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Trip Reports: 31 July to 7 August 2002
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2001-11-30 to 2002-09-25: 31 July to 7 August 2002
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Costarino on Saturday, August 10, 2002 - 9:33 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

This is a quick report of our visit from 31 July to 7 August. For the three of us it was our second trip. Wife and daughter came via the BWI – MON – BON Air Jamaica connection and it was not pretty. Late BWI departure and no information on the delays. Fortunately the connection was held in MON and they arrived only a little late in BOB. Return was terrible. Delayed departure from BON. Missed connection in MON and home 24 hours late. Departure second day also delayed and no information forthcoming. I tried a different route for the future. AA from DCA to CUR via Miami. From Curacao took DIVI DIVI to/from Bonaire. I cannot recommend them more highly. I contacted by e-mail about seven weeks in advance and ~~~ arrangements were made by e-mail. Even had a telephone message the boss, Hans Peter, a week before departure to confirm. Truly no hassle flying. 15 minute show time and in the words of our pilot from BON to CUR why make it a hassle. No interline connections available and luggage is limited although they will make every effort to get it there. Just let them know in advance that you have more than just carry on. Contact them at http://www.baibini.com/. This is my preferred way to go. Round trip CUR - BON - CUR is $80 US.

Stayed at Sand Dollar in a very nice condo and I appreciate the personal touches by the owner. Pier work is proceeding SLOWLY. Sand Dollar restaurant is great for breakfast and lunch. The facility is very nice and since we were diving with Bon Bini at Lions Dive, it was convenient.

This is second year with Bon Bini (http://www.bonbinidivers.com/) and they are a class act. They have a new boat “Sea Dragon” and I liked it for its speed. Little more difficult to get out of the water but not that bad. Diving was great and good visibility. Daughter Jen is doing great at finding things and this time found some seahorses and on the last dive, the elusive turtle. Thanks to Francey, Tina, Ian, and Mananita. Diving notes. Tried a night dive at Andrea II and ran into a swarm of jellyfish ten minutes into the dive. Not wanting to visit the hospital we left the water. This is the only time I have seen this many in one place. Another night dive we entered the water in front of Sand Dollar and worked our way along Bari Reef to Lions Dive. Reef is beat up from Lenny but visibility much better than in front of Buddy’s and Lions Dive. A lot of nocturnal activity.

Nothing new in dining. Lions Den (http://www.lionsdivebonaire.com/restaurant.shtml) at Lions Dive is still great. Thanks to Kirk and Rosaura for great food, service, and making us feel like it was yesterday rather then a year since we last saw them. Also had dinner at Mona Lisa, (great), and last night at Richards. Great setting and good food.

A lesson learned this trip is one week is just too short. We were always rushing and by the time we relaxed (four or five days) it was time to think about heading home. Thank you to ~~~ who keep this site informative. You are ~~~ a big help.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jamie Barber on Monday, August 12, 2002 - 9:45 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Tom
Sorry about the AJ fiasco. We were held ON in MBJ on our way back from BON this spring. We're returning this fall (already booked AJ though). Hope it goes more smoothly! Bonaire is worth the hassles I think!

Do you know what kind of jellies you saw at AndreaII? Or can you describe them? Round bodies, square bodies, tentacles (lots or few and length), size, color, irridescence...? On the surface? Did they seem attracted to the lights (or to the plankton that were?

Thanks!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Costarino on Monday, August 12, 2002 - 6:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

They were about 12 to 18 inches in diameter and bowl shaped. No tentacles noted and floating within three to five feet of the surface. They had two or three round reddish markings on the underside. I could not tell what they were attracted too. We meet two other divers who had run into the swarm about 100 yards from where we first saw them. Another diver was stung one two nights before and described the one that got him exactly as I described. He went to the hospital and they gave him a shot (large needle in the thigh). They told him he was the fourth that night. Not a total loss as it was a beautiful night and the absence of ambient light at Andrea II gave us a chance to view the beautiful stars.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech on Monday, August 12, 2002 - 8:52 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sounds like moon jellies - normally not particularly venemous. Maybe Bud can shed some light?

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Gillan on Tuesday, August 13, 2002 - 4:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Real Aurelia and Nightime Nematocysts.

Tom and Jake,

You surely have raised some curiosity here. The description certainly sounds like moon jellies (real Aurelia). Round, dome, 1-2 ft circum., fringe-like tentacles, 1-3 in. that are pink to purplish in color. They have 4 circular, clover-shaped gonads in the center. Pic is Humann/DeLoach Reef Book.

Toxicity.
This is the interesting part, if in fact these were moon jellies. In the past 3-4 years, we have had an epidemic of moon jellies in Florida, some as large as trash can lids. They have washed up by the hundreds on the beach. Not normally very toxic, but recently have been much more toxic. So much so that a Keys snorkeler was showing off in the fall by taking 2 moon jellies and holding them to his rib cage. He was showing off for his wife and visitors from up north. Much to his surprise, he had tremendous welts and pain, and rash that was beet red.

Many scientists think jelly toxicity is both genetic and environmentally affected. One expert from U of MD Med School (Dr. Joe Barnett) did a paper at Coelenterata Conference on Aurelia being much more toxic due to environmental changes. Blamed it on El Nino. He was laughed at then. After this Keys incident Dr. Joe asked for blood samples (venom protein and histamines are systemic for a couple of weeks) from my friend's husband who had histamines. So there is some evidence that moonies can sting, and some people react more than others to the histamines.

Brave Lifeguards.
Personally, I have participated in several double-blind clinicals with dermatologists stinging lifeguards in controlled lab conditions with moon jellies. Lifeguards were the "victims" and nurses were the stingers (with real Aurelia sections). These were pretty potent by moon jelly standards, but the lifeguards didn't know that, and assumed they would just bare the little pain and show the cute nurses just how brave they were. Sometimes hormones lead to stupidity. The "stung" guards were in pain for some time as the envenomation method was to grind the Aurelia tentacles on sensitive hock of the elbow area and as the nurse held it in place for several minutes. We were testing water, vinegar, papain, alcohol, and some first aid solutions. The videotapes showed some interesting facial contortions of the surprised guards.

Back to Bonaire.
Yes, Aurelia can be painful, normally only a few minutes. Some have severe reactions to any animal stings, some have severe psychological response, thinking the worst. Since the timeframe was similar to the swarming time for sea wasps (~8 to 10 days after full moon) it would helpful to find others who may have seen jellies that night and could ID them definitively. Four in the hospital in one night for sting relief is a lot. Of course, I wonder if those stung on Bonaire that went to the hospital were stung by moonies or a different species, or whether out of fear they went to hospital because moon stings can be painful at first, but normally dissipate quickly.

Venom and vinegar.
A couple years ago I was in a dive shop in West Palm Beach were this guy from VA was talking about the great night dive they had the night before, except on ascent and looking up, swam right into a moon jelly the surrounded and covered his hoodless face. By the next day his face looked more like pizza than skin. It stung right away, but not too badly he said, until on board the dive "master" swabbed and squirted vinegar all over his stung face for relief.

Aurelia lot of pain,

Bud

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian J. Walsh on Tuesday, August 13, 2002 - 6:03 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Trip report July 29-Aug 7

I seem to have shared one flight with Tom and Crew. Air Jamaica failed to connect in Jamaica in both directions for us. The BWI flight left late going down (Crew needed rest) and we were put in the Holiday Inn in Mo Bay. On the next day we were sent to Curaco via AJ. There we had to find the AJ rep who had our tickets via DCA to BON and move our own bags to DCA. It was tense as we had less than 1 hour between flights. We got in 24 hours late. On the way back the flight did not get to Bonaire until 5PM (Equip problem) that night we were put in the Sunset Beach Resort.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian J. Walsh on Tuesday, August 13, 2002 - 6:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Trip Report Part II
On a Happier Note
Belmar was great, our second stay. The diving was great. We do all shore dives.

Food: No bad meals. Capricio(twice, a family favorite), Crocantino, DeTuin, Amadeus, It Rains Fishes, Cibi-Cibi, Lions Den for lunch and dinner.

Rental Car: No problems AB rental

It a nutshell tough to get to but worth it, this was our first trip over 7 days, I am glad due to a missed day due to flights. This was our 4th trip and our first missed connections though. Is it the times or bad luck? I don't know. Lots of security and searches this time every where.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lea Coolen on Tuesday, August 13, 2002 - 7:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

By Lea Coolen on Tuesday, August 13, 2002 - 07:54 pm:
Hi Everyone,
I hate jelly fish. But when I see something new in Bonaire I take a picture.LOL Here is a few pictires I took in front of the Sanddollar, Bari Reef. Moon jelly picture another stinging jelly Sea wasp picture

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Gillan on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 - 11:01 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Tom. Is this the jelly you saw , the moon jelly that Lea posted. It fits your description, but if you saw the bottom one, the sea wasp, that is another matter.

Thanks Lea for the posting.

Jake, there are couple of jelly strands (tentacles) on BT in different places. At some point could they all be combined in the BT Nature area?

Bud

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 - 11:09 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bud,

Good idea!

If you would be so kind as to do the leg work in locating the threads for me (in Topic:Title form plus the URL - e.g. "Diving Bonaire:Alien Jellies Invade Peaceful Caribbean Island Armed with Laser Uzis" - http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/1022/41076.html) I can see what I can do.

Thanks,

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Gillan on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 - 12:16 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

New jelly species found on Bonaire.

Jake.

I will collect the jelly strands and do the leg/tentacle work for combining jelly stuff on BT.

Also the new species of Cubomedusae photographed by Vicki Carr off Belnem is going to be published in an upcoming monograph (500pgs) on jellies by a researcher at U of CA, Berkeley.

So Bonaire will get a note in marine zoology history. The researcher, Lisa-ann Gershwin,
www.medusozoa.org
and Dr. Rob Larsen, formerly the Cnidarian expert at the Smithsonian, has confirmed it is a new species. Experts at Woods Hole and Harbour Branch also concurred.

Bud Gillan
Flying Fish

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Gillan on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 - 3:48 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Shedding Light on the moon (jellies)

Here is some confirmation (below) on toxicity of Aurelia, moon jellies. Has anyone on Bonaire confirmed the stings that hospitalized 4 divers were caused by moons? This would be big news in the toxicology world.

Bud
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HI
At the moment I´m working in a research project about the toxic biological activity of Aurelia aurita (LINNÉ, 1746) The purpose of this study is to evaluate the biotoxicity of crude and fractionated extracts of Aurelia aurita from the Caribbean waters. and we have discovered Stinging haemolytic and neurotoxic activity.

If you need any further information please do not hesitate in contact me.

Bye

Griselda Ávila Soria.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Costarino on Thursday, August 15, 2002 - 11:38 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I had no idea I would start this chain of responses. Yes the moon jelly is definitely the species we saw. I find it interesting in the week we were there, the number of dives we had, and the number of jellies we saw that night, that this was the only time we saw any jellyfish of any kind. I do not know about the toxicity of them but I would not characterize the guy that went to the hospital as a wimp. Clearly he was hurting that night. Anyhow still a great week and some good dives. Wife is out picking up some film my daughter shot so hopefully some pics to follow

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ellen Muller on Friday, August 16, 2002 - 2:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I saw only one moon jelly on a night dive in front of Habitat on Tuesday. It was right at the end of the dive so I didn't have a chance to take many photos. Here are two of them.....

Moon1 Moon2

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gail-the Dux on Friday, August 16, 2002 - 4:45 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great shots Ellen, thanks for sharing them with us. Did you take these with a digital or SLR?

Bubbles to ya'

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker on Friday, August 16, 2002 - 7:04 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ellen, once again you have outdone yourself! Excellent shots...but, of course! Thanks for sharing your art with us...again. We truly love your works. CArole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde Lee on Friday, August 16, 2002 - 7:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

no kidding carol! ellen, you are amazing! I can't believe how great those pics are!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ellen Muller on Saturday, August 17, 2002 - 6:00 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Digital camera, Gail.

 


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