Bonaire - east side

[rjchandler]

I just returned from my annual trip. the highlight was finally diving the east side of the island. There is a fairly new operation - Larry's Wild Side tha is running two tank dives from a specially built Zodaic. The first is a drift and the second goes to "blue hole" - which i guess is accesssible from shore on a calm day ( i've never seen a calm day over there )

I went with this guy twice. The sea life was variable but it was fun to see what the bottom over there looked like. The first drift we actually ran into a thermocline - got down to 77F. The second day saw 20-25 Southern stingrays- in 33 dives on the west side i saw exactly 0.

Blue hole is a 40ft deep depresson in the reef. Takes about 40 minutes to mosey around the perimeter. saw two overhangs full of glassy sweepers and a school of about 25 (lost count) tarpon. We swam over a beautiful field of small sea fans to get to the site from the boat. This was in about 20 ft of water.

because this involves live boat diving in heavy seas I don't think it is for new/inexperienced divers. But it is a blast.

And since this is a trip report of sorts. Red Beryl was my favorite site followed by Angel City. Karpata is looking a bit worn. I think Ole Blue is the best shore dive to the north. Turtles, sharp tailed eels and spotted morays were in abundance.

favorite restaurants - Donna & Georgio's and Casablanca. Chez Lucille was a nice quiet place with good food.

 

[jeffro]

My wife and i just returned from our honeymoon in bonaire. We stayed at capt don's and the diving was great. We also ate at ches lucilles. VERY good food and ambiance. Cant wait to go back.

 

[caymaniac]

That east side diving sounds intriquing, I think next time we go to Bonaire it will definitely be a go!

Thanks for the report,
Caymaniac

 

[jepuskar]

Sandy and I dove with Larry back in October and we plan on diving with him again in a few weeks. He is very safety oriented and has been diving for years, we can't wait to get on his new boat. He didn't have it last time we went.

We also dove the same sites you did...the blue hole is very cool looking when you come over the overhang and dip down into it. We saw a couple eagle rays glide across the hole and the resident tarpon....too many to count like you said. More chance to see some big stuff over there, no way will we pass that up again...the calm side of Bonaire is why we are going, but the East side is a must dive for anyone interested in seeing some larger stuff.

Here is a link to Larry's site:

http://www.infobonaire.com/larrys/