Scubabiz Special Dive Week: The final results!

As announced over the last months, in our monthly ScubaBiz magazine and all our Social Media platforms (are you already a member of our ScubaBiz FB group or following our Instagram page?), we have just finished our first Special Dive Week and the location was the Caribbean island Bonaire!

The reefs surrounding Bonaire present a wide scale of colours, deep blue to turquoise and the white beaches make the eyes watery by the strong reflection of the sunlight.

Just a short distance away (1mile) is the island “Klein Bonaire”. A large marine reserve with very easy boat access to a lot of divesites.

Some more remote divesites are here within reach and the incredible hard and soft corals make you feel like you are dreaming while diving.

Klein Bonaire is a really unique place to dive and has to be put on any divers bucket list if you like to see an abundancy of colorfull corals mixed with fish and no human interaction as there is NO building on the island, no constructions allowed and no fishing either!

“Divers Paradise” is written on the official license plates of the cars on the island!

Is it paradise? We will soon find out, our Special Dive week is 9days, so time enough to check things out and dive around.

Participants for the ScubaBiz Special Dive Week came from all around the globe, Europe and the USA were represented during the many days of diving and more!

Days filled with scuba diving, those dives executed in many different forms, both shore diving and boat diving!

But also bucketlist diving was on the list: making it possible what people would like to encounter below the surface, given the fact that nature would be able to provide it!

A summary of bucketlist items were:

seahorse

turtle

frogfish

wreckdive

wreckdive penetration

nightdive

deepdive (recreational 40mtr-120ft)

special divesite: historical

special divesite: marine biology

As ScubaBiz.Help, these bucketlist items were very important to us, as we understand from our own experience how long it can take to finaly mark an item on your bucketlist (it took me 30years of diving to spot my first Mola Mola).

So no efforts were spared to get down to business and get the items taken of that long list!

Up to the last and ultimate dive during the 9 days, we managed to complete 100% of the list and so succeeded in making many divers extremely happy!

Worth mentioning is 1 specific and special dive day, spent with the team of RumRunners Dive Shop from North Carolina (USA).

As Bonaire was under the influence of a tropical wave turning into a tropical storm, during their last dive day, all dive operations on the island were cancelled.

All dive operators safeguarded their boats in the marinas and so it would be a day at the pool drinking cocktails?

Not when it comes to ScubaBiz.Help!

We surprised the RumRunners dive team by taking them out to 1 of the well hidden divesites on the island, comfortably diving from shore and showing them 1 of the special divesites Bonaire has to offer.

Bucketlist items were scratched of the list and 10 happy faces were back at the surface after a beautifull dive, filled with special corals and pelagic fish.

And now there was time for pool-cocktails and a group hamburger dinner with lots of Mojito’s at Breeze&Bites…a happy place to be!

But the Rumrunners happy times were not over yet and the next day was also made available for some extra diving as their flight times were checked and that gave some extra time for the ScubaBiz.Help team to come up with some more diving.

A wreck penetration dive was planned and done on the famous Hilma Hooker wreck and even a seahorse was included on this dive to make the story overcomplete and happy feelings all over the place.

Bonaire below the earthly surface was next on the agenda:

Bonaire has a soft subterrain, this resulting in many caves.

As my first visit to Bonaire dates back to 1992 and since that time, coming back to Bonaire regularly, I had the chance to meet up many times with cave specialists and geologists.

During the years, I got quite familiar with the cave systems and had a large amount of time exploring the caves on Bonaire.

Time to share this adventure with the Rumrunners team!

With the safety of using a rope, we descended 15mtr (50ft) down into the cave system, to find a large freshwater lake.

Fully decorated ceilings and impressive structures around…

Yes, a little secret gem hidden in Bonaire’s cactus jungle, a great and unique place to enjoy the wonders of caves.

Challenging? It could be for those not well prepared…but this outfit was well prepared and made the best of it!

We managed to ‘surface’ again after spending some hours below the earthly surface, spending them in a complete different environment.

The Rumrunners came back to the surface with smiling faces and fantastic stories to tell.

We want to thank the RumRunners Dive Shop team from North Carolina for their trust in ScubaBiz.Help but most of all for the positive attitude, joyfull energy and great time we had during these days!

It was the last suprise act of the ScubaBiz.help team during the Special Bonaire Dive Week and we must conclude that it was indeed a VERY Special Dive Week.