New online Bonaire Dive Guide.
- Thread starter Azur Salino
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Ah, now I see the source of confusion. I never clicked the link--why would I, since I had seen the book myself, and it was in English. The photo of the book above the link is clearly of a book written in English: "Dive guide Bonaire" ... "103 dive sites" .... But I admit that doesn't necessarily mean the English-language version is available for purchase.
Kharon
Contributor
Yeah, I checked the link because I thought to purchase it online. That turns out to be a no-go. I'll have to wait till my next trip & get it then.
You guys maybe didn't look far enough into the website:
Dive guide Bonaire (English edition) - GoDolphins.nl
Dive guide Bonaire (English edition) - GoDolphins.nl
Kharon
Contributor
LOL - but the site is all Dutch so you have to guess what you are actually doing (unless I missed how to switch the site to english).
Language and web site issues aside, I am going to buy one when I'm back on Bonaire. I didn't buy one after thumbing through a friend's copy, and I later realized I was reluctant due to some sort of misplaced loyalty to Susan Porter's book. BSDME has long been the gold standard for Bonaire dive guide books, but I do believe this new book has surpassed it in many respects.
Kharon
Contributor
Yep - I will buy one as soon as I can. Better is better. I'm grateful for the Porter book. No reason not to get this one as well.
OP
Azur Salino
Contributor
Real time fsh sightings are not useless. I live and work in Bonaire and i can tell that when there is a particular rare sighting the rumour starts spreading and yes, you get to see the fish. Last year somebody saw reef sharks in Tolo, i went there and saw these sharks several times over a week.
As you said, it's not a zoo. Yo NEED to look for the fish, but you will have a better chance this way.
Same think with the nurse sharks at Ebo's or some places in the east coast. It is actually quite handy having real time info. Also, i think in the long term will provide some cool and useful statistical data. You can have a more realistic picture of where to see this fish or the other.
Speaking about "book guides". BSDMD has some cool tips and it can be really useful, but lacks pictures or other additional information.
There si another dive guide, but is only in Dutch as far as i know, but also includes general maps and is more visual.
---------- Post added April 8th, 2015 at 08:27 AM ----------
It's obvious that the site just started running and, as you said, it needs more work on it, but i think it's a pretty cool idea at least. Good thing about it is that the website can be "enriched" by the input of the users, so it will have more content and eventually can store a great amount of Bonairean knowledge!
I guess the aim of the website is to provide an online platform where divers can share their knowledge and experiences and eventually have all the info in one single place.
You can click on "search divesites" on the sidebar to get rid of all the fish markers and only browse the divesites.
---------- Post added April 8th, 2015 at 08:30 AM ----------
It's good to know that 6th graders will enjoy it then!
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I appreciate the OP's enthusiasm and desire to share information, but I don't think it's fair to the marine life. Most "rare" marine life sought by visiting divers on Bonaire is small, camouflaged, and/or shy. The most common examples include seahorses, frogfish, and octopi. Broadcasting their locations across the internet to all divers on Bonaire and/or heading to the island isn't respectful or fair to these fragile critters. They depend on anonymity by design in order to live in their ecosystem.
I didn't always feel this way. In 2009 I was exiting Andrea I after a dive where I discovered a tiny seahorse at 75', when I encountered a friendly female diver with a fancy camera with macro setup entering the water. Thinking it was the friendly thing to do, and assuming she was a responsible diver, I gave her directions to the well-hidden seahorse. The next day I brought my wife to see the seahorse too, as she hadn't seen one yet on this trip. I was dismayed to discover that the seahorse was gone and the delicate coral head it was attached to was broken in several places that would have made logical handholds for an eager photographer with poor buoyancy skills. I feel guilty to this day for giving that little seahorse's position away without vetting the skills and intentions of the recipient of my information.
On our last trip in December and January there were a pair of seahorse's hanging out north of the communications cable at DFB's Hamlet shop (the public shore entry for the Cliff.) The dive shop had a large and very detailed map to these seahorses drawn on the wall of the dive shop. Those poor seahorses were getting mobbed daily by groups of divers with cameras. Even worse were the divers that knew they were nearby, but didn't know exactly where. In their blind enthusiasm to find them these divers were unwittingly disturbing the seahorses and their habitat.
On the same trip there was a well-known green frogfish hanging out near DFB's Yellow Sub shop. I found him the old-fashioned way while diving south from Something Special, so I didn't know at the time that his location was being reported to divers entering at Yellow Sub via the dive shop.
Here's the frogfish on his sponge the day I discovered him:
...And here's the same sponge the next day, now broken and sans frogfish:
The break in the sponge is right where a diver with camera would logically grab to steady themselves for their perfect shot.
There's no need to share these locations just to entertain our fellow divers, especially anonymously via the internet. There's plenty of opportunity to find them on your own or under the supervision of a DM during your visit to Bonaire. For the larger rare creatures like sharks, rays, and dolphins etc. this information is pretty much useless anyway as these creatures are constantly on the move. Just because you saw them in a particular location at a particular time in no indication that they'll still be there even 30 minutes later. I believe the OP's story about repeated shark sightings at Tolo, but this is the exception rather than the rule for large marine life encounters.
Saying that the locations aren't specific doesn't hold water with me either (pun intended.) The tiny creatures require specific directions to find. Reporting "I saw a seahorse somewhere at Bari reef" probably isn't useful or actionable for other divers, so why even share it? In fact I'd argue that you should always expect to find a seahorse somewhere on most of Bonaire's dive sites. (We discovered 4 seahorses, 2 frogfish, and 2 octopi by ourselves on our last visit.) But sharing even simple hints changes the game. Reporting that "I saw a seahorse at the southern end of Bari at 42 feet" is pretty much a dead-giveaway. Once found they willed be mobbed, their habitat disturbed, and eventually they'll be forced to move on. Why would anyone actively contribute to this? Rare or delicate marine life isn't a commodity to be consumed by tourists at the expense of the critters... or is it?
Edit: I'm also suspicious about the OP's motivation for creating and promoting this "guide". He's announced it here and in the TripAdvisor Bonaire forum, and in both cases used language that leads the reader to believe that he's just another diver who wants to share a cool new website he found online. In his original post he claims "It's by far the best dive guide of Bonaire you can find, at least the best i've found." Yet he never communicates that he represents the new site and has vested interest in it's success. It's interesting but hardly "the best dive guide", as proven by the majority of posts in this thread that discuss the virtues of other published guides. I also found it ironic that most of the site descriptions in this new web guide are copied (and credited) from STINAPA's web site.
Sorry to stand on my soapbox for so long. This has quietly been bugging me since I first viewed the site after reading the original post. I was hoping it would just quietly go away.
I didn't always feel this way. In 2009 I was exiting Andrea I after a dive where I discovered a tiny seahorse at 75', when I encountered a friendly female diver with a fancy camera with macro setup entering the water. Thinking it was the friendly thing to do, and assuming she was a responsible diver, I gave her directions to the well-hidden seahorse. The next day I brought my wife to see the seahorse too, as she hadn't seen one yet on this trip. I was dismayed to discover that the seahorse was gone and the delicate coral head it was attached to was broken in several places that would have made logical handholds for an eager photographer with poor buoyancy skills. I feel guilty to this day for giving that little seahorse's position away without vetting the skills and intentions of the recipient of my information.
On our last trip in December and January there were a pair of seahorse's hanging out north of the communications cable at DFB's Hamlet shop (the public shore entry for the Cliff.) The dive shop had a large and very detailed map to these seahorses drawn on the wall of the dive shop. Those poor seahorses were getting mobbed daily by groups of divers with cameras. Even worse were the divers that knew they were nearby, but didn't know exactly where. In their blind enthusiasm to find them these divers were unwittingly disturbing the seahorses and their habitat.
On the same trip there was a well-known green frogfish hanging out near DFB's Yellow Sub shop. I found him the old-fashioned way while diving south from Something Special, so I didn't know at the time that his location was being reported to divers entering at Yellow Sub via the dive shop.
Here's the frogfish on his sponge the day I discovered him:
...And here's the same sponge the next day, now broken and sans frogfish:
The break in the sponge is right where a diver with camera would logically grab to steady themselves for their perfect shot.
There's no need to share these locations just to entertain our fellow divers, especially anonymously via the internet. There's plenty of opportunity to find them on your own or under the supervision of a DM during your visit to Bonaire. For the larger rare creatures like sharks, rays, and dolphins etc. this information is pretty much useless anyway as these creatures are constantly on the move. Just because you saw them in a particular location at a particular time in no indication that they'll still be there even 30 minutes later. I believe the OP's story about repeated shark sightings at Tolo, but this is the exception rather than the rule for large marine life encounters.
Saying that the locations aren't specific doesn't hold water with me either (pun intended.) The tiny creatures require specific directions to find. Reporting "I saw a seahorse somewhere at Bari reef" probably isn't useful or actionable for other divers, so why even share it? In fact I'd argue that you should always expect to find a seahorse somewhere on most of Bonaire's dive sites. (We discovered 4 seahorses, 2 frogfish, and 2 octopi by ourselves on our last visit.) But sharing even simple hints changes the game. Reporting that "I saw a seahorse at the southern end of Bari at 42 feet" is pretty much a dead-giveaway. Once found they willed be mobbed, their habitat disturbed, and eventually they'll be forced to move on. Why would anyone actively contribute to this? Rare or delicate marine life isn't a commodity to be consumed by tourists at the expense of the critters... or is it?
Edit: I'm also suspicious about the OP's motivation for creating and promoting this "guide". He's announced it here and in the TripAdvisor Bonaire forum, and in both cases used language that leads the reader to believe that he's just another diver who wants to share a cool new website he found online. In his original post he claims "It's by far the best dive guide of Bonaire you can find, at least the best i've found." Yet he never communicates that he represents the new site and has vested interest in it's success. It's interesting but hardly "the best dive guide", as proven by the majority of posts in this thread that discuss the virtues of other published guides. I also found it ironic that most of the site descriptions in this new web guide are copied (and credited) from STINAPA's web site.
Sorry to stand on my soapbox for so long. This has quietly been bugging me since I first viewed the site after reading the original post. I was hoping it would just quietly go away.
OP
Azur Salino
Contributor
wwguy:
It's true that i'm involved in the development of the website and the way it was presented here might not have been the most appropiate, sorry. The only intention is just to let people know that this website exists. Period.
Said this, the project at this point is just a way of sharing information among divers, and by the way, there is no benefit for me or anyone else, it was just created with the sole intention of creating a good online place to gather info.
If you read the website rules or just interact with it you will notice that there is a series of "vulnerable species" (like seahorse and frogfish) that have special considerations. If you add a frogfish marker, for example, the website will hide the depth of the sighting and also moderate precise descriptions of its location. This is all explained in the web policy and it aims to provide a service to the divers and also protect these vulnerable animals.
We all have the same concerns as you and have witnessed the impact on the reef.
It's true that some fish move and there is no guarantee of seeing them. But i think you are missing the point of the sighting database. Bonaire is a shore diving island and most of the people that come here have no info whatsoever on where to go. They have to choose among more than 90 divesites and sometimes they need some directions. A well nourished database provide a powerful tool to increase your chances to see a particular fish and the posssibility of doing criteria based search (time of day, dates or by species) comes really handy. Newcomers don't know where to see the Tarpons, or what kind of animals are present at night, to say a couple of examples.
Some similar efforts have been put on REEF.org , creating a database for fish sightings around the caribbean. This is just an easy to handle bonaire guide.
Anyway all the input that you can give is really appreciated
The website is in an early stage and will surely change a lot. And please remember that, at this point, this is just an initiative of a bunch of guys trying to create an interesting tool for the divers on their free time......there is no catch.
It's true that i'm involved in the development of the website and the way it was presented here might not have been the most appropiate, sorry. The only intention is just to let people know that this website exists. Period.
Said this, the project at this point is just a way of sharing information among divers, and by the way, there is no benefit for me or anyone else, it was just created with the sole intention of creating a good online place to gather info.
If you read the website rules or just interact with it you will notice that there is a series of "vulnerable species" (like seahorse and frogfish) that have special considerations. If you add a frogfish marker, for example, the website will hide the depth of the sighting and also moderate precise descriptions of its location. This is all explained in the web policy and it aims to provide a service to the divers and also protect these vulnerable animals.
We all have the same concerns as you and have witnessed the impact on the reef.
It's true that some fish move and there is no guarantee of seeing them. But i think you are missing the point of the sighting database. Bonaire is a shore diving island and most of the people that come here have no info whatsoever on where to go. They have to choose among more than 90 divesites and sometimes they need some directions. A well nourished database provide a powerful tool to increase your chances to see a particular fish and the posssibility of doing criteria based search (time of day, dates or by species) comes really handy. Newcomers don't know where to see the Tarpons, or what kind of animals are present at night, to say a couple of examples.
Some similar efforts have been put on REEF.org , creating a database for fish sightings around the caribbean. This is just an easy to handle bonaire guide.
Anyway all the input that you can give is really appreciated
The website is in an early stage and will surely change a lot. And please remember that, at this point, this is just an initiative of a bunch of guys trying to create an interesting tool for the divers on their free time......there is no catch.
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