morecowbells
Contributor
The Journey :We were in Bonaire Feb 12-18. We were supposed to arrive on the 11th but due to Delta “issues” we arrived on the 12th. Long story short: 15 minute weather delay leaving St. Louis. 27 minute delay on tarmac in Atlanta due to malfunctioning sky bridge. Despite arriving to gate 12 minutes before departure time, Delta closed their gate. We were then booked on flight to Miami, change to AA, fly into Aruba. Overnight in Aruba, fly into Bonaire on Insel air (the bitter irony is that Insel was the only airline that saved the day and actually left on time)into Bonaire. Bags lost for 2.5 days. To my suprise, Delta actually reached out to us and acknowledged their culpability with the sky bridge and are in the process of compensating us all costs (Aruba hotel, Insel and delayed luggage). I will now refrain from referring to them Satan’s Chariot.
Delfins: After travel hell, I was elated to arrive into Bonaire and check into Delfins resort. The pool and beach were calm and serene, just what I needed. I was very pleased with the resort in general. Everybody I talked was incredibly pleasant and helpful. Rooms were spacious and comfortable. My main gripe would be the wooded louvered shudders in bedroom. In the middle of the night one bird in particular would emit this chirp which sounded like the alarm my refrigerator makes if door is ajar. For the love, give me a glass paned window!
Diving: The weather was quite temperamental during our visit. There were some sites where the white caps reached the shore. Visibility was in the 30-60 foot range. Fortunately, the marine life was rich and active. For our check out dive we went to the Yellow Submarine site aka Front Porch. In the past I thought this site was just meh. However, this visit it was quite pristine. Within the first 10 minutes I saw 4 eels. For the second dive, Hamlet Oasis was out of the question since the surf was so rough. Instead we went to Bari Reef. This was perhaps the calmest water on the island for the next couple of days. This was another amazing dive with a short swim to reef. Eventhough we used Dive Friends, we were not allowed to use pier at Den Laman. We picked up tanks at the resort, loaded them into truck and drove next door near roundabout. The Salt Pier was good, but was getting crowded with other divers and the water was fairly turbid until we got to the end of the pier to the 60 feet range where visibility improved. We saw a couple small schools of tarpon and barracuda. We headed to our next site. This vacation was our first dive at Aquarious. After getting pummeled at Lighthouse reef, the easy entry on a sandy beach was nothing short of luxurious. It was a relaxing, tranquil dive with the usual Caribbean suspects. At the end of the dive at the Cousteau depth of 12 feet my husband points out a spotted eagle ray. I was so excited filming this majestic beauty when my husband is banging on his tank again. My first thought was if he is calling me away from this golden moment to look at a trumpetfish, he will feel my wrath. Turns out there was another spotted eagle ray drifting by, even closer than the first. When we surfaced there were a bunch of divers on the shore frantically gearing up. I asked one how he knew the eagle rays were nearby. He replied “Eagle rays? There are dozens of dolphins frolicking on the reef”. We stood on shore, enjoying their amazing show! I have never seen them completely breach and slam down into the water. How could I have not heard this ruckus when we were in the same area minutes earlier?
Another first dive for us in Bonaire is at the beach where the Kite City food truck parks. The entry was easy enough, but required some fine tuned navigation around shallow corals. While this dive had some of the worst visibility of the week, it also had vast marine life and nurseries. There were several juvinile trunkfish, spotted drums, and my one and only turtle sighting. Up north we attempted diving at Karpata, but the ocean was too rough with waves rolling over the concrete square. Instead, we headed to 1000 steps. Really not a hideous trek. Water was quite calm with a super easy entrance. When doing our reconnaissance, we carried our weight pouches and parked them on some large rocks. We returned to truck to gear up, walk down steps and pop in weight pockets. The dive is rugged and dramatic with good visibility, but we didn’t see as much marine life or color as the other sites.
Finally, we get to dive at Hamlet Oasis. The entry is no picnic, exit is even worse, but it was manageable. While cruising the wall, it came back to me why this is my favorite dive site in Bonaire. We saw plenty of sharptail eels, massive porkeypine fish, a large grouper and large schools of fish. The dive itself is gentle and docile while offering plenty of marine life and a gorgeous, colorful wall.
Side notes: While we were completing our dive at Lighthouse reef, my friend who has a camera(the size of a microwave oven) was having problems making solid purchase with her footing. She fell on her side and after several waves hindering her exit, things calmed down to where we could all help her stand up. I am probably making things sound worse, as she was not in any distress and waited patiently. However, her BCD inflation hose become completely sheared off during struggle on her side. Per the recommendation of Dive Friends, we brought her gear to Bruce Bowker. This guy is amazing! For a nominal charge, he the replaced inflator hose; 15 minutes later, we were back in the water.
We had some wonderful meals at La Cantina, Blue Garden, Cuba Compagnie, and Rumba to name a few. An interesting observation I noticed is that everybody was so friendly. During past visits to the island, while nobody was rude, they were sort of indifferent. Perhaps it is because we were not only traveling as a couple but with friends as well whom are more outgoing and gregarious than myself (or is it because I have a resting b!tch face?). Everyone we encountered was patient and welcoming.
My trip report would not be complete without assaulting you with some amateur video taken using my old Sealife camera.
Delfins: After travel hell, I was elated to arrive into Bonaire and check into Delfins resort. The pool and beach were calm and serene, just what I needed. I was very pleased with the resort in general. Everybody I talked was incredibly pleasant and helpful. Rooms were spacious and comfortable. My main gripe would be the wooded louvered shudders in bedroom. In the middle of the night one bird in particular would emit this chirp which sounded like the alarm my refrigerator makes if door is ajar. For the love, give me a glass paned window!
Diving: The weather was quite temperamental during our visit. There were some sites where the white caps reached the shore. Visibility was in the 30-60 foot range. Fortunately, the marine life was rich and active. For our check out dive we went to the Yellow Submarine site aka Front Porch. In the past I thought this site was just meh. However, this visit it was quite pristine. Within the first 10 minutes I saw 4 eels. For the second dive, Hamlet Oasis was out of the question since the surf was so rough. Instead we went to Bari Reef. This was perhaps the calmest water on the island for the next couple of days. This was another amazing dive with a short swim to reef. Eventhough we used Dive Friends, we were not allowed to use pier at Den Laman. We picked up tanks at the resort, loaded them into truck and drove next door near roundabout. The Salt Pier was good, but was getting crowded with other divers and the water was fairly turbid until we got to the end of the pier to the 60 feet range where visibility improved. We saw a couple small schools of tarpon and barracuda. We headed to our next site. This vacation was our first dive at Aquarious. After getting pummeled at Lighthouse reef, the easy entry on a sandy beach was nothing short of luxurious. It was a relaxing, tranquil dive with the usual Caribbean suspects. At the end of the dive at the Cousteau depth of 12 feet my husband points out a spotted eagle ray. I was so excited filming this majestic beauty when my husband is banging on his tank again. My first thought was if he is calling me away from this golden moment to look at a trumpetfish, he will feel my wrath. Turns out there was another spotted eagle ray drifting by, even closer than the first. When we surfaced there were a bunch of divers on the shore frantically gearing up. I asked one how he knew the eagle rays were nearby. He replied “Eagle rays? There are dozens of dolphins frolicking on the reef”. We stood on shore, enjoying their amazing show! I have never seen them completely breach and slam down into the water. How could I have not heard this ruckus when we were in the same area minutes earlier?
Another first dive for us in Bonaire is at the beach where the Kite City food truck parks. The entry was easy enough, but required some fine tuned navigation around shallow corals. While this dive had some of the worst visibility of the week, it also had vast marine life and nurseries. There were several juvinile trunkfish, spotted drums, and my one and only turtle sighting. Up north we attempted diving at Karpata, but the ocean was too rough with waves rolling over the concrete square. Instead, we headed to 1000 steps. Really not a hideous trek. Water was quite calm with a super easy entrance. When doing our reconnaissance, we carried our weight pouches and parked them on some large rocks. We returned to truck to gear up, walk down steps and pop in weight pockets. The dive is rugged and dramatic with good visibility, but we didn’t see as much marine life or color as the other sites.
Finally, we get to dive at Hamlet Oasis. The entry is no picnic, exit is even worse, but it was manageable. While cruising the wall, it came back to me why this is my favorite dive site in Bonaire. We saw plenty of sharptail eels, massive porkeypine fish, a large grouper and large schools of fish. The dive itself is gentle and docile while offering plenty of marine life and a gorgeous, colorful wall.
Side notes: While we were completing our dive at Lighthouse reef, my friend who has a camera(the size of a microwave oven) was having problems making solid purchase with her footing. She fell on her side and after several waves hindering her exit, things calmed down to where we could all help her stand up. I am probably making things sound worse, as she was not in any distress and waited patiently. However, her BCD inflation hose become completely sheared off during struggle on her side. Per the recommendation of Dive Friends, we brought her gear to Bruce Bowker. This guy is amazing! For a nominal charge, he the replaced inflator hose; 15 minutes later, we were back in the water.
We had some wonderful meals at La Cantina, Blue Garden, Cuba Compagnie, and Rumba to name a few. An interesting observation I noticed is that everybody was so friendly. During past visits to the island, while nobody was rude, they were sort of indifferent. Perhaps it is because we were not only traveling as a couple but with friends as well whom are more outgoing and gregarious than myself (or is it because I have a resting b!tch face?). Everyone we encountered was patient and welcoming.
My trip report would not be complete without assaulting you with some amateur video taken using my old Sealife camera.
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