Immerse Yourself in the world ofTec Diving

BonaireTeK 2022
September 24 – October 1, 2022

Last year in October, Buddy Dive Resort teamed up once again with Buddy Dive Tek for the 10^th edition of BonaireTeK, an exciting week of technical dive demonstrations, presentations, and training and in 2022 we will do it all over again! We promise that this event will be inspirational, challenging, and fun for non-technical divers and technical divers alike. For divers that have not experienced Rebreather or Sidemount diving, free demos will be held and educational sessions by leading dive professionals will also be conducted throughout the week.

Are you an experienced Tec diver, just starting your journey as a technical diver? Or have no Tec experience yet and want to learn everything about tec diving so you can get the best out of your dives and create a new addiction? Join Your Buddies™ on Bonaire for BonaireTeK 2022!

Buddy Dive’s Tec Coordinator Mr. G about the 10^th Anniversary of BonaireTeK

Anniversaries are always special.  They are made to celebrate, to remember, to reflect back, and ultimately, to look towards the future.

BonaireTeK started as a very small gathering of passionate technical divers. These divers were looking for a new destination to explore while connecting with top technical industry leaders and instructors. Year after year, more people joined the event.  They came from different countries and continents, they were trained by different agencies, and they all had their own way of looking into the world of technical diving.

 It is hard to believe that we have hosted this event for 10 years already.  It is impressive to think back on all the things we have learned together, remembering all the people we have connected with, created friendships with, and the amazing dives we have made together. After 10 years of creating this technical community, we are looking forward to its future. Through continued innovation, we will keep providing and connecting this skilled community of divers to the elements in diving they are passionate about and trained to handle. By providing everything technical divers could need in one place, Buddy Dive Tek will continue to support these divers through the adventures they crave and the discoveries they wish to make, in a location and destination that is one of a kind.   

There is no doubt that BonaireTek is recognized as one of the most successful technical diver meetings in the world. I have been proud to be part of this from day one, and I am ready to take this event and its divers to the next level!  

See you all in October!

Mr. G

Special Guests of BonaireTeK 2021

Lamar Hires
Dive Rite

Dive Rite CEO, Lamar Hires started his diving career in North Florida in 1979. In 1984, the year Dive Rite was established, Lamar earned his open water instructor rating as well as his cave diving instructor rating. He has explored and mapped a number of cave systems in North Florida and around the world. Lamar’s motivation to explore and challenge himself has led to the development of several Dive Rite products and influenced diving techniques, such as sidemount diving. Along with exploration, Lamar has a passion for teaching and passing along his vast knowledge of diving. He actively teaches rebreather, sidemount, cave diving, and a variety of technical diving specialties. His involvement in the diving community has earned him numerous awards and recognitions.

Randy Thornton
SubGravity

Randy Thornton, organizer of TEKDiveUSA, is a CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer and CCR Cave Instructor and serves as a member the TDI Training Advisory Panel. Randy is the owner and CEO of Dive Addicts Inc. a full service dive shop located in Draper, Utah. Additionally, he is the owner of CCRX (CCRexplorers.com) internet forum, and is CEO of SubGravity, a cutting edge manufacturer and distributor of technical diving equipment.

As an instructor trainer and explorer, Randy travels extensively to remote locations around the world. He is possibly best known for his run in with a small North Atlantic Humpback whale (40 tons) that left him with a broken femur and 18 months on crutches!

Guy Shockey
GUE

Guy Shockey is an ex-military officer and former professional guide with a graduate degree in Political science. He first learned to dive in 1982 in the cold mountain lakes of Alberta, Canada, and has been involved with Global Underwater Explorers for the past 12 years. He is currently a full-time Instructor Evaluator for GUE and spends a good deal of his time traveling the globe and teaching both OC and CCR for GUE.

Guy loves to share his passion for exploration whether it be in the mountains or under the sea. Guy was one of the first instructors to require his technical diving students to take the Human Factors online mini-class as preparation for technical and instructor dive training.

Michael Menduno
GUE

Michael Menduno is the editor-in-chief for GUE’s Indepth and an award-winning reporter and technologist who has written about diving and diving technology for 30 years. He coined the term “technical diving.” His magazine aquaCORPS: The Journal for Technical Diving (1990-1996), helped usher tech diving into mainstream sports diving. He also produced the first Tek, EUROTek, and ASIATek conferences, and organized Rebreather Forums 1.0 and 2.0. In addition to his responsibilities at InDepth, Menduno is a contributing editor and writer for DAN Europe’s Alert Diver magazine, a contributing editor for X-Ray Magazine, a staff writer for DeeperBlue.com, and is on the board of the Historical Diving Society (USA).

Didier Draguiev
Azoth Systems

Didier is the Sales and Marketing Director of Azoth Systems; an engineering and service company specializing in hyperbaric exposure safety. It has designed and developed O’Dive PRO, a connected service for the safety of hyperbaric workers. The O’Dive solution is the fruit of ten years of research. The technology is patented and produced in France.

Didier Draguiev has been a dive instructor for 20 years and is an ex french navy diver and trainer.

Frauke Tillmans
DAN

Frauke Tillmans is the Research Director at Divers Alert Network (DAN). She has a degree in Human Biology and a PhD specializing in oxidative stress which is involved in acute diving injuries and may affect long term health of divers. Throughout her career she has participated in global collaborative projects covering decompression stress, inert gas narcosis, and oxygen toxicity. Before coming to DAN in 2019, Frauke conducted her research in the Experimental Medicine Section of the German Naval Medical Institute In addition to her research experience, Frauke is also an experienced public safety diver, scientific diving supervisor and dive safety officer and has recently discovered her passion for cave diving. Tillmans’ commitment to safety is apparent in almost every activity she pursues and when she is not diving or supervising researchers, Frauke is an active volunteer fire fighter who enjoys endurance and self-defense training.

Gabriel Pineda
Shearwater

Gabriel earned BSc in chemistry, BBA in International Business and MBA degrees from Harding University. He started diving in 1990 and is currently certified as a TDI advanced trimix diver and dives a rEvo CCR. Gabriel works as Shearwater’s Director of Sales and Marketing.

About Buddy Dive Tek:

Buddy Dive TeK opened its doors in 2007, with the mission to provide quality technical support and training to its customers and guests at Buddy Dive and on Bonaire. With the extensive knowledge and passion of German Arango ‘Mr. G.’ Buddy Dive TeK has grown into the largest technical diving facility in the Caribbean.

The Buddy Dive TeK team represents a wealth of technical knowledge and certifications from all fields of diving: GUE, NAUI, and PADI. With a fully operational tec support service; extensive equipment rental and technical training up to instructor level, including sidemount & trimix. Buddy Dive TeK offers everything needed.

The non-stop spirit of adventure and curiosity of the enthusiastic diving community worldwide keeps pushing the dive industry forward. It is our pleasure to ensure that we at Buddy Dive provide the latest in Technical Diving in a safe and friendly environment.