My wife, Kathy and I just got back from two weeks in Bonaire from November 1-16. Our first trip down there was in January, and we decided it would save us a lot of money to return back in the same year so we didn't have to pay for our marine park tags again. The way we look at it, the extra $50 we saved more than paid for the extra week we stayed down there!
We stayed at Sand Dollar, and my sister in law, Patty, also joined us for the first week. She took a referral course, and got certified while we were down there. The folks at Bonaire Dive and Adventure did a really good job with her, and she even got a private course out of it.
We flew in on the Redeye out of Houston. I am 6'6" and really dread the flight in coach, but we managed to get the only empty seat on the plane between us, and managed a little sleep on the way out. We landed, and made it through immigration before the first bags even came around the carousel, but Patty wasn't as lucky. She was the last person through immigration, and her luggage was the last one on the carousel. We did meet Jen (RagTopJen) and her father Dave, while we were waiting, and decided to meet up for dinner at Lion's Den that night.
The girls decided to take a nap while I unpacked and went to the world's longest dive orientation. Do they have a minimum time or something? Done with that, I got my gear setup, and went for a dive. The reef was pretty much as I remember it, but the coral closest to the dock seems to have gotten kit pretty hard by TS Omar. I went looking for the Jawfish in the shallows, but couldn't find them. Jerry Ligon, the staff naturalist later told us that he hasn't seen a Jawfish on Bonaire for over 2 months. He thinks whatever is killing the Morays is also affecting the Jawfish. As I was breaking down my gear, Kathy had decided to come down and do her checkout dive, so I picked out another tank and jumped right back in! Working on only an hour or two of sleep, I was surprised I managed to get two dives in, but I also didn't want to take a nap and mess my schedule up. Got groceries, and headed to Buddy Dive to have some Frozen Cactus' during their happy hour and meet up for dinner with Jen and Dave. I really like Lion's Den's Mixed grill.
The next day we met up with Jen and Dave and dove together at Andrea II and Oil Slick Leap. The Ladder is back and functional at Oil Slick!!! There ladder is actually nicer than I even remember it, but that could just the the rum talking. There was quite a bit of damage apparent in the shallows, but below about 35', everything looked normal. Most of the damage was limited to fire coral that will grow back pretty quickly, and small brain coral that got flipped over, or covered with sand. There were also a lot of downed gorgonians and stovepipe sponges.
The next two days Kathy and I dove the South side while Patty did her checkout dives with the instructor. We also met up with Jen for her first night dives at Buddy's Reef.
We tried doing the Hooker, but it was so crowded, we just went down to Angel City instead. We learned that if you want to dive the Hooker, you really need to get in the water before 8:30, or wait until afternoon.
One of our favorite dives was at White Slave. The swim out is pretty far, and the drop off is a little deeper than normal for Bonaire, but the reef is simply pristine. The soft coral is beautiful, and the patches of coral are surrounded by the purest of white sand. There are also plenty of Garden Eels in pretty shallow water. The only thing that would have made it better would have been an Eagle Ray or two.
By Wednesday, Patty was officially certified, and we went out to Angel City to celebrate. This was easily our favorite dive, and we went back three times over the two weeks we were there. The drift from the Bow of the Hooker to Angel City is great for checking out the double reef since you start out at 100', and can stay in the sand channel until it shallows out at 35' near the Angel City Buoy.
After two morning dives we toured the island and stopped in Rincon at the Rose Inn for drinks. To our amazement we found they were able to tap into the trees for electrical power! Talk about green energy.
The girls got out and took a lot of pictures while I waited in the car as we drove past the Flamingo Sanctuary on the North.
Patty did her last dives on Thursday, and unfortunately we got some unexpected current which put a little bit of a cabash on our search for a Seahorse on Eden Beach. We did our last dive together at Bari and mostly stuck to the shallows checking out whatever swam our way.
Friday the girls headed out for a mangrove kayak while I did a boat dive. Then it was into town for souvenier shopping.
We treated Patty to a nice dinner and enjoyed our final night with her before she had to head back home.
Since we had to get up early to drop off Patty anyway, we decided to pack up the gear as well, and do an excellent dawn dive at Invisibles, and then managed to hit up the Hilma Hooker for our second dive before most people were even awake.
It was really nice getting our diving in before the sun got hot, Kathy was even in a good mood for getting up so early that she was striking poses on the hood of our pickup. If that doesn't grace the covers of Lowrider magazine, I don't know what will...
The resort seemed to get super crowded for our second week. It seemed like everywhere we went there were tons of people at the dive sites, and especially at the house reef, tons of morons with cameras butting in front of you, kicking up the bottom, and molesting the wildlife. We found three frogfishes on Bari reef, and it was hard to get within 20' of them the second week there were so many people there. We did manage to meet one really nice guy from Toronto named Paul that we did several dives with throughout the week. Unfortunately, his buddy had to cancel at the last minute and he was down in Bonaire all by himself.
I was honing my Fish ID skills throughout the week, and was looking for Hamlets one day. I found tons of Yellowtail, and Barred Hamlets as well as one pretty rare Shy Hamlet, but bad luck or what not, I could not come across a Butter Hamlet. Later that afternoon during a dusk dive, the fates aligned, and we spotted two prancing around along the drop off at Bari. As one of the most spectacular experiences we had all vacation the two little Shakespheres started circling each other, and in the blink of an eye, they were clasped in a passionate embrace, one wrapped around the other. A few seconds later, they switched roles, and repeated their courtship. They seemed oblivious of our presence as they repeated the dirty deed five times before finally becoming spent. The Hamlets are a very interesting species, both for their colors, and the fact that they are simultaneous hermaphrodites, so in between each mating clasp, the pair exchanges the Male-Female role, and they repeat the process, exchanging sperm one time, and eggs the next. It was really great to finally see the stuff we have been reading about in all the Reef Fish books.
Another highlight of the week came on the second to last day while diving The Lake, when in the shallows we came upon two Caribbean Reef squid. We found a lot of squid over the two weeks, and were moving on when we noticed Paul was staying behind we took another look at the Squid, who were rapidly changing color, and swimming in sync with one another with their heads together. I believe it was a mating dance of some sort, but at times it also looked like it was a form of aggression.
I tried to get into the Century club at BDA, (ID 100 species in 1 dive), but unfortunately I only managed to get 84 different guys. It's amazing how hard it is to find a Flounder when you are actually looking for one
We took an advanced naturalist class with Jerry, and he was an immense help in sorting out all the little gobies and blennies. I can also say that I can now ID all the Parrotfish in all their different phases. Thanks Jerry!
Out last dive was a night dive at Captain Don's. There was an unusual amount of plankton in the water, especially these really annoying little wormy things. They didn't bother Kathy too much, although I brought my cave light along, and the little things absolutely swarmed me to death! At one point they were so bad they were swimming in my hair, ears, and some even got in my wetsuit. A unique experience, and one I hope not to repeat.
We headed to the Donkey Sanctuary during our day off and said hi to all the a$$es. The little buggers are so motivated for the food everyone gives out they will stick their whole heads into the car as you drive by.
We had dinner with our new friend Paul at Bistro De Paris, where I experimented with a Vegetarian dish, and we had a nice, relaxing evening. We walked there, and got home not a minute too soon as it started pouring down rain as we walked into our condo. We had some interesting ordeals returning to St Louis, but I will leave those for another time.
All in all, it was a great trip, and it was nice being able to head down there for two weeks. I managed to log 41 dives during our stay. Our most notable dives were at
Angel City - Great Double Reef system
Hilma Hooker - Always fun to swim through her cargo holds, and check out the bridge.
Alice in Wonderland, Invisibles, The Lake - More great double reef dives
White Slave - Pristine, and untouched
Tori's Reef - great dive, and cool shallows
Oil Slick - Check out the caves in the shallows near the ladder.
1000 Steps - Just a good dive that's worth the work.
Bari - You just never know what you'll see, especially on a dusk dive.
All the Klein sites were excellent as well. The wall at Carl's Hill is pretty cool.
We were somewhat disappointed with Karpata, and if it wasn't for the spotted eagle rays, we probably wouldn't have cared for Red Slave either. We went to Eden Beach to find a seahorse that was reported there, but he wasn't around, and the site is just rocky rubble without too much on it.
We are looking forward to getting back there, and hopefully next time I will get into that century club. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Here's a nice sunset picture Kathy took on Patty's last day there.
We stayed at Sand Dollar, and my sister in law, Patty, also joined us for the first week. She took a referral course, and got certified while we were down there. The folks at Bonaire Dive and Adventure did a really good job with her, and she even got a private course out of it.
We flew in on the Redeye out of Houston. I am 6'6" and really dread the flight in coach, but we managed to get the only empty seat on the plane between us, and managed a little sleep on the way out. We landed, and made it through immigration before the first bags even came around the carousel, but Patty wasn't as lucky. She was the last person through immigration, and her luggage was the last one on the carousel. We did meet Jen (RagTopJen) and her father Dave, while we were waiting, and decided to meet up for dinner at Lion's Den that night.
The girls decided to take a nap while I unpacked and went to the world's longest dive orientation. Do they have a minimum time or something? Done with that, I got my gear setup, and went for a dive. The reef was pretty much as I remember it, but the coral closest to the dock seems to have gotten kit pretty hard by TS Omar. I went looking for the Jawfish in the shallows, but couldn't find them. Jerry Ligon, the staff naturalist later told us that he hasn't seen a Jawfish on Bonaire for over 2 months. He thinks whatever is killing the Morays is also affecting the Jawfish. As I was breaking down my gear, Kathy had decided to come down and do her checkout dive, so I picked out another tank and jumped right back in! Working on only an hour or two of sleep, I was surprised I managed to get two dives in, but I also didn't want to take a nap and mess my schedule up. Got groceries, and headed to Buddy Dive to have some Frozen Cactus' during their happy hour and meet up for dinner with Jen and Dave. I really like Lion's Den's Mixed grill.
The next day we met up with Jen and Dave and dove together at Andrea II and Oil Slick Leap. The Ladder is back and functional at Oil Slick!!! There ladder is actually nicer than I even remember it, but that could just the the rum talking. There was quite a bit of damage apparent in the shallows, but below about 35', everything looked normal. Most of the damage was limited to fire coral that will grow back pretty quickly, and small brain coral that got flipped over, or covered with sand. There were also a lot of downed gorgonians and stovepipe sponges.
The next two days Kathy and I dove the South side while Patty did her checkout dives with the instructor. We also met up with Jen for her first night dives at Buddy's Reef.
We tried doing the Hooker, but it was so crowded, we just went down to Angel City instead. We learned that if you want to dive the Hooker, you really need to get in the water before 8:30, or wait until afternoon.
One of our favorite dives was at White Slave. The swim out is pretty far, and the drop off is a little deeper than normal for Bonaire, but the reef is simply pristine. The soft coral is beautiful, and the patches of coral are surrounded by the purest of white sand. There are also plenty of Garden Eels in pretty shallow water. The only thing that would have made it better would have been an Eagle Ray or two.
By Wednesday, Patty was officially certified, and we went out to Angel City to celebrate. This was easily our favorite dive, and we went back three times over the two weeks we were there. The drift from the Bow of the Hooker to Angel City is great for checking out the double reef since you start out at 100', and can stay in the sand channel until it shallows out at 35' near the Angel City Buoy.
After two morning dives we toured the island and stopped in Rincon at the Rose Inn for drinks. To our amazement we found they were able to tap into the trees for electrical power! Talk about green energy.
The girls got out and took a lot of pictures while I waited in the car as we drove past the Flamingo Sanctuary on the North.
Patty did her last dives on Thursday, and unfortunately we got some unexpected current which put a little bit of a cabash on our search for a Seahorse on Eden Beach. We did our last dive together at Bari and mostly stuck to the shallows checking out whatever swam our way.
Friday the girls headed out for a mangrove kayak while I did a boat dive. Then it was into town for souvenier shopping.
We treated Patty to a nice dinner and enjoyed our final night with her before she had to head back home.
Since we had to get up early to drop off Patty anyway, we decided to pack up the gear as well, and do an excellent dawn dive at Invisibles, and then managed to hit up the Hilma Hooker for our second dive before most people were even awake.
It was really nice getting our diving in before the sun got hot, Kathy was even in a good mood for getting up so early that she was striking poses on the hood of our pickup. If that doesn't grace the covers of Lowrider magazine, I don't know what will...
The resort seemed to get super crowded for our second week. It seemed like everywhere we went there were tons of people at the dive sites, and especially at the house reef, tons of morons with cameras butting in front of you, kicking up the bottom, and molesting the wildlife. We found three frogfishes on Bari reef, and it was hard to get within 20' of them the second week there were so many people there. We did manage to meet one really nice guy from Toronto named Paul that we did several dives with throughout the week. Unfortunately, his buddy had to cancel at the last minute and he was down in Bonaire all by himself.
I was honing my Fish ID skills throughout the week, and was looking for Hamlets one day. I found tons of Yellowtail, and Barred Hamlets as well as one pretty rare Shy Hamlet, but bad luck or what not, I could not come across a Butter Hamlet. Later that afternoon during a dusk dive, the fates aligned, and we spotted two prancing around along the drop off at Bari. As one of the most spectacular experiences we had all vacation the two little Shakespheres started circling each other, and in the blink of an eye, they were clasped in a passionate embrace, one wrapped around the other. A few seconds later, they switched roles, and repeated their courtship. They seemed oblivious of our presence as they repeated the dirty deed five times before finally becoming spent. The Hamlets are a very interesting species, both for their colors, and the fact that they are simultaneous hermaphrodites, so in between each mating clasp, the pair exchanges the Male-Female role, and they repeat the process, exchanging sperm one time, and eggs the next. It was really great to finally see the stuff we have been reading about in all the Reef Fish books.
Another highlight of the week came on the second to last day while diving The Lake, when in the shallows we came upon two Caribbean Reef squid. We found a lot of squid over the two weeks, and were moving on when we noticed Paul was staying behind we took another look at the Squid, who were rapidly changing color, and swimming in sync with one another with their heads together. I believe it was a mating dance of some sort, but at times it also looked like it was a form of aggression.
I tried to get into the Century club at BDA, (ID 100 species in 1 dive), but unfortunately I only managed to get 84 different guys. It's amazing how hard it is to find a Flounder when you are actually looking for one
We took an advanced naturalist class with Jerry, and he was an immense help in sorting out all the little gobies and blennies. I can also say that I can now ID all the Parrotfish in all their different phases. Thanks Jerry!Out last dive was a night dive at Captain Don's. There was an unusual amount of plankton in the water, especially these really annoying little wormy things. They didn't bother Kathy too much, although I brought my cave light along, and the little things absolutely swarmed me to death! At one point they were so bad they were swimming in my hair, ears, and some even got in my wetsuit. A unique experience, and one I hope not to repeat.
We headed to the Donkey Sanctuary during our day off and said hi to all the a$$es. The little buggers are so motivated for the food everyone gives out they will stick their whole heads into the car as you drive by.
We had dinner with our new friend Paul at Bistro De Paris, where I experimented with a Vegetarian dish, and we had a nice, relaxing evening. We walked there, and got home not a minute too soon as it started pouring down rain as we walked into our condo. We had some interesting ordeals returning to St Louis, but I will leave those for another time.
All in all, it was a great trip, and it was nice being able to head down there for two weeks. I managed to log 41 dives during our stay. Our most notable dives were at
Angel City - Great Double Reef system
Hilma Hooker - Always fun to swim through her cargo holds, and check out the bridge.
Alice in Wonderland, Invisibles, The Lake - More great double reef dives
White Slave - Pristine, and untouched
Tori's Reef - great dive, and cool shallows
Oil Slick - Check out the caves in the shallows near the ladder.
1000 Steps - Just a good dive that's worth the work.
Bari - You just never know what you'll see, especially on a dusk dive.
All the Klein sites were excellent as well. The wall at Carl's Hill is pretty cool.
We were somewhat disappointed with Karpata, and if it wasn't for the spotted eagle rays, we probably wouldn't have cared for Red Slave either. We went to Eden Beach to find a seahorse that was reported there, but he wasn't around, and the site is just rocky rubble without too much on it.
We are looking forward to getting back there, and hopefully next time I will get into that century club. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Here's a nice sunset picture Kathy took on Patty's last day there.
