The short story:
1. Beware, Andrea 1 seclusion/theft. Maybe we should call it Andrea Baba & the 40 thieves.
2. See if you can rent a vehicle with an alarm.
3. Bad people suck
4. People on Bonaire are like everybody else, no better, no worse...
5. Great shore diving, duh
6. Don't waste your time... there are no such things as frogfish or seahorses, we looked ;) they must be doctored photos...
7. Best dives were the Invisibles [watch for the school of baracuda-like Southern Sennets, saw them twice between the 1st reef and islands 1 & 2], Alice in Wonderland northbound about 30' deep about 30 minutes [at an easy going pace] there's a 6' Green Moray hanging out in large star-boulders... the two parallel reefs merge, many species of fish here, triggers, jacks, u-name-it]...

The long story:
We got Charlie the Tarpon to follow us to the web-cam on two of three nite dives... just shine your light where you want him to go... you can also feed him little fish with your light beam... there's also a very BIG lobster hanging out in the shallows between the cam and Al's[Blk Durgon] boat moorings... bigger than the dead one at the base of the Invisibles double barrels.

Andrea Baba & the 40 Thieves: the Andrea 1 dive site is a bit secluded off the main road... the bad guys stole our t-shirts, shorts, food and drinks from a cheapo cooler, and a small save-a-dive kit from under the seat. The ABCarrental pick-up had an annoying alarm [the only way we could figure out how to keep it from beeping was to leave the keys in with the ignition 'on' whenever we were un/loading, etc... or lock all doors and take the keys... so we'd generally leave the windows open with the doors locked]... the alarm probably scared them off in the middle of their robbery, because they left sunglasses including a $250 pair of Serengettis(tough to where diving), a backup mask, and seems like maybe something else, don't recall...

anyway... 31 dives, 30+ hours unda da sea, one robbery, great strawberry yogart in the breezeway next to KFC, Zee Zicht is as good as they say [funchi, batter fried banana, shrimp & tenderloin combo... yeeeooooow... dat wuz good after a busy diving day]... Slagbaai [zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz] ok if you need to kill a day before flying, but next time will probably go kayaking.

wierdest sighting: saw 4 baby piglets at night on the dirt road coming back southbound from the one-way northbound paved road to 1000 Steps and Karpata, etc... not near any residences, ranches, just out in da bush country... wierd.

biggest teeth categories there must be an eel in every coral... they're poking their heads out everywhere... there are baracuda everywhere also... someone told me once that they are so wary that if you swim towards them they will speed away... WRONG... I tested the theory and swam towards a 30" fellow... he turned alright... right toward me, and very quickly... not wary not afraid, but curious... they like to circle you and check you out... we saw one traveling single that was 50"+ but most were about 30"...

tanks: the Black Durgon supplied our tanks from Habitat... poor o-rings... many leaked, some short-fills so had to check every tank before hitting the road... I think I saw one descent o-ring the whole time... nothing more annoying than a hissing valve while trying to slip up on your subject huh?

adios, Wayne and Kate

forgot one: greatest regret
missed the Turducken party, night diving...
on another night the big doggie barked at us so we decided not to disturb anyone... and we did sign the log one afternoon... BUT we did see our diving web-cam pix... http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/626/19135.html?1013200734
Kate at 12:04:04pm picture
Both of us at 12:06:04

Hi Wayne!

We missed you on Turducken night.

Here's a "doctored" (not really ) Frogfish from my collection:

uh huh... right Jake...
and here's a photo of me and Kate returning home to the Portland Airport ;)
\image {ufo}

oops

Hey Wayne, I only snorkel and I saw a frogfish!!! Maybe it is time to get your eyes checked!

no way darlene... that's a bit unfair don't you think? i paid a lot of money on this trip to see the mythical seahorse and frogfish... there should be some kind of a money back guarantee... or at least a few fake ones strewn about the reefs, with arrows and flashing strobes, you know, for those of us who can't see the hilma hooker until we bump into it ;) doink, "OH, there it is!"

btw, the only guy staying at our inn that saw a shark was snorkeling at the time... actually, in less than 10 feet of water and w/in 50' of shore i saw baracuda, free swimming octopus, needlefish, scorpionfish, palometta, bar jacks, parrotfish, free swimming eels including supposedly rare white spotted snake eels - twice, blue tang, angelfish, stingray, snappers, cleaner shrimp, etc etc... seems like your 3 minute stops at 15 turn into 15 minute stops at 2 to 3 meters.
moral to story, if snorkeling Bonaire, you won't miss too much huh?

wayne, we saw seahorses (one at Klein and two at oil slick)...no frog fish though...ellen...i lost the link to your fish pics, but wayne she has photos of MANY taken on bonaire....really...(I have to say I was paid to type the
above:-)...anyway, we didn't dive andrea, but did check it out and there was a LOT of glass all over...figured we would just skip it...what are "$250 pair of Serengettis?"...i know I must re-subscribe to In Style soon....

sounds like everybody saw them but us
guess we'll just have to keep going back until we can prove their existence... darn, huh?
everybody knows the fake ones on national geographic specials are just doctored photos of horses, you know, like the fake moon landing in the 60's...
the serengeti's were the sunglasses, just overpriced shades you only buy with company insurance ;)
actually they left new dive bags on the back seat floor also, which makes me think the horn-alarm spooked them... needless to say we took nothing with us after that trip, we wore our wetsuits or swimsuits, no more shorts and shirts, etc...

The one good O-ring you saw on one of the Habitat tanks was probably the one we replaced last time we dove with their tanks... Though come to think of it, that was more than 18 months ago, so it's probably just as dead as the rest by now... Given the amount of diving those tanks see, it's a wonder any of them have working O-rings.

We had suggested to Jack that he have some sort of marker or something available at the tank dropoff so that folks could mark tanks with bad O-rings, bad valves, etc. when they returned them. He agreed that was a good idea, but I suspect it slipped his mind (he's been a busy boy lately)...

Faith

Whaddya mean, no seahorses? I saw one one a checkout dive for my open water. Of course, I must admit, my instructor found it...

And I saw one on my last dive. One of the divemasters on the boat looked for about 1/2 hour for him, but he found him (or her). It was awesome!

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Hi Wayne it was a fun week. There were some good people here. It was great having you visit with us. Although you were going to dive, coming from diving or under water most of the time. So this let to some short conversations. I wanted to speak a little on Habitats behalf. Short filled tanks are few and far between, (if at all), and normally show up because guests new to the Black Durgon, or any dive hotel for that matter, put there empties in the wrong place. Come on Web participants tell me about the 3300lb fills you find here and at habitat. Wayne did you find any of those?? You are right about orings. Orings are a Caribbean nightmare in general. The biggest problem is when divers blow off their dust cap with the tank air and the backpressure causes them to come out or unseated. The next time the regulator or fill hose is put on they get nicked. Not to mention the heat down here hardens them. This is not so bad as a hard oring is safe, as it cannot squeeze out.... Anyway. I hope the weather up there is not to cold. Safe diving…AL…

thanks for the accomodations Al... excellent ambiance and perfect location... got to dive Small Wall day and night... we had a great time! after cozy 78 degree water, we're not too excited about diving up here in the 45-degree Pacific Northwest waters... look forward to returning, some day... [but not via San Juan]

wayne, thanks for the sunglass info...after reading this oring thing, as we stayed at sand$, and the now defunct dive and photo, we got to check our tanks before we took them to make sure they had enough air and no leaks...that was a nice perk...do any of the other dive shops allow the divers to do that or do they just give you the tank?

if they give me a tank, i'll check it right there... as Al noted above, divers may get tanks mixed up when putting empties back in the same vicinity as the full tanks, so i'll never leave anywhere without checking them with regulators... driving/boating 30 minutes one way to dive, suiting up and finding a near empty tank, going back 30 minutes and finding a good tank, going back again... a 9am dive starts about 11am... btw, leaks may not be a big deal to some since you don't lose that much air, but the hissing right behind your head, or your buddy's head right next to you, is way annoying... i like to hear the parrotfish chomping and snappers snapping, you know... anyway, stepping down off soapbox at this time ;)

Wayne, glad you had a good time at the Black Durgon. It's my favorite place on Bonaire. The view of the sea is spetacular! Regarding the o rings, I haven't been on a dive in years (anywhere) without a tiny leak from the o ring. I've grown to expect it as no big deal. As far as the air fill, I've found 99% of the tanks at the Durgon filled between 2800 and 3200. When we occasionally find one a little short, we set it aside and use it on our 2nd or 3rd dive of the day, since they tend to be 5 or 10 min. shorter anyway. A good way to avoid a short tank is to use a gague to check it before you go. Again, glad you enjoyed the Black Durgon. Maybe we will run into each other there in the future..Happy Diving.

bonaire's full of surprises, here's the 4 little pigs...

a few pix of the Black Durgon...

this from the kitchen area hammocks:

the dining area on the water is fun for mingling with the birds, lizards, and parrotfish a few feet away...

here's Kate enjoying a typical sunset before a Samll Wall night dive from the dock just to the right...

above, Samll = Small, ooppps...
and here's a view of Klein from the rooms, looking over the kitchen... often a dive boat at the Small Wall bouy, this one was on a photo excursion...

poor quality video capture, but this is Kate on the walkways below our room's balcony... the room had been double booked with a couple of drunken mosquitos... no problum mon, we be happy to share ;)

and finally... our 4 door ABCarrental pick-up...

Gee, Gotomeer sur has changed since I was there last...green grass, pine trees, snow topped mountain...

Wayne - What's Al doing with his new boats? Is he running any dive trips himself? (They don't look very big). When we were there we did 2 boat dives a day, with Eddie. Have stayed there twice, going back in July again. Great place! (That was our room too, above the kitchen with the balcony!)

Hi Gail, he wasn't using the boats while we were there, and I believe we overheard that he expected to sell them.

We agree, it was a very comfortable place to stay, laid back, no pressure, friendly, not the Hilton, but perfect for an island get-away... enjoy your July trip!

Wayne, you might want to try at least one guided dive the next time you are here. The local divemasters are good at finding seahorses and frogfish. Once you have seen one or two it is easier to find them on your own. There is an orange seahorse in front of the Black Durgon and two at the Small Wall divesite. Here are two pictures of the seahorse in front of Al's Black Durgon....

Great shots Ellen!!!