water temp and vis

[boat sju]

Thanks unc. It doesn't sound like the weather is affecting your diving much, so that's good to hear.

It's funny, but the only dive site I really remember ever having enough current to annoy me was at Bari. Then again, I started coming down with norovirus half way through that dive too, so that was memorable.

I kind of figured the dive sites across from Klein got current because of the hourglass effect.

 

[uncfnp]

No we have been lucky. The rain has hit at night or morning before heading out to dive. Or to the north while we were in the south. Very few times were we actually rained on.

19 dives so far and still counting. And they have all been wonderful.

 

[wwguy]

In my experience it's not uncommon to see southerly or northerly currents magnified in intensity as they pass through the bottleneck between Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. I've encountered this previously at Something Special, Front Porch, and Bari. The same current on the same day has always been milder when diving a little further south (e.g. Cha Cha Cha) or further north (e.g. The Cliff.) A good indicator for these transient currents is to look for moored boats sitting at right-angles to the shore and wind.

 

[htatton]

We just dove both Front Porch (Eden Beach Dock) and Bari Reef. The currents were very changeable. One day they were strong. The next day at the same time they were very mild, hardly noticeable. The approach we use was to enter Bari Reef (Nice easy sand entry) and drift down to the Eden beach Dock. The folks at Wannadive were more than helpful. PS: Water temp 80-81, visibility was ~100 ft except in the shallows where the current made it a little less. Wind about 20mph from the West but the Eastern sites were great shape. Lots of great sea life. We had a wonderful week and are sad to be returning home to Montana.

 

[andrethediver]

Whats the weather/water temperature these days? Planning to start packing and need to choose between a 3 and 5mm suits. I gather it has been windy a couple of weeks ago. Thanks.

 

[deedeediver]

I heard it was averaging 80 degrees, lots of wind from africa.

 

[andrethediver]

Thanks. Does the wind affect west (shore diving) side of the island? Tricky entries in high winds i suppose?

 

[mbs]

Week before last it was still ripping! Water was 78-79. Viz varied, sometimes so-so. Boat diving Klein they had to pick sites carefully. Shore diving there was a bit of surge, but manageable. We didn't even take a road trip to the wild side, but friends had a blast wind surfing! It definitely got better towards the end of the week so hopefully by now its back to normal. I'd go back

 

[staggsSevin]

You guys need to start warming the water up a bit for me......by all means necessary. :blinking:

 

[Hintermann]

I did 17 dives in Bonaire - all different sites - between 20th & 25th May. There was quite a bit of wind, especially in the southern sites but it did not seem to affect the diving as far as I could see. The visibility was good for the most part except at Red Slave where it was about 15 to 20 metres.

The water temperature was bit of a surprise. It never rose above 27*C and at most sites it was 26*C by both our computers. What's more, it sometimes felt cold as well - and I don't feel cold underwater that quickly. I started off with a 3mm shorty but changed to 3+3mm after the first 5 dives.