Trip Report Bonaire March 2024–Dead reefs

[Joneill]

Nah...4 pages clearly on one topic, per the title. St art another thread if you wnt to talk about a different subject. Otherwise, why are there threads?

And not your thread… but I’ll avoid expanding the narrow focus you seem to be able to tolerate here. Better yet, ignore so I don’t even see you anymore!

 

[uncfnp]

At least one thing the Caribbean has are ostracods! Last night’s show was magical, at least until the divers with lights showed up! Tonight should be even better.

 

[NDL_Diver]

I've been shore diving Bonaire for almost 25 years now. Yeah, climate change and SCLTD are a problem today. But the bigger problem, imo, is Bonaire is being over dove compared to 25 years ago. I'm not going to defend Bonaire;'s reefs here because I see first timers who won't go back as a positive sign. I go to Bonaire 3 times a year and was just there in February. I couldn't believe the number of trucks on the dive sites. The primary reason for reef degradation on Bon became clear to me. Apparently the island has caved to mass tourism and that is, imo, the biggest problem for Bonaire's reefs. I know thats easy for me to say because I'm not the one that would be losing revenue by a cut back in tourism. Given my opinion on this if I was STINAPA, and I've posted this before, along with their antibiotic treatment of SCLTD and coral replantation efforts, should start temporarily closing sites on a rotational basis to allow them to recover from diver damage at least to some degree. Maybe they should start with 1000 Steps since 95% of the coral there are dead according to this thread. It wouldn't kill anyone to stay off 1000 Steps, for example, for a few months. Maybe sink a few more wrecks to take some pressure off the reefs. Just my 2 PSI of course.

Everybody stop going to Bonaire, Please! You won't like it. Reef completely dead, absolutely 0 fish....
Stay home!

Can't wait till I am there this Fall.

Again Everybody stay away and leave the Island so I can enjoy it.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Nah...4 pages clearly on one topic, per the title. St art another thread if you wnt to talk about a different subject. Otherwise, why are there threads?

I think that almost every thread of any length on SB will eventually in some way segue to something not direct to the original topic.... That's just how it is on most forums and this post of mine right here is an example.

Now on a "topic" related note.......my last visit to Bonaire was this past May for 10 days....... and yes there was some disturbing degradation to certain corals as a result of SCLTD, but to say that the Bonaire reefs are dead is just not accurate.....unless everything died in the past 10 months...which is not the case at all based on up to date reports.

I think we all get to have opinions and theory's as to the cause of the demise.. Maybe its just cyclical and we just happen to be living during that blink of an eye in time where the cycle is on the downhill run. Who knows. My personal belief is that it's not cyclical and that humans are the direct cause...... I think we actually may have had a chance to do something about it 24 years ago....... but there was a small school of chad in Florida that tipped the scales.

 

[Soloist]

Everybody stop going to Bonaire, Please! You won't like it. Reef completely dead, absolutely 0 fish....
Stay home!

Can't wait till I am there this Fall.

Again Everybody stay away and leave the Island so I can enjoy it.

It is miserable here, so I couldn't agree more. For those contemplating a trip to Bonaire, a truly horrible destination, I strongly recommend staying home and diving your local quarry or YMCA.

Edit: we have observed a disturbing turtle and octopus infestation here as well, so dive at your own peril.

 

[uncfnp]

Day 5 now in the log book and I have to say, if you can get past the hard corals, this has been some of the best diving in our 19 trips. Eagle rays, turtles, squid, spanish lobster, day and night sightings of octopus, ostracods and fish, fish, fish! Even dolphins. And of course, beautiful soft corals.

And it hasn’t hurt that the weather and dive conditions have been absolutely perfect.

Will there be a trip 20? Absolutely.

 

[Brett Hatch]

That's weird, OP, because I was there in February this year and had a great time. Last time in Bonaire was Feb 2020 (just before lockdown). The difference between then and now was not large, from my point of view.

There is evidence of climate change, coral bleaching, human activity, storms, and SCTLD... but if I didn't know about any of these problems, I might not be able to point to them.

I did not find that the SCLTD restrictions affected my trip at all. Not even a little bit of annoyance. So many areas being orange or red functionally means that you barely need to go out of your way to comply with the laws. Just plan your dive sites, and wash your gear. And I was going to do both of those things anyway.

Lots of life everywhere this Feb, and I'm excited to go back to Bonaire this June. Cheers.

 

[AdivingBel]

Yeah, I’m sure the reefs have looked better, but I bet the toughest thing to see would be @Soloist in his speedo. That said I’m sure @uncfnp thinks that looks pretty good. Just goes to show everybody has an opinion…

 

[tarponchik]

What turtle infestation looks like?

 

[tursiops]

What turtle infestation looks like?

??