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
Personal. Professional. Perfect.
2 great dives today. you don't need to shop around for a great instructor and personal guide. Maria will do you proud. don't think about it just get booked in before she gets booked up.
kind regards. Jonny and Debbi. Marine Divers Cyprus.
Dankbaar en blij!!
In augustus 2019 hebben wij voor het eerst kennisgemaakt met Maria en hebben wij onze Padi Open Water bij haar mogen behalen. Een ontzettende fijne ervaring hebben wij eraan overgehouden en wat een geduld heeft Maria gehad met ons in het water. Het vertrouwen dat zij geeft en heeft in ons in het water, maakt dat de angst voor sommige oefeningen verdwijnt en zelf met vertrouwen door het water zwemt. Januari 2020 hebben wij gedoken met Maria en onze Padi Advanced Open Water mogen behalen! We kijken nu al uit naar onze volgende vakantie op Bonaire want ook dan zullen we weer gaan duiken met Maria!
January 2020
The best way to dive is with the Diva!!
She is the best to learn how to dive with or to go for extra dive courses or to do a discover dive!
The greatest thing is that she does not do it in huge groups like some places do and she manages her own time so you are not stuck with office hours from normal dive shops. She is very friendly and helpful. She explains everything very well and makes diving an unforgettable and fun experience. I did my open water course with her and with my family a discover scuba dive. I can't wait to do my advanced dive course with her!!!
September 2019

Diving with Maria
Made 4 excellent dives with Maria. She knows all the diving sites and depending on the weather makes the right decision where to go to. Also supplies good diving equipment via VIP Diving. A real recommendation!
January 2020
Diving with the dive Diva
It was great fun to have a guided dive with dive Diva Maria. She picked me up at my apartment and brought me home again. Great service! In between we had 2x2 tank dives on 4 different locations. She choose beautiful dive spots and was an excellent Guide. She took her underwater camera along and made some beautiful pictures from the underwater life on the reef and from me too. Because Bonaire was new to me she pointed out the other nice dive and snorkel spots too. Great memories! It was awesome!
January 2020
Best dive guide on Bonaire!
Maria was an absolutely fantastic dive guide. She came to where we were staying prior to our dive to get to know us, our dive skill levels and what we were hoping to get out of our dives with her in Bonaire. When we went on dives with her, she picked us up and dropped us off right from our unit. She is very safety oriented and thorough and makes sure that you understand and are holding to best practices before and during the dives. Her attitude is always super upbeat - even on a 9:30am New Year’s Day dive 🙂 She made sure that we were always comfortable during the dives and pointed out lots of sea life. I can’t recommend her highly enough - as a dive guide or to do certifications with. We can’t wait to get back to beautiful Bonaire and dive again with Maria.
December 2019
Dive Diva Indeed
Maria introduced us to the world of beach diving and changed our diving life forever. Her schedule was flexible, she introduced us to a spectacular selection of dive sites and guided us through the intricacies of shore entries. We are better divers as a result. I can’t recommend her highly enough.
February 2020
"Go with the Flow" I recently learned is ancient sea turtle wisdom. It is also Maria Varela Put's philosophy. Maria designed a great day for my Husband's 65th birthday. I found her company online. We emailed back and forth for a couple of months planning our cruise port visit to Bonaire.
Our personal customized day included 2 shore dives to the reef that surrounds the island and is a sanctuary to protect the coral and sea life. In between dives we had a private tour of Bonaire. Maria truly loves the island and is involved in the ecological. environmental protection programs that make it such a special, unique place.
"No worries" were the reassuring words she used when we experienced a few problems. The first was a broken fin strap and on a Sunday all the shops are closed. The loan of her friends fins was the solution. The second was embarrassing and required much more effort on Maria's part. We had rented a Go Pro on the ship and left in it the Dive Diva truck. Panicked, we contacted the Crown Princess personnel who agreed that if Maria could bring it to the cruise line agent on 11/20 it would be taken care of. She agreed to go out of her way to save us the cost of a Go Pro. We are so appreciative.
As part of our plan, Maria made reservations at a restaurant where we ended our visit with a sunset supper.
Although Diva is in the company name, Maria is down to earth, knowledgeable, friendly, caring and a very safety conscious educator.
If you are looking for a private dive guide who will customize you experience on Bonaire, we recommend Dive Diva. You will have "no worries" with this Diva.
Date of experience: November 2019

Maria guided my twelve year old son through the PADI introduction to scuba course, and the three of us took two nice 40-minute dives to depths of about 30-35 feet. Maria was very patient with him and stayed close enough to help control his buoyancy. Between dives, we picked up my wife and younger son, and Maria made sure that the dive site for the second dive would also be a good spot for them to snorkel.
After the dives, Maria took us for a nice tour of the island. She was knowledgeable about all of the nature and history of the island.
I will not hesitate to book with Maria again upon a return to Bonaire.
Date of experience: November 2019

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!

Maria is a very nice dive instructor. I did the Discover Scuba Dive. Maria explained everything very clearly. She was very helpful and patient with my problem of clearing my ears. I had a wonderful dive: a lot of different fishes and corals. So if you are looking for a good dive instructor: Maria is the best!
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.

Unforgettable first diving experience
Had an amazing first diving experience with Maria. She knows what she is doing and guides you flawlessly through the basics so you can have an unforgettable first diving experience in the sea!
Ik ben al bang om mijn hoofd onder t water te steken. Laat staan dat ik zou gaan duiken. Mijn kinderen hebben echter samen met Maria (Dive Diva ) de advanced cursus gedaan. En haar enthousiasme voor de mooie onder waterwereld weet ze op hen over te brengen. Sterker ook op de toehorende moeder. Nooit gedacht dat ik op mijn leeftijd nog zou duiken. Een introductie duik! En echt Maria is een topper. Zij kan denk ik iedereen leren duiken. Ze geeft je de rust, ze dwingt niet maar laat je zien hoe t moet. Haar enthousiasme maakte dat ik het aan durfde. Ze weet precies de juiste plek te vinden dat je vertrouwen krijgt. Echt duiken is geweldig! Dank Maria je hebt ons nu allemaal duik gek gemaakt ik kan je bij iedereen aanbevelen. Deze Diva heeft de tijd en neemt de tijd om de wonderen onder water met je te delen. De klok daar wordt niet op gekeken. Ik ben blij dat ik mijn eerste duikervaring 1 op 1 met jou mocht beleven! En geheel in Diva style sloten we af met n water proost

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!

Geweldige duiken gemaakt in het mooie Bonaire met Diva Diva! Samen met mijn broertje ons Advanced open water brevet gehaald en zelfs mijn moeder heeft een discover scuba duik gedaan! Super hoe Maria alles met rust uitlegt. Erg fijn en zou zeker een keer terug willen!

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.
