Bonaire Dive and Adventure

Scuba Courses at Dive and Adventure Most dive operations on Bonaire only start courses on specific days of the week, and require a minimum number of students to start at all. We are flexible on our starting days, we don't like to have you wait long. Most of our courses do not require a minimum number of students. For four of our courses we have a minimum of two students only. But at Bonaire Dive & Adventure we offer you a choice. When you want to start right away, you can buy the V.I.P treatment and have your private instructor. When you don't mind waiting one or two days, you will find that our classes tend to be small. Instruction is available from highly qualified instructors in English and Dutch. PADI and SSI courses are available for all ages and range from beginner through Dive master.

Bonaire Dive & Adventure is also a Universal Referral Facility. We can certify students for 7 agencies: IDEA, NASDS, NAUI, PDIC, SSI, YMCA scuba and SDI. If you are a student of one of these agencies you can do the academics and pool sessions back home and do your Open Water dives here in Bonaire. You will get your certification card from your original agency.

Please give us at least 24 hours advance notice, or better yet, make a course reservation.

Scuba diving is a physical sport requiring a reasonable level of fitness and good health. All candidates who sign up for a PADI course must complete a medical statement before we can begin. In some cases a doctor's permission may be necessary. If you have any doubt about your suitability (or are just curious), please download and print the PADI Medical Statement (this is in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format; you will need a copy of Adobe Reader to open it). Fill it out, and if you have to answer "yes" to any of the medical history questions, take a copy of the guidelines to your doctor for evaluation. Be sure to bring a copy of your doctor's medical release with you!

PADI Bubblemaker
Minimum Age: 8
Dives: 1
Prerequisite: None
The new Bubblemaker program gives kids a chance to experience breathing underwater--with the close supervision of an instructor--in a maximum depth of six feet. We can now give kids a good look at the reef fish they have might have seen previously while snorkeling.

Discover Scuba Diving
Minimum Age: 10
Days: 0.5
Dives: 1
Prerequisite: None
This introductory course will enable you to dive safely under professional guidance on our beautiful reefs. Includes instruction & one dive - all necessary diving equipment is also included in the price. This course counts as partial credit toward the Open Water Diver course. If you decide to continue on with the full Open Water course, the Discover Scuba Diving course is free!

Additional Discovery Dives
After completion of the Discover Scuba Diving course, you may make additional dives with our professional staff from the dive boats or from shore. Equipment and boat trip is included.

Enriched Air Nitrox Diving

PADI Enriched Air Nitrox specialty
Minimum age: 15
Prerequisite: Open Water certification
Days: 1 day
This course is recommended for divers who think highly of dive safety.
Learn everything about diving Nitrox up to 40%. Extend your safety margin and/or your bottom time diving nitrox.

SSI Enriched Air Nitrox specialty
Minimum age: 15
Prerequisite: Open Water certification
Days: 0.5 day
This course is recommended for divers who think highly of dive safety.
Some people say SSI has found an easier way to teach you all the specifics about diving Nitrox up to 40%.

Scuba Diver / Junior Scuba Diver Rating
Minimum Age: 15 (Junior 10)
Days: 2-3
Dives: 3 Confined Water and 2 Open Water
Prerequisite: None
This limited certification will allow you to dive to forty feet in the company of an instructor or divemaster. Unlike the Discover Scuba Diving program, this rating allows you to keep diving indefinitely without repeating the skill session after two weeks. The course covers the first three modules of the Open Water Diver course and two open water dives. After certification, you can upgrade to Open Water Diver in only 1 & 1/2 days, whenever you like. Equipment is included in the price.

Open Water Diver /Junior Open Water Diver Certification
Minimum Age: 15 (Junior 10)
Days: 4-5
Dives: 5 Confined Water and 4 Open Water
Prerequisite: None
Become a PADI certified diver! This is a four to five-day course leading to full certification. Price includes textbook, dive table, logbook, and all rental equipment. All training dives are done from shore in the Caribbean Sea, not in a pool.

Open Water Diver Referral Training
Minimum Age: 15 (Junior 10)
Days: 2
Dives: 4
Prerequisite: A properly completed instructor referral form dated within the last 12 months.
Dive students who have completed the academic and confined water portions of the PADI, SDI/TDI or SSI Open Water Diver course can finish their certification here at Bonaire Dive & Adventure. Our Instructors can assist you with your PADI Referral, SDI Global Referral, or SSI Universal Referral. This is a very popular and convenient way to complete open water certification with a minimum of vacation time. The price includes instruction and four to five open water dives, depending upon the certifying agency. Equipment is not included.

Scuba Review Course
Minimum Age: 10
Days: 1
Dives: 1
Prerequisite: Any Certification
This course is recommended for divers who have been inactive for more than six months. Course includes instruction, PADI Review book and one reef dive with our professional staff. Equipment is not included.

Advanced Open Water Diver / Junior Advanced Open Water Diver Certification
Minimum Age: 15 (Junior 12)
Days: 2-3
Dives: 5
Prerequisite: Open Water Diver
Learn new skills in navigation, deep diving and your choice of three other specialty areas. Price includes instruction, Adventures in Diving textbook and five reef dives. Each dive in the Advanced program can be credited toward a respective specialty (and vice versa). Equipment is not included.

Adventures in Diving "A la Carte" Individual Dives
Minimum Age: 15 (Junior 12)
Days: 1/2
Dives: 1
Prerequisite: Open Water Diver
Learn advanced diving skills at your own pace. Complete the Advanced course one dive a time. You can do the dives for your Advanced certification at many worldwide locations by using the PADI referral system. Referrals are good for up to one year. You won't find a better place to do your Underwater Naturalist dive than here on Bari Reef! Equipment is not included.

Rescue Diver/Junior Rescue Diver Certification
Minimum Age: 15 (Junior 12)
Days: 3
Sessions: 5
Prerequisite: Advanced Open Water Diver and a valid CPR card/Medic First Aid.
This course is for divers who wish to expand their training beyond the purely recreational level. This is a vigorous, hands-on introduction to dive accident prevention and damage control. Many divers have commented that this course has enhanced their diving skills and self-confidence enormously. Rescue certification is a prerequisite for Master Scuba Diver, Divemaster and Instructor training. Course includes instruction, manual and at least five open water training sessions, including rescue scenarios. Dive equipment is not included.

Emergency First Response
Minimum Age: 12
Days: 1-1.5
Dives: 0
Prerequisite: None
You do not even need to be a diver for this course! This one-day First Aid and CPR course can easily be integrated into a Rescue course. This training is valid for US Coast Guard Captains License, First Aid and CPR training.

Master Scuba Diver
Minimum Age: 15
Rating Requirements: Rescue Diver, Medic First Aid, and 5 Specialties
This is not a true "course," per se. Master Scuba Diver is the highest recreational diver rating in the PADI program, and denotes a high degree of diving skill and breadth of experience. If you are interested, we can put a package together for you progressing from your current level.

Divemaster Certification
Minimum Age: 18
Days: Minimum of 8
Dives: Varies
Prerequisite: Rescue Diver and 20 logged dives
If you are interested in becoming a professional; this course is your entry to the world of dive leadership. The length of the course varies with student entry level. The Divemaster course consists of practical training exercises and study of diving theory. Call or email for more information. Includes DM manual, DM slates, Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving and workbook.

Dive with the Naturalist
Join naturalist Jerry Ligon as we learn the basic and advanced levels of fish identification in an academic presentation, and then go on a guided dive to the Number One Reef in the entire Atlantic and Caribbean for fish diversity. It is a one-half day course and can be the first course for either a speciality PADI level Aware Fish Identification or Underwater Naturalist Speciality. It is the basic course to present you with the techniques to employ to learn to develop search patterns in the ocean that everyone must develop in order to find the cryptic organisms, and then, how to identify them. Many examples of fish behavior that we see all the time, but never knew what it was the creature was doing are also described and shown.

Lion Fish Awareness and Elimination Specialty
Do you want to learn more about the invasion of lionfish into Caribbean and Atlantic waters? This awareness course will teach you all about lionfish, their invasion into local waters and various passive and active elimination techniques to help remove lionfish from these waters.

The half-day course includes an academic presentation and a guided dive. The full day course includes a PADI Lionfish Awareness & Elimination specialty manual, academic presentation two dives with one of our lionfish awareness and elimination instructors and a PADI certification card! Help your instructor sight and eliminate lionfish on the reef!