Leaving Bonaire--a few remarks

[lsorenson]

Hey DM... Glad it all went well for you and yours! We head their this coming weekend (24th)...!

I remember you dove a 5mm in Roatan so... I was planning to go with a just a skin or maybe a full body skin... If you remember, I dove Roatan (March) with a 3mm shorty just before you went and I was fine... Would you think that skins are enough?

lee

 

[drrich2]

How cold sensitive are you, and what is in 'enough' for?

In Bonaire, I dive in t-shirt and swim trunks. I'm chunky and pretty cold-resistant. My wife doesn't use a wet suit, either; she's not as chunky as I am. I'm 6'1" & run close to 285#. This is me in Bonaire:

Now, our buddy is small and lean, and he was okay without a wet suit temp.-wise, but kept getting some sort of rash effect, so now he wears a body suit that I think is basically a skin suit, to protect him from 'no-seeums.'

I don't generally get the rash problem. Once in awhile I get zapped by what I believe are tiny jelly fish or the like; sort of like a bee sting, only less focal. Hasn't been a big problem, and not enough to make me want to bother with a wet suit in any form.

Richard.

 

[DiveMaven]

I wore a 3mm full the entire time and only got a bit chilly on the last day when a storm blew in and I couldn't warm up enough during the surface interval. If you're going to do much shore diving, you might consider a full suit (or skin) simply for protection from the entries/exits more than thermal protection. I went down on a knee a couple of times and was glad to have a full suit. We also felt a couple of stings from jellies early in the trip (face and hands) and again were glad for the protection.

I forgot to add that we saw a good 1/2 dozen juvenile Boxfish in various different spots (the ones that look like spotted marbles)! They're always super cool to see and last year I think we only found one in the same time period. IMO anyone who is headed to Bonaire in the next few months is in for a big treat!

 

[lsorenson]

Richard and DM...

Thanks for the input! I'm going with the 3mm shorty just in case and will be diving trunks w/ upper skin. Will also have a full 1mm skin available so flexibility to swap will be there...

Thanks again cause I was hemming and hawing on the full 3mm...

lee

 

[tracydr]

We saw some remarkable things the past two weeks too. July 17th-30th. Largest lobster, both slipper and spiny. Rays (spotted and southern), lots of eels, though less than in 2007.
Saw this fluorescent, transparent tube shaped worm one night. Don't even know how to classify it to try to ID. Of course it was a night dive when I didn't take my camera and hubby didn't take his video. That was also the dive where a huge Ray literally ran into my husband and for some reason, (full moon?) we were swarmed by tiny spirally worms, brine shrimp and bright blue 2 inch fish. So bad we turned off our lights and tried to outrun them, they wer such a nuisance!
Water was incredibly warm, 84 most dives. Our favorite spots were Taylor Made, Karpata, Oil Slick and Red Slave.
Unable to do Lac Cai or the White Hole, currents were strong the day we went out there. Caught 3 bonefish each on snorkel/fly, man was that a hoot!
I would not bother with the northernmost dives again. Long drive to dive on crushed elk horn coral, although that was where we saw the giant lobster.
We took it easy the second week as my parrents were with us. Maybe dove a total of only 23for two weeks? But each dive was very special, especially the nights on Oil Slick. Actually dove in the nude one night, what a rush!

 

[tracydr]

I dove anything from nude (really!) to 3ml with Lycra skin underneath. On multiple dive days wore the most, of course.

 

[lsorenson]

Well, we are back and thanks for all of the input.... I ended up diving in shorts and a T-shirt for all 25 dives... Had a great time and now I know why there is such a debate between Bonaire and Roatan...!!! I loved them both and for different reasons...

Lee

 

[gypsyjim]

We saw some remarkable things the past two weeks too. July 17th-30th. Largest lobster, both slipper and spiny. Rays (spotted and southern), lots of eels, though less than in 2007.
Saw this fluorescent, transparent tube shaped worm one night. Don't even know how to classify it to try to ID. Of course it was a night dive when I didn't take my camera and hubby didn't take his video. That was also the dive where a huge Ray literally ran into my husband and for some reason, (full moon?) we were swarmed by tiny spirally worms, brine shrimp and bright blue 2 inch fish. So bad we turned off our lights and tried to outrun them, they wer such a nuisance!
Water was incredibly warm, 84 most dives. Our favorite spots were Taylor Made, Karpata, Oil Slick and Red Slave.
Unable to do Lac Cai or the White Hole, currents were strong the day we went out there. Caught 3 bonefish each on snorkel/fly, man was that a hoot!
I would not bother with the northernmost dives again. Long drive to dive on crushed elk horn coral, although that was where we saw the giant lobster.
We took it easy the second week as my parrents were with us. Maybe dove a total of only 23for two weeks? But each dive was very special, especially the nights on Oil Slick. Actually dove in the nude one night, what a rush!

:worthless:

 

[tardmaster]

I dove anything from nude (really!) to 3ml with Lycra skin underneath. On multiple dive days wore the most, of course.

My wife and i dove nude off of buddy's late one night. It was FABULOUS !!!

 

[caileon]

Will be arriving in Bonaire for the annual trip in 4 days. Great news that the morays have made a recovery. Was horrible to see all the dead green morays last year.