mooring balls

[midd2005]

i've been reading through the BSDME book and see that Susan references the mooring ball at each site. Do the moorings come all the way to the surface? How useful do people find these for shore diving?

 

[redacted]

They do come all the way to the surface but they are missing from many sites. If present, they are a reliable navigation aide; but you need a plan for sites where t6hey are missing.

When they are present, I shoot an azimuth from shore and follow that heading to the marker. We like to go out and back submerged as there are some interesting finds in the shallower areas. Then, simply note the depth of the mooring anchor and conduct your dive with a plan the return to that waypoint. When the mooring ball is absent, I carry my own marker (A cork fishing float with about 15 ft of a brightly colored 2" wide tape attached) which I tie to the bottom and use as the waypoint. I have done those dives using natural waypoint, like a distinctive sponge; but after a 45 minute dive, they may not be so distinctive any more.

Enjoy

 

[wwguy]

Do the moorings come all the way to the surface? How useful do people find these for shore diving?

The mooring lines are attached to yellow markers which float on the surface. (Not sure how the boats would easily find them otherwise?) More info and photos can be viewed here.

Some shore divers with limited or no underwater navigation skills choose to surface swim out to the mooring line and then begin and end their dive there. Most experienced shore divers prefer to begin and end their dives at the shore. There's a lot of great stuff to see in the shallows between shore and the reef drop-off. We've seen seahorses, frogfish, octopus, and rays in less than 10' depth on many occasions. Divers navigating from shore to the reef can opt to navigate to the mooring line first for reference on return, or just pick their own underwater landmark near the reef drop-off.

They do come all the way to the surface but they are missing from many sites. If present, they are a reliable navigation aide; but you need a plan for sites where they are missing.

Dive site moorings aren't installed at all dive sites by design. The marine park maps show which dive sites have painted rocks on shore (shore dive sites) and which have moorings with yellow markers (boat dive sites). Most marked sites along the main island have both. Most of the "missing" mooring pins are at sites where boat traffic is undesirable and/or inconvenient. Examples include Cargill's Salt Pier and the dive sites near the kiteboarding operations at Atlantis Beach (Red Beryl south to Sweet Dreams.) At some sites the mooring pins are significantly upshore or downshore from the shore access markers, making it difficult for divers to use the mooring markers as navigation aids without extra effort. Examples that come to mind include Weber's Joy, Andrea I, and The Lake.

 

[a878bob]

Tie to the bottom ???? I'm not sure if that would be approved by the park. I personally have never tied anything to the bottom and wouldn't allow anybody diving with me to do it. Natural navigation will get you back really close if done right. Sometimes even to the same ubiquitous rock. Once you head in, after doing your safety stop, you can always come to the surface to get your final bearing. There are sites where you have to be dead nuts on to exit safely. It takes practice, but thats half the fun of diving Bonaire.

 

[redacted]

Tie to the bottom ???? I'm not sure if that would be approved by the park. I personally have never tied anything to the bottom and wouldn't allow anybody diving with me to do it. Natural navigation will get you back really close if done right. Sometimes even to the same ubiquitous rock. Once you head in, after doing your safety stop, you can always come to the surface to get your final bearing. There are sites where you have to be dead nuts on to exit safely. It takes practice, but thats half the fun of diving Bonaire.

Yes, tied to the bottom; sometimes on the old anchor structure from the missing mooring line. Usually on a piece of coral rubble much like the park had divers tie in lionfish markers a number of years ago. Biggest difference is my marker gets picked up at the end of the dive. Natural features can work, but a readily recognizable marker is more reliable.

Just what authority do you think you have to dis-allow such an action?

 

[wwguy]

The practice of tourist divers using tape and cork as temporary underwater markers was originally introduced and encouraged by the marine park, as reported here on their website. At least divers using them for navigational aids today are removing them at the end of the dive. Previously they were left all over the reefs for the few years they were intentionally left behind to mark lionfish sightings.

Personally I find the tape markers preferable to the ubiquitous piled coral "markers" that abound at some dive sites. Tape markers used for navigational aides are temporary and when properly and carefully attached are less harmful than dead coral piled on live coral heads. Most of the myopic coral-piling divers don't realize that other myopic coral-piling divers have already created similar piles nearby, and that doing this is harmful to the live coral.

If you're curious about details of the marine park rules you can find them here.

 

[a878bob]

I not seeing anything in the park rules that allow for or encourages tying of navigational aides to the sea floor/structure. I will write an email to the park and see what they think of this practice and post when I get a reply.

 

[redacted]

I not seeing anything in the park rules that allow for or encourages tying of navigational aides to the sea floor/structure. I will write an email to the park and see what they think of this practice and post when I get a reply.

Please be specific in your request. The practice is one underwater marker float that takes the place of a missing mooring buoy, attached to a non-living object on the bottom, and retrieved at the end of each dive.

Perhaps you could also ask them about conducting dive school type training without a Bonaire business license.

 

[wwguy]

I not seeing anything in the park rules that allow for or encourages tying of navigational aides to the sea floor/structure. I will write an email to the park and see what they think of this practice and post when I get a reply.

I appreciate your passion for the subject but you appear to be a little illogical in how you're defending it. I just shared a direct link where the marine park encouraged divers to tie ribbons to the reef to aid lionfish hunters in navigating to lionfish. I know that's not express or implicit permission to do the same for everyday personal navigation today, but it certainly set a precedent that it was okay for tourist divers to attach ribbons to reef using their own judgement regarding frequency and method of attachment etc.

Reading the marine park rules it's obvious that they tell you what you can't do, not what you can do. No other activities are expressly allowed or encouraged either, so I'm not sure why you think this topic should be listed here if it was permissible. The way the rules are written this activity (or similar) should be discussed in the rules if it is expressly forbidden. As it is omission implies either permission or oversight in considering it as a topic.

I look forward to reading the reply from the marine park. I'm also curious to see who will respond with authority. The former manager, Ramon de Leon, retired in January and hasn't been replaced.

I don't have a horse in this race because I don't leave markers or know anyone who does. But I'll be surprised and disappointed if there's a secret subset of unpublished marine park rules. An enforceable response from the marine park should reference published rules addressing the topic. Anything else will likely be interpreted as the subjective opinion of an employee.

Again I appreciate the discussion and your passion for your position. I love Bonaire's reefs too!

 

[parachute]

I believe Capt. Don himself used to occasionally use an inflated condom as a temporary underwater marker.