Trip Report Bonaire Dive Trip Report- August 2017
- Thread starter Trailboss123
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OP
We will be back there the same time 12/12 to 12/10. Sounds like another 3-4 other Scubaboard folks will also be there that week. We should all coordinate a dive or two together. As for tying off. I head out from the entrance and set a reciprocal heading on my compass. When I hit the reef drop off, I just look around the reef somewhere between 20-35 feet (since I will be returning along the reef around that depth) and look for some dead coral that I can wrap my reel string around. The SMB needs very little air to unfold and stand upright and is a pretty shiny beacon upon the return back along the reef. Once there, if we have more time, we head the opposite direction for a while and then return to recover the reel and SMB and complete a safety stop and head in.
OP
Do not follow this pratice. If seen or reported to park rangers a fine would be in order. Can also revoke ability to dive at all for your stay. Very poor advise. Use another method of navigation.
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Wow!
Found a subject., remained on the subject. great lighting, good composition= great video !
Hombre you and your present 4:30 Am and future videos when you are fully awake are indeed an asset to this board --Keep them coming!
And watch how you "tie off"
Sam Miller, 111
cabinetman
Registered
Is using one of your weight to hold marker acceptable as long as its in the sand?
If not what other ways would you suggest besides compass and time?
I am not a STINPA official and any rule can be taken to extremes and common sense lost in the translation. Just look to TSA screens for examples. But there is no rule against this and we have done it for years. But the only purpose is to mark entry and exits when there is not an otherwise notable landmark. At night I will hang a stobe on it.
FWIW there is even a precedence for carefully tying off on dead coral/debris. This has been done in the past to mark lionfish locations for removal. Not with a buoy but with cork and tape.
We do not use a tradition SMB but this to mark our spots. And we don’t deploy to surface but just let it float about 10 feet or so above the bottom.
Marker Buoy Small ,
Ricardo V.
Contributor
A small 2 lb wight with a ribbon works just fine, just set it on sand and you are good to go.
@uncfnp is correct. A few years ago, dive ops asked volunteers to mark Lionfish sightinings by tying a 3 foot ribbon of survey tape to a piece of dead coral, sporting a cork on the end, to give STINAPA staff a visual of where the critter was seen.
That was a few years ago and that practice has since gone away. I can comment that in May of this year, we found 2 pieces of these legacy ribbons, one of them still had a cork... of course, we collected and removed the trash.
A convenient way to work the Reef is to head towards the buoy. Once you are in the water and cleared entry challenges, take a compass heading towards the Reef buoy and stay the course. Once you get there, choose which way or direction you want to go and you won't need to set a marker. It's easy to miss the bouy at times, the light, current and other things one can get distracted with, but you won't be too far and it your buddy is looking for the same, you will find it.
When doing night dives, I'll tie a small battery tank light to the buoy line if we can quickly find it... don't waste too much time looking either. Or just set a 2 lb weight on the sand with a small battery powered tank light, leave it bobbing 3 feet from the bottom. Set the weight on sand and you are good to go.
One last tip for night dives. Get a couple of strobes. We leave them flashing on the shoreline. They have helped us many times over and over. The ones we have are not waterproof. They can get wet, but not submerged. These are the ones we've got:
https://www.amazon.com/UST-See-Me-W...85186&sr=8-12&keywords=emergency+strobe+light
We've gone night diving in Tolo, Jefferson D, Karpata, Tori , Red Slaves, and come up to a pitch black sky and shorelines... no light what so ever to help orient if we are near the truck or not. Had to try hit truck tail lights with a flashlight to see if the vehicle was parked in an area or not. Solution found with these strobes.
Enjoy your trip.
@uncfnp is correct. A few years ago, dive ops asked volunteers to mark Lionfish sightinings by tying a 3 foot ribbon of survey tape to a piece of dead coral, sporting a cork on the end, to give STINAPA staff a visual of where the critter was seen.
That was a few years ago and that practice has since gone away. I can comment that in May of this year, we found 2 pieces of these legacy ribbons, one of them still had a cork... of course, we collected and removed the trash.
A convenient way to work the Reef is to head towards the buoy. Once you are in the water and cleared entry challenges, take a compass heading towards the Reef buoy and stay the course. Once you get there, choose which way or direction you want to go and you won't need to set a marker. It's easy to miss the bouy at times, the light, current and other things one can get distracted with, but you won't be too far and it your buddy is looking for the same, you will find it.
When doing night dives, I'll tie a small battery tank light to the buoy line if we can quickly find it... don't waste too much time looking either. Or just set a 2 lb weight on the sand with a small battery powered tank light, leave it bobbing 3 feet from the bottom. Set the weight on sand and you are good to go.
One last tip for night dives. Get a couple of strobes. We leave them flashing on the shoreline. They have helped us many times over and over. The ones we have are not waterproof. They can get wet, but not submerged. These are the ones we've got:
https://www.amazon.com/UST-See-Me-W...85186&sr=8-12&keywords=emergency+strobe+light
We've gone night diving in Tolo, Jefferson D, Karpata, Tori , Red Slaves, and come up to a pitch black sky and shorelines... no light what so ever to help orient if we are near the truck or not. Had to try hit truck tail lights with a flashlight to see if the vehicle was parked in an area or not. Solution found with these strobes.
Enjoy your trip.
divesergeant
Contributor
We find a landmark of distinctive coral or whatever, note the depth, take a photo of it from a few angles and use it as or marker.
Haven't gotten too lost yet, and have always found our way back to shore!
Haven't gotten too lost yet, and have always found our way back to shore!
OP
As a follow up-- The only time I deployed this tactic was when diving a site that had no buoy or any other discernible or obvious natural reference that would aid in navigation. And I would never touch or tie off to or damage any live or living thing. Thx for the comments.
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