Believe..........Frog fish!! They do exist!!! WWGUY

[parachute]

Water temp dropped to 78 degrees the other day!!! I hope it warms up for you guys.

78°F?... I'm arriving next week. Maybe I should bring a hoodie.

 

[wwguy]

78°F?... I'm arriving next week. Maybe I should bring a hoodie.

You might be interested in my other post here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bonaire/514356-water-temp-visibility-2.html#post7577610

---------- Post added December 24th, 2015 at 06:34 AM ----------

Do you all usually see many scorpionfish? I think we saw three last trip and I don't remember ever seeing them before.

We've seen quite a few over the years. Probably average 3 or 4 every trip.

 

[oldschoolto]

78°F?... I'm arriving next week. Maybe I should bring a hoodie.

DRY SUIT...... And , Last fall when we were there my Aunt wanted a photo of a seahorse... I found so many odd hard to find guys, BUT NO SEA HORSES.... Sometimes it's just not in the cards...

Jim....

 

[KeithG]

Hey Guy,i was just at Andrea 1 today, was fortunate to have a spotted eagle ray fly by, three blue midnight parrot fish, only one turtle, the usual eels, BUT, i searched every inch of green and gold coral for the yellow frog fish or even a red one for christmas sake................ All I want for Christmas is a Frog Fish!!! LOL

frog fish spotted on Bachelors Beach today. yellow on black sponge. not very well hidden.

@43 feet deep, north of the mooring...

---------- Post added December 24th, 2015 at 04:46 PM ----------

Do you all usually see many scorpionfish? I think we saw three last trip and I don't remember ever seeing them before.

Yes, well a few anyway so far. About one a day...

The first one is always the hardest.

 

[wwguy]

frog fish spotted on Bachelors Beach today. yellow on black sponge. not very well hidden.

@43 feet deep, north of the mooring...

Not sure if it was just your post here, or if the word is out elsewhere too, but it was a freaking madhouse out there today. Everyone, including two different dive boats while we were out there from shore, was at 40' (going both directions) and peering into every crevice along the way. One lady was apparently near-sighted, as she repeatedly grabbed on to "dead" coral to pull herself closer to other "live" coral looking for this poor little guy.

You're right though... he wasn't very well hidden. Not sure why everyone else we saw couldn't find him. I don't imagine he'll be there long before moving to a deeper and quieter neighborhood... especially now that his home address has been published here on the innernets.

 

[KeithG]

So maybe I should not tell you where the reef octopus is hiding on calabas?

We saw 1 conch all week. Yesterday the octopus found it. No more conch.

 

[wwguy]

I appreciate the pointer, but am arguably capable of finding my own critters, which I'm pretty sure was Dee's point in starting this thread. (See my previous trip report threads and videos if interested.). Personally I'd rather you not share locations of any rare and/or highly desirable marine life.

Speaking of octopus... We saw one in the shallows along the iron shore south of Bachelor in 2003 or 2004. A few days later we were descending the ladder to dive the site again and encountered a local with snorkel gear coming out. He had caught and killed the octopus for sale to local restaurant. No more octopus.

Sometime around then I exited Andrea 1 after unexpectedly finding a seahorse. Coming out of the water I encountered another diver with camera rig coming in. Feeling generous, and still excited from my own discovery, I gave her directions to the seahorse. I returned later that afternoon with my wife, only to find the coral damaged and seahorse gone.

Last year I came across a frogfish on Something Special. When I returned the next day (ironically again trying to show my wife) the sponge was broken in two pieces and froggie was gone to find a new home. I have before and after photos of this one, posted in a previous thread here.

Sorry for the long winded reply. My answer to your offer is "Thanks, but no thanks." I'd rather not find them than have everyone find them. The great thing about diving Bonaire is Diving Freedom. But occasionally the sad thing about diving Bonaire is Diving Freedom. Just my two bits.

 

[KeithG]

we shared location info about the octopus and conch since they were about 10 feet off the dock. of the 20 people on the dock, only 1 showed any interest.

 

[wwguy]

My wife found this little guy at Salt Pier this morning. She seems to have the knack for finding them more than I do. (I'm the frogfish finder in the family, so we seem to make a compatible dive team.) She found another one in the same area of the dive site in 2012 too.



Sorry for the poor photo quality. It's a screen capture snipped from raw GoPro footage.

 

[Doctorfish]

Not sure that broadcasting exact coordinates for frogfish, seahorses etc is a great idea. Those animals will be overwhelmed by divers shooting multiple flash pictures and also inadvertently destroying their habitat. I know the DMs tend to know where frogfish and sea horses tend to be on a particular site but they limit the amount of exposure each diver in their group gets to the critter and also monitor buoyancy and touching. If you find an interesting creature on the reef, kudos to you; but please do not let every potential diver on Bonaire where to go hunting.

Anyone else agree with me?