By Eric Mock (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 11:28 am: |
I must admit my navigation skills are sub par. What is the best way to navigate back to entry point for shore diving in bonaire? I know it is best to make a reference point upon entry. Does anyone have anything they use to make it easier to identify the entry point?
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By Gerald Huppertz (BonaireTalker - Post #67) on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 12:32 pm: |
When get in the water we take a quick bearing back to shore, sometimes when you are in the sand flats it can be disorienting and its good to have a compass heading to follow. Then we swim out towards the reef. If there is a Buoy at the site we aim for it and us it as our reference. If not I look for a very distinct coral formation. Such as 2 cup corals side by side, or a very large head of coral. I look at my wife, point to the coral and then my head, That is our signal for, "remember this". We then check what depth we are at. As we pass the coral we take a look back at it, sometimes they are not as obvious from the backside as from the front!! We then start heading down deeper and along the reef in our chosen direction. We monitor how long we had been diving before we turned in order to give us an idea of when we should expect to see our sign on the way back. This can be +/- many minutes as we stop to take photos, so we us time as a rough measure. As we are heading back we come up shallower to the depth of our coral. That way we don't miss it because we are down deeper or too shallow. This has worked great for many dives and on the rare occasion that we do miss (or don't reach) or marker we just turn to our shore bearing and head in.
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By David Johnson (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #400) on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 12:07 am: |
Gerald gives great advice.
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By John "Smack" Anderson (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1561) on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:26 pm: |
What David said.
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By David Mandelbaum (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 1:41 am: |
what they said on reference points
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By Tribs, Live From Bonaire (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5999) on Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 8:06 am: |
Agreed on above...cannot stress how important it is to keep on mask and reg in mouth. You don't know how many buddies I have had that don't and then take a tumble and come up sputtering and rubbing their eyes. You may never trip, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
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