First, a few vitals about La Dania's Leap to Karpata:
Anyway, I had the coordinates for almost all the dive sites in Bonaire entered into my GPS receiver, and I'd plotted out the La Dania to Karpata plan with even more attention to detail than the rest. If I parked at La Dania's trailhead, there would be a longer-than-necessary hike back to the car, which I didn't really care for. On the other hand, if I parked at Karpata, we'd have a long, hot hike to get to the start of the dive, which didn't seem like a good idea at all. Instead, I drove just about 200 yards past La Dania's marker and parked in a little siding. It's slightly closer to La Dania than halfway, which worked out quite well, I dare say.
We geared up and started the trek up (but not *too* up) to the La Dania trailhead, which is easy to find (*especially* if you're on foot, hehe). Once you turn seaward onto the trail, it cuts through the trees and scrub for a few yards, before it comes to a rather unnerving downslope over a very large boulder or a rather small rock formation. It seems as if you might slip and fall, but the truth of the matter is that a few steps quickly show that the "rock of a thousand teeth" that it is made of give you footing more secure than cleats on scrubby artificial turf. It feels a bit strange how it "bites" the soles of your shoes (normally your feet slip just slightly when you pick up your feet, even on dry pavement -- not so on this stuff).
After just the few yards walking down over the formation, you're on a dirt path through short scrub trees and such. It's an easy stroll from there until you step out of the proverbial woods and onto more rock. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to find the leap from there. (I thought it was quite well marked, myself.)
Now for the "big" difference between La Dania's Leap and Oil Slick Leap. (Okay, there's the whole "you can't climb back up" bit, too, but that's not it.) The difference is that at Oil Slick Leap, the edge was pretty much a vertical (or slightly undercut) lip, whereas at La Dania's Leap, the edge rolls down like the leading edge of an airplane wing. It's not like you have to slide off (which would likely slice your wetsuit's seat into ribbons), but it was slightly more intimidating to me. All I did was lean a little more forward (instead of being straight up) as I did my giant stride (okay, more of a "Great Leap Forward"), but it *did* make me go "Hmm..." for just a moment.
Once we hit the water, we headed straight out to the drop off. (Okay, actually, I just *had* to make the requisite "I've changed my mind!" comment. With no way back on the island, how can you *not*? :biggrin
I was rather surprised to shortly discover that we were diving a *real* wall dive (not just the nice little ledge dive that was Cliff). The wall went from 20-30 feet all the way down well past our MOD. I commented that it felt like I was back home in my native quarries -- it looked quite a bit like a wire-coral-infested, clear-water-infused version of the walls at Alabama Blue Water Adventures in Pelham, AL.
As we started "north" (i.e. clockwise around the island), there was no discernable current whatsoever. It was a nice, leisurely dive, and we enjoyed watching the little things off the wall and the life out in the blue over our other shoulder. After maybe 1/3 to 1/2 through the distance, the wall basically morphed into more of the usual sloping reef so common throughout Bonaire. That marked the start of the transition area between La Dania style and Karpata style reef.
Near the end of the transition area, we came to an "outcropping", so to speak -- a notably convex portion of the reef, if you will. A few yards before we made the break, however, we noticed a *considerable* current. It was tiresome just swimming against it, and we were making minimal headway. Normally, we'd just drift back the other direction, but that's not an option when your only viable exit is forward. We discussed it but a moment and then decided to try our luck at different depths. Higher up the reef, on the "plateau", the current was significantly less, and we had no trouble getting past that spot.
I should include a brief sidebar on the reef structure on this dive: If La Dania's reef is basically a wall, Karpata's reef is more of a corrugated metal roof on a grand scale. If you follow a strict compass course along the bottom contour of the sloping reefs of Karpata, your depth profile will look like a roller coaster. On the other hand, if you swim along the bottom on a line of constant depth, from above your path will look like a drunken sailor. (We tended to stay at constant depth around the parts that "stick out" from shore and then stay at constant depth and "fly" over the valleys between them.)
Anyway, once we got past that first "ridge" where we met the stiff current, things went much more easily. There was still discernable current, but we only noticed when we'd curve around a ridge. When we were flying over the valleys, we were quite effectively sheltered from what currents there were elsewhere. It was actually rather relaxing and quite a bit fun doing the second phase of the dive in Karpata's reef.
I would note, by the way, that we did not see the landmarks we were supposed to have used to know where to turn toward shore for Karpata. We *did*, however, run across a group of boat divers and their moored boat, which may have distracted us a bit. (They were fun to watch, in an "Oh, my... look at *that*!" way.) It doesn't really matter whether you find the mooring or use one of the other landmarks, I suppose, as long as you make the turn into the Karpata shallows at some point.
The shallows around Karpata were a great third phase of the dive. They have a reef structure quite unique in and of themselves. Very large clusters of coral stick out of the sand, lending almost the feel of walking through a small town of coral-built houses (which, I suppose, look somewhat like homes sea-smurfs might live in). There were very large parrotfish and such, as well. Finally, after a long, relaxing "safety stop" (almost a whole dive in and of itself), we popped up and shot a bearing to the large concrete block at the exit. A short swim later, and we sloshed out of the water and were back on dry land.
The stair climb and hike back to the truck weren't bad at all. I offered to let moonbasket stay at Karpata (with my gear, too, of course) while I went for the truck, but as it didn't seem like a terrible trek, we both just walked back. (It was nice to only have to walk about halfway, by the way.) We doffed our gear, stowed it away, and basically just basked in the dive. (We did, however, note that it was a very good idea to not have had the others with us, as they might not have been capable of enjoying the dive as easily as we.)
Interesting coordinates:[table 0 0 3]Description|Latitude|Longitude
Karpata|12° 13.173' N|68° 21.103' W
Karpata Exit|12° 13.159' N|68° 21.118' W
La Dania's Parking|12° 13.146' N|68° 20.976' W
La Dania's Trailhead|12° 13.123' N|68° 20.885' W
La Dania's Leap|12° 13.089' N|68° 20.889' W[/table]
[table 0 0 3]Distance|Description
90 yards|La Dania's Trail
30 yards|Karpata's water to the parking (including stairs)
325 yards|Karpata to where we parked
190 yards|Where we parked to the La Dania trailhead
600 yards|La Dania's Leap to Karpata (in the water)[/table]
- It's roughly 635 yards (0.36 miles) walking between Karpata's exit and La Dania's Leap's entry.
- It's roughly 600 yards (about 1/3 mile) in the water.
- There is about a 30-yard hike and stair climb from the exit at Karpata back up to the parking area.
- There is about a 90-yard hike from the road at the trailhead to the entry point at La Dania's Leap.
Anyway, I had the coordinates for almost all the dive sites in Bonaire entered into my GPS receiver, and I'd plotted out the La Dania to Karpata plan with even more attention to detail than the rest. If I parked at La Dania's trailhead, there would be a longer-than-necessary hike back to the car, which I didn't really care for. On the other hand, if I parked at Karpata, we'd have a long, hot hike to get to the start of the dive, which didn't seem like a good idea at all. Instead, I drove just about 200 yards past La Dania's marker and parked in a little siding. It's slightly closer to La Dania than halfway, which worked out quite well, I dare say.
We geared up and started the trek up (but not *too* up) to the La Dania trailhead, which is easy to find (*especially* if you're on foot, hehe). Once you turn seaward onto the trail, it cuts through the trees and scrub for a few yards, before it comes to a rather unnerving downslope over a very large boulder or a rather small rock formation. It seems as if you might slip and fall, but the truth of the matter is that a few steps quickly show that the "rock of a thousand teeth" that it is made of give you footing more secure than cleats on scrubby artificial turf. It feels a bit strange how it "bites" the soles of your shoes (normally your feet slip just slightly when you pick up your feet, even on dry pavement -- not so on this stuff).
After just the few yards walking down over the formation, you're on a dirt path through short scrub trees and such. It's an easy stroll from there until you step out of the proverbial woods and onto more rock. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to find the leap from there. (I thought it was quite well marked, myself.)
Now for the "big" difference between La Dania's Leap and Oil Slick Leap. (Okay, there's the whole "you can't climb back up" bit, too, but that's not it.) The difference is that at Oil Slick Leap, the edge was pretty much a vertical (or slightly undercut) lip, whereas at La Dania's Leap, the edge rolls down like the leading edge of an airplane wing. It's not like you have to slide off (which would likely slice your wetsuit's seat into ribbons), but it was slightly more intimidating to me. All I did was lean a little more forward (instead of being straight up) as I did my giant stride (okay, more of a "Great Leap Forward"), but it *did* make me go "Hmm..." for just a moment.
Once we hit the water, we headed straight out to the drop off. (Okay, actually, I just *had* to make the requisite "I've changed my mind!" comment. With no way back on the island, how can you *not*? :biggrin
I was rather surprised to shortly discover that we were diving a *real* wall dive (not just the nice little ledge dive that was Cliff). The wall went from 20-30 feet all the way down well past our MOD. I commented that it felt like I was back home in my native quarries -- it looked quite a bit like a wire-coral-infested, clear-water-infused version of the walls at Alabama Blue Water Adventures in Pelham, AL. As we started "north" (i.e. clockwise around the island), there was no discernable current whatsoever. It was a nice, leisurely dive, and we enjoyed watching the little things off the wall and the life out in the blue over our other shoulder. After maybe 1/3 to 1/2 through the distance, the wall basically morphed into more of the usual sloping reef so common throughout Bonaire. That marked the start of the transition area between La Dania style and Karpata style reef.
Near the end of the transition area, we came to an "outcropping", so to speak -- a notably convex portion of the reef, if you will. A few yards before we made the break, however, we noticed a *considerable* current. It was tiresome just swimming against it, and we were making minimal headway. Normally, we'd just drift back the other direction, but that's not an option when your only viable exit is forward. We discussed it but a moment and then decided to try our luck at different depths. Higher up the reef, on the "plateau", the current was significantly less, and we had no trouble getting past that spot.
I should include a brief sidebar on the reef structure on this dive: If La Dania's reef is basically a wall, Karpata's reef is more of a corrugated metal roof on a grand scale. If you follow a strict compass course along the bottom contour of the sloping reefs of Karpata, your depth profile will look like a roller coaster. On the other hand, if you swim along the bottom on a line of constant depth, from above your path will look like a drunken sailor. (We tended to stay at constant depth around the parts that "stick out" from shore and then stay at constant depth and "fly" over the valleys between them.)
Anyway, once we got past that first "ridge" where we met the stiff current, things went much more easily. There was still discernable current, but we only noticed when we'd curve around a ridge. When we were flying over the valleys, we were quite effectively sheltered from what currents there were elsewhere. It was actually rather relaxing and quite a bit fun doing the second phase of the dive in Karpata's reef.
I would note, by the way, that we did not see the landmarks we were supposed to have used to know where to turn toward shore for Karpata. We *did*, however, run across a group of boat divers and their moored boat, which may have distracted us a bit. (They were fun to watch, in an "Oh, my... look at *that*!" way.) It doesn't really matter whether you find the mooring or use one of the other landmarks, I suppose, as long as you make the turn into the Karpata shallows at some point.
The shallows around Karpata were a great third phase of the dive. They have a reef structure quite unique in and of themselves. Very large clusters of coral stick out of the sand, lending almost the feel of walking through a small town of coral-built houses (which, I suppose, look somewhat like homes sea-smurfs might live in). There were very large parrotfish and such, as well. Finally, after a long, relaxing "safety stop" (almost a whole dive in and of itself), we popped up and shot a bearing to the large concrete block at the exit. A short swim later, and we sloshed out of the water and were back on dry land.
The stair climb and hike back to the truck weren't bad at all. I offered to let moonbasket stay at Karpata (with my gear, too, of course) while I went for the truck, but as it didn't seem like a terrible trek, we both just walked back. (It was nice to only have to walk about halfway, by the way.) We doffed our gear, stowed it away, and basically just basked in the dive. (We did, however, note that it was a very good idea to not have had the others with us, as they might not have been capable of enjoying the dive as easily as we.)
Interesting coordinates:[table 0 0 3]Description|Latitude|Longitude
Karpata|12° 13.173' N|68° 21.103' W
Karpata Exit|12° 13.159' N|68° 21.118' W
La Dania's Parking|12° 13.146' N|68° 20.976' W
La Dania's Trailhead|12° 13.123' N|68° 20.885' W
La Dania's Leap|12° 13.089' N|68° 20.889' W[/table]
[table 0 0 3]Distance|Description
90 yards|La Dania's Trail
30 yards|Karpata's water to the parking (including stairs)
325 yards|Karpata to where we parked
190 yards|Where we parked to the La Dania trailhead
600 yards|La Dania's Leap to Karpata (in the water)[/table]
