Bonaire Trip Report (LONG...)

[O-ring]

Before the photo nazis get over here and start whining about the backscatter, etc. let me state that these were taken with one of those 85' disposable underwater cameras...

 

[TCDiver1]

O-ring once bubbled...

We actually didn't get anything stolen...only a ransacked car. It was the two couples I talked to in the rental car line that were complaining about it.

Some of those people might have been a couple and their son from our area. They just got back from Bonaire, were not aware of the crime problem, locked their car doors to protect their stuff, and got a broken window to pay for.

They lost a pair of binos and the sons irreplacable journal in the deal. What dirtbag could possible want a personal journal?

The three times i've been to Bonaire we never worried about this sort of thing. Never had a hint of a problem. It's been four years since i've been there but this is not a good development. It sounds like a real problem to consider before you go to Bonaire.

 

[raxafarian]

O-ring once bubbled...

Do the DMs yell at them? I assume the charters there are all DM led...

The dm's, in my opinion, feel that they shouldn't mention such things to the "ugly tourists". I think, and this is my opinion, that most of them do not want to offend the paying customers, especially in the "poorer" parts of the world.

I watched this one group kicking crap, one guy strapping on his doubles so he could bounce to 150' (very hard to do in most locations in Bonaire) and then do the reef dive, the rest of them ascending from 60 or so ft. straight past me when I'm at a safety stop (and they were ascending quickly). Day after day for a week.

After the first demolition dive, and quick, no-stop ascents, I was talking to one of the dm's... same dm as I had the previous year, so he remembered me. I said "do you have to put up with this crap all the time?". His answer was he tried to talk to them, but they basically told him to but out. He said "some weeks we have divers we don't have to watch, like you (well that made me feel good... especially since I only had 30 dives at the time), and other weeks we have to watch 'em constantly"

I asked him about their quick ascents. He said "they must know what they are doing"

I think the dm's get treated pretty shabbily.


yea... the charters are dm led, but if the dm's know you, and know how you dive, they let you do your own thing.

 

[sillygrendel]

Looks like I'm right about my feet being too high!

Something to work on...

 

[O-ring]

...she said the diving got boring too. We ain't alone...it gets old after a dozen dives or so if you aren't poking your head in little holes and looking at tiny stuff.

I wanna know how people go year after year for 25 years...what are they looking at that can be that interesting for that long? I am beginning to think that I should stay out of the Caribbean and stick to wrecks..

 

[Natasha]

Eric:
I think you hit the nail on the head. Is that how it goes?
Well anyway, you're right.
Relaxing, easy, reef diving isn't for everyone.
Some divers want a constant challenge. They want deep dives, or deep wreck, or caves.
They would be bored to death with coral and fish, let alone little fish.
But you have to remember there are all types of divers out there.
Some of us, want the slow place, slow relaxing, watch the fish play, reef type diving.
Sounds like this just wasn't for you.
Please remember though there are many of us that like this type of vacation, and will go back year after year to watch fish play and have unlimited shore diving. Some of us would never dive in a cave, or go deeper then 130 feet.
But we're still all divers.

 

[O-ring]

Natasha once bubbled...
Eric:
I think you hit the nail on the head. Is that how it goes?
Well anyway, you're right.
Relaxing, easy, reef diving isn't for everyone.
Some divers want a constant challenge. They want deep dives, or deep wreck, or caves.
They would be bored to death with coral and fish, let alone little fish.
But you have to remember there are all types of divers out there.
Some of us, want the slow place, slow relaxing, watch the fish play, reef type diving.
Sounds like this just wasn't for you.
Please remember though there are many of us that like this type of vacation, and will go back year after year to watch fish play and have unlimited shore diving. Some of us would never dive in a cave, or go deeper then 130 feet.
But we're still all divers.

The more challenging the more fun...different strokes for different folks, like you said, but we are all divers nonetheless.

 

[KyMermaidDivr]

Thanks for the pics, O-ring! Nice!

 

[KyMermaidDivr]

sillygrendel once bubbled...
Hey O-ring... Feel free to post any good pics of me! (I think that one over the sand might be me?) Or you can PM a couple to me and I could weed out the ones of me standing on the coral...

After all... You know how long it took to stage, err... take those pictures!

Is that what O-ring was doing with his hands? What were you thinking in those pics, O-ring?? "What does one do with one's hands while having pictures taken under water?" j/k

 

[KyMermaidDivr]

O-ring once bubbled...
Before the photo nazis get over here and start whining about the backscatter, etc. let me state that these were taken with one of those 85' disposable underwater cameras...

Good pics of SG, too. Ya know ... really the disposables aren't THAT bad, considering. I was pleasantly surprised at the pics from my night dive that were taken from the disposable I used ... granted, a more professional underwater camera would've been more awesome, but you work with what you've got at the time.