Bonaire vs. Curacao

[Tennessee Slim]

...I have been reading up in Undercurrent and Bonaire and Curacao are described as Macro sealife with vibrant coral. Will I still get to see the parrotfish and angelfish? They are some of my favorite things to photograph. I don't have a macro option with my camera. Does one island have larger sealife than the other? Thanks again. I really have been learning a lot!

What, are you kidding? You can't throw a rock from the shore on either island without hitting a parrot fish. Angels are a little less common but I would say it's much more uncommon to not see angels than to see them. If you night dive, you'll almost surely see a parrot fish sleeping in its mucous cocoon. One theory is that, because the moray is a scent hunter, the parrot fish coats itself in its own mucous to block its aroma.

If you dive Lost Anchor on Curacao (one of Sunset Diver's regular stops), keep an eye out for the tail-less parrot fish that lives near the site’s mooring. I first noted it maybe eight months ago and the dive shop staff were all saying, well, poor him, he'll be dead in no time.

But he didn't die. I've dived Lost Anchor maybe eight or ten times since then and he's still there. And Sunset's staff keeps a regular eye out for him.

I've tried several times to get close enough to him to see it it's missing for mechanical reasons (a bite or propeller) or because of disease (parasites) but he won't let me get close enough. If he's that fast, being tail-less obviously isn't much a handicap for him.

IMO, Bonaire’s fish run a bit larger (maybe). Like the super-dooper gigantic parrots with the squarish beak. They’re not common on Curacao but they are on Bonaire. Does it have larger varieties of sea life, say, …whales? Not in general but a humpback was sighted on Bonaire earlier this year (I believe it was this year; don’t remember the exact date). Trust me, it was big news (no pun intended).

I have seen a manta ray on Curacao. And dolphins, on a number of occasions. Lots of turtles (one sleeping wedged under a coral ledge when night diving Carpile, The Dive Bus's house reef). But since I only go to Bonaire for visits, it stands to reason I'd see more of the exceptional stuff on Curacao.

 

[alashas]

morecowbells,

Both islands are pretty much the same in terms of what you will see underwater, although on Bonaire, you will see a bit more diverse uw topography on the reef on the south end (double reef with a sand patch in between) verses the north end (single reef just offshore). Also, if I recall correctly, diving might be a bit less expensive on Bonaire, since at least some of the dive shops charge a daily rate for diving, regardless of whether you do 1 dive or 5 dives in a single. On Curacao, most dive shops charge a rental fee for each tank.

On the other hand, I think getting into and out of the water on shore dives is quite a bit easier in Curacao than Bonaire, since you are negotiating ironshore on Bonaire vs. a sandy bottom on Curacao.

Yes, you will see all of the typical reef fish you enjoy seeing, but few pelagics, except for turtles, nurse sharks and tarpon, on either island. Do not worry about shooting macro, you will see plenty of interesting sea life. Here is a sample from my recent dive trip to Curacao:

safe diving, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

 

[Nubiesan]

Are there "apartments" in Curacao similar to the many small places in Bonaire? I'm not looking for luxury villas but more like a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment with small patio and kitchen. The Curacao website is cumbersome ---- it requires a search to find rates and availability.

 

[alashas]

Nubiesan,

I am not familiar with places to stay in the Willemstad area, but I think places there range from small apartments to large resorts. I have already mentioned "Curacao Sunshine Getaway" where we stayed in April. Another place in the Westpunt area right on the water is http://www.allwestcuracao.com/ I toured them and thought they looked comfortable and are very affordable. I took some photos here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/4706483_Noe6q#278276779_hLbTi

And you have the dedicated dive resorts, Habitat and Sunset Waters. I am sure there are other apartments folks may know about.

safe diving, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

 

[chauncy19]

wow fantastic pictures. as someone who has only been to bonaire (5xs) the visibility of these pictures has me re-thinking. i have never experienced anything that clear on bonaire. what time of year did you take them, what is your estimate of the visibility? or am i fooled by photography or a fool for photography--whatever--great photos

 

[dogenia]

Well the visibility is accurate in the pics.

But the fact ramains that man is a great photographer as well. Bravo.

Don

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hey Larry,

More super shots from Curacao - you really have been doing an excellent job with your photograpy, here.

Let me add to your statement regarding diving prices, that we offer All West Apartments guests a non-limit air package, too (for shore dives), at a rate of 22 USD per day plus 5% tax. So for people who want to dive a lot, this is more economical than renting tank by tank.

My own dive experiences on Bonaire date from 1997 and 1999, so long time ago. Though I remember to have seen more Barracudas and Tarpons there than on Curacao, for all the rest I don't see the difference between the 2 islands regarding the quality of diving. Sometimes it is also a bit of luck, if you get to snorkel with dolphins during your surface interval (happenend to us twice in the past 3 weeks on Curacao) or see the biggest eagle ray ever swimming by. The only thing I can say to be quite reliable are the seahorses in our housereef (yes, they are still there, but move from buoy to buoy) and the new frogfish I found at Lagún - gonna visit him again, tomorrow.

Greetings from Curacao
Andreas
..:: All West Curacao ::..

 

[dogenia]

Hey Andreas how much for a weekend?

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hi Don,

Sorry, I don't understand your question - how much for what?

The apartments we rent them out for a minimum stay of 4 nights; the rate differs depending on the category of apartment you want to have - more details you find following the link ..:: All West Apartments ::.. and then have a look at the apartment categories and pricing.

For any further questions - just write me a message

Greetings
Andreas

 

[alashas]

Thanks, dogenia, fraser, and Andreas,

I enjoy taking uw photos and have been quite happy with how well the pictures I took on Curacao have come out. I only have 3 1/2 more dives to edit, and I have a few surprises in store on those...

fraser, if you have been to Bonaire 5X, I'd say it is a good idea to try Curacao and see for yourself. It's fairly easy to get to, with direct flights daily from MIA. I did a week and half of diving on Curacao in early April of this year, and the same amount of diving in late April/early May last year. Unfortunately, I had a very busy schedule last yr and have not yet been able to edit my Bonaire photos - hope to do that later this summer.

Overall, my subjective impression is that the visibility is somewhat better on Curacao than Bonaire for the most part. Obviously, a number of factors effect visibility, such as systems coming through, sunny vs. overcast days, etc. On Bonaire last year, huge strands of tunicates were floating in the water, primarily on the northern sites, and we sometimes had to peel them off of us when we exited the water, so that affected the visibility. We had some dives, especially on southern Bonaire, that had fantastic visibility.

We only dove in the Willemstad area of Curacao one day, and the poorest visibility we had in Curacao coincided with one of the dives that day. On the other hand, the visibility at all of the sites on the western part of the island were consistently very good, I'd say in the 80 to 100+ range.

You are raising a very good question about uw photos. I do a bit of editing work on all of my uw shots with Adobe Photo Elements 5. Since the blue of the water fades the color red at approx 10' (depth and/or distance) I try to increase the level of red in the photographs. Sometimes I will adjust the yellow and/or green level along with the red to bring out some of the brown colors. At the same time, since I use a strobe, I often darken the photos in an effort to heighten the color a bit more. So, from that stand point, that decreases the visibility of a photo.

I took an uw photo tutorial with http://www.cathychurch.com/ on Grand Cayman last year, and Cathy is a strong proponent of "the closer the better," and encourages taking photos within 3' of a subject. The lighting is simply better at that distance. (By the way, Cathy's book, "My Underwater Photo Journey" is outstanding:
http://www.cathychurch.com/journey/mupjorder.html )

In addition, photos in shallower water with more ambient light tend to come out better than photos taken deeper, unless one is fairly close to an object. Having said all of that, I still like to take a few wide angle photos of sites, especially at the beginning or the end of a dive, that capture a bit of what the overall dive site is like. If you've seen my post on "Elvin's Plane Wreck," you will see a few photos I took with a smile on my face! As I was descending, I could see the wreck literally becoming brighter from the full sun coming out from behind a few clouds so I really started shooting away.

The photos at the Rediho site above were an uw photographer's dream come true - very healthy, vibrant coral, great ambient light, and a reasonably shallow dive. One of the great thing about diving either Curacao or Bonaire is that you can dive a lot of sites in 30 to 40' depth and take reasonably good photographs.

I'll give you a few more shots of Curacao at various sites that will help give you an idea of the very good visibility we had in early April:

Porto Marie:

Kortape Point:

Elvin's:

Rediho:

Watamula:

safe diving, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/