OP
ScubaDiva
Contributor
Sorry, I've been a slacker. I finally have time to work on this now that we've been home for 5 days. Still haven't looked through and edited my pics yet....baby steps.
On day 4, our plan was to do La Dania's Leap first and then move on to something else...maybe Karpata. Well....we couldn't find La Dania's Leap, and once you are that far North, you are in the one way "point of no return" area. Sooo....we did a nice little jont around the island and went back for a do over.
We decided to give Oil Slick a whirl before entering the point of no return again JIC we had trouble finding La Dania's Leap the second time around. Oil Slick has a cool little rock ledge that you can take a giant stride off of, and a ladder for the exit. We didn't take very good notes on the dive otherwise. With the exception of the entry and exit, it was more of the same as far as I was concerned.
After Oil Slick, we tried to find La Dania's Leap again with no luck. We decided to head over to Buddy Dive to check out their reef, since it is only two doors down from our resort, and the best diving we had done so far was at our own house reef (Bari Reef). At the Buddy Reef we saw 2 Scorpionfish, a drum and anenome....I'm sure there was more....the pictures will tell. Afterwards, we went back to the condo for lunch and relaxed a little.
We hit Bari Reef again a little later, but this time we went at dusk just after the sun went down. This was the first dive where we saw a "regular" lobster. I'm used to seeing several per day in the Caribbean, but they are sparse in Bonaire. It's funny how you can see something so much on one trip that you're completely sick of it, and then, you see one of them at a different destination, and it's a big deal.
The following day (day 5), was by far our best day of diving. We had our best dive of all (Nukove), but we did Karpata first, which is the very last dive at the "point of no return", and we still couldn't find La Dania's Leap!!!! Anyway-Karpata was very pretty coral-wise, but it was as if all of the sea life was hiding. It was definitely much more scenic and pleasing to the eye and less touched than the other dives we had done. I did happen upon a Lettuce Leaf Slug, which I had never seen before....neat little guy. I tried to point him out to Jeff, but he thought the guy was a part of the reef. They blend in pretty well. After I showed him my pics later on, he knew what I was showing him the next time I found one...2 dives later. We also saw a HUGE drum....like 7-8 inches long. Was he just really old?
At the suggestion of Drewpy and chauncy19, we decided to venture further North to try to find Taylor Maid. It is a huge Pain in the A
to get there, but well worth it. If you are new to this area of Bonaire, do not go without a truck, and make sure when you rent the truck, you add some additional scratches to the inspection sheet because that puppy is going to do some bushwhacking.
We didn't actually do Taylor Maid....we did Nukove, which is painted over the old Taylor Maid rock for some reason. It's not like there's a shortage of rocks on the island, so I'm not sure what that is all about. We discovered the rock after the dive and assumed the Nukove used to be called Taylor Maid, but according to the Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy book, they are two different dives.
Anyway-There were only 4 other divers crazy enough to go that far North, and they got in about 5 minutes before us, so we had the dive to ourselves. Getting in and out would be a little tricky for a newbie because there are a ton of really slippery rocks to conquer to get in and out....especially in the morning because the tide was so low. We saw more of the 5 foot tarpon on this dive as well as a grouper, but the highlight was the squid family during our safety stop. Does anyone know if squid choose partners for life? There were two adults (one a bit larger than the other) and a baby...and the baby was swimming backwards the whole time. They were a dark brown color with big, bright blue eyes. Squid are so friendly. They always make for a happy encounter with their curiosity and trust. (unless you're the guy we met on the trip who got inked because he put his camera too close
).
At the end of the dive, the others who had started the dive before us were at their truck. I asked them how to find La Dania's Leap and was advised the it was about a quarter of a mile before Karpata and a white triangle is painted on the left side of the road to mark a skinny trail that you need to walk down to get to it.
We headed back South down the looooonnnng dirt road and got out at an area that was marked with several large rock piles. We later found out that that is Candy Land.
I decided to be a rebel and drive backwards from Karpata to find La Dania's Leap because that guy said that it was only 1/4 mile. He was wrong...it was a bit further, but we made it without killing anyone. We never got a chance to do the dive, since we had already used our tanks, but now we know how to find it for the next trip.
I'll write out Days 6 and 7 at different time, so I'm not just rambling on and on and on and on.....like I'm doing right now. Bye for now! :mooner:
On day 4, our plan was to do La Dania's Leap first and then move on to something else...maybe Karpata. Well....we couldn't find La Dania's Leap, and once you are that far North, you are in the one way "point of no return" area. Sooo....we did a nice little jont around the island and went back for a do over.
We decided to give Oil Slick a whirl before entering the point of no return again JIC we had trouble finding La Dania's Leap the second time around. Oil Slick has a cool little rock ledge that you can take a giant stride off of, and a ladder for the exit. We didn't take very good notes on the dive otherwise. With the exception of the entry and exit, it was more of the same as far as I was concerned.
After Oil Slick, we tried to find La Dania's Leap again with no luck. We decided to head over to Buddy Dive to check out their reef, since it is only two doors down from our resort, and the best diving we had done so far was at our own house reef (Bari Reef). At the Buddy Reef we saw 2 Scorpionfish, a drum and anenome....I'm sure there was more....the pictures will tell. Afterwards, we went back to the condo for lunch and relaxed a little.
We hit Bari Reef again a little later, but this time we went at dusk just after the sun went down. This was the first dive where we saw a "regular" lobster. I'm used to seeing several per day in the Caribbean, but they are sparse in Bonaire. It's funny how you can see something so much on one trip that you're completely sick of it, and then, you see one of them at a different destination, and it's a big deal.
The following day (day 5), was by far our best day of diving. We had our best dive of all (Nukove), but we did Karpata first, which is the very last dive at the "point of no return", and we still couldn't find La Dania's Leap!!!! Anyway-Karpata was very pretty coral-wise, but it was as if all of the sea life was hiding. It was definitely much more scenic and pleasing to the eye and less touched than the other dives we had done. I did happen upon a Lettuce Leaf Slug, which I had never seen before....neat little guy. I tried to point him out to Jeff, but he thought the guy was a part of the reef. They blend in pretty well. After I showed him my pics later on, he knew what I was showing him the next time I found one...2 dives later. We also saw a HUGE drum....like 7-8 inches long. Was he just really old?
At the suggestion of Drewpy and chauncy19, we decided to venture further North to try to find Taylor Maid. It is a huge Pain in the A
to get there, but well worth it. If you are new to this area of Bonaire, do not go without a truck, and make sure when you rent the truck, you add some additional scratches to the inspection sheet because that puppy is going to do some bushwhacking. We didn't actually do Taylor Maid....we did Nukove, which is painted over the old Taylor Maid rock for some reason. It's not like there's a shortage of rocks on the island, so I'm not sure what that is all about. We discovered the rock after the dive and assumed the Nukove used to be called Taylor Maid, but according to the Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy book, they are two different dives.
Anyway-There were only 4 other divers crazy enough to go that far North, and they got in about 5 minutes before us, so we had the dive to ourselves. Getting in and out would be a little tricky for a newbie because there are a ton of really slippery rocks to conquer to get in and out....especially in the morning because the tide was so low. We saw more of the 5 foot tarpon on this dive as well as a grouper, but the highlight was the squid family during our safety stop. Does anyone know if squid choose partners for life? There were two adults (one a bit larger than the other) and a baby...and the baby was swimming backwards the whole time. They were a dark brown color with big, bright blue eyes. Squid are so friendly. They always make for a happy encounter with their curiosity and trust. (unless you're the guy we met on the trip who got inked because he put his camera too close
).At the end of the dive, the others who had started the dive before us were at their truck. I asked them how to find La Dania's Leap and was advised the it was about a quarter of a mile before Karpata and a white triangle is painted on the left side of the road to mark a skinny trail that you need to walk down to get to it.
We headed back South down the looooonnnng dirt road and got out at an area that was marked with several large rock piles. We later found out that that is Candy Land.
I decided to be a rebel and drive backwards from Karpata to find La Dania's Leap because that guy said that it was only 1/4 mile. He was wrong...it was a bit further, but we made it without killing anyone. We never got a chance to do the dive, since we had already used our tanks, but now we know how to find it for the next trip.
I'll write out Days 6 and 7 at different time, so I'm not just rambling on and on and on and on.....like I'm doing right now. Bye for now! :mooner:
