I got the chance to Dive Bari quite a bit on our latest trip to Bonaire, and I thought I would put together a little writeup about the reef for anyone interested in going there in the near future. My wife and I stayed at Sand Dollar, and had the awesome opportunity to take two classes with Biologist Jerry Ligon with Bonaire Dive and Adventures. As part of the class, and part of us staying on the property, we both got a lot of chances to dive Bari Reef, which is an outstanding dive for a fish-watcher.
The reef in general has a drop off about 30', and goes down a bit past 100'. There is a PVC pipe which leads from the Dock to the drop-off, and there are several buoys along the way just North of the PVC Pipe. Going more than about 300yards North takes you beyond Bari to Buddy's Reef.
The reef has had both a frogfish and a seahorse for the last three years almost constantly. Unfortunately, the Seahorse hasn't been there since about November. They do have a new resident PipeHorse, however. The Pipehorse is a small white fish about 3" long and very thin with some Cillia on its head, and is extremely rare. This one lives in a yellow/Green encrusting tube sponge at about 42' about 15 yards North of "The Cog". The sponge sits slightly proud of the reef, but is tucked behind a coral head that rises about 2' proud of the sponge despite being in slightly deeper water. Find the guy by bringing a light with and shining it into the little crevices between the branches of the tube sponge.
If you head farther to the North, you will come across two old steel barrels. Near these two barrels in about 40' of water is a cleverly disguised yellow frogfish that likes to sit atop a yellow encrusting sponge.
You can find a second frogfish farther down the reef by swimming to the mooring of the large catamaram moored outside SandDollar resorts, and swimming about 50yds past its mooring at about 25'. You can probably find a purplemouth moray as well if you look into some of the holes along the way.
From here, you can swim back towards the SandDollar Dock in about 15fsw and come across a colony of tiny sailfin blennies sticking out of the same. Swim at the same depth to where the sailboat is anchored, and you will find a colony of yellowhead jawfish. There is also a colony of secretary blennies in a concrete block about 25yards North of the dock in about 10fsw.
Just off the stairs to the dock, you can normally find about a dozen red-lipped Blennies, and there is one Pearl Blenny that likes to spend most of its time on the top submerged step. Often the outgoing wave will leave her exposed to the air.
There is also an octopus den just 15feet from the steps to the right. Look for a pile of rocks and discarded shells inside a tiny cranny beneath one of the rocks.
If you like to play in the sand, wave your hand over the sand as you are heading towards the drop-off, and you might make a small Eyed Flounder break camouflage and scurry away. Pay attention to where he swam away from, and look for two tiny eye-stalks sticking out of the sand. If you are curious, coax this little fellow out of the sand to reveal a Shy-Faced Crab hiding under the sand. The Eyed flounder follow him around cleaning up after anything he leaves behind.
The reef in general has a drop off about 30', and goes down a bit past 100'. There is a PVC pipe which leads from the Dock to the drop-off, and there are several buoys along the way just North of the PVC Pipe. Going more than about 300yards North takes you beyond Bari to Buddy's Reef.
The reef has had both a frogfish and a seahorse for the last three years almost constantly. Unfortunately, the Seahorse hasn't been there since about November. They do have a new resident PipeHorse, however. The Pipehorse is a small white fish about 3" long and very thin with some Cillia on its head, and is extremely rare. This one lives in a yellow/Green encrusting tube sponge at about 42' about 15 yards North of "The Cog". The sponge sits slightly proud of the reef, but is tucked behind a coral head that rises about 2' proud of the sponge despite being in slightly deeper water. Find the guy by bringing a light with and shining it into the little crevices between the branches of the tube sponge.
If you head farther to the North, you will come across two old steel barrels. Near these two barrels in about 40' of water is a cleverly disguised yellow frogfish that likes to sit atop a yellow encrusting sponge.
You can find a second frogfish farther down the reef by swimming to the mooring of the large catamaram moored outside SandDollar resorts, and swimming about 50yds past its mooring at about 25'. You can probably find a purplemouth moray as well if you look into some of the holes along the way.
From here, you can swim back towards the SandDollar Dock in about 15fsw and come across a colony of tiny sailfin blennies sticking out of the same. Swim at the same depth to where the sailboat is anchored, and you will find a colony of yellowhead jawfish. There is also a colony of secretary blennies in a concrete block about 25yards North of the dock in about 10fsw.
Just off the stairs to the dock, you can normally find about a dozen red-lipped Blennies, and there is one Pearl Blenny that likes to spend most of its time on the top submerged step. Often the outgoing wave will leave her exposed to the air.
There is also an octopus den just 15feet from the steps to the right. Look for a pile of rocks and discarded shells inside a tiny cranny beneath one of the rocks.
If you like to play in the sand, wave your hand over the sand as you are heading towards the drop-off, and you might make a small Eyed Flounder break camouflage and scurry away. Pay attention to where he swam away from, and look for two tiny eye-stalks sticking out of the sand. If you are curious, coax this little fellow out of the sand to reveal a Shy-Faced Crab hiding under the sand. The Eyed flounder follow him around cleaning up after anything he leaves behind.
