Hello everyone! Got a question...I know the piers are off limits due to governmental restrictions. Does this apply to the pier at Windsock? Whenever I dive that site, I turn back when we hit the pier. I think this is because I saw that really large ship parked there and assumed the pier would fall under the governmental restrictions. Any one know for sure? I would like to poke around down there if it is not off limits.

Tribs

From memory, I think the ban is more because of International rules for visiting ships. So local vessels do not need such secure piers, so I think you are OK at Windsock.

No problem diving oil pier at windsock...

Wow - I'm surprised, since jet fuel (Jet A-1 IIRC) is what's stored and transferred there. I'll keep this in mind, as we didn't dive there last trip.

On the other hand, that dock is not that exciting. It's shallow and not a lot of fish underneath. Not nearly as good as the salt pier or the town pier.

I did a night dive there once...while we were diving there was a LOUD generator/motor type sound that got louder as we got toward the back side of the pier (no boat was there when we went in)...it was a little "un-nerving" for me. We did have a nice big tarpon follow us for most of the dive, and tinkerbell was spotted as well. I also broke a nail on that dive...have no idea how...lol!

Cecil's right, there isn't as much life on the pilars as Salt or Town.

We saw an eagle ray there in Oct. (Visit our web site. The last pic is of the eagle ray).

the oil tanker pier at donkey beach is a newer one so it hasn't had the chance to allow sponges and corals to grow on it like salt pier and town pier. (even when town pier was rebuilt, a few of the resort owners got together and collected a lot of the sponge and coral growth and preserved them until they could be reattached to the pilings). at the oil tanker pier you'll see more and more fish life but it will be a few more years till you get a lot of sponges and corals living on the pilings.

Thanks Pat, didn't know that!

The noise might have been transfer pumps pumping jet fuel from the storage tanks to the airport (filling a tanker truck). That could explain why it was louder closer to shore. The terminal is supplied from Valero's Aruba refinery.

http://www.flamingoairport.com/index.asp?page=28&lang=2

http://www.valero.com/Visit+Our+Refineries/Aruba

http://www.valero.com/Visit+Our+Refineries/ArubaSchematic

(Message edited by rj_west on November 20, 2006)

ahhh...Robert, thanks. It was unnerving!

I'm certain it was! Looking for a ghost ship springs to mind, yet, as you go further away from where a ship might be, it only gets louder.

Seeing the terminal is resupplied every 14 days (per the Bonaire airport web info), it should be pretty easy to know when a ship is (or isn't) due at the dock there, for peace of mind. I'll have to give this a try.

Thanks everyone! I have done Town Pier, but we are taking the niece this trip and she is a new diver. We were thinking of poking around the Windsock pier first to see how she handles it. She does pretty well, but I'm not sure she is up to handling the buoyancy changes at Town Pier.

Might be fun making it seem like a Scooby Do episode if the pumps start up while you're there with her.

We didn't do this dive after all during our recent trip. We did see the tanker there on November 26.

This location is great for new divers. Very easy entry, sand, to the right of the pier, and you can just hang out there and watch the pretty fishes --- or just go left or right, depending on current, and the pilings are SO easy to find on return for exit.