Happy to report no PBD here...

[Trixxie]

Right to all - and again, don't get me wrong. It was a lovely place, great diving - once you're in the water - Had a fabulous time overall. Call me a princess diver too I guess. I took extra bottles of water (refilled ones I had already drank) so I could wash the sand off my feet and booties between dives. ewwwwwwwww.

My fav sites were: Yellow Submarine (think it's really called the town pier but we called it Yellow Sub?) - Windsock - Bari Reef. We did a dive from Bari to Buddy's. I tried to tell the group in order to do the drift dive like we wanted we needed to go from Buddy's to Bari but I was over ruled. that was still a good dive though. It would have been cool to jump off the rock at Oil Slick but I had my camera in a housing and didn't want to take the chance of it opening when I hit the water so I went down the ladder. And of course the hooker. All of these have easy entries... go figure.

Got beat up at Angel City so be careful there. 1000 steps isn't as bad as it sounds.


All in all it was a great trip, good friends, good food, beautiful scenery and weather. Will make all the room for the PBD'ers though. Sorry

 

[Trixxie]

To each his own I suppose. The food on Bonaire is one of the draws for me, you did pick one of the pricer places on the island, good but pricey. I do agree it can be hectic with a group. I also like CCV but for a different reason. For me it's a brain dead week. Zero decisions to make other than if I dive or not. Again, opinions differ, I find the food at CCV to be industrial.... more or less open the can and pour it out. It's ok but not a place I would go back to if it were a restaurant at home but certainly not bad enough to keep me from going back....in 6 weeks.

Yes, I feel like I need a vacation from vacation. I did 20 dives in 4 1/2 days. going from one end of the island to the other ate up some dive time and maybe we could have planned it better, but I am sure the S.I. wasn't a bad thing. One of our obstacles was having gear for 6 people in a Van. We had to tag along with some from our group w/a truck to give them some tanks and a person or 2 so we would not drag the ground. We usually tried to take 2 tanks a piece at a time to save time going back to the hotel.

When we didn't make the planned Bonaire flight we were making plans to go to coco view in 2 weeks. Airfare through the end of May was $436 RT/PP all in.

 

[herman]

Yes, I feel like I need a vacation from vacation. I did 20 dives in 4 1/2 days. going from one end of the island to the other ate up some dive time and maybe we could have planned it better, but I am sure the S.I. wasn't a bad thing. One of our obstacles was having gear for 6 people in a Van. We had to tag along with some from our group w/a truck to give them some tanks and a person or 2 so we would not drag the ground. We usually tried to take 2 tanks a piece at a time to save time going back to the hotel.

When we didn't make the planned Bonaire flight we were making plans to go to coco view in 2 weeks. Airfare through the end of May was $436 RT/PP all in.

I totally understand, sorry I missed one suggestion. We always spring for 2 trucks instead of a van when we have more than 4 to a room. 6 people and gear are too much for 1 van and 2 trucks give us the option of going to different sites. Our normal plan is a 2 tk dive in one direction, return for lunch and to swap tanks then head out in the other direction after lunch with 2 tanks for the afternoon dives.
The trick to oil slick with a camera is to hand it down to some one else then jump or jump and have someone hand it to you....gotta do the jump.

 

[Trixxie]

I totally understand, sorry I missed one suggestion. We always spring for 2 trucks instead of a van when we have more than 4 to a room. 6 people and gear are too much for 1 van and 2 trucks give us the option of going to different sites. Our normal plan is a 2 tk dive in one direction, return for lunch and to swap tanks then head out in the other direction after lunch with 2 tanks for the afternoon dives.
The trick to oil slick with a camera is to hand it down to some one else then jump or jump and have someone hand it to you....gotta do the jump.

Well when we got there with the other 2 folks that also missed the original flight Buddy's said they had given all of the vehicles for the group out?? How can that be since they were supposed to get a truck and we were too since the other 4 in our room had a truck. They ended up giving us a van instead of 2 trucks, apparently it wasn't our option to have 2 trks or 1 van. We would have preferred the 2 trucks instead of the van. They gave the truck the we had to the couple in the other room.

Well there was no waiting for anyone apparently with this group - everyone was out for themselves. I usually had to set my tank on the back of the van to gear up since everyone was in the water already. It just seemed a long way down to drop a housing?

 

[DeputyDan]

Well when we got there with the other 2 folks that also missed the original flight Buddy's said they had given all of the vehicles for the group out?? How can that be since they were supposed to get a truck and we were too since the other 4 in our room had a truck. They ended up giving us a van instead of 2 trucks, apparently it wasn't our option to have 2 trks or 1 van. We would have preferred the 2 trucks instead of the van. They gave the truck the we had to the couple in the other room.

Well there was no waiting for anyone apparently with this group - everyone was out for themselves. I usually had to set my tank on the back of the van to gear up since everyone was in the water already. It just seemed a long way down to drop a housing?

Next trip go with Herman!

 

[ClayJar]

Well there was no waiting for anyone apparently with this group - everyone was out for themselves. I usually had to set my tank on the back of the van to gear up since everyone was in the water already.

I have a feeling there's going to be quite a bit of waiting when I lead our excursion, at least when the parents are there and probably when the younger two sisters are there. At least if moonbasket and I do any "advanced" dives, those should go off more smoothly. (Hehe, it always feels a bit odd that I look forward to "advanced" dives because they're "easier", but such is the way when you're DMing, eh? :biggrin

Of course, I *did* offer to lug the parents rigs to and from the water if they need it. If they take me up on that, I sure hope they decide to tip.

 

[DiveMaven]

Sounds like you had a lot of extra hassles with your group, which definitely would have bugged just about anyone. We've talked about kinda doing what Herman suggests, but instead of grabbing 4 tanks and going one direction, then lunch, etc., we've talked about doing 2 dives on one site (unless there's a reason to move), then back for lunch and more tanks, then somewhere else for 2 dives. We're also looking forward to doing before breakfast/dawn dives on Bari reef (in front of our condo) most mornings.

Ironically, we've looked at going to Coco View like 10x and have always picked other places instead, including liveaboards. I think for us it's always come down to the reports of repetitive food and diving that have always swayed us away. We've had 2 different friends go and they've both said a week was as much as they could have enjoyed, and since our summer plans are usually for 2 weeks, we've not chosen Roatan.

Either way, it's great that you've found YOUR slice of diving paradise and I hope you enjoy many, many years of diving in Roatan!

 

[gypsyjim]

Next trip go with Herman!

Amen! With a relaxed group including Herman and DeputyDan, and an assortment of vehicles that going with a larger group allows, there are so many diving options anyones diving tastes can be accomidated. My GF is happy with 1 maybe 2 dives and snorkeling and sunning, my teenagers dive constantly, and I need 4 tanks minimum plus night or I dry out.
(sigh)I should have been in Bonaire all last week.....at least we'll have July!

 

[Trixxie]

Sounds like you had a lot of extra hassles with your group, which definitely would have bugged just about anyone. We've talked about kinda doing what Herman suggests, but instead of grabbing 4 tanks and going one direction, then lunch, etc., we've talked about doing 2 dives on one site (unless there's a reason to move), then back for lunch and more tanks, then somewhere else for 2 dives. We're also looking forward to doing before breakfast/dawn dives on Bari reef (in front of our condo) most mornings.

you'll enjoy Bari reef. (prolly most of the other ones too )

Ironically, we've looked at going to Coco View like 10x and have always picked other places instead, including liveaboards. I think for us it's always come down to the reports of repetitive food and diving that have always swayed us away. We've had 2 different friends go and they've both said a week was as much as they could have enjoyed, and since our summer plans are usually for 2 weeks, we've not chosen Roatan.

Yeah there's not much to do at the resort itself but they pretty much will take you to the dock so you can catch a taxi to town as much as you would like to go. There was a couple there last year who booked a 2 week stay. My only problem w/roatan was the no see ums, BUT thankfully through S/B I discovered cactus juice and am HAPPY to report not even a single bug bite the entire time while I was in Bonaire. I saw a couple of folks with LOTS of bites, that would have been me w/o the cactus juice.

Either way, it's great that you've found YOUR slice of diving paradise and I hope you enjoy many, many years of diving in Roatan!

I have, until I find another place.... haven't been to the south pacific *yet*- I guess as long as I am in the water, it's all good, right??!!

 

[dogenia]

Wow I'm impressed at the amount of time you guys spend timing all these dives.
I'm on island time here, in Bonaire island time is even slower. I thought the whole point of a vacation was to relax? Just teasing y'all.

Don