East Coast Diving - trip report - OUTSTANDING dives!!

[Byte Me]

I've done 46 dives over two trips to Bonaire in the last couple years and the two I did with Bonaire East Coast diving were the best two by far! Everything from the health of the reef, the quantity of animals, hard and soft corals, sea fans, was outstanding. The crew (Fred and Hans) were fantastic and took care of every detail, from setting up the boat, providing a safety briefing, describing exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to do it - made everything run like clockwork!

The boat is a 12 man Zodiac purpose built for diving. Hans and Fred staged our gear and other equipment (cameras etc) so all we had to do was walk on, enjoy the ride, gear up and back roll in. Once everyone was in we dropped down onto two of the healthiest reefs I've seen since the east side of Grand Cayman. We drifted North on the first dive and saw Southern Stingray, Eagle Ray, turtles, Green Moray, Barracuda and lush reefs covered with flowing soft corals and fans. At a predetermined PSI we kicked out away from the reef to get picked up. A unique feature of the boat allows for removal of a portion of the inflatable tube in the side at midships where the place a ladder nearly at sea level so entry is easy. Back inside the bay for the surface interval and bathroom break then back out for the second dive. Bonus fun on the way in and out of the bay were the windsurfers doing tricks jumping our wake! That was very cool!

Second dive we drifted south and unbelievably had a better dive than the first. Saw 29 turtles, eagle rays, and again, incredibly healthy reef. The accommodated all level of divers from relative beginners, experiences and rebreathers as well. Will definitely do this again on the next trip down there!

Diving Bonaire on the wildside, Dive bonaire eastcoast and see the big 5.

 

[Doctorfish]

I love diving on the East Side. Always a treat. By the way, maybe I'm missing something, but what's the point in doing these dive with a rebreather if you are going to be limited to depth and time by the dive master as it's a drift? When I've done this dive, we all had to come up together and do our safety stop together. I also don't think that the East side is a great experience for beginners as it can be very rough making swimming to and getting into the boat a challenge. Also, most beginners would not have the buoyancy skill to do a safety stop out in open water without a hang line or mooring.

 

[uncfnp]

I'm thrilled to hear that you had such a wonderful east side dive. The one time we went with them, the reef was nice but we did not see a great deal else, not enough to make it worth the cost. Eric and I also dive Florida and have seen many more turtles, sharks and eels there. Our hoped for eagle rays were a no show.

I don't necessarily agree with the beginner restriction mentioned by Doctorfish. I guess its a matter of how you were trained and the conditions the day you dive. Eric and I have never had a hang or mooring line for safety stops and found the seas no less rough than on our first open water dives. As for getting on the boat, no amount of experience has helped me to perform that function gracefully...

 

[Byte Me]

You're right, not newly minted OW divers - more advanced than that for sure but there were some fairly new divers in our group who handled it just fine (of course many of us are used to Lake Michigan open water dives). If you're used to "concierge" diving off liveaboards this may not be your cup of tea but Hans and Fred made everything as easy as possible. None of us had issue with open water safety stop either, but I hear you, seen some people all over the place in the water or being hung on to by DMs in Coz and Playa.

As for the rebreather question - that's what they dive. Everywhere. Every time. Why not? I'm going back to Bonaire in March to do MOD1 on a Titan I just bought and I'll use that on every possible dive I can from that point forward whether I reap the benefits of extended bottom time and reduced deco or not. The adjustment is going to be tough enough without switching back and forth between OC and CCR! Besides that, I spent $9k on a CCR I'm going to dive the crap out of it!

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks for the report. We dove with them in July. I have a trip report posted. Copy below. Not sure it would that great for newly certified divers or for divers not comfortable boat diving in rough water. Our report: Hey all, first thanks for all the info. We ended up doing a single tank dive in the morning with Eastcoast. We booked a 1 tank PM but received a call that they did not have enough people booked to do a PM but there was room to join the AM dive when they return for their surface interval between dives. Hans and Fred were great and run a well organized trip. We dove turtle city and saw 3 eagle rays and so many turtles, plus 25 that we stopped counting. The trip was definitely worth doing but we also found it somewhat challenging. Waves and wind were fairly high the day we went. One person said it was rougher than usual and another said typical. Being our first and only trip we can't say. The ride out past the reef was bouncy and wet but not long. The back roll entry and re-entry in the big swells were not that difficult but the safety stop in the open ocean just underneath the rolling swells was somewhat of a challenge. All in all we were glad we did the trip. As far as the inquiry above about whether suitable for a newer diver, I would have to say it depends but probably not. Our waves were big enough that we would lose sight of the boat between swells, probably closer to 4-6 feet with wind blowing off the tops. The ride back was not too bad but very wet. We needed to either keep our eyes closed or wear our masks. If you are comfortable with entry and re-entry in a small boat in big swells than maybe you can give it a try. If you have never experienced similar conditions maybe hold off or speak with the folks at EC to see what they say.

 

[DiveMaven]

Great to hear that people enjoy the dives and they're still in business. We didn't enjoy our day out with them as much and likely won't return, particularly because of the time and money involved. I still recommend it when people are interested though, since my experience may or may not be what you experience!!

 

[morecowbells]

If I saw 29 turtles in one dive my UW camera would catch on fire from all the work It sounds like an awesome adventure.