Bonaire is a small island off the coast of Venezuela, a former Dutch possesion, and one of the "ABC" islands - Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. I was invited there by my good friend Derek van Bever for my first dive trip in November of 1991, and it's where I received my PADI certification. I'd studied some diving books prior to the trip but didn't take any courses. I was fortunate in that I was the only student at The Sand Dollar Condominium resort where we stayed, so it was just me and the instructor, enabling me to get my certification on just the third day after arrival. Each lesson was followed by a "tour of the reef" with the instructor; much better than learning in a cold pool back home!

I did a total of 10 dives in four days while there. The diving was easy and the convenience of being able to just grab a tank and jump off Sand Dollar's pier any time we wanted to was wonderful and unmatched by anything I've experienced elsewhere since. The Green Parrot, Sand Dollar's waterside café, open late at night, was a great thing too.

Bonaire has fabulous weather year-round and is a lovely place with excellent, easy, convenient diving. It has a jet airport and is easy to get to. Sand Dollar's reef is as good as any of the other sites around, there's no real need to take boat rides. The island does have a petty crime problem, however, so bewarned and keep your stuff locked up.

Here are my dive log entries for the trip. They're a bit sparse, I began adding more detail on later trips.