Can anyone tell me if there is any reef left in front of Don's Habitat? Are the fish still there?

Dear Ann,

Yes, the reef is still here, although, different than what you may remember. The shallows received some serious wave action and all of the staghorn and elkhorn coral is basically gone. The reef from about 25 - 30 feet on down is still as good as ever with some changes. As far as the fish life goes, WOW. I have been here 12 years and have never seen the abundance of fish life that we currently have. It is truly amazing. From the smallest juveniles to some truly large grouper, jacks, barracuda, jewfish, eels both green and spotted, they are all here and not only in front of Habitat but at most of the dive sites around the island.

I would agree with Jack about the fish life. Our resident turtle at Small Wall dive site was back and sighted about 5 times in the week after the waves. The snorkelling family I had visiting that week could not get enough of the fish. Our fish ID book was in heavy use that week. They even saw the big green moray that travels along this section of the reef.

To add to Ann's question - how is the snorkeling off the beach at the Plaza Resort since Lenny? Specifically, the shallows extending from the north end of their property down past the entrance to their lagoon? Thanks!

Has anyone been to Nukov lately?

The beach at Plaza had no damage - the shallows at Nukov are gone

About Nukov:(

I will be at Habitat the first week of April and the second week of May. How are the repairs coming along? Will the new baby dock be completed by then? I am begining to worry about my luck--had a two week canoe trip planned in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area at the end of July 99', two weeks prior a storm destoryed a massive (1 million trees gone) portion of the area.

I have to "jump in" to this again.
Bonaire has had the shallow water coral smashed before. NuKove had nothing in the shallows before - that is why the anchor block is so easy to see. If the environment is OK, the coral will come back as good as before. Yes, things are different but that is nature. Meanwhile, enjoy seeing some of the fish life that was hidden.
It is human actions that "we" can prevent that have to be looked at.

Thanks for the reply Peggy and Bruce.
I agree with you, let nature take it's course as it always will. Enjoy the moment of it all.

To Bill Storm:

Re: Boundary Waters Storm

Are you from Minnesota? I am from the Minneapolis area. We will also be on Bonaire the first week of April. I had 6 friends on a "girls" trip in the BWCA during that strom. Oh, the stories they tell. Thankfully, none of them were injured. They have plans to go back again this summer. And this year I'm going along.

I have been reading the messages about storm damage on Bonaire...How are the snorkel areas on Klein Bonaire? where they affected by the storm?

Audrey,
from distant Europe I have been trying to find the same answers. Putting together pieces of information from several sources, I guess that the affected shallows were in the coast from Southwest Corner to No Name, while the reefs from No Name beach to East, and the the South of the Island to SW Corner were spared. Can anybody confirm this, or otherwise tell me I am wrong?
If I am right, how is snorkeling in the affected area? Plenty of fish life, like in "main" Bonaire? And, since I only knew the Carl's Hill - No Name area, how is snorkeling in the spared sites?

Hello, all: we were in Bonaire for the week of Jan. 8-15 and had a great time snorkelling with Renee and the Woodwind around Klein Bonaire. We also did a lot of snorkelling in front of Divi Flamingo, where we were staying.
According to Renee, most of the damage was North of Harbor Village. The Green Parrot was completely demolished, as was the dive shop and restaurant at Lions Dive. Captain Don's suffered some damage, but we didn't get any details about what that entailed.
A lot of coral "rubble" was washed up on the beaches by the 25-foot waves, and we heard from other snorkellers that some of the beach access sites were rougher than they had been.
However, there were still tons of fish to see, and we saw two hawksbill turtles one day when we were snorkelling off of No Name.
Bonaire/Aruba/Curacao had all been having a lot of rain during December/early January, so the water wasn't as clear as it usually is, and Washington/Slagbaii was closed several days while we were there because the roads were impassable. But don't hesitate to go, all of the fish--and more--are still there, and things should settle down soon, I think.

Donna,
Glad to hear Renee and the Woodwind are still at the Divi are still fine. Masha danke for info. from there.
When I see the salt being spread on the roads up here in all this snow and ice, I smile and think that it is possibly from the "snow" mts on Bonaire.
Cann't wait to come back(only 4 more months!).

How was the hotel at Lions Dive - we are scheduled to stay there in 2 weeks. Should we try to make alternate arrangements?

Michelle,
I have no direct info on the Lion's Dive hotel but we didn't hear of any hotels really being damaged. If you are concerned I would call the people you booked with or the hotel itself. Fodor's lists the in-the-states number as 888 546-6734

The hotels were not damaged at all and aside from a few dive shops having to operate from alternate locations until their piers. Lions dive is fully operational and had no interuption in service at any time during or after the storm surge.

we were in Bonaire from 1/25-2/4 and found the snorkeling to be quite good. I agree the water wasn't quite as clear in some areas but the fish were abundant. We were awed by the power of the waves that Lenny brought -it was sad to see so much coral washed up on the beaches - especially at Pink Beach. We were also saddened to see the damage at the Sunset Beach area. However, there is no reason to not go to Bonaire because of all this. It just reminds us that we are not in control of nature and should be awed by it all. We too went to Klein Bonaire with Renee and the Woodwind and it was great. Bonaire in my book is the best!