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André Nahr
Born on Curaçao, André went to Amsterdam
after finishing high school, to study geology. At least
that's what his parents thought, but André had different
priorities and started organizing dive trips for his fellow
students. He has worked in the dive industry ever since.
He started his own dive shop at Sand Dollar and made it
the biggest on the island. In 1999, the waves of Lenny washed
it all in the "big sink", but André started
it over again. Like a Phoenix, Bonaire Dive and Adventure
rose from the ashes and André and his staff work
on bringing it back to its former size.
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| Joan
Obispo
The first person you will be likely to see when you enter
our dive shop will be Bonaire born Joan. Joan and Erika help
with the check in procedures and together with Enid, they
are the heart of the dive shop. Joan may work behind the desk
all day, but her daily workouts in the gym keep her in shape.
She has been with us since the restart of the dive shop and
will be an important source of information for you. |
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Catherine Gilmore
She was born and raised in Holland where she studied
Hotel Business. In Cape Town, South Africa where she lived
for 7 years, she and her husband run a safari company before
they went to the French Riviera. In 2004 she decided
to come to Bonaire and got her dive instructor training. Building
a house here interrupted her new career, but now the house
is finished she picked it up again at Bonaire Dive & Adventure
and is Andre's assisitant manager. |
| Enid
Semeleer
The "mother" of our dive shop usually works
in the back-office. When Joan and Erika are not there, Enid
takes charge of their duties as well. In the evenings she
helps her husband in his bakery. Enid is one of our authentic
Bonairians. |
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Jerry Ligon
Originally a mountain goat and biology teacher from
Colorado, our in-house naturalist,
Jerry Ligon, has been on Bonaire for more than 16 years.
He knows all the birds and fish on Bonaire and shares his
knowledge as enthusiastically as when he first started here.
Jerry has designed a programme called "Dive with The
Naturalist" in which the diver/snorkeler learns about
the behaviour of fish and creatures on the reef. Monthy
articles written by Jerry can be found on the Naturalist
webpage
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| Dianna
Rybak
Pretty early in life, people have to make choices. Thinking
that you cannot have it all, Canadian Dianna had to choose
between music and biology. For the first 20 years of her working
life she chose music: she worked in the music industry and
played in an all girls band writing her own music. But a couple
of years ago she found out that sometimes you can have it
all in your life if you really put your mind to it. Now Dianna
is a dive instructor and after working in Aruba for one year
she came to Bonaire Dive & Adventure to learn from Jerry
Ligon how to become a naturalist specializing in marine biology.
Later she is planning on picking up the music again. |
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Waldo Wolff
Waldo came to Bonaire to get away from the Dutch winter.
The plan was to do nothing for half a year, and go back to
Holland were he had been working as a sports instructor. Waldo
likes changes, and the plan to do nothing did not work out.
He found out he could teach aerobics on the island, and stayed.
He started working in the activity center of neighboring Buddy
Dive and then decided to come to Bonaire Dive & Adventure
where he is doing a wide variety of activities like caving,
kayaking, cycling and teaching scuba diving. |
Marijke Wilhelmus
The word globetrotter was invented for this Dutch lady. When
she was eight she thought it was time to get away from home
and she told her parents she would be away for a week. She never
got homesick. Later, when she was 21 she went to India with
a girlfriend, hitchhiking all the way. She lived all over the
world, in far away places like Scotland, Fiji and Vanuatu. Marijke
loves variation in her life, that is why she is a nurse, a web
designer and much more. Even a dive instructor. |
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Michael LaFortune
Michael grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
In 2000 he started diving and four years later became an instructor.
In combination with traveling around the world, he has seen
and dove extensively in over twenty eight countries including
the Caribbean, Central America, Australia and Thailand. A
fortunate opportunity occurred when he got to work in an underwater
photo shop and combined with a background in theatre, writing
and art, his passion for photography has expanded to film
and videography. He is also an avid backpacker, mountain biker,
mountain climber and backcountry skier. Michael has been on
Bonaire for 6 years. |
Bart Tholen
Bart was born in the tiny village of Knegsel in Holland .He got his first dive certificate at the age of 15. After that you could either find him at work or underwater.
For no particular reason Bart wanted to go abroad for many years. Luckily Bonaire found him or he found Bonaire…. You can find him at Bonaire Dive & Adventure teaching, guiding dives or repairing equipment. |
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Henk Sanders
When he lived in Holland, Henk was a thrill seeker. In 1975
he became the Dutch champion in 500 cc motorcycle racing.
After leaving Holland "cave man" Henk slowed down
and spent his first two and a half years on the island hiking
and looking for caves. He found over 200 of them and now
takes you to the most beautiful ones. He is a government
certified tour guide and a dive instructor. |
