Bonaire - Turtle & Eagle Ray Report

[LaiLaiDiver]

For fellow Scuba Boarders currently on the island, thought I'd offer up my recent turtle sightings in exchange for eagle ray reports - anyone wanna play along?

Saw a 1 foot tagged Hawksbill on Sunday 8/17 at Oil Slick, and another one Tuesday morning at Something Special.

Now that I've found my (not so) elusive garden eels, I'm on to the rays...

I won't even ask about seahorses!

 

[Ann Marie]

Don't forget the frogfish!!!

Wish I could tell you where they are, but I'm not there!

 

[Sirto]

Now that I've found my (not so) elusive garden eels, I'm on to the rays...

We saw one at Margate but that was a couple of weeks ago. we also saw several turtles while we were there including one very large sleeping one which we saw on a night dive at 18th Palm.

We saw a 1 ft Hawsbill at Andrea I and later at Andrea II. I'd bet it's the same one you saw.

So where did you end up finding your garden eels?

 

[LaiLaiDiver]

I posted the garden eel report on my garden eel thread, but we did find them at the sand channel between the reefs at 75 feet at Invisibles, and yesterday off the bow of the Hilma Hooker, at 100 feet.... At that point however I was more excited about the ship than the eels, I must confess!

 

[scubajcf]

Not there now, but ....

Head out to Red Slave area.
Early Morning or Late Afternoon/Early Evening are generally best.
Swim out to the where the reef meets the sand.
You are now probably at 25 feet to 30 feet
Hang out there and you will probably see Eagle Rays feeding in the sand or cruising along in the blue.
Last time I was there, I got 45 minutes of amazing video. We were arms length from them in many cases.

jcf

 

[LaiLaiDiver]

Excellent - I've also read that Red Slave has the garden eels at shallow depth - I'll definitely check that out!!!

 

[DeputyDan]

Bari has three frogfish

 

[LaiLaiDiver]

Yup, Red Slave is definetly the spot for Eagle Rays. Went out yesterday around 4pm and watched a trio of them dancing in the sandy shallows. Beautiful. Garden eels were there as well.

But as often happens in life, the thing we were seeking ended up being the secondary thrill. On the same dive we had the fortune to follow along with a 5-foot long green moray as he swam above the reef for several minutes. Like a giant sea serpent... definitely a highpoint of my dive career!