Does anyone know the average underwater time from La Dania's Leap to Karpata? Trying to plan the dive hoping to have enough air to continue the dive at Karpata upon arrival from La Dania's Leap versus exiting Karpata as soon as we get there. Suggestions on depth etc. are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I was just the "observer" but I would guess about 30 minutes from entry to exit.... Unless there are turtles!....Bas...are ya out there! He is "the master!"

I'd like to know how you are not going into decompression with that setup. I went into decompression twice on a single Al80 and brought back 1200#'s both times. Karpata is quite deep as I remember.

Cecil: Now that I think about it, I see your point. After being in the water for 30 minutes or so enroute to Karpata it will be difficult to dive Karpata to any kind of depth. Probably better off breaking it up into 2 dives with a decent surface interval in between. I dove Karpata once before 2 years ago; I also remember it being quite deep. Meryl, thanks for the input.

I'd suggest nitrox would make sense in such a dive plan. Of course that presents you with an additional concern of a maximum depth, but it would provide much more time ad depth.

Karpata, like most sites on Bonaire, are as deep as you decide they should be. I think we have generally done that dive with a max depth of 80 to 95 feet, but with most of the dive at 60 or less. The top of the reef slope at Karpata has much to offer.

We did La Dania's leap a number of times during our last trip. Our profile:
* jump at Karpata
* go deep on the Karpata wall (really nice) to +45 metres (135 ft). There are some nice overhangs, but too deep for Nitrox. Maximum depth here is around 90 metres (never tested it though)
* go back up to 20 metres (60 ft)
* swim back to Karpata at a depth ranging from 20 to 7 metres

We always saw turtles on our swim to Karpata.
No dive went beyond 60 minutes (even with a group of 9 divers, which tends to be slower). Deco can easily be avoided, and whatever deco time you get at the wall, is lost during the 45 minute swim to Karpata (for a normal profile). Don't take any risks on this dive. You cannot get out of the water until you reach Karpata.

Don't go deep at Karpata when you come from a Dania's, because
a) you don't have enough air (single tank)
b) that would be a very strange profile (long time in the shallows, and then deep???)
c) the wall in La Dania's is much nicer.

If you run out of air, just surface and have the current take you to Karpata (-: if the current goes in the right direction

Thanks Peter. Your plan makes sense. After thinking about it some more last night I decided, as you stated above, that the dive could probably be done but we would not be able to go deep at Karpata. My bottom time on Bonaire is usually around 60 minutes so getting to Karpata in a timely manner should not be a problem. I'll just make sure we don't violate our computers and accept whatever depth at Karpata the computer will give me within no decompression limits. Thanks again.

Hi Marcus,

I know you will enjoy it and by the time you reach Karpata you will not think about going deep. The nicest coral, and turtles, and fishies are found in the shallows.

Safe diving

Marcus,

I've done LaDania's to Karpata many times. I agree with Peter's suggestions. We usually do the token deep part of the dive at LaDanias to 100 ft just to look at the ledge and then go to 40-50 feet for the remainder of the dive. The actual dive can be done in 35-40 min if you push hard. We usually go for about 60 min on a 63 tank (even with the initial 100 ft). The best part of this dive is 40 ft or shallower to see multiple turtles etc. The last part of the dive can be at 25 feet ....we never worry about a deco on this dive since the last part of the dive is an automatic deco

My wife and I did the Leap drift to Karpate with Bas last June... that would be exactly one year and fortnight ago. (Still suffering PBD! Need another trip!)

Our profile, as I recall, was down to about 60' for about 15 minutes, then up to 45' for 30 (that's where the turtles were... and a honkin' big Moray eel), then a long safety stop with a cluster of squid on the way in from the big anchor... total time was a few ticks past an hour altogether. Lowest air was 500psi (from scooting around to get some awesome close-up turtle pictures) - although everyone still had just about 1k left when we decided to do the safety stop. It was the 1st dive that day so nobody entered deco zone.

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to find LaDania's leap? We must have driven past it 4 times last year, and I could not distinguish where the entrance might be. I even had the yellow book!
Thanks a bunch!
Cheryl

Cheryl,

About 300 yds (or meters) before getting to Karpata, the road will start to go downhill slightly. To your left, you will see a small pile of rocks (on the road) which somebody has placed as a marker. There is also a place to pull over your car on the right side. You should have a clear unobstructed view of the ocean and wall. Park your car in the pull over, if you found the right spot, you will find a path that leads down to the ocean. The entry site is about 20 yds to the north once you reach the ocean. The path is well worn. There is no yellow stone.

If you pull over and don't find the path, you are not at the correct spot. Keep looking. Once you find the spot, unload your gear and carry it to the site. Then draw straws and have the loser drive the car to karpata and walk back along the road until you see a paved sidewalk...follow the sidewalk until it makes a slight turn back toward the road...depart the path and walk along the wall...walk takes about 10 minutes... good luck

Thanks a lot Gregg! I'm printing out your directions, and will be attaching them to my little yellow book. I'll let you know if we found it in about three weeks!
c.

Cheryl if I can find them with the recent move I will post a picture of the enterence..

That would be fabulous, Meryl! Thank you!
Just 8 days 'til departure! Woo hoo!

Thanks Gregg!

Cheryl...hope you found it! You must be on Bonaire by now....my pictures unfortunatly are still in some box...in the garage somewhere....hope you are enjoying yourself.