First Time Shore Diving Bonaire, Solo Traveller

OK- this is scarey.
1) at least you know you need a dive buddy. I think you need to arrange for a paid for DM (thats not a buddy) for guided shore dives. Contact the resort and ask about private DM guiding for shore dives
2) Even if they assigned me to you, I wouldn't accept you as my buddy, point blank. AOW is nothing, you have 18 logged dives, no local terrain experience and no shore dive experience. Can you rescue your buddy? Does you buddy trust you in an emergency- NO. Buddies can bail each other out in unforseen emergencies, no sane competent diver would accept your credentials at face value
3) Should you accept me as a buddy, NO. I am not a certified DM and should I be visiting the area I won't have local reef/current knowledge. No sane competent diver should accept my experience (log book) at face value without evaluation. I am experienced recreationally (250+) and if someone dove with me a few times, and we personally evaluated each others competence and experience AND we got to know the dive areas AND the experience was reciprocal, we might decide to go and explore as a buddy team.

Book guided dives.

Respectfully, I disagree with parts of the advice from #1 and agree with other parts. Yes, you WILL need a buddy, and you SHOULD hire a DM to give you an intro to shore diving since you've never done it. However, diving on Bonaire is easy stuff. There's no need for local current conditions as there isn't any current to speak of at the shore diving sites, and all the dive sites are similar with shallow sloping reefs. You just get in, swim against the almost-nonexistent current (look at the tops of the bush corals to see which way they are bending) to your turn pressure, then turn and swim back to your entry point. At any rate, an official briefing by a park officer and a checkout dive are obligatory for all divers arriving at Bonaire. Only when you've taken care of those requirements are you issued your park tag ($25 USD) which allows you to get air and go dive. (I was a guest instructor at a resort on Bonaire last month and even I had to do the checkout dive.) You will probably meet other divers there who will be willing to let you join in on their shore excursions once you're ready to cut loose of the hired DM.

Quero- agreed so Bonaire shore diving is relatively easy. So would you be willing to buddy pair (not a group) with this person, without going on guided (or at least) group dives together first? My point is that you should evaluate your potential buddy's skills (and scoping the terrain) before venturing out as a lone pair (unless you like to actually solo). If I dove with the person a few times and had confidence in them I would; of course thats also easier if there are others in the group

These days there are a few AOWs out there who freak out at the mask clearing exercise, let alone have any navigation/current/equipment malfunction skills.

hfl1: Perhaps I wasn't clear enough.

Let me refer you to the wording of my reply--note in particular my use of the plural. I said there would likely be 'other "divers" who would be willing to let you join in on "their" shore excursions...' I didn't actually recommend that the OP just jump into the water with any potential buddy that happened to show up--or vice versa, for that matter.

As to your question, I may or may not dive in a buddy pair with an unfamiliar newbie diver, depending on the circumstances. For one thing, I'm not in a position to require that any buddy who dives with me be as experienced as I am; and for another, I don't actually believe that most new divers are as bad as you seem to feel they are. That's why I respectfully disagree with parts of your statement--I find your initial reply somewhat overstated. In fact, I don't personally find the OP "scary" in any way.

But OTOH, I would also not recommend that any diver go into the water with someone s/he doesn't trust. So if diving with the OP on Bonaire would make you, personally, uncomfortable, I would advise both of you to find other buddies that would suit you better.

Quero- fair enough on buddy vs buddy group but the OP specfically asked about single divers being paired as buddies, hence my reply (and "scary" to the suggestion of just expecting/accepting a buddy assignment).

Agreed that all (even newbie) AOWs are all incompetent (I said a few), its just that these days, based on observation, AOW is such a low bar (which it shouldn't be) with scant guarantee of independence and competence, especially with so few logged dives. Hence my comment "if we dived together and were comfortable..."

I have an occasional buddy who is only OW, with maybe only 50ish dives; a fish in water, a smart quick thinking head and doesn't panic in onforseen situations (most above water, I've seen only 1 below with this person). Have I dived with this person as a lone pair, miles from shore in a current?- yes, but after collecting these observations. Some people have the skill set, even in the absence of training certs and dive experience.

For record- I am only AOW (+ specilaities and dive experience). I have no 'rescue cert' but have (unfortunately) rescued. Your (instructor) training is way beyond mine. I do often dive with a very experienced buddy (ex-instructor: she trained entry US Navy seals and has some sorry stories), and I am grateful that she has gained enough confidence in me to do some exciting dives together.
Often I arrive solo at a destination, but pick up good buddies after mutual evaluations.

On your last statement, we do agree- no buddy confidence = no lone buddy dives

PS should read NOT all AOWs are incompetent

(sorry to all us AOWs!)

Thanks, hfl1, for your clarification. It's often the case when a reply reads like your #1 above did, using loaded language like "scary" and decrying low skills-abilities of new divers, that it indicates a certain condescension on the part of the author. When a reply strikes me in this way, I try to respectfully contribute a balancing view that might offer encouragement to the OP rather than make him/her feel lectured to. I am glad to hear that it was not your intention to suggest that the OP was a disaster waiting to happen.

I also like to offer replies that are tailored to the specific question. In this case the OP asked about how things work on Bonaire. So I'll repeat that in regard to Bonaire, in particular, the diving is so very easy that it won't take long at all for the OP to get the feel for it, assuming s/he buys some Local Diving Experience dives with a DM. In addition, as I said, on Bonaire there is a required 'check out' dive under professional supervision before divers are allowed out on their own. If any particular diver is completely incompetent (for example an AOW who cannot clear his/her mask), s/he will not be allowed to dive until competence can be demonstrated.

Finally, I know DMs and Instructors with less diving experience (and likely a more limited variety of experiences) than you have. A depth of experience like yours (regardless of your lack of the Rescue Diver cert) gives you a rich mine of practical knowledge to inform and advise other divers. I will look forward to reading other contributions of yours to the list.

Thanks, hfl1, for your clarification. It's often the case when a reply reads like your #1 above did (using loaded language like 'scary', statements like 'AOW is nothing', and decrying low skills-abilities of new divers) that it indicates a certain condescension on the part of the author. When a reply strikes me in this way, I try to respectfully contribute a balancing view that might offer encouragement to the OP rather than make him/her feel lectured to. I am glad to hear that it was not your intention to suggest that the OP was a disaster waiting to happen.

I also like to offer replies that are tailored to the specific question. In this case the OP asked about how things work on Bonaire. So I'll repeat that in regard to Bonaire, in particular, the diving is so very easy that it won't take long at all for the OP to get the feel for it, assuming s/he buys some Local Diving Experience dives with a DM. In addition, as I said, on Bonaire there is a required 'check out' dive under professional supervision before divers are allowed out on their own. If any particular diver is completely incompetent (for example an AOW who cannot clear his/her mask), s/he will not be allowed to dive until competence can be demonstrated.

Finally, I know DMs and Instructors with less diving experience (and likely a more limited variety of experiences) than you have. A depth of experience like yours (regardless of your lack of the Rescue Diver cert) gives you a rich mine of practical knowledge to inform and advise other divers. I will look forward to reading other contributions of yours to the list.

Thank you for both of your responses. I suppose I posted without doing enough research (many times posting here on LP gets me the answers I need, sometimes I can get it elsewhere). Many of the dive shops web sites I looked into say unlimited shore dives, unlimited tanks, but say nothing of guided dives, which is what I new i needed. So I was confused and was seeking clarification. I had read about solo divers meeting other groups on the beach and buddying up there, about which I felt extremely uncomfortable.

I mainly wanted to know how dive operations handled solo divers in a place where shore diving is an emphasis. Since my OP I spoke with a few shops and will definitely be getting a guide (instructor) for the whole time. Thanks and rest assured I will not be diving with some random buddy.