Bonaire Trip Report Arrival : October 27th 2002 Departure : November 3rd 2002 Residence : Eden Beach Resort Why : Without a Bonaire trip, life’s not complete Who : Olaf (me, and Padi Open Water), Roland (NAUI Open Water), Gerard (3 Star Dive Master) Pix : Bonaire Pix Sunday October 27th Well, as a few people already know; On the Sunday we were supposed to leave, hell broke loose over Holland in forms of a very nasty storm/hurricane alike weather-mayhem, which subsequently took a few lives over North Europe. Lucky for us we were safe inside the airport, but as one can imagine, no plane was to leave. We we’re supposed to leave at 13.00hrs, but our KLM789 flight got delayed, and delayed, and delayed, and finally cancelled at about 20.00hrs. My first thought was “Bye bye Bonaire for now” but with some tricks, some high-class psychology, and loads of decency, we got ourself re-booked to the nightflight which was supposed to leave at 23.30hrs, but had another 2hrs delay. Finally we took off around 01.30hrs, a delay little over 12 hours … Never seen such a mess at any airport, but when over 100 flights get cancelled, you know s*** will hit the fan. Monday October 28th So … instead of arriving on Sunday evening around 19.00hrs, we got to Eden Beach at around 8 in the morning (Monday), being totally wrecked (went out the night before we left, having only 2hrs sleep). Having our fair share of lack of sleep, we got to our apartment without our bagage (no one was able to tell where it could be, probably back in Amsterdam). So, first thing was to get some Bonaire-style clothes, for swimming in your Levi’s 501 is not done. Did some shopping and in the afternoon we went to Wannadive to get some gear. Since only Gerard is a very experienced diver (and has his own full-set), me and Roland had to rent our gear (we did brought some computers actually, air-integrated, and an extra regulator, but it was still lost). Dive No. : 1 Dive site : Front Porch (#28) Depth : 30m Time : 45mins We got our suites, BCDs, regulators and did our first dive upfront of Eden Beach at Frontporch. I didn’t dive for years, so it was a refreshing check-up dive at a not-so-spectacular site. But I was good to get the feeling once again, and to find out I needed quite a bit more led then I used to (over 30 it seems the fat % rises hehe). Dive No. : 2 [Night Dive] Dive site : Front Porch (#28) Depth : 20m Time : 45mins Having that 1st dive, it was all coming back, and all I wanted was to get back in straight away. And so just after sunset we did our second dive around Frontporch, where 2 big Tarpons where supposed to be swimming along. We were told they liked the flashlights for easier hunting on small fish, which they did. If the light was pointed to a small fishy, the 2 meter Tarpon went after it … funny to see, but a bit strange as well, seeing these kinda fish getting somewhat domesticated. We also ran into some squid, and lobsters. Anyway, after day one, we were ready to hit the sack (after days of no sleep), and go and explore the rest of beautiful Bon the next days. Tuesday October 29th Dive No. : 3 Dive site : Hilma Hooker (#40) Depth : 30m Time : 40mins After a well deserved sleep we planned our first dive doing the Hilma Hooker. I never did any wreck-dive so it’s easy to understand it was quite impressive for a first-timer. Except for some giant tarpons, and loads of diff’rent sorts of parrots, we didn’t see many fish species, but the coral and sponges growing in and on the wreck make up for a nice atmosphere. I will probably say useless words, but it’s definitely worth to dive when on Bon. Dive No. : 4 Dive site : Margate Bay (#52) Depth : 26m Time : 45mins We took a lot of air with us, so we didn’t had to move back to Wannadive after our first dive. Instead, we went down south all around to the Firehous and even more up on the eastcoast to baby-beach and eventually Lac Bay. Had a tuna bagel and a coke at one of the surf-board rentals (3 bagels, 3 cokes .. only $20 !!! Nice bagel, but still a bit overpriced), before we headed back to Margate Bay on the west coast. The water was crystal clear outhere, and besides the usual swirls of parrots, trunk fish and other small fish, there where no extraordinairy fish sightings. It’s got a lot of the purple tube sponges, and gorgones. Dive No. : 5 [Night Dive] Dive site : 1000 Steps (#14) Depth : 15m Time : 40mins As it’s names makes you wonder, it really takes a few steps before you get down on the beach. Nothing wrong with a few steps, but with full gear it’s getting a bit harder (not as much on your way down, but consider the way back up). The real hero’s do these stairs with their fins on, hehe. But ok, the dive was absolutely beautiful. Saw a few nice blackspotted moray, some trunk-fish, one or two puffer’s and at the exit there were quite a few crabs. We got back to Eden and have a quick bite at the apartment, and a few Bright’s at Bongo’s with a few people we got to know. Another brilliant day .. Wednesday October 30th Dive No. : 6 Dive site : Drift-dive from La Dania’s Leap (#8) to Karpata (#7) Depth : 20m Time : 55mins Since the male part of our next door neighbours was having troubles with one of his ears, he offered us a drift-dive with his wife (he’d drive around to pick us up …). This was easy enough one of the most beautiful dives we did on Bon. Karpata is somehow slightly different .. don’t know why, but it feels like that. Maybe because we saw a few Hawksbill turtles outthere, but I think it’s everything. Drift-diving is even easier than flipping the fins, Karpata just rules because of her beautiful species of coral, it’s really fish-infested, turtles, crabs, great visability etc etc. There’s something magical about this site. A definitely MUST DO when on Bon. Dive No. : 7 [Night Dive] Dive site : Buddy’s Riff (#26) to Machaca (#24) Depth : 17m Time : 50mins On this day we kinda got the kickback of the very little sleep we had the days before, so we decided too slow down a bit … and drive & tour the island and relax a bit. But after dinner it all got ichy once again, so we did a nightdive up front the resort of Buddy’s, which was just around the corner. The reef is getting better when going up north (Frontporch is kinda devastated, which is said to be caused by freshwater from the nextdoor Harbour Village where rainwater gets back to sea), and this was quite a nice dive as well. There were a few large tarpons (2m/6ft), quite a bit moray, and the little wreck at Machaca was nice, but not really impressive. Thursday October 31th Dive No. : 8 Dive site : Atlantis (#54) Depth : 30m Time : 40mins On this morning we we’re introduced by the guys from Wannadive to Jan, a 60 yr old from Holland who was looking for a dive-buddy. Since we were with three, he perfectly fitted in and we didn’t regret. He turned out to be a very nice guy, with a lot of experience as well. He had been coming to Bon for over 8 yrs or so, and knew a lot of people. As for diving we once again went down south for a dive at Atlantis, and once again .. another beautiful dive. The current was quite strong though, so it turned out to be some sort of exercise dive with a lot of work by the fins, but I saw my first barracuda here. She wasn’t too big (60cm/2ft or so), but my first ever encounter made all the swimming and fin-flippin’ worth it. Dive No. : 9 Dive site : Salt Pier (#46) Depth : 15m Time : 55mins Besides Karpata, the Salt Pier was my other favourite dive. The pillars somehow give you the wreck-dive experience, but you do not have to go as deep as for example The Hilma. So, staying in relatively shallow water, with the sun right above you and colors shouting, diving a site with a very diverse fish-population is more than wonderful. Don’t ask me what kinda fish I’ve seen, but except for sharks and rays I saw nearly everything that lives around the waters of Bon. I did swim along with a big barracuda (1.2m/4ft), which gnashed his teeth a few times, and had a little trip with a Hawksbill Turtle that wasn’t impressed by me at all. She was pretty much at ease with me (didn’t get closer than 3m to her), and she moved really graciously. Turtles rule !! .. Afterwards we’d been nipping Amstel’s at the dive-site before we headed back for a wonderful dinner at De Tuin. Friday November 1st Dive No. : 10 Dive site : CAI (#60) Depth : 25m Time : 40mins Through Jan we met another dutch guy named Ron, who had been diving Bon many times, and he suggested to do a dip at CAI. Being alert and warned there could be some strung currents and after talking to the guys from Wannadive how to dive the site, we took off. Well, this was probably the worst dive we made in this week ! The current was quite strong and the swim out to the drop-off was quite a bit (50/100mtrs). And because of the strong current, visability was very very poor. On the other hand, we ran into a big green moray, saw a glimpse of a spotted eagle ray, and back in the laguna when met an enormous barracuda. But other than that, it was a very exhausting dive. Definatley not recommended when you’re not very fit. I guess it’s worth thinking things over on this side of the island. It’s got the bigger fish species, but you have to be lucky with the weather and the current. Dive No. : 11 [Foto Dive] Dive site : Ol’ Blue (#7) Depth : 16m Time : 50mins Ol’ Blue is a very beautiful dive site, especially when it’s sunny. We were lucky to see a couple of Hawksbill’s and a lot of other fish. This was a very relaxing dive (compared to the nasty CAI dive this morning), and certainly recommendable. We rented ourselves a camera, but the visability wasn’t too great for photo’s. In the end we had a few lucky nice shots, but the turtle pics did come out fine. Dive No. : 12 [Foto/Night Dive] Dive site : La Machaca (#24) Depth : 20m Time : 40mins Since still having the camera, we felt we had to do a nice night dive. We went in the water at Buddy’s and took of to La Machaca (in front of Captain Don’s Habitat). Here’s a little wreck at 15m, which as I said before isn’t very impressive. It’s only 5/8mtrs long, upside down. It was pretty crowded overthere, so we only stayed for a short while and headed back to Buddy’s. On our way back we once again ran into the big tarpons that reside outthere. They got really close this time (you could easily touch them), and kept on following us. Very beautiful fishies … :o) Furthermore there were quite a lot spotted moray. All in all a pity that so little of the pics came out nice enough. Saturday November 2nd Dive No. : 13 Dive site : Alice in Wonderland (#42) Depth : 35m Time : 50mins This was our last dive of the trip, and it was a very nice and easy one. Since we had a little party on Fridaynight, we kinda had a slow start. At 1500hrs we got to Atlantis with quite a few peeps. The three of us, completed with Jan, Ron who went along to CAI, and Wouter whom we somehow picked up somewhere (actually, no clue where .. probably the night before ..). Anyway, this site is at the double reef which is very nice. We saw a lot of fish (mackarel, bara’s), and I also spotted some sand-eels … very funny to see all these ‘sticks’ standing straight up in the sand. After the dive we had a few beers and a chill-out chat at the site, and watched the sunset. Then we got back to Eden, dropped everyone off for a shower, to get together that night at the City Café where a Venezuelan band was playing. We had too many beers, lotsa laughs, and I have no idea what time we hit the sack. But I must admit I was glad I was lying down in the end .. :o) Sunday November 3rd With quite a hangover we checked our luggage in the next morning, and went back to Eden for a lazy afternoon awaiting our 1800 flight. Went down to the airport to see the 747 coming in (which is pretty impressive, a 747 at 20/30m high over your head). Said goodbye to the peeps we met, and off we were … luckily the flight back was a very easy one. Then 2 days later, PBD set in …………………………… For a few pics, please see : Bonaire Pix Next Bonaire trip : 24-04-2003 / 06-05-2003
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