Karelmakov
Registered
Hey folks, hope you've got some time to kill...
We spent a week in Bonaire and wanted to share our experience. Myself and my gf are both new divers and this was only our second dive trip outside a weekend in the Keys.
We ended up doing 16 dives over 6 days. Overall, we were impressed by the quality of the reefs. Most of them were set up in a similar way, being situated on a slope that would extend from about 30-110 feet, although we never went beyond 60. As Open Water divers, we generally stuck to the system of 50 feet going out, and 35 feet on the return, with a 'safety' swim through the shallows bringing us back to shore. In general, we were disappointed by the visibility. Bonaire is known for clear water, but during our time there was quite a lot of sediment in the water and on some dives the vis couldn't have been better than 40 feet. I imagine this was the exception, not the rule.
We decided to break our dives down into groups. Here's what we came up with. Keep in mind everything is highly relative. An ok dive in Bonaire is better than a good dive in lots of places.
Level 1: The Best of the Best
Karpata This was our hands down favorite by a comfortable margin. Just a beautiful reef. We also felt that the water clarity was better here than everywhere else. Healthy, dense coral, cool fish, and an interesting contour to the reef, which has a series of ridges. If we could only do one dive on Bonaire it'd be this one, no question.
Level 2: Really Great Dives
Angel City This was our second dive, after our checkout dive, and we loved it. It's a double reef, and although we stayed on the first one, it was cool to look out and see the other reef on the other side of the sandy channel. We also got our first good look at a turtle in our young diving careers, which was cool. Other highlights included a Spanish lobster, flounder, and some reef squid.
Tori's Reef When we got to the site, an exiting diver told us there was an octopus in the shallows. We never saw it. Oh well, it was still an awesome dive. The highlight was a huge, green moray eel that crossed right in front of us on his way up the reef. We followed him for a while, and he led us to a coral mound where he settled in next to another big green moray (his mate?).
Margate Bay This was the furthest south we went. I thought the corals here, especially the elkhorn, were the best outside of Karpata. We also got lots of sunlight in an otherwise cloudy week, so it ended up being a beautiful dive.
Level 3: Great Dive
Bari Reef We couldn't quite put it with the ones above, but it was better than the ones below. Bari is known for its fish diversity. That was certainly the case on our dive. The slope in Bari is really steep, which we liked. We saw a couple small spotted eels, a big porcupinefish, and a feeding frenzy of blue tangs, which we would see several times throughout the week.
Level 4: Really Good Dives
Bachelor's Beach A nice reef with an easy entry. Not much else to say other than we were real happy with this one.
Cliff I've never dove on a wall before, so I was impressed, even if its only about 30 feet high and doesn't extend for that long. The cliff gives way to a steep slope after a little while. We saw a couple tarpon hanging out near the base of the wall, along with some queen angels (I'm a sucker for them), and another one of those tang schools.
Weber's Joy/Witches' Hut The good stuff on Weber's was shallower than most other reefs, and we went out around 45 and back at 20. Highlights included a big midnight parrot, a barracuda, some more queen angels, and a bunch of tower-like coral structures that I thought were cool.
Tolo/Ol' Blue This one was a little on the shallow side too. Highlights included a tarpon, puffer, queen angel, and an eagle ray, all of which we saw in a 2 minute span. That was a fun two minutes.
Level 5: Good Dives
Oil Slick Leap Honestly, there's not that big of a difference between levels 4 and 5, but those ones were a little more memorable than these. The 'leap' is really fun, not gonna lie. The rest of the dive is good, but not great. Highlights included some reef squid, a particularly large trumpetfish, and a couple queen angels.
The Lake After our surface swim to the edge of the reef, we looked down and saw a hawksbill turtle directly below us. So that was a fun way to start the dive. We also saw some triggers, which I like, and another tang school. Unfortunately we made a rookie mistake and didn't gauge the current correctly. We went out one way only to find a slight current pushing against us on the way back. Whoops. It wasn't overwhelming, and we made it back to our marker with air to spare, but we had to labor to get back and didn't enjoy the return as much as we should have. Lesson learned.
1,000 Steps This dive fell into the 'good, but not particularly memorable' category. The best part was watching a barracuda on the hunt. This guy was swimming around, chasing prey. It was fun to watch.
Level 6: OK Dive
Alice in Wonderland This dive was marred by bad water visibility, probably the worst of the week. We saw a big barracuda, and there were a lot of small, schooling fish. We also saw an eagle ray. Of course, this was near the end of the dive and my camera was having low battery issues, so I didn't get a good shot of him. Luckily we ran into another one on Tolo and snapped a few decent photos then.
Level 7: Somewhat Disappointing Dives
Jeannie's Glory We started by swimming towards the salt pier and made our turn when we saw the first of its pillars. The reef got worse as you approached the pier, and it wasn't that great of one to begin with, in our opinion. We watched a pelagic fish (I don't know what it was) on the hunt, chasing all the little guys around. I also spotted a small eel about 10 yards from shore as we were making our exit.
18th Palm Our last dive of the trip. There was definitely a letdown factor since we did Karpata immediately before it. There were lots of barracuda on this dive, and we watched a tarpon swim right by us. We went left from the buoy and the reef got shallower, but also declined in quality, as we traveled in that direction. Right before we made our ascent a small fish swam up from his perch and bit me in the hand. An interesting way to end our week of diving.
Level 8: Cruddy Dive
Eden's Rubble We did this as our checkout for Wannadive. They told us to enter in front of the restaurant, which we did. The current was pulling hard, and it was a struggle to make any progress against it. This wouldn't have been much of a problem if there was something to look at, but the dive lived up to its name...its just rubble. Eventually we made it to a big cement block, which had some interesting life on it, including a sunfish. I also spotted a sea turtle cruising by us in the shallows, but we never got close enough to get a good look at him. Overall we were were not impressed, and left the water asking "Isn't Bonaire supposed to be good?" Thankfully it got much better after dive #1.
My favorite part of the week was probably the big moray. I had seen them before in the keys, but never that big, and never fully exposed like this. Can't forget the turtles either.
On our off-gas day we went to the Donkey Sanctuary (lots of fun) and to Washington-Slagbaii National Park (which was great). Unfortunately, we got there after they closed the long course (we were planning on doing the short course anyway), but they also closed the iguana drinking hole, which we were bummed about. So get there early if you want to see the big lizards.
My abridged photo gallery is below. I'm not the photographer that many of the people on this site are. I just use a point-n'-click ReefMaster Mini.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=4008
So that's it. Take care
-Darren
We spent a week in Bonaire and wanted to share our experience. Myself and my gf are both new divers and this was only our second dive trip outside a weekend in the Keys.
We ended up doing 16 dives over 6 days. Overall, we were impressed by the quality of the reefs. Most of them were set up in a similar way, being situated on a slope that would extend from about 30-110 feet, although we never went beyond 60. As Open Water divers, we generally stuck to the system of 50 feet going out, and 35 feet on the return, with a 'safety' swim through the shallows bringing us back to shore. In general, we were disappointed by the visibility. Bonaire is known for clear water, but during our time there was quite a lot of sediment in the water and on some dives the vis couldn't have been better than 40 feet. I imagine this was the exception, not the rule.
We decided to break our dives down into groups. Here's what we came up with. Keep in mind everything is highly relative. An ok dive in Bonaire is better than a good dive in lots of places.
Level 1: The Best of the Best
Karpata This was our hands down favorite by a comfortable margin. Just a beautiful reef. We also felt that the water clarity was better here than everywhere else. Healthy, dense coral, cool fish, and an interesting contour to the reef, which has a series of ridges. If we could only do one dive on Bonaire it'd be this one, no question.
Level 2: Really Great Dives
Angel City This was our second dive, after our checkout dive, and we loved it. It's a double reef, and although we stayed on the first one, it was cool to look out and see the other reef on the other side of the sandy channel. We also got our first good look at a turtle in our young diving careers, which was cool. Other highlights included a Spanish lobster, flounder, and some reef squid.
Tori's Reef When we got to the site, an exiting diver told us there was an octopus in the shallows. We never saw it. Oh well, it was still an awesome dive. The highlight was a huge, green moray eel that crossed right in front of us on his way up the reef. We followed him for a while, and he led us to a coral mound where he settled in next to another big green moray (his mate?).
Margate Bay This was the furthest south we went. I thought the corals here, especially the elkhorn, were the best outside of Karpata. We also got lots of sunlight in an otherwise cloudy week, so it ended up being a beautiful dive.
Level 3: Great Dive
Bari Reef We couldn't quite put it with the ones above, but it was better than the ones below. Bari is known for its fish diversity. That was certainly the case on our dive. The slope in Bari is really steep, which we liked. We saw a couple small spotted eels, a big porcupinefish, and a feeding frenzy of blue tangs, which we would see several times throughout the week.
Level 4: Really Good Dives
Bachelor's Beach A nice reef with an easy entry. Not much else to say other than we were real happy with this one.
Cliff I've never dove on a wall before, so I was impressed, even if its only about 30 feet high and doesn't extend for that long. The cliff gives way to a steep slope after a little while. We saw a couple tarpon hanging out near the base of the wall, along with some queen angels (I'm a sucker for them), and another one of those tang schools.
Weber's Joy/Witches' Hut The good stuff on Weber's was shallower than most other reefs, and we went out around 45 and back at 20. Highlights included a big midnight parrot, a barracuda, some more queen angels, and a bunch of tower-like coral structures that I thought were cool.
Tolo/Ol' Blue This one was a little on the shallow side too. Highlights included a tarpon, puffer, queen angel, and an eagle ray, all of which we saw in a 2 minute span. That was a fun two minutes.
Level 5: Good Dives
Oil Slick Leap Honestly, there's not that big of a difference between levels 4 and 5, but those ones were a little more memorable than these. The 'leap' is really fun, not gonna lie. The rest of the dive is good, but not great. Highlights included some reef squid, a particularly large trumpetfish, and a couple queen angels.
The Lake After our surface swim to the edge of the reef, we looked down and saw a hawksbill turtle directly below us. So that was a fun way to start the dive. We also saw some triggers, which I like, and another tang school. Unfortunately we made a rookie mistake and didn't gauge the current correctly. We went out one way only to find a slight current pushing against us on the way back. Whoops. It wasn't overwhelming, and we made it back to our marker with air to spare, but we had to labor to get back and didn't enjoy the return as much as we should have. Lesson learned.
1,000 Steps This dive fell into the 'good, but not particularly memorable' category. The best part was watching a barracuda on the hunt. This guy was swimming around, chasing prey. It was fun to watch.
Level 6: OK Dive
Alice in Wonderland This dive was marred by bad water visibility, probably the worst of the week. We saw a big barracuda, and there were a lot of small, schooling fish. We also saw an eagle ray. Of course, this was near the end of the dive and my camera was having low battery issues, so I didn't get a good shot of him. Luckily we ran into another one on Tolo and snapped a few decent photos then.
Level 7: Somewhat Disappointing Dives
Jeannie's Glory We started by swimming towards the salt pier and made our turn when we saw the first of its pillars. The reef got worse as you approached the pier, and it wasn't that great of one to begin with, in our opinion. We watched a pelagic fish (I don't know what it was) on the hunt, chasing all the little guys around. I also spotted a small eel about 10 yards from shore as we were making our exit.
18th Palm Our last dive of the trip. There was definitely a letdown factor since we did Karpata immediately before it. There were lots of barracuda on this dive, and we watched a tarpon swim right by us. We went left from the buoy and the reef got shallower, but also declined in quality, as we traveled in that direction. Right before we made our ascent a small fish swam up from his perch and bit me in the hand. An interesting way to end our week of diving.
Level 8: Cruddy Dive
Eden's Rubble We did this as our checkout for Wannadive. They told us to enter in front of the restaurant, which we did. The current was pulling hard, and it was a struggle to make any progress against it. This wouldn't have been much of a problem if there was something to look at, but the dive lived up to its name...its just rubble. Eventually we made it to a big cement block, which had some interesting life on it, including a sunfish. I also spotted a sea turtle cruising by us in the shallows, but we never got close enough to get a good look at him. Overall we were were not impressed, and left the water asking "Isn't Bonaire supposed to be good?" Thankfully it got much better after dive #1.
My favorite part of the week was probably the big moray. I had seen them before in the keys, but never that big, and never fully exposed like this. Can't forget the turtles either.
On our off-gas day we went to the Donkey Sanctuary (lots of fun) and to Washington-Slagbaii National Park (which was great). Unfortunately, we got there after they closed the long course (we were planning on doing the short course anyway), but they also closed the iguana drinking hole, which we were bummed about. So get there early if you want to see the big lizards.
My abridged photo gallery is below. I'm not the photographer that many of the people on this site are. I just use a point-n'-click ReefMaster Mini.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=4008
So that's it. Take care
-Darren
