Back to Bonaire 2026

July 18 to 25, 2026

45 years later…

The history of me, Ed Tiedemann, and Bonaire is very special one. Since starting our school in 1969, I had been running group trips. Group trips are great. Making new friends, sharing diving adventures, and I loved doing it. My trips at that time were simple - Florida Keyes the end of May and the Florida Springs in January. The trips worked well for my students most of which were college students.

Then there was Jeanne. Jeanne, my wife, and I met in 1980. Jeanne was a world traveler. Her family loves to travel and they had been all over the world. Jeanne had even lived in Europe for a year. She joined me on my May 1980 trip to the Florida Keyes. Running trips  was an important part of my business. At this point my trips were all about Florida. That was about to change.

Jeanne had, on one of her past trips, gone to Bonaire. I had heard of Bonaire but did not know much about it. I knew it had great diving, not much more. Research showed that this was an island that seemed to be made for divers. Boat or beach diving, this island had it all.

So a trip was planned for January 1981. I was not sure if it would work. I was not sure if anyone would signup. Normally, January was for diving in the Florida Springs. Now I was planning something completely different. I had done a bit of diving in the islands on my own with friends but never had I taken a group anywhere other than Florida.

Jeanne planned the trip. I was going to run the trip. I presented the details to our dive club “The Long Island Groupers” at that time. It filled up in a few days.Thus began the wonderful trips that we would run all over the world.

Jeanne, an expert in dive travel, would go on to set up and run these

trips. Over the years we have had trips to the Caribbean, Mexico,

South America, and the Pacific. Great diving adventures in the company of divers we have trained and met over the years.

In April 1882 Jeanne and I would open Tiedemann’s Diving Center. This became the center for all our diving activities. Teaching, equipment sales, equipment maintenance and repair, and dive travel. The year 2026 will be our 57 year in business, and the 44th year of our dive shop. I can not count the number of times we have gone to Bonaire.

Our trips over the years have been great experiences. We keep going back to some islands because the diving is great and we always have great time. When I think of islands I want to go to again, Bonaire is first on my list. So that is what I am doing. In July 2026 I will be running, with the help of Mary Davis, another great trip to Bonaire. We will be going to the resort that started it all, Divi Flamingo Beach Resort.

Check out the flyer with all the details, perhaps you would like to join us...

Bonaire Flyer 2026