Reidster
Contributor
Bonaire Dive Trip: April 2 - 10
Traveling to Bonaire:
My wife and I, along with the couple we got certified with 4 years ago, made our first trip to Bonaire. Our local dive shop organized the trip, which they have done for the past 25 years. Several people who went, have been to Bonaire numerous times before. We flew from Detroit to Houston and then Houston to Bonaire overnight, arriving at approximately 5:00 am on Saturday, April 3. This was my first overnight flight experience and while it was not pleasant, it was not as bad as I thought it would be - did get some sleep. We got into our room at our resort, Divi Flamingo, by 6:30 am. I was able to unpack and get organized while my wife hit the bed for a couple hours of sleep. I was raring to go and tried to lay down for about 45 minutes or so, but I was so looking forward to getting in the water, I couldn't really sleep!
The orientation meeting with the dive shop, Divi Dive, took place at around 9:30. We learned at this orientation, among other things, the history of Bonaire and its Marine Park, how to sign up for boat dives in the afternoon (our package included 2-tank morning boat dives), where to get tanks for shore diving and get our locker assignments. It lasted less than an hour. The dock has lockers in which we stored our gear - we left everything in the lockers over night, except for our regulators/computers, which we brought back to the room with us. The dock has several rinse tanks. I thought it was very convenient and set up very nicely to accommodate shore diving as well as preparing to load the boats in the morning.
Prior to our trip we got Nitrox certified. We were a little nervous at first about the whole analyzing process, but once we learned the system of analyzing and recording the information in their log, it was very easy. At first we felt a little rushed, like everyone was waiting for us to get the analyzing done before the boat would depart, but after that first day of boat diving, we were at ease.
The Diving:
Water temperature on all dives ranged 80 - 82 degrees F., depending on whose computer you looked at. We found the coral to be very full, beautiful and in good condition. Very good visibility and not a lot of big fish. Visibility was very good on most dives, maybe 80 feet?
Dive #1 Calabas Reef (Divi Flamingo House Reef). (47 minutes-44 ft. max).
In the water by noon after leaving our house 23 hours before! Easy dive and first real shore dive we've ever done. 2 squid and a small spotted moray eel beneath the dock were the highlights.
Dive #2 Calabas Reef again (40 minutes-67 ft. max). A couple of sharptailed eels.
Afterwards, the four of us made it over to Karels to watch my alma mater, Michigan State, lose to Butler in the Final Four. It was a neat atmosphere to watch a basketball game in an "open" bar looking out over the bay in a foreign country. Unfortunately, my Spartans couldn't come through.
Day 2/Dive #1. 1st boat dive. Kalli's Reef (36 minutes-60 ft. max). Saw my 1st sea horse!
Day 2/Dive #2. 2nd boat dive. Small Wall. (47 minutes-52 ft. max). Saw my 1st frogfish!
Day 2/Dive #3. Calabas Reef (47 minutes-56 ft. max). Found the octopus . It was working its way up the side of one coral head under upside the other.
Day 2/Dive #4. Calabas Reef. (39 minutes-67 ft. max) Dusk Dive. Fishlife definitely more active at this time, shortly after 6 pm).
Day 3/Dive #1. Boat dive. Leonaras Reef- Klein Bonaire. (57 Minutes-50 ft. max). Saw 2 sea horses on this dive and a flounder that was very dark blue/purple when swimming, but changed colors to blend in with the bottom when it stopped -cool!
Day 3/Dive #2. Cliff Reef-Klein Bonaire. (62 minutes-56 ft. max). An albino frogfish and a porcupinefish that seemed to follow us around were the highlights.
Day 3/Dive #3. Calabas Reef. (41 minutes-36 ft. max). Night Dive. Not near as active as the dusk dive, but saw one of the coolest sights of the week. We found what looked like a mother sharptailed eel feeding its young - 7 eels total, with them poking their heads out of the sand. Got a couple decent pictures of it.
One HUGE lobster was "running" across the sand as well. My wife, who is not fond of the dark to begin with, vowed to never do another night dive again!!!
On Day 4, I was the only one of the four to do the morning boat dives. The others did the work of securing a truck and tanks for our afternoon of shore dives . . . I think I got the better of the deal!!!
Day 4/Dive #1. Boat dive. The Invisibiles. (52 minutes-81 ft. max). One large green moray eel swimming then found a crevise in which to hide and poke his head out. Very large school of sennet as well.
Day 4/Dive #2. Boat dive. Eighteenth Palm (60 minutes-47-max). Saw 5 squid on this dive.
Day 4/Dive #3. Shore dive at Margate Bay (39 minutes-54 ft. max). Rented the truck to begin our afternoon of shore diving at the southern dive sites. The reefs seemed to be even in better condition. It was fun trying to figure out how to do this, as none of us had done this type of shore entry before.
Day 4/Dive #4. Shore dive at Tori's Reef. (42 minutes-46 ft. max). Again, the reef was very beautiful but fish life was small. A couple of barracuda and goldentail eels.
Day 4/Dive #5. Shore dive at Angel City. (33 minutes-39 ft. max). Spotted drumfish and several spotted moray eels were the highlight.
I would highly recommend to rent a truck and hit the many shore diving sites on the island. Our only regret was that we didn't do it more than the one day. It was a fun new experience for us being on our own.
Day 5/Dive #1. South Bay-Klein Bonaire. (49 minutes-78 ft. max). Can't remember what the highlights were!
Day 5/Dive #2. Knife Reef-Klein Bonaire. (64 minutes-61 ft. max). Saw my first lionfish (BOO!). It is definitely an interesting looking fish and looks out of place. We must have been the 3rd group to see him, as there were 2 other markers indicating that one had been spotted in the area.
Day 5/Dive #3. Calabas Reef. (63 minutes-37 ft. max). Saw the normal stuff that we saw earlier - couldn't find the octopus that we found earlier in the week.
Day 6/Dive #1. Karpata Reef. (55 minutes-66 ft. max). Saw our 1st turtle of the week!! We thought we'd see more!
Day 6/Dive #2. Petries Pillar Reef. (60 minutes-52 ft. max). Saw another turtle, chain moray eel and arrow crab.
Day 6/Dive #3. Calabas Reef. (58 minutes-39 ft. max). Dusk dive. Fish not as active as our dusk dive earlier in the week, but saw several spotted moray eels, sharptailed eels, spotted drummies, cleaner shrimp. A sea horse was found earlier in the day by another group, but we could not find it.
Day 7/ Dive #1. Keepsake Reef. (61 minutes-35 ft. max.). Another seahorse, 1 turtle, one very large spotted drumfish and a flounder.
Day 7/Dive #2. Sampler Reef. (55 minutes- 38 ft. max). 1 turtle, one very large parrotfish and up close with a flounder who just posed for us. Beautiful dive.
Overall, I made 22 dives, my wife 15, and the other couple each 19 dives for the week. I'm now at 82 logged dives. I've dove 4 dives in a day on a few occasions on air in the past, and with diving Nitrox I did not feel as tired or throat as dry at the end of the day as diving air. While some of our dives were not as long as they could maybe could have been, I think diving Nitrox made a difference.
The reefs were beautiful and visibility very good. I know Bonaire is known for its macro, but we expected to see more turtles and rays. Only a few turtles and no rays. I am developing more of an appreciation for the smaller stuff. The diving is definitely very easy - hop off the boat the DM will either go north or south, depending on what little current there may be, go 25 minutes or so, turn around and head back. We do wish we would have maybe taken another afternoon to do more shore diving.
The Divemasters/Dive Shop:
We were assigned to Rafino and Laurel on the boat Sunshine for the week. They were helpful, friendly and a pleasure to talk to. Everyone in the dive shop was very friendly and graciously helped us or answered our questions whenever needed. Top notch operation.
The Rooms:
As part of our package we upgraded to the Studio rooms. Our room was literally probably 150 yards from the dock. We were fortunate to get one of the newly remodeled rooms with new beds. Our friends did not get the newer beds, so my wife and I lucked out there. The rooms were of good size and had a refrigerator and stove (did not use the stove). One problem we had was that the AC leaked considerably the entire time we were there. Our safe was battery operated and the day before we were to leave, the safe would not open. They immediately responded to our need and changed batteries. Our friend's safe would not work, so we housed their extra money and passports all week long.
The Food:
Our package included breakfast and dinner every day. The breakfast buffet was the same everyday. The basics. We got lunch from various places. Dinner menu was the same every night and limited. They are definitely on island time. We did eat out at a restaurant one night called Caprusos sp? (or something like that), which was very good. The last night, our dive shop owners invited all the dive masters to dinner at the resort, which we thought was very classy. They were presented with their tips and had time for drinks, pictures and conversation. The DMs were very appreciative and it was nice to talk to them and learn more of the culture of Bonaire.
The Weather:
As expected, day time temperatures were in the low to mid 80's and night time temps in the low to mid 70's. It was overcast 4 of the days we were there and of those, about 1 1/2 of the days it rained! We spoke to one of the locals and he said he'd never seen two days in a row of rain like this in his 20 + years on the island!!! Divi Flamingo lost power twice but not weather related we were told - once for about 3 hours (we were on our shore dive adventures) and another time for about 30 minutes.
Overall Experience:
From talking to people and reading numerous magazines and posts on websites, I had very high expectations for our trip to Bonaire. I don't think my expectations were quite met. We were not "wow'd". The reefs were in great condition, the visibility very good and the diving very easy. The dive shop and accessibility to tanks was very convenient. The friendliness of the DMs and crew made for a nice experience. I think what was missing was that I expected to see more turtles, rays, and some more variety in terms of the fish life. I am still developing an appreciation for the macro life, but still like to see the big stuff. It did seem as though every dive was nearly the same - not a lot of variation in terms of the topography of the bottom or the coral life. Renting the truck and shore diving was a great experience and we had a a lot of fun doing that-regretted we did not spend more days doing that. We did pay a lot for the trip -(almost twice as much as we paid on our trips to Cozumel) and therefore this may have also created those lofty, unfair expectations.
We believe we will definitely go back -maybe in a couple of years or so. We are looking into maybe Little Cayman or Grand Cayman as our annual big trip for next year. My wife and I are headed back to Cozumel this July.
Traveling to Bonaire:
My wife and I, along with the couple we got certified with 4 years ago, made our first trip to Bonaire. Our local dive shop organized the trip, which they have done for the past 25 years. Several people who went, have been to Bonaire numerous times before. We flew from Detroit to Houston and then Houston to Bonaire overnight, arriving at approximately 5:00 am on Saturday, April 3. This was my first overnight flight experience and while it was not pleasant, it was not as bad as I thought it would be - did get some sleep. We got into our room at our resort, Divi Flamingo, by 6:30 am. I was able to unpack and get organized while my wife hit the bed for a couple hours of sleep. I was raring to go and tried to lay down for about 45 minutes or so, but I was so looking forward to getting in the water, I couldn't really sleep!
The orientation meeting with the dive shop, Divi Dive, took place at around 9:30. We learned at this orientation, among other things, the history of Bonaire and its Marine Park, how to sign up for boat dives in the afternoon (our package included 2-tank morning boat dives), where to get tanks for shore diving and get our locker assignments. It lasted less than an hour. The dock has lockers in which we stored our gear - we left everything in the lockers over night, except for our regulators/computers, which we brought back to the room with us. The dock has several rinse tanks. I thought it was very convenient and set up very nicely to accommodate shore diving as well as preparing to load the boats in the morning.
Prior to our trip we got Nitrox certified. We were a little nervous at first about the whole analyzing process, but once we learned the system of analyzing and recording the information in their log, it was very easy. At first we felt a little rushed, like everyone was waiting for us to get the analyzing done before the boat would depart, but after that first day of boat diving, we were at ease.
The Diving:
Water temperature on all dives ranged 80 - 82 degrees F., depending on whose computer you looked at. We found the coral to be very full, beautiful and in good condition. Very good visibility and not a lot of big fish. Visibility was very good on most dives, maybe 80 feet?
Dive #1 Calabas Reef (Divi Flamingo House Reef). (47 minutes-44 ft. max).
In the water by noon after leaving our house 23 hours before! Easy dive and first real shore dive we've ever done. 2 squid and a small spotted moray eel beneath the dock were the highlights.
Dive #2 Calabas Reef again (40 minutes-67 ft. max). A couple of sharptailed eels.
Afterwards, the four of us made it over to Karels to watch my alma mater, Michigan State, lose to Butler in the Final Four. It was a neat atmosphere to watch a basketball game in an "open" bar looking out over the bay in a foreign country. Unfortunately, my Spartans couldn't come through.
Day 2/Dive #1. 1st boat dive. Kalli's Reef (36 minutes-60 ft. max). Saw my 1st sea horse!
Day 2/Dive #2. 2nd boat dive. Small Wall. (47 minutes-52 ft. max). Saw my 1st frogfish!
Day 2/Dive #3. Calabas Reef (47 minutes-56 ft. max). Found the octopus . It was working its way up the side of one coral head under upside the other.
Day 2/Dive #4. Calabas Reef. (39 minutes-67 ft. max) Dusk Dive. Fishlife definitely more active at this time, shortly after 6 pm).
Day 3/Dive #1. Boat dive. Leonaras Reef- Klein Bonaire. (57 Minutes-50 ft. max). Saw 2 sea horses on this dive and a flounder that was very dark blue/purple when swimming, but changed colors to blend in with the bottom when it stopped -cool!
Day 3/Dive #2. Cliff Reef-Klein Bonaire. (62 minutes-56 ft. max). An albino frogfish and a porcupinefish that seemed to follow us around were the highlights.
Day 3/Dive #3. Calabas Reef. (41 minutes-36 ft. max). Night Dive. Not near as active as the dusk dive, but saw one of the coolest sights of the week. We found what looked like a mother sharptailed eel feeding its young - 7 eels total, with them poking their heads out of the sand. Got a couple decent pictures of it.
One HUGE lobster was "running" across the sand as well. My wife, who is not fond of the dark to begin with, vowed to never do another night dive again!!!
On Day 4, I was the only one of the four to do the morning boat dives. The others did the work of securing a truck and tanks for our afternoon of shore dives . . . I think I got the better of the deal!!!
Day 4/Dive #1. Boat dive. The Invisibiles. (52 minutes-81 ft. max). One large green moray eel swimming then found a crevise in which to hide and poke his head out. Very large school of sennet as well.
Day 4/Dive #2. Boat dive. Eighteenth Palm (60 minutes-47-max). Saw 5 squid on this dive.
Day 4/Dive #3. Shore dive at Margate Bay (39 minutes-54 ft. max). Rented the truck to begin our afternoon of shore diving at the southern dive sites. The reefs seemed to be even in better condition. It was fun trying to figure out how to do this, as none of us had done this type of shore entry before.
Day 4/Dive #4. Shore dive at Tori's Reef. (42 minutes-46 ft. max). Again, the reef was very beautiful but fish life was small. A couple of barracuda and goldentail eels.
Day 4/Dive #5. Shore dive at Angel City. (33 minutes-39 ft. max). Spotted drumfish and several spotted moray eels were the highlight.
I would highly recommend to rent a truck and hit the many shore diving sites on the island. Our only regret was that we didn't do it more than the one day. It was a fun new experience for us being on our own.
Day 5/Dive #1. South Bay-Klein Bonaire. (49 minutes-78 ft. max). Can't remember what the highlights were!
Day 5/Dive #2. Knife Reef-Klein Bonaire. (64 minutes-61 ft. max). Saw my first lionfish (BOO!). It is definitely an interesting looking fish and looks out of place. We must have been the 3rd group to see him, as there were 2 other markers indicating that one had been spotted in the area.
Day 5/Dive #3. Calabas Reef. (63 minutes-37 ft. max). Saw the normal stuff that we saw earlier - couldn't find the octopus that we found earlier in the week.
Day 6/Dive #1. Karpata Reef. (55 minutes-66 ft. max). Saw our 1st turtle of the week!! We thought we'd see more!
Day 6/Dive #2. Petries Pillar Reef. (60 minutes-52 ft. max). Saw another turtle, chain moray eel and arrow crab.
Day 6/Dive #3. Calabas Reef. (58 minutes-39 ft. max). Dusk dive. Fish not as active as our dusk dive earlier in the week, but saw several spotted moray eels, sharptailed eels, spotted drummies, cleaner shrimp. A sea horse was found earlier in the day by another group, but we could not find it.
Day 7/ Dive #1. Keepsake Reef. (61 minutes-35 ft. max.). Another seahorse, 1 turtle, one very large spotted drumfish and a flounder.
Day 7/Dive #2. Sampler Reef. (55 minutes- 38 ft. max). 1 turtle, one very large parrotfish and up close with a flounder who just posed for us. Beautiful dive.
Overall, I made 22 dives, my wife 15, and the other couple each 19 dives for the week. I'm now at 82 logged dives. I've dove 4 dives in a day on a few occasions on air in the past, and with diving Nitrox I did not feel as tired or throat as dry at the end of the day as diving air. While some of our dives were not as long as they could maybe could have been, I think diving Nitrox made a difference.
The reefs were beautiful and visibility very good. I know Bonaire is known for its macro, but we expected to see more turtles and rays. Only a few turtles and no rays. I am developing more of an appreciation for the smaller stuff. The diving is definitely very easy - hop off the boat the DM will either go north or south, depending on what little current there may be, go 25 minutes or so, turn around and head back. We do wish we would have maybe taken another afternoon to do more shore diving.
The Divemasters/Dive Shop:
We were assigned to Rafino and Laurel on the boat Sunshine for the week. They were helpful, friendly and a pleasure to talk to. Everyone in the dive shop was very friendly and graciously helped us or answered our questions whenever needed. Top notch operation.
The Rooms:
As part of our package we upgraded to the Studio rooms. Our room was literally probably 150 yards from the dock. We were fortunate to get one of the newly remodeled rooms with new beds. Our friends did not get the newer beds, so my wife and I lucked out there. The rooms were of good size and had a refrigerator and stove (did not use the stove). One problem we had was that the AC leaked considerably the entire time we were there. Our safe was battery operated and the day before we were to leave, the safe would not open. They immediately responded to our need and changed batteries. Our friend's safe would not work, so we housed their extra money and passports all week long.
The Food:
Our package included breakfast and dinner every day. The breakfast buffet was the same everyday. The basics. We got lunch from various places. Dinner menu was the same every night and limited. They are definitely on island time. We did eat out at a restaurant one night called Caprusos sp? (or something like that), which was very good. The last night, our dive shop owners invited all the dive masters to dinner at the resort, which we thought was very classy. They were presented with their tips and had time for drinks, pictures and conversation. The DMs were very appreciative and it was nice to talk to them and learn more of the culture of Bonaire.
The Weather:
As expected, day time temperatures were in the low to mid 80's and night time temps in the low to mid 70's. It was overcast 4 of the days we were there and of those, about 1 1/2 of the days it rained! We spoke to one of the locals and he said he'd never seen two days in a row of rain like this in his 20 + years on the island!!! Divi Flamingo lost power twice but not weather related we were told - once for about 3 hours (we were on our shore dive adventures) and another time for about 30 minutes.
Overall Experience:
From talking to people and reading numerous magazines and posts on websites, I had very high expectations for our trip to Bonaire. I don't think my expectations were quite met. We were not "wow'd". The reefs were in great condition, the visibility very good and the diving very easy. The dive shop and accessibility to tanks was very convenient. The friendliness of the DMs and crew made for a nice experience. I think what was missing was that I expected to see more turtles, rays, and some more variety in terms of the fish life. I am still developing an appreciation for the macro life, but still like to see the big stuff. It did seem as though every dive was nearly the same - not a lot of variation in terms of the topography of the bottom or the coral life. Renting the truck and shore diving was a great experience and we had a a lot of fun doing that-regretted we did not spend more days doing that. We did pay a lot for the trip -(almost twice as much as we paid on our trips to Cozumel) and therefore this may have also created those lofty, unfair expectations.
We believe we will definitely go back -maybe in a couple of years or so. We are looking into maybe Little Cayman or Grand Cayman as our annual big trip for next year. My wife and I are headed back to Cozumel this July.
