Our family will be in Bonaire next week. My 13 year old (certified) is really interested in turtles. Does anyone know what are the sites with the best chances of seeing a turtle? I read on this board a while back about a turtle as big as a volkswagen some where around town. Any truth to that? Thanks for any input.

i've seen turtles at multiple sites...more around klein than the mainland...i think the VW sized turtle story has been embelished a bit...

I saw 3 turtles on my most recent trip - 2 (probably the same one) at Bari Reef, one at Jeff Davis and one at RockPile on Klein.

We saw a turtle just in front of the Divi in February, in about 25 feet of water.

Karen,

Linda's been diving on Bonaire for 4 years and has never seen a turtle underwater (although she has from a boat).

I see them with some frequency - one last week at the Town Pier (while I was fishing - I understand this one hangs out there and all the fishermen give it wide berth and let it be), and the week before saw two on one dive.

One situation I've heard of where turtles are seen almost every time is with Renee of the Woodwind - a snorkel/beach charter out of Divi.

Jake

I'm no expert, but what little I know about the Bonaire turtles, if you look up and out, instead of down and close (corals, fish, nudibranch, shrimp, etc) and near the drop off towards the flats, you will see turtles more frequently. That's where they hang out.

This is why you always hear about snorkelers and new divers 'always' seeing turtles.....cuz we experienced divers have our facemasks in and under the corals......

From what I remember, Andrea I and II, Angel City and Alice in Wonderland had frequent sightings - in the flat parts....not the slopes. These are great snorkeling sites.

Karen,

Sea Turtle Club Bonaire (STCB) gives a slide talk at Habitat, listed for Tuesday this week, and they do weekly walks to look for turtle nesting evidence at this time of year and they welcome volunteers. One or both of these would be good. STCB has a biologist based on Bonaire--someone here or at your dive op can give you contact info--couldn't find any on Infobonaire. The Bonaire Reporter gives Imre Esser (717-7074) as an STCB volunteer contact. Sometimes the biologist does dives also--don't know about accompanying. Worth looking into these.

We seem to always see turtles at Margate. Mostly at 30-40 feet before the dropoff..

Karen, my boyfriend has seen turtles in Bonaire waters for the past 2 years. No particular dive site, but last year he saw turtles on three different occassions.. Also, the first year he saw them, I was talking to a visiting Marine Biologist on the island and he spotted one at the Plaza Resort.. (I think they were staying in the honeymoon suite)!! Hope you get to see them too..

Glen, STCB was changed to Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire almost 2 years ago. If there is still advertising out there with 'Club', could you email as to whom and I'll let Imre know.

TO ALL, If you need information on STCB, Saskia, the resident biologist, can be reached at stcb@bonairelive.com.

The Web-site is http://bonairenet.com/turtle/turtle.htm which you will find quite informational on our organization and sea turtles.

Volunteers, as Glen stated, are more than welcome.

Oh, two last items. STCB is non-profit and is tax deductible in the States....and the most important thing.... THANK YOU JACK CHALK and HABITAT, because they have allowed STCB to present their slide show for more than 2 years now - free of charge. (One more great thing Jack does for the island and conservation)

FYI - BonaireTalk has a Nature Organization discussion area (main topic) which has its very own section for STCB and the sea turtles. I regularly post info and articles about STCB efforts in that area. Saskia provides "Turtle Tales" articles about once a month which are published in the Bonaire Reporter. Both of kindly allowed me to post them on BonaireTalk.

Who are the Sea Turtle species in Bonaire?

We have nesting and resident Green, Hawksbill and Loggerhead. We have rare sightings of leatherbacks.

The Kemp Ridley and Olive Ridley are very rare throughout the Caribbean. I don't know when the last sightings were of either of these.

Thanks Linda!
I hope see some one turtle, when I stay in Bonaire.
I like very much Sea Turtle, to Photo of course!

Linda,

TKS for the FYI; missed that. Their web page uses "Club" in referring to the group.

Our two cents worth. We saw our first pair of turtles on a Woodwind trip with Renee. From then on we saw one every second day or so (on our two week trip)- from Karpata to Bonaventure to Nearest Point etc. But then we are snorkellers (shore and dive boat) so we are looking down. We saw them in about 10 - 15 feet of water - except on the Woodwind day when the pair was about 25 feet deep.

We saw quite a few around Klein Bonaire, 1st with small group of snorkellors on boat trip out of our hotel, and later with Renee on "sail" trip. Had a great time with our 12 AND 14 year old. email if you have any questions.

Barry,

A few updates:

STCB's Web site can be more easily reached via http://www.BonaireTurtles.org.

Saskia's e-mail is saskia@bonairenature.com

Donations to STCB in the U.S. need to be worked through Widecast at present as the U.S. STCB corporation has not received it's 501c3 non-profit status from the IRS as of yet (per our understanding) - anyone wanting to make a tax deductible contribution from the U.S. should drop a note to stcb@bonairelive.com and work out the logistics.

Jake

Thanks, Jake. Hopefully, a lot of people will take an interest.

Conservation vs. Club - Imre Esser told me that breaking old habits are hard to do. STCB had been a 'Club' for so long and there is so much literature out there with Club, that the best thing to do is just remind people that it was changed to 'Conservation' and that we basically are both - but, that Conservation is our more serious side -

Hope this clears up the discrepancy issue. Glen was right with Club, I reminded him of Conservation and we all now know what we are talking about (GRIN) - right -

My son (12 at the time) and I saw 3 turtles at once at Red Beryl July 2000. A few days later we saw a turtle at the beginning of our dive at Atlantis and watched a feeding turtle near the end of our dive that allowed us to follow it for about 15 or 20 minutes.