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After an intense but successful eight-day IDC, the PADI Instructor Examination took place on June 16th and 17th. This was a time for all participants to be nervous, as Gary Newman, from PADI North America, was present to judge their general watermanship and diving skills, their academic knowledge, and the teaching presentations in the classroom as well as in confined and open water environments. Most did quite well and passed all exams and there are now new instructors in the PADI family!

Congratulations to Mary Lou, Lauren, Rychelle, and Robert! Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a small party, hosted by Annemieke and René at the Lizard Inn. Hitting the spot were the chocolate cake, sodas, beer, and snacks!

On Saturday, May 22, 2010, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire hosted an underwater cleanup at Lac Bay to clearn away underwater obstructions such as fishing lines, nets, or hooks, to keep Bonaire's turtles safe from drowning hazards. And Dive Friends Bonaire was there on the beach contributing tanks for all the divers! Pictured here are just two of the volunteers, Tom and Jean Turcic, with some of the hazards brought up by the ten divers cleaning up!

On Saturday, April 10, 2010, Bonaire experienced some cloudy skies, but that did not keep an enthusiastic group of divers and snorkelers from cleaning up the shallows of Bonaire's Cha-Cha-Cha Beach. All worked together as a team to remove trash from this area.  Learn more.

Dive Friends Bonaire is pleased to announce its next Instructor Development Course will be held this coming June, with the PADI Instructor Exam following immediately. For those who would like to go to the next level with their diving career, this is the time to do it! The IDC will take advantage of the new flexible curriculum, including the new E-Learning option. Learn more.

Dive Friends Bonaire is pleased to announce the appointment of a new manager for their dive operations department. Effective immediately, Pascal de Meyer will begin as Manager of Dive Operations. Pascal has many years of experience in diving operations around the world and on Bonaire, where he has been working within the local dive industry for nearly twenty years. He joined Dive Friends Bonaire after Yellow Submarine and Photo Tours Divers, of which he was an owner, merged in 2005, and he has been actively working as Retail Manager since that time. Dive Friends Bonaire has every confidence that Pascal will continue the company's mission to provide Bonaire's friendliest dive operation while maintaining the highest of standards.

This past December the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester New York partnered with the Aquatic Center of Rochester New York, CIEE Research Station in Bonaire and Dive Friends-Yellow Submarine Dive Shop of Bonaire to create a study abroad opportunity for students in Advanced Underwater Imaging. Therese Mulligan, the Chair of the Photographic Arts Programs in the School of Photographic Arts and Science, Malcolm Spaull Chair of the Film and Animation School along with faculty member Nanette Salvaggio and PADI MSDT & adjunct faculty member Rene Piccarreto developed the course over the previous year. Mr. Piccarreto had previously developed a course for the Film and Animation School in Underwater Cinematography and a course for the Photographic Arts Program in Underwater Digital Photography. Eight excited students traveled to Bonaire to complete the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Certification, Enriched Air Specialty and a multimedia underwater project. Students from film, photo and science majors worked in 2 teams to complete the project. One highlight of the trip was a New Years Eve/New Years Day dive to celebrate the arrival of 2010. The next class is scheduled for December 2010.

Dive Friends Bonaire has recently upgraded two of its facilities with a full line of equipment from either SCUBAPRO or Mares. All are invited to stop in to see the latest offerings from these manufacturers, and the knowledgeable dive crew at either Dive Friends facility can assist with making important decisions about equipment. Learn More.

Dive Friends Bonaire has been designated as Bonaire's first CoralWatch facility. Click here for more information and to find out how you can make a difference and help save the world's coral reefs!

Dive Friends Bonaire is named a PADI Five Star Gold Palm Instructor Development Center, and we're holding our first IDC this November! Learn more. If you're interested in attending this IDC, click here for more information. We look forward to welcoming you!

Summer's Underwater Cleanup Yields Lots of Trash! Learn more.

Meet Dive Friends Bonaire at Facebook. Join us now on Facebook and stay in contact with our crew and other divers! Visit us by clicking here.

In June, Dive Friends Bonaire upgraded our vehicle fleet with our SECOND new leased pickup truck. And yes, once again in a bright, shiny blue! The DFB colors of yellow, blue, and red look wonderful against the blue paint.

Dive Friends Bonaire announces special diving activities and week-long dive packages for the upcoming coral spawning season in September and October, 2009. Learn more.

It was just one short year ago that Dive Friends Bonaire opened their fourth dive facility on Bonaire at Dive Inn, and, to celebrate their first year at this location, Dive Friends Bonaire is offering a First Anniversary Shore Diving Sale. Learn more.

Dive Friends Bonaire just took delivery on a new leased pickup truck, in a bright, shiny blue! The DFB colors of yellow, blue, and red look wonderful against the blue paint.

Dive Friends will also be taking delivery of a second, new DFB-mobile in about five more months. The company continues to strive to keeping their equipment state-of-the-art and up-to-date.

Dive Friends Bonaire just returned from a visit to Holland for the Duikvaker diving show. Attending from Dive Friends were Gerrie and Angela, and many friends and customers came by the show just to say hello and get the latest news from Bonaire.

The crew will also be attending the upcoming ITB in Berlin, Germany on March 12 and 13, 2009, so any friends in Germany are welcome to stop by and say hello.

Dive Friends Bonaire Announces New Services and Enhancements for 2009. Learn more.

Final 2008 Underwater Cleanup Marks Tenth Anniversary. Learn more.

 

Lucky Dive Friends customers and staff enjoyed a rollicking adventure swimming with a pod of 150 (or more!) Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins today. The pod of dolphins swarmed around the boat, Kleine Sub, while staff and visitors alike snapped photographs.

Third Quarterly Underwater Cleanup Focuses Upon Bonaire’s South Pier (Customs Pier). Learn more.

Dive Friends just announced their new baggage rebate program, to help divers defray the rising costs of getting to Bonaire. Learn more.

Recently, retail sales assistant, Mary Frans, celebrated her 20th anniversary at the Dive Friends retail stores. Dive Friends owners and management congratulated her on her loyal length of service. Learn more.

Last night, Dive Friends Bonaire celebrated with customers and on-island friends, as we officially "cut the ribbon" opening the new Dive Friends @ Dive Inn location, our fourth dive facility on Bonaire! Learn more.

We're very excited to announce the Dive Inn has just become the fourth location of Dive Friends on Bonaire! We're working right now to outfit it to Dive Friends' normal standards, and the facility will re-open on April 1st with a huge, two-day, used-gear-sale. On April 3rd, it will be "business as normal." During May and June, Dive Friends' customers can take advantage of the Opening Special. Learn more.

On February 9 and 10, 2007, Dive Friends Bonaire will attend the Duikvaker in cooperation with Bonaire Fun Travel and Diving Adventures. Please come and visit us at the booth of Bonaire Fun Travel or at the booth at Diving Adventures. We hope to see you there.

2008 Underwater Cleanups Begin with Kralendijk’s Oceanside Promenade at Kas di Regatta. Learn more.

Dive Friends Bonaire renovates its boat fleet. Learn more.

As announced earlier, Dive Friends has completed another Nitrox installation. This now means that the free upgrade to Nitrox is available at all Dive Friends locations. Learn more.

Please join us in welcoming new staff to the Dive Friends family. We heartily welcome Dick, a divemaster in training, Kees, a divemaster, and Asko, a dive instructor. Learn more

Final Quarterly Underwater Cleanup Held in Conjunction with World Cleanup Day, Learn more

Dive Friends Bonaire welcomes Frederique Schreurs as a new dive master at Dive Friends. Frederique is from Holland, and she has already been living on Bonaire for the past year, along with her husband and two children. Please join us in welcoming Frederique!

Dive Friends Bonaire has received new 2007/2008 equipment inventory, and therefore has lots of second-hand equipment to sell. There'll be a large sale of BDCs, wetsuits, and regulators the morning of September 15th, 2007, but those who wish to come and take a look before that time are welcome to do so.

Dive Friends Bonaire announces specially guided night dives during the upcoming coral spawning season. Learn more

Third Quarterly Bonaire Clean Up Dive of 2007 Proves to Be One of the Most Popular with Tourists and Residents Alike. Learn more

Dive Friends Bonaire announces new boat schedule--Two-tank boat dives will depart daily at 9:00 AM and One-tank boat dives will depart daily at 2:00 PM

Dive Friends Bonaire premieres the first issue of its new newsletter, Splash. Learn more

Dive Friends Bonaire has ordered an additional Nitrox installation, which will be installed by October 1, 2007. This will mean that the free upgrade to Nitrox will be available at locations at that time!

Dive Friends Bonaire Hosts Ninth Bonaire Web Cam at their Kralendijk facility. Learn more

World Ocean Day is June 8, 2007, and Dive Friends is offering a free buoyancy clinic and rum punch happy hour to celebrate. Focus will be on how divers can help keep the oceans healthy. Learn more

On Saturday, April 14, 2007, a group of divers and snorkelers consisting mainly of tourists with some Bonaire residents met at the Dive Friends Bonaire location at Port Bonaire to clean this area underwater, which had never been cleaned before. Learn more

Dive Friends will be celebrating with the entire island on April 30, 2007--Queens Day and Rincon Day. Join us for special events including morning dives and an afternoon/evening excursion to Rincon for the street fair. Learn more

On January 13th, Dive Friends Bonaire and NetTech launched the year's quarterly cleanup dives with an enthusiastic group of about 40 divers and snorkelers. This cleanup dive yielded some very unusual trash! Learn more

On February 10 and 11, 2007, Dive Friends Bonaire will attend the Duikvaker in cooperation with Bonaire Fun Travel and Diving Adventures. Please come and visit us at the booth of Bonaire Fun Travel or at the booth at Diving Adventures. We hope to see you there.

Effective January 1st, 2007, Dive Friends Bonaire offers a FREE Discover Scuba in the swimming pool at our location at Port Bonaire. During the day there is an instructor available to help the guests. This new service will introduce you or other family members to the joys of breathing underwater and is only available at the Port Bonaire facility.

This past November, all rental equipment was replaced with all new gear--wetsuits, regulators, BCDs, booties and open heel fins--and therefore, the third week in December, Dive Friends will hold its annual Used Gear Sale. Stop in now for the best selection of used wetsuits, BCDs, regulators, and open-heel fins.

Dive Friends welcomes Jo Wagenaar from The Netherlands as a new boat captain at Dive Friends. Jo and his wife recently relocated to Bonaire, and you can enjoy Jo's company on boat dives Wednesday through Monday on two-tank dives in the morning and a one-tank dive in the afternoon (minimum of four). Please join us in welcoming Jo!

Yellow Submarine, NetTech, and PSI/Sherwood Scuba host the quarterly underwater cleanup. Lean more

Yellow Submarine, NetTech, and PSI/Sherwood Scuba host the quarterly underwater cleanup. Lean more

Yellow Submarine, NetTech, and PSI/Sherwood Scuba host the quarterly underwater cleanup. Lean more

Photo Tours Divers at Caribbean Court moves to Port Bonaire. Learn more

Dive Friends Bonaire visits Duikvaker 2006. Learn more

Dive Friends Bonaire will be represented at Duikvaker, a trade show in Utrecht, The Netherlands, to be held from 4-7 February 2006. You can find us in the BONHATA booth at the "Caribbean Plein." Come and visit, there are great prizes to be won!!

Photo Tours Divers and Bonaire Yellow Submarine Voted Dive Operation of the Year for the Second Consecutive Year. Learn more

Yellow Submarine, NetTech, and PSI/Sherwood Scuba host the quarterly underwater cleanup. Lean more

Did you know that Yellow Submarine Reef is ranked 9th on REEF's list of Western Atlantic most found species? In December, 2005, the Bonaire REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) Chapter recorded its 10,000th fish survey. To commemorate the distinction of reaching this milestone, the local REEF Field Station, Dive Friends Bonaire's own Yellow Submarine Dive Shop sponsored a REEF dive at Yellow Submarine Reef Dive Site. All REEF members were invited. On this single dive the group counted 136 species of fish. Prizes were given for Most Found Species, and Most Exotic/Unusual Species. Participants received a Bonaire Marine Park Volunteer T-shirt from the Marine Park Manager, in recognition of their efforts. All prizes and give-aways were provided by Dive Friends Bonaire/Yellow Submarine.

Join us for the Dive Friends’ Rum Punch Party! Meet our staff and your fellow divers! Every Monday from 5:30 to 6:30 PM on the pier at Yellow Submarine (Kaya Playa Lechi 24); everybody is welcome.

Bon Bini na Boneiru! This year Bonaire will be visited by three more cruise ships than last year, one of them being the Sea Princess. Dive Friends Bonaire hopes to be able to show more people our beautiful reefs and make more people aware of how precious is this inheritance.

Dive Friends Bonaire made New Year’s Eve a very special one; several dive guests and crew members went out on the boat to Eden Beach to watch the beautiful fire works. Imagine being on a boat on a tropical night with friends, champagne, and fireworks….hmmmmm, who wouldn’t dream of that?

At the annual Christmas Party, Dive Friend’s management broke some good news: The company has been growing steadily and still is, so we’d like to thank all our clients for supporting us over the past few years!

Finally, Photo Tours Divers at Hamlet is "back to normal" again. After moving from the road side of the Kaya Gob. Debrot directly to the waterfront just 100 meters farther down, we are back on electricity and water supply and the office has been "dolled up." So, now we’re fully up and running again to provide our clients with the best service ever! Divers registered with us can still pick up and drop off tanks at any of our 3 locations and we are currently working on providing nitrox at all 3 locations, too. The upgrade to nitrox is still free at the Port Bonaire location.

Our new Dive Friends Bonaire Web site is starting to pay off--in November, 2005, the site received more than 73,000 hits!

Due to recent growth to Dive Friends Bonaire, some changes have taken place within the organization. Beginning January 1, 2006, Pascal de Meyer, a Director of Dive Friends Bonaire, will be concentrating on developing the retail aspects of the company with the Photo Tours Dive Shop and Discount Divers, both located on Kaya Grandi in Kralendijk. He can be reached via telephone 717-3911 or email at pascal@dive-friends-bonaire.com His former tasks concerning marketing and communications of the dive operations will be handled by Catherine Gilmore, stationed at the Dive Friends shop at hamlet, where she’ll be happy to assist you with all marketing related issue, and can be reached via telephone 717-2524, email info@dive-friends-bonaire.com. Gerrie F will continue to oversee all 4 dive operations and can be reached at 717-2929 or gerrie@dive-friends-bonaire.com

New nitrox installation is complete; Kai Behrend visits from Germany to assist with the installation and train all staff to properly mix nitrox and teach nitrox courses. Beginning October 1, 2005, all visitors who book a consecutive six-day dive package will receive a free upgrade to 32% nitrox (maximum 3 tanks per day, Port Bonaire location only). For all other locations, the upgrade is $41.00 per person per week.

Visit Dive Friends Bonaire at DEMA, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA from October 4-7, 2005.

Yellow Submarine and NetTech host the quarterly underwater cleanup. Lean more

Yellow Submarine hosts group from REEF. Learn more

Become a Divemaster in 6 weeks! If you are willing and able to work, we offer you this course free of costs; you pay only for the books. You can take this course after you have reached the level of a Rescue Diver (other prerequisites to apply--check with Dive Friends for all requirements), and this course will teach you to assist student divers, perform guided dives, and assist on boat dives. Learn more

Yellow Submarine and NetTech host the quarterly underwater cleanup. Learn more