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Trip Reports: Amazing Day With Bas Noij
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2006-2008: Archives 2008-08-01 to 2008-12-31: Amazing Day With Bas Noij
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brent (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #8) on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 12:47 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I made a request of Bas to do three dives. I contacted him through this website and he promptly responded through email. The three dives that I asked him to guide me on were:
1) Unmarked Northern Dive Site
2) Seahorse Expedition
3) UV Night Dive

For the unmarked northern dive, Bas took me to Taylor Made / Candy Land. The current was flowing strongly to the north so the dive was a combination of hard finning and drifting. It ended up being a somewhat challenging dive so I didn't get a lot of photo ops but I did manage to capture a shot of this guy:
spider

For the seahorse expedition, I asked bas to take me to a known seahorse location but to let me try to find the seahorse. Bas described the general location and habitat of what I was looking for and then left me to my own devices. While I was searching Bas got my attention to point out a spotted eagle ray and some filefish. I managed to find an orange specimen seen below while Bas patiently circled the area:
seahorse

Our next dive was the UV night dive. This dive really blew me away. If you haven't tried it and you like night diving, you really need to contact Bas.

Bas gave a thorough orientation and then we entered the water. Since I didn't have the proper filter for my camera I left it behind. Once we were comfortable in the water the visors came down, the UV lights were turned on and we entered a different universe. Many of the things that are interesting on a normal night dive become uninteresting (for example lobster and most fish are not visible with the UV light) but many things that are normally mundane turn into beautiful glowing creatures. We saw bright orange bristle worms, sea anenomies that pulsed with green and white and orange light, corals that glowed in every neon color imaginable, and sea urchins with blood red bodies but with green luminescent tentacle tips. Then Bas turned on his normal light. I wondered what was going on and then BAM!... a massive Cubera Snapper charged Bas and almost bit him in the pecker! For the remainder of the dive we had an escort of the snapper and two tarpon. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I spotted a strange creature in a crevice. I turned on my white light to attempt an identification and staring back at me was an orange ball coralimorph. Of course my camera was safely back in my room so no photo but it's something that I've been looking for on this trip and the UV light helped me to find it. We continued the dive into the shallows and saw brightly glowing lizard fish and more of the strangely glowing world that is revealed by UV light.

If you haven't done a UV night dive I would highly recommend it. And if you have special requests for dives I would also highly recommend Bas Noij. He was able to satisfy my stringent requests and spent the time between dives sharing his knowledge of the island and his travels around the globe.

It's been another great day on Bonaire.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Skip C (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #112) on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 6:44 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Brent,
Great report.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Was this your first trip to Bonaire?
Skip

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brent (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 6:56 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hey Skip,

No, I spent three weeks here last year. I loved it so much that I had to come back and share the experience with some family members.

Brent

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By elaine sculley (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #356) on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 9:39 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

what kind of filter is needed for camera
es

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Skip C (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #113) on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 11:37 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Brent,
Three weeks with family members; what a great idea. Get 'em hooked so everybody wants to go back.
At least I can dream of three weeks.
Skip

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brock Harlow (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 3:16 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Brent, Thanks for sharing. We're headed there in a month. How can I contact Bas?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brent (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 11:20 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I think you need a UV exciter for your strobe and a yellow filter for your camera to take photos that show the UV effect. It would be a complex operation because you would need to manage 2 lights, your mask filter, and the camera.

I got in touch with Bas through this website via a private message. See the discussion here:
http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/30/369669.html?1216206797

By the way, I did get my orange ball corallimorph photos:
orange1

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas Noij (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #233) on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 3:18 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Brent:

1. Congratulations for dive number 100....I am sooooo glad we could make it such a whopper!!!

2. Congratulations on finding the orange ball corallimorph during the day. That made the UV night dive even more valuable!

3. You have great eyes. It is not every day I dive with people who are able to find frogfish, seahorses, orange ball corallimorph and ocean sunfish on their own.

4. It was a pleasure diving with you!!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas Noij (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #234) on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 3:19 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

5. It is bloody late...time to go to bed!!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas Noij (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #236) on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 2:34 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Elaine, you need a yellow filter on the camera lense and a UV exiter filter on the strobe.

Brock, it's bas@noij.com

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brent (BonaireTalker - Post #11) on Friday, August 1, 2008 - 8:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks Bas, but I can't take credit for the Sunfish. I almost never look out to the deep blue so I miss all the big stuff. It was my wife who found the Sunfish and brought it to my attention.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas Noij (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #239) on Sunday, August 3, 2008 - 11:33 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'm still jealous ;-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim McPeak (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1672) on Sunday, August 3, 2008 - 11:45 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just sent Bas an email. I so want to do the leap to Karpata. Never did it in all my trips.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Smits (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #587) on Saturday, August 9, 2008 - 1:21 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I did the leap from la Dania's and made a drift snorkel with my wife and 8 yr old daughter to Karpata.
One of the best snorkels I ever had.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eric Murray (BonaireTalker - Post #67) on Saturday, August 9, 2008 - 2:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Gee, soon enough we'll need a new dive site honoring Bas... BTW, we are still trying to make it back in the spring of '09 and would like to do a couple UV dives with you.

Eric and Joe
Holly Springs, NC, USA

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas Noij (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #245) on Saturday, August 9, 2008 - 8:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

That would be way too much honor Eric. I'm a relative newbie to Bonaire compared to some of the other Dive Masters and Instructors (then again compared to some others I'm quite the veteran...lol). I've been diving the Reefs of Bonaire since 2003 and living here since 2006...maybe by 2048 I deserve a named dive site ;-)

Would be great if you make it back here...drop me a line if and when you do and we'll do UV!!!

Say hi to Joe and the rest of the family!

Bas.

(Message edited by bnoij on August 9, 2008)

 


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