away from auto settings and really push the photos into manual!
Photography@ Dive Friends Bonaire offers rental cameras and hardware and lighting accessories; a selection of retail items, and a variety of courses from beginners up. Check the Photography Page on our website for all the details!
IDC 2019
We have planned our next IDC course to start on the 3rd of February 2019. We will start with a 2-day prep-course, followed by 9 days of the Instructor Development Course. The Exams are planned on the 14th and 15th of February 2019. Our IDC program not only trains you to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, it gives you the opportunity to become a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer right away! This is truly a life changing experience. Please contact us at info@divefriendsbonaire.com for more information or to sign up!
