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First trip to Bonaire
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darook
Contributor
You can find many garden eels in about 20 feet of water by the mooring at Invisibles. That happens to be one of my favorite sites on the island. Swim out to the buoy and then find the sand channel between the reefs (it looks like a ski slope) then follow that down to 100' and you will see THOUSANDS of garden eels. Great site. If you swim along the reef and then follow it around it will get you within site of the second reef. There are a gazillion fish out there and it is worth seeing. It is a big dive site and in my opinion worth a couple of dives.
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I second Invisibles - that's where we saw some also. One of our better dives also. Angel City also about the same depth - the site south of the Hooker. We also saw some shallow at Alice in Wonderland which is the next site south. Angel City is also the site where not only is there ironshore in the water to climb over, for some reason there are a lot of holes in it there. One of them had a sharp something growing in the bottom - I still have the scar.
I suspect you probably find them in between the double reef at any of those sites along there.
If you ride over to Klein, one to dive is Forest. There's a forest of Black Coral at around 70'. Other dives we did there seemed similar to what's found off Bonaire. We did a drift at Hands Off but the ride was the thrill, the site was just average or maybe even a little tired. Another really good boat-only dive is Rappel farther north off Bonaire - almost everyone on our boat requested it when asked by the DM. Boat diving is also the easy way to access 1000Steps...
I suspect you probably find them in between the double reef at any of those sites along there.
If you ride over to Klein, one to dive is Forest. There's a forest of Black Coral at around 70'. Other dives we did there seemed similar to what's found off Bonaire. We did a drift at Hands Off but the ride was the thrill, the site was just average or maybe even a little tired. Another really good boat-only dive is Rappel farther north off Bonaire - almost everyone on our boat requested it when asked by the DM. Boat diving is also the easy way to access 1000Steps...
Try doing two tanks at 1000 steps, with a young son and a gf who are not able to carry tanks up and down those steps.
In truth, there really are not anywhere near 1000 steps there, but after three trips carrying two tanks, down, and then back up, I was sure the count was way too low! I was a lot younger then, and better able to do that kind of $#it.
In truth, there really are not anywhere near 1000 steps there, but after three trips carrying two tanks, down, and then back up, I was sure the count was way too low! I was a lot younger then, and better able to do that kind of $#it.
DeputyDan
Contributor
@10 years younger. Morgan was @10 and he's now 21. I am simply not as spry today as I was 10 years ago.
---------- Post added October 14th, 2014 at 09:09 AM ----------
Certainly not spry enough to cheerfully to grab two tanks and walk those steps multiple times.
DeputyDan
Contributor
Amy is 26 now.....
It's hard to believe those kids who first dived Bonaire together on that great trip are no longer kids, but fully adults and on their own!
Holy cats you to 2, stop it, you are making me feel old. Don't make my adopted kids and dive buddies grown up. 
On garden eels, they are in most any flat sandy areas. The trick is to look WAY ahead of you, they are shy and most of the time will retreat into their holes way before you see them. One of the easiest ways to see them is to follow the keel of the Hilma Hooker wreck to the stern and then sneak a look around the end of the ship. That way you can ease up on them with the ship hiding your approch.
On garden eels, they are in most any flat sandy areas. The trick is to look WAY ahead of you, they are shy and most of the time will retreat into their holes way before you see them. One of the easiest ways to see them is to follow the keel of the Hilma Hooker wreck to the stern and then sneak a look around the end of the ship. That way you can ease up on them with the ship hiding your approch.
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