Bonairetrip
Contributor
My most recent two examples come from Bonaire.
Karpata
The dive site Karpata has an old cement pier. The pier is solid, not that much above the waves and at the end it is probably between waist and chest deep. The waves tend to come from the W to SW and can be large by Bonaire leeward standards. On this day, the waves were probably a bit more than 3 feet. Rather than exiting along the north side of the dock, they stood facing the dock with the waves at their back. Getting pushed into the dock, setting gear on the dock, watching that gear get washed around, etc.
Pink Beach
I wasn't on this dive but the guy involved told me all about it that night at the rinse tank where I was staying. Not quite a twilight dive, they got done shortly before sunset. They surfaced a ways out (it is a longer swim out than many other sites). There were clouds to the west and shore to the east. He surfaced and led his group on a surface swim directly west towards what he thought was "the mountains of Bonaire." Actually, he was swimming straight out to sea and towards some clouds where the sun either just had was soon to set. Someone in their group eventually realized this and alerted the group. At that point, another in the group began to panic when they realized how long a swim they now had to make. They had to tow that person back. Oh, and unless I recall the orientation of Pink Beach incorrectly, swimming towards the mountains would not have led them directly to shore either... (My two sources were the diver who led them out to sea and the diver who got towed in.)
Karpata
The dive site Karpata has an old cement pier. The pier is solid, not that much above the waves and at the end it is probably between waist and chest deep. The waves tend to come from the W to SW and can be large by Bonaire leeward standards. On this day, the waves were probably a bit more than 3 feet. Rather than exiting along the north side of the dock, they stood facing the dock with the waves at their back. Getting pushed into the dock, setting gear on the dock, watching that gear get washed around, etc.
Pink Beach
I wasn't on this dive but the guy involved told me all about it that night at the rinse tank where I was staying. Not quite a twilight dive, they got done shortly before sunset. They surfaced a ways out (it is a longer swim out than many other sites). There were clouds to the west and shore to the east. He surfaced and led his group on a surface swim directly west towards what he thought was "the mountains of Bonaire." Actually, he was swimming straight out to sea and towards some clouds where the sun either just had was soon to set. Someone in their group eventually realized this and alerted the group. At that point, another in the group began to panic when they realized how long a swim they now had to make. They had to tow that person back. Oh, and unless I recall the orientation of Pink Beach incorrectly, swimming towards the mountains would not have led them directly to shore either... (My two sources were the diver who led them out to sea and the diver who got towed in.)
