Diving Archives - Dutch Mermaid

Finding a dive buddy in Bonaire

February 28, 2019March 11, 2019 Rianne

The last few weeks several people have contacted me and asked me how you find a buddy on Bonaire…. Realizing this is a hot topic I decided to do a bit of research and contacted several dive shops on Bonaire for their input! After reading this article you’ll know exactly how to find a dive buddy on Bonaire. When you’re on your own on a boat dive, you often get paired with another “solo” diver or if everyone brought their friends with the dive guide. But that doesn’t really work…

PADI Sea Turtle Awareness Specialty in Bonaire

February 26, 2019February 26, 2019 Rianne

One of the most fun dive courses that I ever took was the “Sea Turtle Awareness Distinctive Specialty” with Dive Friends Bonaire. Together with PADI and the NGO Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire this specialty was designed in 2014 and it’s a great way to learn about Sea Turtles in Bonaire! Before I tell you more about the PADI specialty in detail I’d like to take a moment to emphasize on the collaboration between several parties in Bonaire to make this course the success it is. First of all there’s Dive…

VLOG: Scuba diving in Vilanculous – Mozambique

January 27, 2019February 9, 2019 Rianne

Wow! Only had time for 2 days of Scuba Diving in Vilanculous Mozambique and it was great. Check out all the awesome stuff that I saw. One of the dive sites we went to was Two Mile Reef. Two Mile Reef is an excellent dive site for all levels of divers. A barrier reef protecting a narrow channel between the sand dunes of Bazaruto Island and the white beaches of Benguerra Island. On this site you can expect to see the following sea life: Potato bass, Guitar fish, Devil ray, Manta ray,…

VLOG: Scuba Diving in Tofo – Mozambique

January 27, 2019January 27, 2019 Rianne

Had the pleasure of diving 5 days with Liquid Divers in Tofo, Mozambique. Tofo is famous for encounters with: whale sharks, manta rays, guitar sharks, sea horses, loggerhead turtles and big schools of jacks! Travel organised by: EWDR – Eigen Wijze Duikreizen Diveshop & accomodation: Liquid Dive Family https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv-CE8_57s8&t=62s

Scuba Diving in Buzios, Brazil

May 20, 2018December 31, 2018 Rianne

A few weeks ago I went diving with Buzios Divers in Buzios, Brazil. We made two amazing dives where we saw a bunch of turtles and beautiful soft corals. In the video you’ll get an impression of what’s it like to dive in Brazil. I’m surprised this dive spot is still a bit of a hidden gem as it’s truely great diving. I haven’t done any other diving in Brazil so I can’t compare within the country, but I’ve done a lot of diving all over the world and this…

Dive Against Debris Dive

November 19, 2017December 31, 2018 Rianne

Last week I successfully “fished” up around 19kg of fish nets, as well as another 1kg of random trash like electric wire, pcv pipe, bags and fish hooks. The dive I did this on was a “Dive against debris dive“. My dive buddy, Johnny, was doing the corresponding specialty; PADI Dive Against Debris. I’m an enormous fan of clean up dives. I did two in the past, one in Bonaire and one in Costa-Rica. Besides those dives, I usually dive with at least one knife and always take with me…

Liveaboard trip: Similan & Surin

November 18, 2017December 31, 2018 Rianne

Last week I was fortunate enough to enjoy my second ever liveaboard trip. Exactly a year ago I was cruising the Red Sea and this year I booked a 5 day / 5 night trip to the Similan and Surin Islands, located in the Andaman Sea in Thailand. They’re roughly 60 km from the coast of Khao Lak, which is where I boarded my liveaboard. The liveaboard – Manta Queen 7 Okay so first of all, I got super lucky….. again…. managed to score myself a private cabin! There was literally…

PADI Self Reliant Diver Course

November 9, 2017January 22, 2019 Rianne

Ever since I certified as a PADI Divemaster I’ve been developing an interest in solo diving. When I say this out loud, quite a few divers immediately will remind me that you’re always supposed to dive with this buddy. Whilst this was the popular opinion for a long time, views are changing on this matter. In fact, there’s a positive development towards educating divers how to dive responsible on their own. One of these ways to become more skilled and knowledge able about diving on your own is the PADI…

Scuba Dive Log – Varadero Cuba

May 18, 2017January 22, 2019 Rianne

After buying a dive package in my hotel it was time to go diving in Cuba! If you want to read more about pricing and organizing please read my post: Booking Scuba Diving in Varadero Cuba Dive day 1 – PB-383 & Reef At 8:45 I was picked up at my hotel by a lady wearing a Marlin Marina T-shirt. She collected my voucher, that I had gotten from the hotel tour operator desk and off we went to the marina! In the bus were several other divers that had…

Booking Scuba Diving in Varadero Cuba

May 18, 2017January 22, 2019 Rianne

Cuba has always been a country high on my bucket list. Not necessary because of the Scuba diving but mostly because of the rich history of the country. The people who have visited Cuba in general can be split in two groups of people, the haters and the lovers. When it comes to Scuba diving in Varadero, I think you’re dealing again with these two groups. At least after every immersion people either had a smile on their face or were highly disappointed. With all things in life I think…