Maria Varela Put
Een Spaanse vader en een Nederlandse moeder: Maria is een mix van passie voor de oceaan gecombineerd met een no-nonsense benadering. Vanuit een diepe liefde voor duiken, is zij meer dan bereid om al haar kennis en vaardigheden te delen om jouw persoonlijke duikervaring te verbeteren. Vol enthousiasme deelt zij de schoonheid en de rust die uitgaat van de onderwater schatten van Bonaire met jou.
Na duiktraining in Turkije en Nederland is zij nu verslaafd aan de heldere, warme wateren rond Bonaire, de overvloed aan onderwater leven en de relaxte atmosfeer: duiken waar en wanneer je wilt!
PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer
Phone: +599 785 8358
Email: maria@divedivabonaire.com
Dive Diva Bonaire in socials:
Testimonials
Maria at Dive Diva Bonaire is truly a passionate instructor and and expert on Bonaire diving. With an emphasis on safety, skill development and knowledge of the reefs of the island, she was very helpful to me in fine-tuning my buoyancy and underwater photography. Maria took the time to thoroughly explain and demonstrate the techniques I wanted to work on. She took videos of me as I performed the exercises and sent them to me with commentary. I highly recommend Dive Diva!
In June'23 I went with Maria on a (one-on-one) scuba dive tour where we did two amazing dives in Bonaire (Invisibles & Salt Pier).
The sites were incredible; we saw lots of beautiful coral, fish (incl barracuda) and even a turtle and spotted eagle ray - truly great!
Maria is a great experienced guide & diver, easy-going, willing to help and listen to your needs and wishes to ensure a great experience. As a diver with limited experience myself, the one-on-one experience really made me enjoy the dives a lot more compared to guided tours with large(r) groups. Can definitely recommend Maria / dive diva, 100%
My daughter and I had a fantastic time diving with Maria. My daughter did her discover dive course and then we went on two great dives, including to the Salt Pier where we saw lots of turtles and some seahorses, amongst all the other fish. Maria is a great guide and instructor and made my daughter feel very comfortable. I highly recommend Dive Diva Bonaire.
Great job
Maria is the best dive guide we’ve ever had. Not just that. She’s not just a dive guide, she is also snorkelling guide, tourist guide, Bonaire guide. She is a friend you want to have when coming in to a new place. Her personal attitude, her patient and her enthusiasm is amazing. Not just a dive center, where you are one of many. When you are beginner diver or something between, want to know more than just good dive spots, want to see more of Bonaire than just underwater life, she is the one you need! Although she doesn’t have her own store, everything is well prepared and organized. It fits your style and needs. Because of her, our stay on Bonaire was unforgettable. Thank you Maria again for everything. For us, common dive center can hardly compete to you. Keep your way, it’s the right way!
Excellent instructor! Had a lot of fun getting my certification with Maria.
Maria is a wonderful and knowledgeable guide for the best diving on Bonaire! Not only is she very professional and safety-minded, she is so passionate about the underwater world and you can really see her shine when she is teaching and guiding divers. Maria is amazing! 
Maria was very kind and relaxed, so the first dive for my husband was a wunderfull experience. When you would like to try sometime go to Dive Diva Bonaire — met Mandy Gaillard.
I have been diving with Maria she is so professional and very comfortable to speak to and helped my son to do his first ever dive now he has completed his open water certificate a big thank you from colin and Kieran
My husband and a great friend of ours did the discovery dive and Maria was amazing. My husband ended up not going for the dive and she was very patient and tried to help as much as possible to get him to be comfortable in the water. With our dive she did a lot of one-on-one with each of us, pointing out the amazing sea life that we could have otherwise missed. She was very informative as well, teaching us about coral, fish, and the conservation efforts of the island. Plus we got some awesome pictures from the photographer that dove with us. I would highly recommend her, it was basically a private lesson for the price of a group rate, and she's got a pretty good funny bone on her too!
Wonderful experience, A+ guided dives
My wife and I are experienced divers in tropical waters having dived literally all around the world. Bonaire is our favourite dive location and have spent many wonderful weeks diving the amazing waters, enjoying the freedom of self-guided diving. Now we haven't dived with a guide for a long time, preferring the freedom to take our time to get the photos we want, rather than being dragged along with a large group. We were very pleasantly surprised and really glad we made the booking with Dive Diva. Firstly, my wife loved the company name, being a bit of a diva herself, and when we met Maria our guide, we laughed to find someone else who shares my wife's obsession with pink diving kit! We felt in no way hurried either in or out of the water, Maria adapting to our pace and made the whole diving experience so relaxing. It was really nice to have the pressure of navigation taken away and we both later commented that safety was obviously our guides' first objective but this never reduced our enjoyment and made us feel very reassured. The whole experience was an excellent one, and to my personal surprise I will not hesitate to hire a guide again, especially Maria who was awesome. Probably needless to say.... we find seahorses and many, many more amazing marine life that we would have otherwise not found. Highly recommended.
Maria is a trusthworthy professional in the dive business, with eye for detail and the flexibility to adjust to customers' preferences, skills and with a solid experience on Bonaire's extensive reefs. I would wholeheartedly recommend her as an instructor for training and as a skilled dive guide. And even more importantly, she is great to be around with too!
Memorable dive experience with Maria
Together with my son (12 years old) I had my first dive experience with Maria. She explained everything very clearly and we enjoyed our dive to the fullest. Due to her relaxed attitude both of us felt at ease and we enjoyed the amazing under water world of Bonaire. Maria her expertise about all the different fish and corals was impressive.
Awesome ostracod nightdive and great experience with Maria.
Exactly 45 minutes after sunset, we must be on the reef. We arrived at 8 m. and we turned out out light. We can see each others silhouettes. As you move your hands you see light flashes. I look around and see thousands of small lights coming out of the corral wherever you look. Don't miss a ostrocod dive with Maria!
A big thank you to Maria for such a fantastic ostracod night dive.
Open Water Diver Course
My son and I have obtained our diving license at Dive Diva Bonaire. Maria taught us to dive in a fun and safe way with her passion, experience and knowledge.
We are grateful to Maria for this wonderful experience. We can therefore recommend Dive Diva Bonaire to everyone because of the personal approach and professional guidance of Maria.
