Last Weeks Trip...

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Darol

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A few shots of last weeks trip.
 
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That first lionfish has a MAJOR ATTITUDE!
 
Which wreck is that in the first picture; is that the Hesper?
 
Tug Boat in front of Eden Resort......
 
As I recall that thing is around 90 feet deep, and you need to enter at the north end of Eden Beach Resort's property, and you can head north for what I believe is called the 'Front Port' dive site.

If you enter at the pier in front of EBR, and head out, you come to a big concave 'bowl' of sorts, if I remember correctly, and the wreck out there is called the Bakanal and the house reef is Eden's Rubble. To the south aways is the wreck of the Our Confidence, but I imagine it's in pretty rough shape by now. It was a few years ago when I saw it, and looked to be wooden.

Richard.
 
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Richard, thanks for clearing that up, we were trying to get as many quality dives in as we could. You are correct.
 
The tug is called the "New York" and the dive site is Front Porch. Front Porch basically spans the length of the empty Sunset Beach property between Eden Beach Resort and Den Leman.

Here's some trivia and history about the area: Front Porch was the house reef for Bonaire's first dedicated hotel, Bonaire Beach Hotel, which was built here in 1962. Prior to that the only other hotel was a converted WWII internment camp south of town. That WWII-era hotel has been refurbished several times over the years and is still operating today as the Divi Flamingo.

Captain Don Stewart's first dive operation was at the Flamingo Beach Club (now the Divi) and his second operation, called Aquaventure, was at Bonaire Beach Hotel. Bruce Bowker worked at Aquaventure for Captain Don when he first came to the island in the early 1970s. Captain Don built his famous Habitat resort in 1976 and Bruce opened Carib Inn in 1980. Bonaire Beach Hotel was later sold and renamed Sunset Beach Hotel and operated along with Sunset Beach Dive Center until the late 1990s. The remnants of the concrete pier destroyed by hurricane Lenny still sit in the shallow water at the north end of Sunset Beach, near the public entry at the southern end of Bari Reef. If interested the Sunset Beach Hotel website is still up and has a few photos of the property.

Sunset Beach Hotel was eventually burned after closing and the remnants hauled away. What to do next with the vacant property has been a popular local topic for the past 15 years. Some would like to develop it, some would like to see it remain a public beach, and some seek a multiple-use scenario somewhere in the middle. Personally I like it vacant, wild, and open to the public like it is today. Bonaire has few public beaches, especially near town.

That's all I can remember for now... My brain is still in a post-Thanksgiving food coma!
 
And the wreck south of Eden Beach is Our Confidence, a working fishing boat that sank in the early spring of 2004. I dived on her in May that year, some pictures here.
She deteriorated quickly. As of last year she was mostly a pile of rubble. not much fun to dive on anymore.
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