Bonaire Surprises

[ronscuba]

Just got back from my 1st trip to Bonaire. I was very surprised about many things I saw underwater during our 1 week stay.

Good things were the amount of fish life and the layout/marking of all the dive sites.

Surprises were:
Lack of macro life. Hardly any anenome, shrimps, nudibranchs, etc..
Reef damage, a lot of knocked over sponges, fans.
Reef health, a lot of coral looked unhealthy and/or dying, at all depths.

Having dove in many places in the Caribbean, I know some creatures are rare for certain areas. Although we did see a lot of fish life, here are some typical Caribbean creatures we didn't see at all or only rarely:
Anenome
Crabs (other than arrow crabs)
Lobster
Rays
Barracuda
Turtle
Squid
Octopus
Shrimp


Since this was my 1st time there, I'm not sure if things have changed, or I just had the wrong expectations. People have discussed storm damage, lack of sewage treatment, recent construction, lionfish, etc..

Is there something really happening in Bonaire or did I just have wrong expectations ?

 

[Warren_L]

I have done three trips to Bonaire in the past two years. March 2009, March 2010, and November 2010. There was a noticeable difference in the marine life I was able to tell between March 2009 and March 2010. However, the biggest surprise for me was going back in November 2010 there was a lot of coral bleaching and a lot of the corals on the reefs looked rather unhealthy and dying. There was definitely much less I was able to see in way of macro photo opportunities. Much of the transformation from my perspective occured between the last two trips. Some of the local dive shop operators told me that a lot of the coral bleaching was due to unusually high sustained temperatures. It still remains to be seen how quickly the reefs will recover, and if they do. I was told by one of the dive shop guys that this has happened before and it took a couple of years for the reefs to come back, so there still is hope. Time will tell, but for now, I won't be going back to Bonaire in the immediate future.

 

[deco_martini]

Caribbean creatures we didn't see at all or only rarely:
Anenome
Crabs (other than arrow crabs)
Lobster
Rays
Barracuda
Turtle
Squid
Octopus
Shrimp

I went in august.
If you think you missed shrimps, lobsters, and octopi, you should have dove Buddy's at night and swam along the shoreline. It's basically covered in shrimp and juvenile lobsters. Saw decorator crabs in the shallows on the way to the wall.

Dive near the salt pier and the shore is covered in one type of nudibranch.

This was in august. So either during the winter there was a massive dieoff or you are just bad/unlucky at spotting things.

 

[lsorenson]

I just got back yesterday myself from two weeks and although the picken's were slim, they could be found... e.g.

Reef Squid

Lobster

Eagle Ray

Anemone

Sand Dollar

Biggest Hawksbill Turtle I have ever seen with a large chunk missing from the rear of its shell

Another Hawksbill Turtle

I found only one Eagle Ray, a few Lobsters and Barracuda's, but no Seahorses or Frogfish... I heard on the last day they had 2 Seahorses out on the Windsock reef, dove it once but did not see them... Nudis, I saw a bucket load of Flamingo Tongue snails but no nudibranch...

I am sure if you had taken a few boat dives (none for me) the DM would have pointed out some Seahorses and Frogfish along with some other things you were looking for but me... I like to find them myself!!! Something about the challenge... Silly or stupid, not sure which...!

Vis was not so good but we had a week of rain the previous week at Bonaire...

lee

 

[Mike]

Caribbean creatures we didn't see at all or only rarely:
Anenome
Crabs (other than arrow crabs)
Lobster
Rays
Barracuda
Turtle
Squid
Octopus
Shrimp

I was there in May of 2010, saw everything on your list.

Found one octopus in 2 feet of water 10 feet off the beach just as we were exiting a dive.

I thought there were more nudis there then anyplace I've ever dived. We found 4 sea horses also.

You probably know this already but you have to slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww down. The slower you go the more you'll find.

 

[DiverVince]

Ronscuba..What I have found in diving Bonaire's waters over the last 25 years is that things always change (except the fact that Bonaire has great diving). So what we see on one trip may not at all be there on a subsequent one. Just my personal observations.

Bottom line you certainly can not definitively judge Bonaire's diving by what you see (or not see) in a 1 week trip. The water temps, the viz, the shore entries, the corals, the winds, surface conditions, currents, as well as the marine life constantly change. Things are not static by any means.

 

[jepuskar]

What Vince said...but I read it all the time.

It's all about expectations and some luck. Some divers' trips are made by a chance encounter with a dolphin or a turtle etc.

I can't argue that the reef is beat up in places, but if you go diving in front of a resort then it will be...it's a sad fact. Other places not so much...and even then some of it's natural.

I'll rave about the island all day long, but to someone who loves the clarity of Cozumel or the wrecks of Truk...the island will not be for them. It's not for everyone, nor should it be.

The important thing to remember is..as always, it's the ocean...not a zoo. Animals will not always be there for you to view in plain sight. And on every dive you will overlook plenty of creatures you seek.

Jason

 

[lmorin]

What Vince said.

My first Bonaire octopus was in 8 ft of water, 8 ft from shore in front of Sand Dollar last August. In January, he wasn't there, but I found another in 2 ft of water at a site down south. In August, there were no dophins to be seen, but in January, we were surrounding by 30-40 of them cavorting in the boat wake and all around us. I have yet to see a spotted eagle ray at Bonaire, but did see my first manta ever just off the dock at BDA. And, I have only seen bigeyed scad once in Bonaire, but then I saw between 10,000-50,000 of them simultaneously. That was rather cool!

I don't have any specific expectations about what I will see in Bonaire, just that there will be something novel, exciting or dramatic during each trip.

 

[DeputyDan]

Took a friend on his first dive trip to Bonaire.

The last dive on the last day - a large eagle ray meandered all around us. Like he was there to see us rather than the other way round. Memories of a life time that are just luck of the draw.

 

[ronscuba]

Thanks for the all the responses so far. I've been diving long enough to know that no place has everything. Plus, there is the luck of the draw whether or not you get to see certain marine life.

I loved the layout and markings of the Bonaire divesites. How the island is basically dedicated to shore dive scuba, the amount of fish we saw on every dive. Dive op staff giving detailed directions so we saw a frogfish and 2 seahorses. I can see why Bonaire has so many loyal customers.

However, I just found it odd that in 1 week of 15+ dives I only saw 3 anenome (and shrimps), 1 lobster, 1 squid siting, 1 turtle, 1 barracuda, no octopus, no hermit crabs, no nudibranch, no rays of any kind, plus the thing I found very disturbing was the really unhealthy looking coral. Maybe I am getting spoiled, maybe I have unrealistic expectations, maybe I had a week of bad luck, or maybe the diving has deteriorated. I can't say since I have not dove there before.