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Trip Reports: Our First Trip Report 6/28 - 7/6 (The long version)
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2005-05-08 to 2005-08-03: Our First Trip Report 6/28 - 7/6 (The long version)
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #20) on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 11:50 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

My wife and I recently returned from our first trip to Bonaire. One of the first things we noticed was that other drivers tend to wave. And they use all five fingers and not just one!

Travel:

We did the Boston – Aruba – Bonaire route. The flight down to Aruba on USAir was ok, a little tight with the connection in Philly but otherwise pretty good. We followed the advice of others and everything went smoothly transiting Aruba with regard to departure taxes and so on. We were scheduled to be on the 5:00pm flight on BonairExpress but unfortunately Curacao was closed. (At first we thought the maybe someone had lost the keys to the island or something.) As it turned out a cargo plane had gotten a flat tire right smack in the middle of the runway which closed the airport, trapping the BE plane in Curacao. Ok so after a four-hour delay they get the other plane, combine our flight with the regular 9:00pm Curacao/Bonaire flight and off we go. Better late than never and after a quick stop in Curacao we arrived on Bonaire fourteen hours after we set out that morning.

I’m glad we did the route we did because in speaking with another couple staying at the same place they told us they were flying AJ and had a very interesting itinerary for their return. It seems they were to land in Montego Bay and depart on a connecting flight out of Kingston an hour before their flight landed. What was interesting was that AJ wasn’t concerned about it telling them that the flight usually left late anyway. I wonder how that worked out for them.

Our return flights were no problem at all with only a few minutes delay leaving Charlotte.

Accommodations:

We stayed at the Deep Blue View Bed & Breakfast. http://www.deepblueview.com The DBV is a nice quiet place up on the hill overlooking Kralendijk and Klein Bonaire. The DBV is owned and run by Menno de Bree & Esther Wiegerink, and I can’t say enough nice things about them. They are friendly, energetic, and very attentive to the needs and desires of their guests. Menno met us at the airport, helped us get our truck, and lead us up to the villa.

Well-maintained grounds with lots of trees, potted plants, and gardens that give a sense of relaxing privacy surround the villa. The rooms are spacious with their own bathrooms with showers and are attended to daily. The water is solar heated so you need to be careful as it can be quite hot at the end of the day. We only had one morning where the water was less than hot and that was because it rained the previous day. There are hammocks and swimming pool to relax in after a busy day.

There are two dogs, Bully and Usco that have free run of the outside and will sometimes join you in the pool. Bully is always ready to sit next to you and get a scratch while you’re filling out your logbook or relaxing in one of the hammocks. Usco will come by for a scratch too but she’s a little more aloof about it. She does enjoy a nice tummy scratch though.

There are no tv’s in the rooms at the DBV but there are clock radios. At first we thought this might be a negative but in fact it turned out to be a huge positive. We didn’t watch any tv, listen to radio, or read any newspapers while we were on the island. It was like magic. We felt so relaxed without listening to the worlds’ troubles for nine glorious days. I highly recommend it as a much-needed decompression of the mind and spirit.

The day starts off at the DBV with a marvelous breakfast prepared by Esther between 7:30 and 10:00am. Most days everybody was ready to eat right at 7:30 so they could get started. She servers everything from fresh cut fruits and yogurt to pancakes to eggs, bacon, & toast and then some, what ever you want, all cooked to order. Esther is a great cook so you will not leave the table hungry. There is a fridge for the guests to keep snacks and drinks in and it’s kept stocked with one-liter water bottles for the guests to take with them while out and about. It’s recommended taking one liter of water per person per dive.

After breakfast Menno would come out and see if anyone wanted to go out on the boat that morning. If people did then he would give us the general game plan. There was no pressure to hurry up and get ready. There is no rigid schedule to adhere to. Menno simply tailors it to what the guests want. The boat is a six-pack so it can be a little tight if there are enough people aboard, but it was never a problem because we were never in a rush. Menno has ordered a new boat from the UK which is due to arrive in the early fall. With it he will be able to run trips to the east side of the island as well, weather permitting of course. The typical dive package includes five boat dives. That’s plenty to visit Klein Bonaire and see some of the sites over there. We really enjoyed Bonaventure btw.

At some point during your stay, again on a flexible schedule, they have a sunset cruise followed up by a BBQ dinner. (Included in the package) These people know how to cook!!! The food just kept coming until we were stuffed. I think we covered every food group at least once during the meal and we were left completely FDH (fat, dumb, and happy) afterwards.

Tanks are available on premises but are filled off-site so you don’t have to listen to any compressors. Menno keeps the tank farm well stocked and we didn’t see anyone run short of tanks. My wife and I were doing an unlimited Nitrox package so we had our own supply of tanks that was separate from the other guests. Again, Menno would keep plenty on hand so we had all that we needed.

The lockers are secure and very adequate for storing two sets of gear. They’re robustly made so we had no fear of leaving our gear in them. They’re far enough away from the rooms that you can come back from a night dive, rinse and store your gear, and not disturb the other guests.

One of the things we liked about how they do business is that they include all of the taxes and fees in their advertised package price. I found that to be very convenient when pricing out the trip. With other places they looked less expensive at first glance, but after you added in the room tax, rental car tax, marine park fees, etc suddenly the other guys’ great price wasn’t so great anymore.

So if you want to stay someplace that is quiet and relaxing with great hosts, and don’t have to be right on the water, then the Deep Blue View Bed & Breakfast is someplace you need to check out.


Diving:

During the briefing for one of our boat dives of Klein we were told to keep an eye out for the elusive blue eared rabbit-fish. Toward the end of our dive we were able to catch a glimpse of one for a brief moment. According to Menno we were lucky to spot it because apparently an encounter with one is about as rare as that of spotting a whaleshark in those waters. Unfortunately we didn’t have a camera with us at the time so we were left with only memories of the encounter. If you ever see one you’ll know it because they’re pretty hard to mistake for something else. Typical coloration is gray, blue, and tan with large blue appendages on its head that can only be described as rabbit ears. If you run into one snap a picture of it if you can.

Overall the diving was great. We got in 18 dives during our stay on the island with two of them being night dives. I would like to have done more night dives but the logistics just didn’t work out. We’ll just try a little harder next time. Some of the highlights were a frogfish, flamingo tongue nudibranch, and a long snout sea horse, all of which Menno found for us. There were lots of eels ranging from small baby golden tail morays to a 6’ free swimming green moray we ran into at Invisibles. That is one impressive animal to see out in the open. Especially when it’s swimming straight at you and then passes directly under you only a few feet away. I have no idea where he was off to but he definitely looked like he was going somewhere with a purpose in mind. He didn’t even pay any attention to us at all. We tried to follow it hoping for a better photo-op but it was hopeless, he was just moving along too fast for us to keep up.

The sites we dove were Petri’s Pillar, Carl’s Hill, Hilma Hooker, Angle City, Invisibles, Front Porch, Cliff, Andrea I, The Lake, Jerry’s Reef, Bonaventure, Windsock, Windsock Right (This one has a story to it).

The first time we went to Windsock it was late in the day and we were scouting it out as a possible night dive site. Unfortunately we missed the proper entry point, by quite a bit. According to the map we had the dive site was on one side of the runway but in fact the actual site was on the other side of the runway. That’s why I refer to it as Windsock Right. The entry was fine with a sandy initial entry then iron shore. That’s when we found the dead coral that came up shallow and was in our path to open water. We were able to find a way over and through it but it just wasn’t suitable for a night dive. Once past that minor obstacle though the dive was great.

While we were on Bonaire we took the AOW and Nitrox certification classes. Menno taught the Nitrox course and Karin taught the AOW course. Karin is another super nice person that was our pleasure to meet while on the island. She and Menno are very knowledgeable dive instructors. We hope Karin will still be around when we return. For our elective dives we did night, drift, and underwater photography. The night dive was great. We did Front Porch next to Bongo’s and had a blast. Where we had already done the site earlier in the day with Karin for our deep and navigation dives we were familiar with it which made it nice and relaxing for our first night dive. Menno spotted a frogfish for us and we had a great time playing with the tarpon. We did another night dive at the nearby Cliff dive site in front of Hamlet Oasis. That was a very good dive too, and I finally got to see a squid. Unfortunately I exhaled too loudly as I got close and it flashed me what I can only imagine is the squid equivalent of “I’m outta here” and took off before I could get a photo of it. During the drift dive off of Klein Bonaire we got to see a Green Sea Turtle and some black coral. Unfortunately the turtle people were out there that day and they were catching and tagging turtles which I think made them a little skittish toward divers. This trip allowed us to cross several items off of our ‘must see at least once in our life’ list for my wife and I.

The top of the reef appeared to be in better shape at the southern sites than the northern ones. We were told this was due to the damage Lenny did back in 1999. All it means is that at the northern sites there is a bit of dead zone with coral rubble down to around 20 – 30 fsw. Below that they are fine. At the southern sites however we got to enjoy doing our safety stops and finishing out our tanks poking around the plants and soft corals looking for little critters.

We decided to rent an underwater camera (DX3000 w/ YS25 flash) for a few days to see if we could get some photos for the scrapbook. Since this was my first attempt at underwater photography I was pleasantly surprised that most of them are worth keeping. I’m glad we decided to rent the digital rather than the film camera because it can be addicting. Once you get started shooting photos you just can’t stop where there’s so many subjects all around you. During the AOW photography dive I had Karin and my wife working the reef ahead of me finding subjects to photograph. They found all sorts of things including one scorpionfish each. On that one dive we took over 100 photos. As a result we shot over 420 underwater photos total with probably 350 or more of them being worth keeping. Now I want my own camera before we go on our next dive trip.

We really enjoyed our dive on the wreck of the Hilma Hooker. We were advised to swim out to and descend at the middle buoy and swim with the current on the bottom of the wreck. Once around the upper deck side, swim into the current and back with it along the bottom before ascending the reef. There was very little current when we did the dive so it really didn’t matter much. The wreck was very interesting to see and I would have done it again if we were on the island longer. There’s a good number of tarpon around the wreck which are interesting to see. One tip, do this dive as early in the day as you can. Before breakfast is good if possible as it can get crowded. We were lucky because two boats full of divers were just pulling away when we got there leaving only the four pick-up trucks worth of divers on the wreck.

Over all the diving was great. It took my wife and I a couple of entries before we had the hang of it. The water is so clear it’s easy to misjudge if what you’re about to step on is higher or lower than you think it is. Even though there was only a very little amount of surge it’s enough to take you off your feet if you’re not ready for it. We worked it out by holding onto each others bc with one hand and moving one at a time until we were in deep enough water to put our fins on and start swimming. That gave us just enough stability to feel out what we about to step on and keep out balance. Other than that the diving was a piece of cake.

Dining:

We didn’t do a lot of dining out. It’s amazing how a simple snack can be enough when you’re worn out. We did get to Casablanca’s, Richards, Pasa Bon Pizza, Bongo’s, Jibe City, and Kon Tiki though. In general we found the restaurants to be a bit on the expensive side relative to what we pay at home but this was expected. And it wasn’t like the prices were way out of line or anything like that. The food was of excellent quality and the portion sizes were always very good so the value was there.

Casablanca’s was good. The food was good and there was plenty of it. We didn’t want to get the PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals) special because we just didn’t want to deal with that many leftovers. We saw one go by on its way to someone’s table and it looked great though.

Richard’s was excellent. My wife and I each had the Land & Sea and it was delicious. During dinner we overheard someone say that the fishing boats had come in late that day. In looking around we saw a couple good size Wahoos heading into the kitchen while a third one was being brought from table to table to show off the days’ special. The only bad thing I can say about that meal was the mosquitoes. It had rained that day and the wind had dropped so the bugs were out in force that night.

Kon Tiki was another nice restaurant. Esther had suggested it for lunch since we were diving the southern part of the island that day. I had the Shrimp Taglefellia Pasta, which was out of this world. I don’t know how it compares to the same dish made elsewhere and I don’t care. It was great. So much so that we went back there for dinner the next night after a night dive. This is where I ran into my only dining disappointment of the trip. The dinner version wasn’t as good as the lunch version. Different chef maybe, I don’t know, but it definitely tasted different to me the second time around.

Pasa Bon Pizza – looked like a nice place to eat at but we were tired so we just got take out. Now being used to Papa Ginos and similar pizza joints at home we ordered a large cheese pizza. Thank god we didn’t order extra cheese like we usually do at home. Normally I’m good for 4 or 5 slices of pizza if I’m hungry. This thing filled me up in just two and my wife just barely finished one slice. It was very good pizza so we kept it in the fridge and had it for lunch the next two days.

Bongo’s BBQ was pretty good and we enjoyed a couple of Azul’s over dinner which ended the day on a good note.

Jibe City was a great place to stop and have a burger for dinner while on our way back to the villa. I can see how the Lac Bay is perfect for wind surfing. We watched them while we ate and were quite impressed by a few of them. The coastal road around the southern tip of the island was a nice ride too.

Washington Slagbaai National Park:

I popped an ear infection the second morning on the island and got to find out about the Bonairian medical system. I must say that for my limited experience with them I was impressed. I was able to get an appointment right away that only cost $20 US and a prescription for $40 US (double prescription). So what has this got to do with the park? If I hadn’t popped the ear infection we may never have taken the time off from diving to go explore it. Due to the earlier visit with the doctor and pharmacy we got started a little late so it was already 2:00pm by the time we got there so we had to take the short route. Short route or not it was a great ride and the rental truck will never be the same I’m sure. At this point in our stay we were still thinking, “ok so what’s here that makes people rave about how beautiful the island is?” I mean, it’s like sections of the American southwest with lizards, goats, and donkeys running all around, cactus everywhere and with just about everything else that grows there having either thorns, spines, spikes, or sharp edges. However, after a few days it started to grow on us. I sure wouldn’t want to have my truck break down on the road between Kralendijk and Sorrobon, or several other locations for that matter, but it’s still pretty in a harsh desert kind of way.

The park was a really fun ride and I recommend making time for it. We saw lots of goats, smaller lizards, and flamingos, plus a few donkeys, and a couple of iguanas. We only saw a couple of the dive sites as we drove through and there were a few divers just coming out of the water as we went past. I hope those sites were something special because it’s one hell of a ride to get to them even using the short route.

Disappointments:

The only disappointment we found was with some of the development that is going on along the waterfront to the south of town. I think it was at King’s Beach Resort there was a dive site marker stone next to the road with a “Private Property” sign and a chain across the entrance. I hope that trend doesn’t continue or it may ruin what Bonaire is all about. I think would be wise if the local government made a provision in the building code that requires new waterfront construction to preserve public access to any dive site that it may block.

Conclusion:

For my wife and I, the Deep Blue View and Bonaire in general have earned a ‘must go again’ rating on our places to vacation list. The whole atmosphere of the island was very relaxed and caused us to have one of the best vacations we can remember. So until next time, we’ll just have to be happy looking at out photos, remembering the fun we had, and looking forward to the next opportunity we have to visit Bonaire.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1527) on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 1:53 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for the detailed trip report. It is amazing how Bonaire hypnotizes you, isn't it?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Taylor (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 2:28 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks Jim for that glowing report
My two teenage children and I will be arriving at DBV in a months time for our first diving holiday. All newcomers with one nervous daughter and doing the whole Open water course together. We are looking forward to it and after reading the trip report about DBV we are looking forward even more now. My daughter is nervous of the flight and the diving but absolutely loves dogs so they will calm her down I am sure.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lisa Peters (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 3:23 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jim, I noticed you left out the factoid that donkey's like Doritos! ;)

(uh oh, I hope the environmental police don't find me!)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #21) on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 9:40 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Darlene,

Yes, it does grow on you pretty fast.

Mike,

I didn't give them anything for free in my report. They earned everything that was said so I don't think you'll be disappointed with them one bit.

One thing I'd like to ask about though. You said your daughter is nervous about the diving, how nervous? Apprehensive is ok but beyond that may be something to be keep an eye on. It's normal to be apprehensive about something you've never done before, especially breath underwater. That goes away after you have a chance to get used to it. But how does she react to the unexpected?

Let me give two examples using things that happened to us on the trip. Remember I said in my report that we ran into a six foot long free swimming green moray eel? It was quite startling at first to look up and see it that close and swimming straight at us. She can't freak out and shoot for the surface if something like that happens.

On the first night dive Lisa and I planned and executed on our own we had a minor incident. We were taking photos at the Cliff dive site in front of Hamelt Oasis when Lisa found a banded shrimp out in the open. Because there was a little bit of current she was helping to keep me in position while I took a few shots of it. I have a camera in one hand and my light in the other so I'm fairly task loaded at the moment. All of a sudden I feel a little tug on my regulator hose. Less than a second later my regulator is ripped out of my mouth.

Ok, we're at 60 feet down. It's pitch black except for where the light is pointed and both of my hands are busy. I have no idea why my regulator has been pulled away from me yet. Lisa could be having an out of air situation that I don't know about yet so I need to be cautious both with my body movement. I don't want to shine my light on her because it'll blind her and I don't want to waste the time. We were fairly close to the reef so I have to be careful about maneuvering as well.

Now, as long as I don't panic this is a very managable situation. All I have to do is let the camera hang from its lanyard while I grab my alternate air source regulator to breath from while I figure out what's going on with my primary reg. Problem solved.

Obviously you know your daughter and can make that call as to whether she is ready for diving. Your instructors will also be watching and will advise you if they think there is a problem. Just be safe so you can all enjoy diving for many years to come.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #22) on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 9:41 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Yes Lisa, and I also left out the iguana too. :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lisa Peters (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 4:34 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sure...had to mention the iguana....

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By janet white (BonaireTalker - Post #21) on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 10:13 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jim -
Great trip report. Where did you rent the digital camera and how much was it?

Thanks

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #13906) on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 10:28 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jim, great report. Glad your first time to Bonaire is as to be expected...fabulous! Now you know why we are all Bonaire Addicts!

Mike, we took my step-kids for the first time in March. Dylon (16) got certified in our local waters a year ago, and had about 8 dives under his belt (cold water diving). Sarah did her pool and class work at home, and did her check out dives on Bonaire. They both did wonderful. Bonaire is easy shore and boat diving, and relatively little current (most of the time). The only problem we had with the kids was them watching their depth. It's easy to go deep and not realize it. Thus, each parent was a buddy to a kid...that pretty much solved the problem!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mare (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #992) on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 11:35 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

My instructor Buddy (his real name) taught me something that always sticks with me:

If you have to equalize your ears, you're sinking. Once you are neutrally buoyant, you don't have to equalize your ears anymore.

Great tip and it makes me pay attention to my entire body when I'm diving.

Mare

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #23) on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 8:15 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Janet,

We rented the camera from Menno at DBV. He was great about it too. He would reload it with fresh batteries and leak check the housing before we left with it each day. At the end of the day he would download it to his laptop and then burned everything onto a cd for us before we left the island. It was $50 for the first day and $40 for each of the other two days. You can take $15/day off if you don't want the external flash, but I wouldn't recommend it due to backscatter.

Jim

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mermaid (BonaireTalker - Post #48) on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 8:51 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great report, Jim! May I ask---what DID happen with your regulator?!!! That situation would scare the dickens out of me. (That's why I only snorkel, I guess!)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ron Gould (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #173) on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 8:56 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Mike, Just remember to plan your dive and dive your plan and you will have less problems. After your family become certified divers it is a personal previlage for a diver to NOT dive a particular dive if they are not comfortable with the plan. My wife is claustrophobic and it took me 3 years to get her a C card. She now has 126 dives in 5 years and when we do a night dive she is still uneasy. When she decides this dive is not for her she aborts and I do it by myself. (solo cert) Just use common sence with safty in mind and dive with computers. After a few dives you and yours will be diving the pro's.... Ron

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #24) on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 9:13 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Mermaid,

We think it was an entanglement with some part of Lisa's gear. Neither of us is sure which part of it though.

We were in close contact as she was holding me in position for the photos due to it being night, light current, and our close proximity to the reef. When she moved way a little that was all it took. It really wasn't any big deal, as long as you follow your training. Stop, think, then act. I knew I had plenty of gas in my tank and my AAS was right where I knew it would be so I just switched over to that until I got my primary reg back. The whole situation was resolved in probably less than 10 seconds. In fact I think it startled her more than it did me because when the regulator came free it free-flowed and she got a face full of bubbles. The other good thing is we didn't change depth and we didn't contact the reef.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #25) on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 9:34 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ok, lets see if I can post the photo we were working on at the time.

Banded Shrimp

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #26) on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 9:38 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Not very good I know, but then again not too bad for a first attempt at night photography.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Peters (BonaireTalker - Post #30) on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 11:03 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

More of the photos are posted at

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/116771/232056.html?1121438730

and

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/116771/232077.html?1121439331

 


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