By Bruce Kemp on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 2:10 pm: |
I love Bonaire. I must, I've been there six times in the last five years. I 'm recently returned from my latest trip. I noticed much lower viz than I've ever seen before on all of the dive sites, north and south. My trip previous to this latest one was 14 months ago. I noticed lower viz then, but the viz was worse this trip.This is all relative-of course- the Florida divers on our trip who had never been to Bonaire before thought the viz was good. My expectations are for something nearer 100'+ viz, the "gin clear" water Bonaire has ben known for. I haven't seen that in a while. Does anyone know why the viz is getting worse?
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By Matthew Brown on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 10:22 am: |
I recently made my first trip to Bonaire (7/13-7/20) and was a little disappointed with the visability as well, although the diving was still amazing. According to others who had visited Bonaire many times, the visability was the worst they had ever seen. Some speculated that this was due to an upswell of deeper waters that periodically occurs during July and can drastically reduce visability.
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By Ida Christie on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 12:35 pm: |
Well....I sure hope the upwell is gone by August 7th! Gee Weez....
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By jason thomas on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 3:03 pm: |
Bruce or Matt, what was the diff. is sites from the north and south? Also, what was the best viz in terms of feet by your estimation?
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By Glen Reem on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 3:26 pm: |
Ida, 60' at least. It was that in early July. The reefcam pics are typical. There was an upwelling then-- cool water fingers coming all the way up to the top break of the reef and 2 mild thermoclines further down. And, of course, the 'stuff' in the water is plankton so there are lots of plankton feeders about.
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By Bruce Kemp on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 7:08 pm: |
Jason- we seached north and south trying to find better viz. Some sites were better than others.I would say generally, the sites in Kralendiyk and north of Kralendiyk had better viz than the southern dive sites. At Red Slave the viz was so bad (15'-20') in shallow at the beginning of the dive that I almost ended the dive and left. Good thing I didn't because the viz did get better at the drop-off and at depth. Don't let the bad viz at your entry spook you off the dive, viz will improve as you go deeper. The viz was erratic and unpredictable. For example, I thought the viz at Karpata and Ol' Blue was better than the viz north of BOPEC and the viz at Margate Bay was better than Vista Blue and much better than Invisibles. I could't see a pattern or figure out why one site was better than another. I would estimate the viz I experienced to be in the 50'-60' foot range. Worse in some places and at shallow depths. I was hoping someone could present the group with some science to explain what's going on. Viz-a-viz the viz, that is. (Sorry)
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By DARLENE ELLIS on Thursday, August 1, 2002 - 7:51 am: |
I am always in the shallows snorkeling and I have found when there is a lot of surge, which I have heard there has been quite a bit lately, the sandy bottoms in the shallows gets all churned up and the visability is affected. If you are looking for something more scientific, I don't have that answer. Of all my trips to Bonaire there was only one trip with not so good visability and that was only for a day or so! The rest of the trip was great!
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By Leif S on Thursday, August 1, 2002 - 12:30 pm: |
Pic for viz assessment...
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By Leif S on Thursday, August 1, 2002 - 12:35 pm: |
Note on that pic...
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By Bruce Kemp on Thursday, August 1, 2002 - 2:32 pm: |
Bonaire's forte is small citters and great coral,sponge etc. The more you look the more you see when you swim slow and look close. From that point of view, seeing 60' or seeing 80' doesn't really matter. Everything looks great up close. Even with reduced over all viz, I still had great dives and really enjoyed Bonaire, as I always do. When I say viz of 50'-60' that's the distance at which I can see things clearly, not as a vague shape that could be anything. You should also know that I have 45 year old eyes! You youngsters will no doubt see things better than I do. Also depth did matter for viz. in the shallows, viz seemed lower as I said and at depth, things seemed darker. That kinda makes sense with a lot of particulates in the water. My interest in the viz situation is strictly academic, in no way will it affect my decision to keep going to Bonaire on a regular basis. One suggestion I've heard is that the heavier than normal rains are causing run off that can cloud the water.
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By jason thomas on Thursday, August 1, 2002 - 3:49 pm: |
Bruce said-
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By Glen Reem on Thursday, August 1, 2002 - 4:02 pm: |
Maybe one of the resident biologists will chime in and help.
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By Lola B. McClellan on Friday, August 2, 2002 - 10:09 am: |
We just returned 7/24 - 7/31. We pretty much had rain every morning, we are early risers around 6 am or so and drank our coffee watching the showers. It wouldn't last very long but was heavy several times. Clouds would hover and pass through out the days as well, and that's what we had speculated caused the fuzzy water. Everything was beautiful; however, we had expected the water to be as clear or clearer than our visit to Cozumel last year. It wasn't but then we only snorkel so we weren't down deep.
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By Rio on Friday, August 2, 2002 - 9:34 pm: |
Does anyone have a recent viz rep?
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By Geoffrey Feldman on Tuesday, August 6, 2002 - 10:50 am: |
For the best diving, think like a fish.
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By Bruce Kemp on Tuesday, August 6, 2002 - 5:23 pm: |
Geoffrey- good points. I had the pleasure of watching a black and white crinoid feed VERY aggressively on the additional food drifting by. I also saw five coronet fish this trip, which I thought was interesting, because I'd never seen them before off Bonaire. The coronets were very tolerant of my presence, on a night dive I had one approach my dive light instead of swimming away. Also, a tilefish in hunt mode- another first for me! And north of BOPEC, a school of 100 or so barracuda. Every trip to Bonaire- every dive- I see something I've never seen before.
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