Bonaire has long been celebrated as the Caribbean’s shore-diving paradise, to the point of earning the nickname of the shore diving capital of the world. Recreational divers know the drill: load a pickup truck with tanks, follow the yellow-painted rocks that mark sites along the coastline, and step into warm, clear water. But here’s the question: Is this reputation overshadowing its potential as a world-class tech diving destination?
Quietly and steadily, Bonaire has been evolving, and tech divers are starting to notice. We caught up with Anouck, trimix instructor and tech diving coordinator at Buddy Dive Resort, to understand why this small Caribbean Island is increasingly on the radar for technical training and exploration.
What Makes Bonaire Unique for Tech Divers
Bonaire is a compact island of just 294 km² (114 sq.mi.) in the southern Caribbean Sea, approximately 80 km off Venezuela. Yet its underwater topography is anything but small. Few places in the region allow you to walk off the shore and find a wall dropping far beyond recreational limits. Bonaire does. In the north, divers can easily access depths of more than 100 m (330 ft.) straight from its rocky beach.
“The ease of finding the depths you need usually means you can keep the same plan for different spots”, Anouck explains. Combined with year-round favorable conditions — including warm water, visibility of over 30 m, and manageable currents — Bonaire makes diving at depth accessible without complicated logistics. Like if it wasn’t enough, “Everyone is amazed by the decompression,” Anouck adds. “There is always a reef around, so you won’t do any deco stop in the blue.”
When it comes to logistics, the island’s diver-focused infrastructure works just as well for both recreational and tech diving. Buddy Dive, for example, offers drive-through tank stations where trimix or oxygen tanks can be loaded into a pickup truck within minutes. Most divers opt for pickup trucks that they can rent directly at the dive centre, making the load-in and load-out of doubles, stage tanks, or CCR gear straightforward.
Finally, a solid medical safety net is available directly on the island with a modern hospital and a recompression chamber. Tech divers can embark on new challenges with peace of mind, should emergencies arise.
How the Local Dive Scene has Adapted for Tech Divers
Ten years ago, tech diving on Bonaire was still a relatively niche activity. Today, it’s supported by a dedicated ecosystem of instructors, operators, and facilities. Six dive centers now operate dedicated tech departments, operating specialized blending stations (including trimix and O₂ fills), providing CCR support (including sorb and scrubber materials), and offering an expanding rental fleet of specialized dive gear for technical diving.
“We keep, on average, two banks of 12 x 50 L tanks of helium and one bank of 12 x 50 L tanks of medicinal oxygen on hand,” Anouck says. That capacity means tech divers don’t have to worry about gas shortages — a comfort in a region where helium in particular can be scarce.
For instance, at Buddy Dive, the rental equipment stock includes double tanks, stage tanks, sidemount rigs, DPVs, and a full range of harnesses and wings. The tech team helps visiting divers test the equipment they are thinking about investing in. They can assemble different setups for them to see if it’s a good fit.
“We are slowly seeing a shift happening,” points out Anouck, “with the word about Bonaire’s technical diving potential becoming more known — especially among instructors looking for a location to conduct classes.”
Photo by Zin Ventro
The Sites that make Bonaire Worth it for Tech Divers
What sets Bonaire apart isn’t just the infrastructure, it’s the variety of sites that suit both tech training and serious exploration well beyond 40 m deep (130 ft.). The northwest coastline offers dramatic walls shaped by past volcanic activity. It’s the ideal spot for practicing extended range and trimix, thanks to its stepwise depth progression. Bonaire’s long reef lines create perfect environments for passing the DPV specialty, and its predictable conditions and multiple accessible depths make Sidemount and CCR skill development efficient.
“After completing training, divers often tell me: Now I want a reason to assemble and check all that gear,” Anouck shares. Bonaire provides that reason, with profiles ranging from 40 m down to more than 150 m (130 to 490 ft.), sometimes revealing entire second reef systems below 45 m (150 ft.).
Here are Anouck’s Top 5 Dive Sites for Tech Divers:
· Karpata (Northwest Coast): This dive site is famous for its dramatic reefscape, where sea turtles are a common sight in the shallows. While recreational divers usually hover around the first shallow part of the reef, tech divers can push much deeper—90 to 120 m (300-400 ft.) and beyond—into a volcanic seascape carved into ridges and slopes. The northern walls here drop off to more than 200 m deep (660 ft.), offering a true sense of bottomless exploration. The combination of easy shore access and staggering depth makes it one of the island’s most versatile dive sites for advanced profiles.
· Red Slave (Southern Tip): Bonaire’s southernmost diving area is where history and challenging conditions meet along progressive slopes. More than ten massive anchors dating back to the salt trade of the 1700s and 1800s are scattered along the reef, most resting between 40 and 60 m deep (130-200 ft.), with some as deep as 130 m. Strong and unpredictable currents make careful planning important. However, the reward is worth it: pristine second-reef systems at depths of 40–45 m (130-150 ft.) and 60–65 m deep (200-220 ft.), where marine life thrives, including spotted eagle rays.
· Tailor Made (Northwest Coast): It’s one of Bonaire’s “secret” sites, as it is not marked by a yellow stone nor listed on standard dive maps; it’s a place for those in the know. Tech divers come here for the pristine reef located at a depth of 120 m (400 ft.). Although you can reach it from shore, it’s usually easier to take a boat because of the heavy equipment needed. It is the perfect example of what makes Bonaire so special for tech divers: the opportunity to explore rarely visited, deep-water ecosystems where coral growth remains largely untouched.
· Munk’s Haven (Klein Bonaire Island): Just a short five-minute boat ride from Bonaire’s west coast, its tiny sister island offers an entirely separate second reef system lying between 50 and 80 m deep (160-270 ft.). Located on the northwestern edge of Klein Island, this dive site is not often visited compared to Bonaire’s popular shore sites. Diving here offers the experience of entering a hidden world, featuring layered coral formations and cleaning stations for large groupers. This site is a must-visit for divers seeking depth and a more tranquil experience away from the crowds.
· Windjammer shipwreck (Northwest Coast): For wreck lovers, the Windjammer is the crown jewel of Bonaire’s technical diving. Officially named Mairi Bhan, this three-masted clipper struck a reef in 1908 while transporting tar and asphalt, but it only sank in 1912 when it was hit by a storm. Today, she rests on her starboard side at a depth of 60 m (200 ft.), with her steel framework and two standing masts still intact. The wreck is surrounded by excellent visibility and often swept by strong currents, which, together with the temptation to penetrate or extend bottom time, make it a dive suited only for well-prepared tech divers. Many consider it a bucket-list dive—not only for its rarity as a deep sailing shipwreck, but also for the ghost stories that surround it. Decompression stops here are especially scenic, as they take place over one of Bonaire’s most beautiful reefs. Currently, access is only possible by boat due to restrictions at the shoreline entry point, although this may change in the future.
Beyond the west coast, the east side of the island remains largely unexplored. With sandy flats, rougher seas, and frequent wind, Anouck suspects more shipwrecks lie hidden there, waiting for adventurous tech divers to organize an expedition.
The Challenges that Shape Better Tech Divers
Bonaire may offer calm seas and no hurricane season, but that doesn’t mean it’s challenge-free. Currents, though often mild, can turn suddenly, especially in the south of the island. At Red Slave, Anouck recalls a dive with DPVs:
“I looked over to the reef and noticed that even though the DPVs were set to full power, we were not moving forward. That resulted in an interesting dive back to the entry point.”
While freedom of shore diving by loading gear into a pickup and diving independently feels like a luxury, carrying CCR units and multiple stages over rocky shorelines or down staircases from your parking spot can be physically demanding. Extreme-depth dives with heavy equipment may be easier by boat — but not impossible from shore for those willing to plan carefully.
These logistical and environmental realities make Bonaire an excellent training ground. They demand precise planning, bailout readiness, and situational awareness — fundamentals for any serious tech diver.
The Evolution of Bonaire’s Tech Dive Scene
In the last decade, Bonaire has shifted from being seen almost exclusively as a recreational destination to building recognition in global tech diving circles. What was once the domain of a handful of passionate tech instructors has now become a growing community of CCR divers, explorers, and professional operators, putting the island on the global tech map.
“The biggest change we’ve seen in the last 10 years,” says Anouck, “has been the steady increase in rebreather divers coming to the island.”
---
Florine Quirion is a writer, underwater photographer, and dive travel blogger at World Adventure Divers. She dives in tropical to extreme cold waters and selects destinations where adventurous diving and cultural discoveries are a part of the journey.
Pictures courtesy of Buddy Dive Resort, Bonaire
