Good News/Bad News

[BrackaFish]

Update. It appears that the hard coral has almost totally recovered from summer bleaching as water temperatures seem to be in the very low 80s. However there is now strange white fuzzy algae like stuff growing on the Hardpan. Seems to b limited to shallower areas. Will try and post a photo when a dive buddy shows up next week. Be safe

 

[PatW]

Sounds like pretty long walk/swim-out trips to/from the main wall.

Next question, using Bonaire's west coast for a reference. A number of Bonaire's southern sites have wide accessible areas for entry/exit. A given point or two, perhaps marked with rocks or piles of rocks, may be better for getting in and out, but if need be, it's not big deal if one surfaces a couple hundred feet from the intended exit.

But up north, with places like Karpata, Oil Slick Leap, etc..., there's a narrower exit-worthy stretch. This is mainly a concern at dive's end, when you're looking for where to get out.

How did you find Brac shore diving in terms of ease of finding your exit path? Some of us aren't good navigators.

I have not done shore diving at the Brac.

On the south side, diving the lagoon is not practical. It would be get in and swim out to the exposed outer reef and then get back in. But the lagoon peters out about 2 miles to the east of the end of the island. There are a number of places where there is access. I think it would be snorkel out and then dive. The outer wall would probably be too far out but the inner wall to about 55’ to the sand would be good. Navigation would be south is deeper and north is shore. On the north side there are a number of places that are public access with nice sites.

For deep wall dives, you would be pretty much dependent on boat dives which means Scuba Shack or Brac Reef Resort. I would think you could probably get multiple tanks at the Shack if you made an arrangement like an extra deposit or something. But I bet they are limited in tanks so it would only work if you brought them back the same day without fail.


There are a few places where you could practically reach the outer wall on a share dive like the town dock and the east end.

 

[divezonescuba]

Brac is the best shore diving in the western hemisphere. Way better than Bonaire. But it does not have the same level of diving infrastructure. You cannot get unlimited shore diving nitrox.

Wall dives in Brac are not too difficult on the north side.

My single favorite dive in the western hemisphere is off of Scott's dock. Since you drive out on the pier, the swim t the wall is not very long. You can do a wall dive, wreck dive (Kissime) and reef dive all in one. I think there also used to be a spectacular swim thru somewhere there between the wall and the flat if you turned west.

My other favorite is the large patch of coral west of handcuff reef. You have to swim to the west along the bottom of the reef slope. It is about 100-200 feet away from the wall, so you can just barely see it off to your right. It is infested with barrel sponges. It the right angle it looks like that egg pod scene from aliens. The wall is just pass that.

A third one is the wall behind the MV Tibbets. That is a bit longer swim that you want to do on the surface. Last June we formed a train to pull my wife who had broken her ankle in Bonaire the previous year. It was really funny when we passed the CBBR boat doing Bucaneer reef. They were probably wondering what we were doing.

If you want more than one tank like we did on that trip, do sidemount or independent backmount doubles. Liesel is sympathetic to that.

Now, if I could only find a way to get there this summer.

 

[tursiops]

Brac is the best shore diving in the western hemisphere.

Depends on what you like. Nice that it suits you so well.