Fiona this is for you.

I found some pictures of the deep drop/wall that we have found at every site we have gone deep on so far on Bonaire. We have found it at the Windjammer, Karpata and Red Slave so we think it goes around the Island.

Bob Killorin is my deep survey partner and these are his photos. We plan to do a survey of the Island at the 200-ft. depth curve from one end to the other. We will be cataloging all the interesting artifacts that we find i.e. anchors, chains, Ballast stones ECT. The photos are a little dark as it is very dark down there at 300 to 350-ft. That is the depth of the second wall/drop.

Here is the first picture of the wall/drop at the windjammer. This is looking straight down on it. The top is about 300-ft. deep and the bottom is at about 360-ft. Chunks of the wall have broken off. It also looks like there is another drop farther out.



I will try to add a picture or 2 each day for awhile. The pictures are large and have to be reduced in size to be posted. So it takes me some time to try to keep detail, lighten them up and shrink them down.

You can thank Bob for being brave and taking his Sony digital down 150-ft.+ past the depth rating of the housing. I guess Ikelite makes one tough housing.

Sorry about the pic not quite what I intended.

Lets try again.

Hey, Walt and Bob, thanks! It's fascinating to get a 300 foot view - whatever you can post, I appreciate. The catalogue sounds like an interesting job...

This shot is looking back at the drop. You can see that it is undercut/overhang wall. You can also see a large chunk of wall that has broken off.

The over hang sticks out 10 to 15 feet and is 30 to 50 feet tall. The friend who told us about this feature swam under/into the dark area thinking he was swimming in to the hull of the Windjammer. More than a little NARCED and probably close to an O2 hit as he was diving air at this depth. Not something anyone would recommend. These pictures really don't do this wall justice because there is nothing to judge scale by.



Photo by Bob Killorin

Wow Walt, thanks for sharing...gave me goosepimples:-)

Cool that that overhang looks remarkably like the ones along the north road up toward Karpata, which looks like the one at the water line along the north shore. I wonder how many carved-out layers there are to Bonaire??

Faith

Here is another shot looking back at the wall showing many chunks broken off.



Photo by Bob Killorin

Hi Walt and Bob: Wow, these are great! I can see how a narced diver might think the dark area under the overhang was the entrance to the Windjammer's hull. Another good reason not to dive deep on air...

Are those sponges or wire corals along the edge of the drop off?

Too bad there isn't anything to use as a size reference. I have a hard time really seeing how big this is.

Along the top are deep water gorgonia, a rope type sponge and wire coral. Yea like I said earlier the scale is hard to picture. Some of the broken off block are 20 to 30+ ft tall.

The sea fans along the top of this piece that has broken off are 3 to 4 feet across. You can barely see the out line and center veins of a giant fan in the top right of this shot. It is about 6 ft tall and 8 ft wide, it's huge. All the growth down here is pristine. The wire corals at this depth are a yellow color and are as thick as your finger or thicker. Not much coral, but just above this wall are some Giant barrel sponges.




Photo by Bob Killorin

Walt, Bob, that's an incredible shot! Great detail in the sea fans. It's interesting that the corals and sponges are so big at this depth. I guess not much wave action to disturb them, they just grow and grow.

Hey Walt, what about fish? Not much I guess but what if any?

The only fish we saw down there were 2, 3ft long Almaco Jacks that gave us a little thrill when we started up. They came zooming out the deep blue when we started our ascent. We don't follow the slope up we ascend on an angel following a compass heading. So we were at about 200 ft when they showed up, the bottom was 100 ft or so below us and all you could see was blue in all directions. They made several high speed passes circling around us and between us just a foot away. A little unnerving when you are at 200 ft with no bottom in sight and 1 ½ hours of Deco to look forward to.

Just above the wall were several large Sand Tilefish burrows/mounds.

This picture made us scratch our heads and look really close, was that a ship down there or just a piece of the wall broken off. Turned out to be just a chunk of the wall. Oh well better luck next time.



Photo by Bob Killorin

Ok walt, gave me goosebumps again...geez...I definetly admire divers such as yourself, and appreciate your pictures and stories, as there is no way I would ever have the guts to do what you do...2 questions:

1. I learned a new fish...Almaco Jack...looked them up on the web...but there was no info on their behavior (agressive, etc.)..only that they are found in DEEP water and are good eatin' (most of the sites I found had fishing info about them)...what is their behavior toward divers (other than to rattle your cage at 200 feet!)...or is it that they are rarely seen because you have to go so deep that there isn't much info...

2. 1 1/2 deco time ahead...do you stair step up that 1 1/2 hours, or just go up really slow? (I know, not a simple question as there are a multitude of factors involved)...just had me thinkin'...what do you do for that 1 1/2 hours? Is it interesting??? See other cool stuff???

Ok enough questions...I'll put my imagination away for now...again, thanks for the pics and stories walt and bob

Cynde Lee the only info I have on them says. "Often make a close pass, apparently attracted to divers Bubbles". This is from Reef Fish Identification by Paul Humann. They made several close passes.

We Stair step our deco stops. You could just come up slowly but it would be quite the challenge to spend 1 hour and 5 minutes going from 30 ft to the surface. Our typical schedule for a 30-min. dive to 200 ft. would be:

Switch from our 20/24 Tri-mix to 38% Nitrox at 100 ft which is our first stop
2 min @ 100
2 min @ 90
2 min @ 80
4 min @ 70
6 min @ 60
8 min @ 50
10 min @ 40
Switch gas to 80% Nitrox
20 min @ 30
20 min @20
25 min @ 10

This is a very conservative schedule! We swim very slowly back and forth along the reef during our stops. So if we were doing the WindJammer you would get a 30 min Wreck dive then a 1 ½ hour reef dive all in one. We have been lucky to see turtles on at least halve our dives. Probably because we spend so much time shallow moving very slowly.

This picture was taken at a depth of +/- 250 ft at Karpata, looking straight down the deep wall. It is almost completely vertical here. You can see a series of small shelves that continue down to never, never land. Well they continue down past 400 feet anyway.



Photo By Bob Killorin

Another great pic...amazing that you can still see 100+feet below you at that depth. Thanks for the jack info, again, better you than me, but thanks for the vacarious rush...and for the deco stop explaination. I have showed your profile pic to my husband, and just now explained it to him...I as thinking that you had to do longer stops at the greater depths, but as they are longer at shallower depths, which would be ok, as you would have lots of stuff to see to pass the time...just curious...what's it like in an area with little vis and/or cold temps...just as good?

That is totally amazing to me, Walt...I am a snorkeler (a proud one, too!) and I am in awe of what you are describing to us. Hard to phathom...no pun intended! Thanks for the details and the photos. Amazing. Carole

Quite interesting Walt. Really enjoying the pics and info. Way below my comfort level.

This chain is wrapped around a coral head just at the top of the second drop at Karpata. Some of you may have heard of the "Chains of Red Slave" but I had never heard of "The Chain at Karpata" till we found it. After a brief discussion on whether we should follow it down to see what was at the other end, tanks were filled for a dive down to see what was there.

The first attempt was planned to a depth range of 300-350 ft. At 350 ft the next day we still could not see the end of the chain as it went over another drop off. Well there was only one thing to do. We had a VERY LONG discussion on what deco schedule we were going to run the next day when we planned to go to 400-450 to find the ends of the chain.

With 9/61 Tri-mix as a bottom mix, 36% & 80% Nitrox and 100% O2 as travel/deco gases we were ready to find out what was at the ends of the chain. What we found was a little disappointing on one end was an anchor of a newer design and at the other was a small pile of chain these were both in about 410+/- ft.

In this picture the chain V's apart but deeper it comes back closer together.

We found a total of 5 anchors so far at Karpata, most books only list 1 or 2.



Photo by Bob Killorin

Have you realized that you have left the Bonaire Marine Park from the bottom (since it only covers up to a depth of 200 feet)? Must be kind of weird. Very neat stories and pictures, Walt!

Jake

Does that mean Walt could bring out a seashell, or does it become part of the marine park when he passes back in?



Kidding, kidding!!

lol susan...walt...geez...410 feet...anticipation...anticipaaaaaation (trying to sing it like carlie simon)...kid in a candy store....there's gold at the end of that chain i just know it!...but i guess that is one of the reasons you must do what you do...what is the most interesting thing you have found on one of your deep dives on bonaire (and i guess NOT in the marine park?

Walt,

I have been following your thread and looking at your pictures and am completely amazed. Just wondering a couple of things. Having dived the jammer on plain old air (we merely bounced her), I am starting to wonder what it takes to get up to speed on trimix? I dive both Nitrox and air regularly, but am fairly unfamiliar with trimix and how it works, or how you plan your deco stops?

Secondly, when you are dropping into the abyss (such as to follow the chain), how many tanks are you wearing/carrying? That and what must be a fairly high end camera housing to get such gorgeous shots, I am perplexed when it comes to the rigging. Maybe I should come visit you when I am in Bonaire in October. I would certainly like to be more familiar with these deep dives but 300 concerns me and 410 outright frightens me. Sounds like a lot of training yes?

Regards,

John

Well, I go off line for a bit to get ready for a Bonaire trip July 6 -13, and look what I missed, more fantastic photos and explanations. Yes, Walt, the weird and secret dive sites of Bonaire did mention the "chains of red slave", but who would guess a jackpot at Karpata. I'm really enjoying this thread.
You're right, Jake, it is interesting to realize
they've left below the marine park :-)

Thanks for the fish stories Walt. Of course you will be counted on to provide more stories of your adventures as you further explore Bonaire. We'll be listening. thanks jason

John,

You may want to scope out Walt's Web site - http://www.rectekscuba.com - he's got a bunch of information their on the various certifications he offers for real deep diving (e.g. trimix). Walt is probably the best person on Bonaire for this sort of thing, although I think I heard recently that Plaza's Toucan Diving was offering tri-mix certification as well.

Jake

PS Linda and I will doing our rebreather training with Walt later this summer - can't wait :-)

OK here we go. It has been a busy long Day that's why I have not been able to answer these questions until now. The work started at 8 am getting the tanks and equipment ready for a dive to the Jammer. By 10 am we were on our way up the coast road for a 30-min. Wreck Dive and a 1-½ hour Reef Dive. I was about to introduce another Diver to the Mairi Bhan. The lucky Divers name is Tony from Virginia.

After a leisurely 10-min surface swim out to the "drop zone", love my new Scubapro Twin Jet fins. We started down, the visibility was so so today. After a brief pause at 100 ft for a final go no go check we continued down toward her, you couldn't see her until we were at about 120ft deep. Then the stern of the Jammer came into view. We explored her inside and out for 30 min then started our reef dive.

It is so much fun to listen to Divers who have just done their first Dive on the Jammer they just can't stop talking about how great it was and how they want to go back tomorrow or on their next trip. 30 min is just not long enough everyone always wants to go back. I've done the wreck close to 60 times that's almost 30 hours there and I still keep finding new things and want to go back. Well there is always tomorrow!

Now to answer some of the questions.

Jake _ we leave the Marine park way above on many a dive.

Susan - good question I'm sure the Marine Park would see it as belonging to the Marine Park. Then again as long as you stay outside of the 200-ft depth curve you are out of the park? So the translation says.

Cynde - Yea I just have to know what's at the end of chains. Or just what is down there. Kind of like mountain climbers. The other half of the question is a little harder. I'll have to think about that one for a while.

John - To get up to speed on Tri-mix you need to do several classes including Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedures or their equivalents then you are ready for the Tri-mix course. I can help you with all of the above.

The dives are planned on computer software. We can plan the dive replan it until we are happy with every aspect of the dive and deco schedule. Then we check it with another software program just to make sure there was no hiccup in the computer or the first software program.

The camera is a midrange Sony digital in a simple Ikelite Housing.

Here is a picture of me doing one of the deco stops after a 350-ft dive. You can count the tanks.


Photo by Bob Killorin

Fiona - the next Thread will be the photo's from Red Slave. See what you started?

Jason - Fish stories? Let me try to find the down load from one of the computers we used on that dive. Should show about 140-min dive.

Jake - As of a few days ago Plaza was only doing guided dives not instruction. I don't think they will start that until the fall some time.

Congratulations to Hugh on completing his Solo Diver Certification yesterday.

Jake - Enjoy your vacation so you can get started on learning how to get closer for even better pictures than your already impressive ones. Do you have a housing for the new camera?

No housing yet. Will probably get an Ikelite one for it - it's the only one shipping right now...

Let Hugh know about the dinner at Gibi's if you're still in contact with him and Sarah and see them before I do.

Jake

Jake,

Thanks for the info. I enjoyed my quickie look at the Jammer so much (all 7 mins), that I can't wait to go back this year and get a better look, maybe even bring the NikonosV down. My concern is from reading posts about O2 loading etc on your site and will certainly contact Walt directly via his www presence. I want to dive her safely, and more cert/knowledge doesn't hurt. This site certainly has helped keep safety at the forefront of my mind so the fun doesnt disappear as a side effect.

Let me tell you how much I thoroughly enjoy your board and what you do for us non locals. I fell in love with Bonaire after the first visit, and this board keeps me going between trips now.

THANKS SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR DEDICATION AS THIS SITE IS TRULY SPECIAL! I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS.

Kind Regards,

John

Jake I'm trying to get in contact with them and will pass along the dinner invite.

John,

[blush] :-)

You're welcome. And yes, oxygen loading is a very serious issue in deep diving (or diving with regular Nitrox), as Walt has explained and drilled into me :-)

Walt - thanks.

Jake

A new camera Jake?
(-: Damn, I was going to sell you a barely used Sony VX-1000. Just kidding, actually I'm having it repaired. The insurance covers it.

Will you be participating in the photo and video shootout?

Peter
BTW, what model did you go for?

I might participate... Not sure yet - have to get a housing first.

I got the Sony F707.

Jake

Aaaah, a photo camera. Now I get it. So you're not dumping your PC100.

You could still compete in the video category. We saw your frogfish footage. Excellent stuff. We really liked the English accent!!! It came straight from the BBC.

I'm lobbying to come over in November. We'll see. Julian might join us again. He got really hooked on underwater filming.

Peter

walt...thanks...keep thinking...I can think of things that my imagination would want me to "find" at the end of the chain! Oh, and "I spy 7 tanks." Am I right???

Congratulations to Hugh!!!! Tell him all us BTalkers that know Sarah are proud of him...now all you need to do is convince HER that she needs to slip a reg in her mouth and she will never go back!

Cynde from our conversation the other day I think Sarah is 99% convinced.

Cynde a little high on the tank count.

Ok Walt, counting on you and Hugh to push her over that 1%!

I spy:

#5 and #7 are the same right? Whats #4?

#4, looks like the end of a sports water bottle...I thought maybe it might be some small "Walt mix" for part of the deco stop...triniox!

Jason You are right # 5 and #7 are one and the same - just one tank.

Cynde You are correct # 4 is a water bottle with a sports cap. It gets real thirsty breathing that dry air for over 2 hours. Miss my Rebreather on these long deep dives.

Oh I found the Red Slave pictures, now I need to find the time to play with them.

Ok, I spy 5 now! Thanks Jason! Walt, it did look like a sports bottle cap, but couldn't figure it out, so it is really SIX bottles! I can imagine how bad "dry mouth" gets after a couple of hours. I get it as soon as I put my reg in my mouth, so I usually have a water bottle nearby so when I am all geared up and ready to get in, I can take a quick swig before I actually get wet (expecailly diving here, where I have the skin, titanium 7ml, booties, gloves, hood, neoprene vest and 24 pounds of weight!

Why don't you get dry mouth with a rebreather? I must check into that one....oh, and you still owe me "what is the coolest thing you found diving "outside" the marine park on bonaire?"

Your mountain climing analogy makes a lot of sense. I get it now...your just climin' the other way

Six tanks, eh? And how big is the fork lift for getting you into the water? I have trouble lifting more than one at a time -- I'm wicked impressed that you can sling six, of any size...

Faith

Faith 5 tanks. 4 AL 80's 1 Al 30 AND one, 1 liter water tank. We only wear the double 80's out of the water the others are picked up at the waters edge and floated or semi-floated into chest deep water where they only weight a couple of pounds each, then they are clipped on the our harness. Then it is time for a surface swim, once we are at the drop point the fun begins!

Unless it is a boat dive then ALL tanks are clipped on while sitting. Then the fun part is standing up. It always takes "a little help from our friends."

This week is very busy, so no Red Slave Pictures until next week. I have found some good ones, Bob gets some great shots!

Can't wait for more of them. Keep them coming.

There is a reference to "the weird and secret dive sites" in this thread. Is that a book? web page?

Walt and Cynde, thanks for congratulating Hugh, he really enjoyed this course and put the certification to full use!!

ps: Yes, I am convinced.. I have many choices for the completion of O/W. I can do it in October here and the Uni will pay, or I can wait until December.. not decided yet. I wanted to free dive some more first, and I'm glad I did this before scuba. I have become more comfortable with the underwater environment and am now ready to stop holding my breath!!

Joe,

It is a web page.

http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Shore/4331

Kay,Fiona -thanx for the link to the "wierd and secret" site. Now if I can convince my dive buddy she wants to spend next week hiking through cactus to dive ...

Hi All
A quick comment about "Weird and Secret". As some of you no doubt know, this site has been on the net for at least 2 years and has not changed in that time. I look at it once in a while just to see. I don't know if Benji Schaub left Bonaire or just lost interest in computors. I guess someone there has the answer. Mickey

walt...walt...we are waiting for pics of red slave...oh yeah, and you still owe us the "wierdest/coolest/most interesting thing you found "outside of the marine park."

Benji now runs a dive shop in Yemen with Anouck, his girlfriend. Anouck used to work at Buddy Dive and Benji worked at Dive Inn. He's been away for about 2 years at this point, I think.

Jake

Ok Cynde I'll start a new conversation about the Anchors at Red Slave. Still thinking on the other.

YIPPEEEEEE!!!!

I heard that Benji and Anouck were in Saba. Don't know if it's true.

benji and annouck are on st.eustatius since july.
you can contact benji at: benji@freefalldivers.com

Wow - that was a short stay in Yemen...

Jake

How long would you like to stay in Yemen??

On a flight from NY to Brussels, I was sitting next to an ambassador from Yemen. He was telling me how much fun it was getting kidknapped by one of the Yemen tribes. They occasionally take tourists hostage and return them in exchange for money, houses, schools, ... from the government.

He told me that some of those tourists had such a good time participating in the daily live of the tribe (activities like hunts with falcons etc.) that they actually revisited them later. The only real problem he told me was the travel schedule. You're not really sure that you will get home as planned.

The guy was dead serious about this. After that story, Yemen was a definite NO GO for me.


Peter