BonaireTalk Discussion Group
Trip Reports: Recent trip to Bonaire
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2005-08-09 to 2005-12-26: Recent trip to Bonaire
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dwayne Miller (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 5:23 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I just returned from Bonaire November 3. The amount of fish present was extremely high. The coral seems to be suffering from some damage from something as it is only about 50% alive. New growth can be seen, but there is a high volume of dead coral. There were a lot of parrot fish which do eat a lot and the temperature of the water was warm all adding to the problems of the reef. If you are a camera person it was a bust as there was too much material in the water for good pictures. No current and visibility was about 60 feet.
This was my second trip to Bonaire, previously 2 years ago so I did not enjoy this trip as much as first. The dive tanks we used were from Divi Flamingo and out of 35 tanks we had 7 that leaked from the tank to valve connection. I would use a soapy solution to test tanks before taking them out on dives. For food the best is City Cafe and Casablanca. The later had the best meal I have eaten in ages and cannot be topped by anyone. I recommend it to all that eat on the island. I am not sure I will return as the flights are getting longer and I am getting older. I have not regretted going there, but maybe new venues should be explored. Previous trips have been: Cozumel, caymen islands, florida keys, yap, palau, pohnpei, st vincent. I have been lucky in my trips and don't regret any of them. Dive on.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole B. (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5342) on Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 6:40 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for sharing your trip with us, Dwayne. Sorry to hear about the tanks and some of the conditions. Glad to see you still enjoyed Bonaire and have no regrets about visiting her twice. It is as if one were swimming in an aquarium in Bonaire's waters...we just love it.

You have traveled to some wonderful places and I hope you will be able to enjoy many more trips for many years to come.

Have to agree about Casablanca....the food is outrageous and you can enjoy it for days with the leftovers!

Welcome to Bonaire Talk! Ayo. Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Marcus L. Barnes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #403) on Sunday, November 6, 2005 - 10:23 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

50% of the coral on Bonaire is currently dead? We were just there in late September and the coral looked about the same as it has for the last 5 years to us. Are there any locals out there that can verify this coral damage? Thanks in advance - Bonaire again in June!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dwayne Miller (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Sunday, November 6, 2005 - 12:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I just tried to guess at the percentage and it looked closer to 50% than 60. I wish I could answer the reason for the decline as I said there was lots of new coral growth. I would like to see the money paid into the marine fund go to sites up north that are not allowed to dive and set up a grid system to watch the coral growth. The biologists could do a systematic scan of the area and possibly see something happening before it gets too severe. Temperature, pH, dissolved minerals could all be monitered to help see if any trends shift too soon. I love the diving there and from our experience of two years ago the coral seemed to be hurting. One thing we did notice is the color of the reefs seemed to be monochromatic or brownish. Is this a indicator of the fall or are certain brightly colored corals getting the brunt of some outside influence. It is still the cheapest dive location when everything is figured in and the cost per dive tallied up. As I said getting old and probably won't make the long trip again. I hope it all works out for others. I would definately go there over Cayman, and with Cozumel getting hit so hard it would be my first choice over the next year.

 


Visit: The Bonaire WebCams - Current Bonaire images and weather!
The Bonaire Insider - the latest tourism news about Bonaire
The Bonaire Information Site, InfoBonaire
Search Bonaire - Search top Bonaire Web sites


Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration