Trip report 12/26/15-1/3/16

[H2ODoc]

Random thoughts and feedback from our recent trip to Bonaire:

- this was our 4th time there in 7 years.
- this was our 1st trip with our kids (12/14/15 yrs old)
- the kids finished their OW with a referral at Wannadive (Linda).
- Kids did great, Linda was very thorough and strict (which was great by me). Two days, 9 am to 4 pm for the kids. Mom and dad got to do our own dives during that time!
- It was a bit un-nerving to leave the kids in someone else's care for diving, but Linda had help (Marcia), and they were very competent after the two days.
- weather was windy almost every day - this was our first time there in the winter. Temps were comfortable (mid 80s) and the wind made it just about perfect.
- diving was great, of course. A bit lower vis than we are used to (40'-80' maybe?), so that was the only bummer.
- We saw two green morays (somewhat rare, right?)
- No eagle/sting rays. Bummer.
- A friend saw a Manta ray at 1000 steps. We didn't see it.
- I only saw one grouper the whole time. Too bad. I love those guys.
- My daughter found a seahorse and that made our day! She was hugely excited!
- Dinners out were good (Cap't Don's - good, but a bit $$$, Diver Diner - good/very good, Mi Banana - very good).
- We like the "new" grocery store - plenty of choices and very nice.
- Stayed at Casa del Sal - perfect location, shore diving, cliff jumping (for kids), snorkeling out the back porch. Short walk to Cap't Don's. Crabby neighbor, though, but I just ignored him. (he didn't like us walking down to the beach through his property).
- We did two twilight/night dives. Tarpon are sooooo cool!
- One night dive, in front of Capt Don's, we saw a light way off and down into the deep. A little scary. What the heck was that? 100' of water at night???? Spooky.
- Telerin rental car - love the airport pickup and drop off. Easy to work with.
- Donkeys - family loved it, I feel like it's some sort of bad dream with them chasing us through the sanctuary.
- Airport - "TSA" lady was mad that I had some ice in my water bottle (about 3 ounces of ice). She said "Ice is a liquid. You can take liquids on the plane". I, of course, said "Ice is most certainly not a liquid". I lost that argument, however.
- New Years is CRAZY with all the fireworks. We were overwhelmed!!!!
- Boat dive to Klein - good, but probably not work the cost. Might as well shore dive and save the $$$.

Overall, it turned out to be the perfect vacation for the family and a very special treat to be there during new years. The kids are already planning our next trip.

 

[Jersey]

Kudos to your daughter! I've still never found frog fish or seahorse myself.

 

[choiahoy]

Thanks for the great report. Linda at Wannadive is the best; my wife and I took our AOW with her (the peak performance class was a game changer--we both dropped about 4lbs of weights after).

What water temperature were you reading?

 

[drrich2]

Thanks for sharing. With the kids, that provides a different perspective on things I'm sure.

Richard.

 

[H2ODoc]

What water temperature were you reading?

My Oceanic Geo was showing 75 degrees average temps for 20 dives. I think it tends to read low. Some dives had very noticeable cold pockets of water (Karpata, for example). Maybe it was the wind cooling the surface water, which then sinks (more dense) with warmer water churning upwards?

I wear an OLD shorty and was cool on many dives, and only shivering on a night dive. But... I had just finished a dive at 5:30 pm, then friends stopped by and said "we are doing a twilight dive, let's go". No surface time to warm up.

 

[deedeediver]

Kudos to your daughter! I've still never found frog fish or seahorse myself.

Yep, I guess Guy, and H20 know where those little frog fish hang out!!, maybe one day when I move to Bonaire I will meet Guy and his wife and I will finally get to see what I believe to be true!!!

---------- Post added January 8th, 2016 at 06:24 AM ----------

My Oceanic Geo was showing 75 degrees average temps for 20 dives. I think it tends to read low. Some dives had very noticeable cold pockets of water (Karpata, for example). Maybe it was the wind cooling the surface water, which then sinks (more dense) with warmer water churning upwards?

I wear an OLD shorty and was cool on many dives, and only shivering on a night dive. But... I had just finished a dive at 5:30 pm, then friends stopped by and said "we are doing a twilight dive, let's go". No surface time to warm up.

I have friends on Bonaire from West Virginia and they reported just a tad above mid 70's for water temp. My husband commented that every time the Mississippi river floods it affects boniare viz, not sure about how it affects water temp though.