January and February 2020
A few years ago we had some diving lessons from friends, which made us more interested in diving. However, it has not come to learning to dive earlier, but now that we are at Bonaire, where the water is super clear and the underwater world is beautiful, we would like to get our diving certificate. Most dive schools offer a three day course to achieve your PADI 'Open Water', but we prefer to get a little more attention and not rush this course. We are therefore looking for someone who can give us private lessons. We meet Alejandro Gutiérrez, who lives on his boat in the Bonaire Nautico Marina (which is the dinghy dock for the sailors). Alejandro comes from Colombia and has lived on Bonaire for over 10 years. He is not only a diving instructor, but also a professional underwater photographer and cave explorer. For more information we refer to his website: https://go-diving-bonaire.com/

During our first meeting, we immediately have a good feeling with Alejandro and we explain what we want. The first lesson consists of a short verbal explanation and then we get our diving equipment on. It is quite an ordeal to walk to the edge of the jetty and jump into the water with that heavy diving cylinder on your back. In shallow water he explains a few things and then takes us (by hand) to deeper water for a first introductory dive. We swim up to twelve meters along the reef and get to know the underwater world of Bonaire. What a fantastic experience! We feel as free as a fish in water. We will certainly continue with this! We agree when and how often we will dive and do the theory. We get a lot of information during the conversations and go through the theory together at home. There are several ways to get into the water and in the end we like one way best. Drop the dive bottle on the inflated vest into the water, jump into the water yourself and put the vest on. It's just a little trick, but you don't have to carry around heavy equipment.
But after a number of diving lessons I (Caroline) catch a cold and my nose is suddenly completely closed. My forehead cavities also seem to get clogged and despite the use of nasal spray everything remains completely blocked. Then it seems to go a bit better and we have another diving lesson. But as soon as I go deeper than ten feet, my head seems to explode. No, this is not going to be it and I will quit for that day. Fred and Alejandro then continue to dive together.
 
After a week it is not over yet and the complaints are getting worse and worse. My whole face hurts and I have a bad headache every day. So that will be a visit to a doctor.
To keep a long story short, just a summary. I have been sweet with this for a few weeks. Several visits to a doctor, who prescribed nasal sprays, antibiotics and eventually prednisone. All this did not yield the desired result and I was eventually referred to an ENT specialist. This doctor comes from Curacao and flies in once a week to hold consultation hours. Pictures were taken and an MRI scan because the medication still did not have the desired effect. My forehead cavities were completely closed and the ENT doctor prescribed a longer prednisone course. Finally this had a little more effect and after weeks I started to feel better again. Diving is not an option for me for the time being, first get better.
After so many courses, my resistance has taken a big dent and I have decided only to go diving again when my condition is a lot better. In the meantime, Fred has continued and even got the hang of it so much that he has now obtained his PADI for "Advanced Open Water". We are extremely satisfied with the way Alejandro has guided us both with the diving.
 
My time will come, for now we are still at Bonaire.