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Trip Reports: BONAIRE JUNE 30TH - JULY 15TH
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2001-11-30 to 2002-09-25: BONAIRE JUNE 30TH - JULY 15TH
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sarah on Tuesday, July 16, 2002 - 2:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sooner than expected, have a busy week ahead of me, so here goes..

GETTING THERE

KLM Schiphol direct to Bonaire, no major delays.

THE RETURN

Hugh and I left Bonaire on July 15th in the pouring rain, we had left the car windows down, and so my behind was rather wet upon our arrival to Flamingo! We checked in our bags and took off for lunch at the Plaza. Our flight back to Schiphol left Bonaire 15 mins early. As we left the island behind, I began to think about all the things we had done and the people we met.

ACCOMMODATION

Crown Courts 44a Sabadeco. (Just past the Andrea I and II Dive Sites).

This is a very nice house. Oceanfront with pool, well equipped kitchen with a large dishwasher, dining area, sitting room, 3 beds with A/C and 2 baths. The property also has a TV and a nice sound system. Entry into the ocean is fairly easy (see pic below of steps). The water is shallow at the bottom of the steps, and naturally the steps are slick, so do take care. The property does not have a washing machine or telephone. We rented a cell phone from SunRentals. All that aside though, the property needs to be sprayed, there’s a problem with “no see ums”.

MOSQUITOS

Well, word sure does get around fast when I arrive! Bring your bug spray. By the way, the Pharmacy in town sells Autan, both the 4-hour with Aloe Vera and the 8-hour spray/lotion.

DINING OUT

Hugh picked us up a BBQ, so we had some very nice steak nights! We ate out at Richards (never disappointed here), Compadres at Harbour Village (always good food and service); Lions Dive (very nice burgers).

DIVING/SNORKELLING

Hugh obtained Solo Diver Certification with Walt, which he thoroughly enjoyed (thanks Walt, I’ve no doubt you’ll be seeing more of Hugh in the future). Hugh also obtained Dräger Dolphin Rebreather Certification with Luciano at Toucan Diving, Plaza Resort. I can’t speak highly enough of Luciano, not only is he a highly qualified diver, but he really did take good care of Hugh just as he did the year before. And my thanks to Steve for looking out for Hugh too… If you’d like to know more about any of the above, drop me a line and I’ll pass it over to Hugh.

Hugh had some great dives at the back of the house; among the more exciting dives he saw a good size Green Moray swimming around, a Scorpion fish, Frogfish, and Green Turtle. The snorkelling is pretty good too. I had a great free dive with a large school of Blue Tang one afternoon; I also came across a Chain Moray (the first I’ve seen on the island). The coral out back is really rather nice, some branching coral, blade coral, fire coral, lace coral, brain coral, star coral, anemones and so on…..The fish: Fairy Basslet’s were abundant, as were Parrotfish, Snappers, Surgeonfish, Goby’s, Blenny’s, some jellies and a busy cleaning station! Hugh dived the Windjammer with Luciano on two occasions, and they both saw a Pelagic Tunicate (very cool)… the East Coast with Bas and the Hilma Hooker solo. His dives with Bas were very enjoyable; a closer encounter with a Green Turtle put a nice big smile on his face! I had a great snorkel one afternoon with Bas’s Mother from Ladania’s Leap to Karpata. I saw 2 Green Turtles, the second Turtle stayed with us for a while and we got to see him surface for air just before we exited the water. I also went down and swam for a bit with a French Angelfish, other fish seen were Surgeonfish, Parrotfish, Snappers, Damselfish, Squirrelfish, and many more, a wonderful snorkel indeed.

A recommended Tekki WWW:

http://www.nobubbles.com


BONAIRE TALKERS

We went along to the 4th July BBQ, though we did arrive a little late and missed some of the Talkers (sorry guys). But we did get to meet Scott & Sharon, and caught up with Jake & Linda some. I'm sure we met some others, just can't remember their names (perhaps I will in a few days)! We missed the Tuesday night get-together (we had made plans for dinner on this night before our departure), but we’ll do it next time.

We had Candy and Scott over for Steaks one night and also spent their last night with them at the Tipsy. It was lovely meeting you guys and we hope to see you both again in December. My apologies to Christine, I should have told you to meet us at the Tipsy, not the Coconut Crash! I went down to look for you, but couldn’t find you… I must admit, I’d had a rather rough day, I did the Ladania’s Leap to Karpata Snorkel again, but this time the waves were HUGE, I had cereal shortly before and felt incredibly sick in the water! In order to avoid throwing up in the sea and attracting large amounts of fish, I pretty much used up all of my energy getting out (bear in mind this is a 45/50 minute snorkel and you can’t get out until you reach Karpata)… I found myself in a bit of daze for the rest of the day! We also had our mobile exchanged for a new one as we were having big problems receiving/making calls, and I know that I forgot to inform some of you of the new number…..

CRIME

Didn’t experience any. We lock things away, lock up the house just as we would our home here. Didn’t leave valuables in the car etc….

THE DOGS

Sadly Bas and his Mother had to put Jack down whilst we were there, Jack was not improving and was suffering, this was a very sad time but I’m so glad we got to meet Jack before he was put to rest. Bas’s new puppy Billy is absolutely adorable; I looked after him the morning that he and Hugh dove the East Coast. Such fun…. We also met the rest of the dogs… My special thanks to you Bas for spending time with us. And again, you know where I amJ

THE DONKEY SANCTUARY

Again, some tears were shed here. When we arrived and introduced ourselves to Marina, she was caring for a badly beaten donkey, the blood was still dripping from her. It was shocking to say the least, but thankfully the donkey and her baby are in the care of Marina now. And to the Dutch girl that called Marina, THANK YOU. I got to feed a baby donkey with a bottle, this I thoroughly enjoyed along with meeting “Sarah”. Marina is one heck of a woman; she works so hard and gives the donkeys so much love and attention. But, she still needs your help folks, so please go see her if you can.

I must be missing a bunch of things here, so Bas, jog my memory if necessary!

We return to Bonaire in December through January 2003. (our 7th trip)!

Pics in Part 2.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas on Tuesday, July 16, 2002 - 11:05 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Sarah,
Great report & nice pics!!
Not only the green turtle made Hugh smile on that dive. The green turtle was big and had 2 shark suckers on his back. In the same dive we saw a large hawksbill asleep under corals ledge, 2 stingray, 2 spotted eagle rays, 2 intermediate adult african pompano with the 4 long dorsal filaments, big barracuda, large puffer and fatty grouper. And at the end of the dive the coral ridges. That dive was a zoo. Made me smile too :-)
The second dive also had 2 turtles and the humonous sponges.
Was nice diving with him!
Bas

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sarah on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 3:42 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bas, thank you..:)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Meryl Virga on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 10:55 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sarah Great Report....Looking forward to your pictures...and also you inevitable certification! Go Girl!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 4:41 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sarah

Excellent report at least it is sunny in the UK. Here is a link to a picture of a Pelagic Tunicate in Bonaire.

http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/photos/ptunicat.html

Have to admit I had to look it up!

Brian

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 5:03 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bas

Sorry to hear that you lost Jack, that is very tough. We lost our eldest pointer - Katie aged 12 1/2 last year, Fortunately we found a rescue puppy called Gunner who was 15 weeks old and we were his fifth home!!! Didn't like the name but that was his only possesion and comfort blanket. He is now a lovely boisterous 14 month old pup and our 8 year old pointer dog is happy again.

Hope your hurt eases and the new arrival settles in quick with the pack.

Here are the monsters
/image{2}

Brian & Sue

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 5:05 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

You can tell I have not posted for a while _ Doh!again

2

Crossed fingers

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sarah on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 6:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Brian, thanks for the link.. good stuff. Your dogs are luvly!..:)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bas on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 10:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hmmm really interesting. A few weeks ago on a dive with Dennis we saw what we thought was a tunicate. But what we saw does not look at all like the one in the pic of the above link.
We saw a string of about 10 feet long, 3 inches in diameter. Looked like chain linked cone jellies. It was floating in the current about 80 feet deep.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 1:33 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bas

Apparently they often join together in chains, the individuals are 1 - 2 ins long. See Humann's reef creatures page 318 - 320

Sarah

Thanks they are a handful though, but wouldn't be without them.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sarah on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 7:13 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Guess what?.. I've made a boo boo!!!!

What Hugh and Luciano saw looked something like the tunicate.. I need to get my books out and research this more (just don't have a lot of time right now).. but as soon as I find out, I'll post it here..:)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linnea Wijkhof-Wimberly on Friday, July 19, 2002 - 4:12 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Loving time for salps. They link together for mating. We get them on the left coast also.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dr. L. Jonathan Dowell on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 12:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

The staff of ReefNews, Inc. will be glad to help answer questions about Pelagic Tunicates and any other of Bonaire's marine life. ReefNews teaches students of all ages about the oceans and their shores. Please visit the ReefNews websites:
http://www.reefnews.com
http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/oceangeo.html
http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/photos08.html
http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/news/subscrib.html

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sarah on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 1:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for the links, much appreciated..:)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker on Saturday, July 27, 2002 - 11:29 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great site! Thank you for letting us in on them! I have passed them on to some young friends of mine...and older ones, too! Thanks again so much. Carole

 


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