Bonaire Trip 7/31-8/10/08

[jscott099]

My partner and I had a chance to spend more than a week in Bonaire and jumped on it. It was my second time there, her first. We wanted to just dive like crazy, shore only, with few other activities unrelated.

Highlights and Logistics:
Buddy Dive Resort - first time there and I was quite impressed. Read good reviews here and Undercurrent and Chapbook. Everything was quite smooth in the operation. Nice room with a view on the water near the dive shop. The drive threw tank service is so simple to use for rapid turnaround. It was the low season and there were always plenty of tanks (Nitrox 32). Included breakfast at the Lion's Den allowed us to load up on protein for the day. Room was well laid out and comfortable with fridge, cooking supplies, etc. They were at the airport waiting for us even thought he flight was incredibly late getting in (see my slam on AA below). We did not use any of the Activity Center services or boat rides since we did all shore diving. Bought our Park Pass and did the 'required' in briefing check out dive although no one really checks to see if you really did or not. You could go just start diving if you already know the drill.
Rental truck was included in price and was perfect for carrying tanks and equipment. Be sure you know how to drive a stick. Free room safe and towels upon request. You can by internet time for fairly cheap if you need it but they only have one computer for guests to use. I dinged them for letting a little mold grow in the shower and not cleaning out the AC filters. We are definitely repeat customers with them in the future.

American Airlines:
A terrible experience. Went for the cheap fair and got really crappy service. Raleigh to Miami to San Juan to Bonaire. Only the Raleigh to Miami was on time. Miami to San Juan was over two hours late leaving causing us to miss our connection in San Juan to Bonaire (which left exactly on time for once). Since that is the only AA flight we had to spend an entire day in Puerto Rico waiting for the next one. AA put us up in the airport hotel (very small room) with meal vouchers that barely covered the food. Bad thing is though you have an entire day to kill. Made the best of it by going on a cave exploration trip and sight seeing. Next day, of course, the Bonaire flight is two hours late leaving San Juan. Coming back was even worse. The flight was over 1 hour late leaving due to late arrival night before and crew rest requirements. Because you have to do customs and re-check bags in PR we missed that flight to Miami. And because most of the later day flights are full had to sit in PR for hours again waiting. That means we miss the Raleigh flight and even more hours in crowded Miami waiting. The losses: an entire day of diving lost going in. 7.5 hours late getting home in the moddle of the night.

AA, shame on you for such horrific service and stress to travelers. You guaranteed to drive me to an alternative carrier such as Delta or Continental.

The diving was of course all great. 41 dives in 7 diving days. Everything from Playa Funchi and others in the Park down to the Lighthouse on one of the few calm days you can dive it. Saw an amazing amount of sea critters in those few dives. Night dives at Oil Slick, Witches Hut, The Lake, Hilma H were great. Didn't do any Wildside (except for the Lighthouse). We are saving that for next time.

Eating out was only on a few occasions and was all great food. The little ice cream place (who knows why) beside the small supermarket near Buddy Dive has Belgian beer for the fans of that.

Toured the Park and I recommend it especially for the down day prior to going home. Didn't do any hiking to the peak, saving that for next time.

Theft:
Did the usual and left car unlocked and carried little of value. The only theft we had was right in the Buddy Dive parking lot (less than 100 feet from the entry guard shack). It was just two pair of cheap sunglasses left in the vehicle. I can't even imagine what value these could have even had. Its a sad state of affairs when thieves are so bold and desperate for a fix. The guard is simply a figure head and serves no real purpose. The only things we left outside at night were wetsuits to dry. During dives I would purposely lay out dry clothes and towels but never saw any sign of ransacking even at night and near Karpata.

Summary: Highly recommend BD based on my experience. Definitely would choose another carrier before AA even if it cost a hundred or so extra. As always, defintely will return to BA for more in another year.

 

[DeputyDan]

You theft may have been by guests or people eating at Lion's Den and not locals.

One never knows!

 

[RTW]

Great report.

Wow, 41 dives!
That's a 5.8 dives per day average.
That's more than we've managed in two trips.

Glad to hear Buddy Dive lived up to their reputation for you.
We'll be staying there for the third consecutive year.

Thanks,

 

[herman]

Nice to hear you had a good time, we crossed paths. I was at Buddy until Aug 3. Guess I need to work on a report but I as still working on the gigabits of photos I have.

 

[jscott099]

Yep agreed, could have been anyone, no big loss to me. They must have needed them more than me!

 

[jscott099]

Dive Site and Critter Report:
Nearly every dive was 100+ viz. Had only one day in one location between the 1st and 2nd reef where the sand channel got stirred by current. Same gorgeous weather every day.

Buddy Reef - easy access from Buddy Dive
1000 Steps - lovely spot for the views before you get in.
Oil Slick - one of our favorites, medium size octopus in the open during the day near the latter, enjoyed him for quite some time Night dove this a couple times because the latter makes it easy to get in. The usual tarpon buzzing around the lights. Octo at night. Sting ray at night. All these right in front of the latter in 20 ft.
Hilma Hooker - night dives are fun here. Easy and safe penetration.
Witches Hut - another favorite, deep, shallow and in between; also night dive with squid attracted to our strobes placed near shore
Karpata - fun as usual, took a dirt road back to the one way instead of going all the way through Rincon back to Kralendjk. You come back on the one way about half a click before the two way. Drove it quickly in the wrong direction. Oops, promise not to again!
O'l Blue - nice site, little bit difficult entry
Invisbles - garden eels
Andrea II - OK, couldm't get to Andrea I because of construction
Willemstoren Lighthouse - a mild wind day allowed us to make entry although you gotta kick like crazy to push through the surf (my Monterey Bay experiences helped). Strong current comes around the island at all depths. Big thermocline at 60 ft. Large sea turtle. Be sure to check out the huge pile of shoes folks have picked up off the beach from wherever the drift in from.
Red Slave - also strong current. Navigate carefully. Big cuda, turtle, big octopus in the shallows during day, peacocks in the sand.
Pink Beach - also still strong current that day, another turtle.
Playa Funchi (in the park) - ripping currents that day! Kick hard to make headway, kick steady just to hold position. Sting ray. Careful here.
Wayaka III - needlefish, big lobster (first we saw). Wall dive. Current is much more moderate there than Funchi.
Angel City - enormous plate coral. Eels, floounder, big tarpon and groupers
The Lake - day and night. There is a nice spot straight out with a sand area between the two reefs that has some natural markers at each end for easy nav. Much exploring here.
Red Beryl - massive sea turtle in the deep part, three in all
Atlantis - got there before the kite boarders. Be sure to carry a sausage and reel so you can deploy it on the way in so they don't hit you.
Margate Bay - many fish life, eels, sea turtle, goldentail eel instead of the usual spotted eels
White Slave - long swim out in moderate current, navigate well
Corporal Meiss - shorter swim, big tarpon and cuda here
Alice in Wonderland - went deep down on this one for fun
Captain Don's La Muchacha - gotta pay 5 bucks to use the jump in. Probably just could have drifted down from Buddy instead. Skipped the boat at 50 ft and went down to the one at 120 for some deco diving. Not much to look at (my buddy tickled me with a slate comment that read: 'Geez, sure beats the U352 on NC coast'.
Jeff Davis - moon jellies
Tori's Reef - saw some of the biggest porcupine fish I have ever seen. Turtles. Big green moray cruising the reef in the daytime. He swam right by us a couple of feet away.
Larry's Lair - More octos in the day, this time deep
Punkt Vierkant - plenty of fish. major thermocline at 70 ft with silt suspended in it
Jeannie's Glory - two different current flows deep and shallow, many fish here
Aquarius - Two spotted eagle rays, one going in and another out in the shallows in the sand; first time I have every seen them feeding, just hung out a while and watched. Another big green moray on the reef, also swam right up to us.
Bachelors Beach - big tarps and porcupine fish again
Salt City - Swam straight all the way to the second reef and cruised it. Right at the turnaround was an enormous sting ray in the sand at 90 ft.

 

[Scubasw]

Good report. I've been there 3 times. The most dives I ever did was 27 in a week. Did you guys ever stop to sleep and eat? Diving machines!!!! Our group may go again next year. Can't wait.

 

[jscott099]

Equipment -
we dove standard OW gear with dive computers and nitrox 32 all but one dive (which we did as air for deco). I had a .5 mm tropical but at night tended to get cool after second night dive. My buddy had a 5/3 but she gets a little cooler even in the tropics. Always used compass navigation. Pretty much a straight out then down the reef into the current (if there was any). Used watch to time the swim down the reef to help with exit.

We also used a contraption I made. 4 pound weight with a clip on it to attach to BC for transport. On a bungie on the weight was a standard sausage. When we got to the reef we would find a sand spot around 40 feet and blow a little air in the sausage and leave it. This made for very easy time of confirming the exit point. We would usually swim down to 65 to 75 feet, come back at 50 to 40 and see the marker. It was orange, but a yellow would have been better. We were always careful to use a sand spot and never get close to the corals. I am not sure if the park would approve of this because not every one might be so careful.

Brought a reel for Hilma Hooker exploration but dod not really need it (more for practice than anything).

I have two clips on BC with corresponding attachments on the fin straps that allow me to walk in hands free without have to hold the fins. This helps a lot on harder entries and exits.

I had much firmer soles on my tropical booties than my buddy's scubapro booties. This helps a lot in the hard entries. She got an urchin spine clean through the sole and into her foot on one of the sites (there are numerous small urchins in the crevices at some shore entries near salt pier).

On night dives we each ha a dive light with redundant backup. Also I have a couple of strobes. We attached one to the buoy marker line high up. The send we would hang on the sausage contraption I described above. This way we always had a deep and shallow indicator of exit points at night. MAde the night nav much easier to handle.

 

[jscott099]

Thanks Steve. Yeah, we kinda went overboard. The most we did was 8 in one day. We would have the truck loaded with tanks and hit the water right at sunrise and do two dives then run back to Buddy for a breakfast and more tanks. Then dive all afternoon. We would carry a cooler with water and snacks since the big breakfast would hold us over. Then twilight and night dives after a brief rest in the afternoon. Least was four in one day because we went up to the park and you spend a lot of time driving around.

 

[Papa Steve]

Thanks Steve. Yeah, we kinda went overboard. The most we did was 8 in one day. We would have the truck loaded with tanks and hit the water right at sunrise and do two dives then run back to Buddy for a breakfast and more tanks. Then dive all afternoon. We would carry a cooler with water and snacks since the big breakfast would hold us over. Then twilight and night dives after a brief rest in the afternoon. Least was four in one day because we went up to the park and you spend a lot of time driving around.

You guys are freakin' machines. My wife and I are going in September and are having debates on doing 3 dives per day. Thanks for the detailed report.