Bonaire Trip Report: Aug 4-11

[battles2a5]

Well, just got back from Bonaire and I am in the deep, dark, dredges of PBD. It was an amazing trip. I went w/ Parrot Island Divers out of Nashville. Great group of people. We stayed at Eden Beach and dove w/ Wanna Dive. While I was there I did my first wild side dive, hit my 100th dive, AND I finished up my DM cert. So all in all it was a great trip.

The Diving:

First off, Wanna Dive was incredible. Bob and Bart run a great operation. They are very accommodating, flexible, and they were able to keep up w/ our appetite for tanks. They were also extremely helpful in pointing out some unofficial dive sites, arranging to dive Cooper's Barge (gaining access through a private residence), and keeping us from killing ourselves on the wild side. I would highly recommend diving with these guys. I will always dive with them when I go to Bonaire.

We hit it hard. I racked up 35 dives in less than a week of diving, so we came up for food and sleep, that's about it. A few of us had been there in March so our tags were still valid. We hit up the Hilma Hooker and the house reef the night we arrived. Nothing quite like floating over the top of the reef and watching that big hull come into view of your dive light after a 6 month separation. Ahh.

Next morning we did the checkout dives and started diving. I'll spare the details of each dive but here's some of the places we dove:

1. Invisibles
2. Eden's Rubble
3. The New Yorker
4. Our Constitution
5. Cooper's Barge
6. Hilma Hooker
7. Oil Slick Leap
8. 1000 Steps
9. 'Ol Blue
10. Karpata
11. Tailor Made
12. North Point (forget the name)
13. Bachelor's Beach
14. Windsok
15. Alice in Wonderland
16. Salt Pier
17. Cai (Wildside)
18. Red Slave
19. Something Special
20. Tori's Reef

There were a few more and we did many of them more than once, but you get the picture. Diving conditions weren't quite as good as they were in March. Vis was down and the current was ripping in a lot of places. But it was still great diving. We saw tons of turtles, rays, tarpon (several large schools), barracuda, all the basic tropicals, squid, octopus, stonefish, jellies, nurse sharks, a gigantic hog fish... you name it. One thing we saw that scared the heck out of me was a box jelly. We saw it at Invisibles. We cut that dive a little short .

I also met some great new dive buddies. We had a good mix of people from new divers to instructors. I was an acting DM as part of my practical internship so I got to dive with a lot of folks. Fortunately, we had a few adventurous souls who we took on most of our really fun dives. I had a blast with them.

When we went out, food was great. We went to Bongo's, the hotel's resturant, a couple of times and it was great. We also went to Papaya Moon, the Rib Factory, City Cafe, and Casablanca's. All were excellent. Havana's was always a good after hour's location for a couple of Amstel Bright's.

My favorites:

1. Hilma Hooker, as always
2. The Wild Side- if you haven't been there you need to go. Bigger and more abundant life. If you don't want to brave the shore diving have a boat take you
3. North Side- tough to get to but the reef is much nicer, IMO
4. Wanna Dive- having a good op makes life much easier

My least favorites:

1. TOTAL RENT A CAR- These people are HORRIBLE. Last time they took forever to get our cars. This time we had to wait 2 HOURS for a car. And there were people after us in line that got cars way before us. And they were rude to boot. I would never do business with them again.
2. Miniature Beer Bottles- There is no logical reason to shrink the perfectly crafted 12-ounce bottle that we all know and love into that emasculating little excuse for a beer container. If I want a 2 ounce drink I'll order a shot.
3. Island Time- I know, I know, I'm suppose to relax. But when I am on island time, I want to be the one who gets to be slow and laid back. Those 20-30 minutes that are wasted on my server's socializing at each meal could have been spent underwater

I'll definitely go back again. Not a question. There is better diving in the world, but where else can you rack up this kind of bottom time with this sort of freedom in a tropical paradise?

Anyway, here's a little vid that I put together. Hope you enjoy it.

Ryan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmPtcTlxX2k

A couple of disclaimers. Please read before flaming:

1. We were looking for Cooper's, so actually diving at 110-130 looking for the boat below.
2. The Hilma Hooker is NOT that dark inside. This part of the wreck is full of ambient light and I had taken both divers trough w/ a line more than once prior to this dive
3. We had a detailed dive site map for the wild side. Get a map or a guide or call Larry if you want to dive there.

 

[irie1029]

Too cool thanks... Aruba bound in October.

 

[battles2a5]

You will love it. Try to take a puddle jumper to Bonaire for a day or 2 if you can, you won't regret it

 

[Drewpy]

Now my PreBD is kicking in big time....I leave on 8/24!
Great video..was there much current up at Taylor Made? That one is definitely on my list!
We're you guys diving with can lights..? Im debating whether or not to take mine?

Thanks for posting!

Drew

 

[battles2a5]

Drew- yep, I brought my can light. I was the one only that had one so there was some serious light-envy going around. I'd bring it. My 10W was great for night dives and great for the hooker.

The current was ripping at Taylor Made. However, it was nice and calm up in the shallows. So we did a bit of a reverse profile; we stuck at around 35 ft or so into the current and just above the current (you could see a distinct line in the soft corals where the current started). When we turned, we dropped down to 45-50 and just drifted all the way back. It was a great dive. The entry is a bit tricky though. Once you get there, send someone in w/ mask and snorkel to find the break in the reef. There is a little channel you can swim through. Otherwise, getting outside of the reef if a very tricky ordeal. I can probably mock up a little map for you if you are interested.

 

[CheddarChick]

Sweet.... Great video also