Dive Report Thursday Aug. 9, 2001 3 p.m. somewhere up North

We arrived at the dive site with great expectations of seeing sharks as the morning boat had seen several at this location. Jack and I both had our Rebreathers with bubble diffusers attached to break up the small amount of bubbles into a fine mist and allow us to get even closer to them for some great photos. Off the boat we go in search of the sharks camera in hand; well in Jack's hand. I'm just a spotter / herder. We start moving north, Jack along the top of the drop off and I at a depth of about 15 ft. up in the shallows. After about 5 to 10 minutes we have not found the sharks we look at each other and shrug what the #$@%. Oh well it's been a nice relaxing dive so all is not lost.

Just then out at the limit of our visibility shows up a nice 4 to 5 ft. Spotted Eagle Ray who taunts us for a couple of minutes. Just close enough for great observation but not close enough for a good picture. It leaves us so we continue on down the reef. After about 5 more minutes we come across a nice 2-ft. Hawksbill Turtle. Still no sharks it's about time to turn the dive when I see the unmistakable tail of a shark out at the limit of our visibility.

On we go and what do we find? SIX 2-ft. long juvenile Black Tip Sharks. We settle down in their midst. For the next 10 minutes the 6 frolicking juveniles surround us. They are chasing each other, zooming at us, chasing smaller fish around. They are so sleek and fast it's such a graceful performance they are putting on for us. Finally they rush past us on down the reef and we are left with only the memory of how sleek and graceful they are and how slow and awkward we are underwater.

We encountered them one more time on the way back to the boat. This time it was a much shorter performance just a minute or so and they are gone again. It's dives like these that make up for all the dives we think are just "ho hum" just another day on the reef, nothing special today. I guess we are really spoiled.

Thanks Walt, I guess this will answer the question "are there sharks in Bonaire". And YES you and Jack are spoiled and I am envious as hell.

Walt...Did Jack get any pic's you can share with us?

ASDIP, Walt?

Scott, one thing about Walt and Jack, they really knows how to hurt a guy !!!

What dive site was this???

Walt, now I'm even more determined to get certified!!!!! What a great report, thank you

Tony

We will see about 4:30 today if the pictures turned out. If they do I'll try to have Jack or myself post them.

Pictures at 4:30... hmmm cutting it a little thin aren't we??

Do they know any other way ????

Thanks guys...I think I can wait till 4:30..

Pictures at 4:30, dam that could screw up happy hour.

OK folks, well Walt just informed me that we have to post some pics of the sharks...they're not the best in the world but you can at least tell the difference between Walt and the sharks. We were intitially told that they were a little large than they actually were so I took a 20mm lens..."bad choice", should have taken the 60mm or the 105mm due to their small size. Anyway, yes TOTO there are sharks in Bonaire.

/image{shark1}
/image{shark2}

OK, OK, it should have been a \ instead of a /. I never said I was a image posting genius...right DARA?! ;-) Let's try this again.

By the way, the first image was taken by Walt. After he and I did a 1 hour dive, my son Chris had been patiently waiting on the boat and wanted to go in a see them as well. I had some shots left on the camera so I gave Walt the camera. I think he's is better...darn it. ;-)

Hope everyone enjoys.

Now I really MUST go back to Bonaire. Where were you guys lucky enough to see these sharks?

YOU GUYS ARE BREAKIN' MY HEART!!!!

GREAT SHOTS OF THE BLACK TIPS, BUT I THINK YOU NEED TO BE TURNED IN FOR CRUELTY TO CHILDREN, LOL!!! YOUR LUCKY THAT CHRIS IS A GOOD SPORT:-}

JACK, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! I KNOW THERE ARE A LOT MORE PIX YOU CAN SHARE WITH US!

Walt...again..what dive site were you at...we have been diving in Bonaire..for 6 years twice a year and have never seen sharks...especially at this depth...looks shallow...? How many feet were you down.....beautiful shots...!

Walt-

Dont post the name of the site.

We were in 10 to 30 ft.

Hey, Jack and Walt, great shots! You really are breaking numerous hearts! I agree it's probably best not to post the location, other than it's in 10 - 30 feet of ocean off Bonaire, otherwise everyone on the board will be booking a flight in the next 3 minutes...

Look at the evidence!! Somewhere up North and Jack's son stayed on the boat. I get the impression they did not moor, simple choose a nice looking site and jumped in leaving Chris to watch things until it was his turn to play.

I agree with North, but don't let Chris being on the boat fool you. One does not leave a boat unattended tied to a mooring unless they double tie, which I don't think is Jack's philosophy. I think this was Jack's personal boat and not a Habitat boat.

Walt also said that the morning boat saw them and Jack (Habitat) doesn't do drift dives with just one tank - normally. And they normally don't go that far North either. So, below Karparta with a mooring would be my educated guess. I'm still studying the reef...jury still out.

They were using rebreathers so no need for tanks, but the pictures were great and I remain envious. I do however know their location....underwater Bonaire !!!! and that is good enough for me.

Fabulous! Please keep them where they are right now, tho, OK? Nothing against the sharks at all...they are beautiful and amazing creatures, but I am a snorkeler and prefer that they stay in "their" turf/surf and me in mine...but, then again, "mine" is actually theirs, isn't it?!! LOL. Carole

Carole, you're right about the "mine" is theirs bit!!! But you really shouldn't worry about the sharks creeping up on you whilst snorkeling... the sharks have their own "niche" which appears to be "somewhere up the North Side of the island".. I've never seen any sharks on Bonaire whilst snorkeling and I think I've pretty much covered all the sites!!!!..

Barry & Kelly

With the Rebreathers set on the slowest flow rate and a high O2 mix a 27 cu.ft. / 4-liter tank would last about 600 minutes or 10 hours. In theory the scrubber material would only last about 500 minutes or 8 hours and 20 minutes assuming a light workload. We normally limit the scrubber to four hours but if you run the numbers it should last 8+. This allows us to stay down for extended periods of time with little to no bubbles. You can cover a lot of ground in that time or sit still and observe closely what is going on around you as you become part of the reef. The Rebreathers can also be set up for deeper dives with lower O2 mixes. They are very versatile pieces of equipment!!

Keep Guessing Barry

We may return this afternoon with 2 cameras with the right lenses!

Thanks for the pic's guys..I am truly envious..
Guess we'll do a few more dives up north when we visit in Oct.

Well folks, we're gonna try it again this afternoon. This time with 2 cameras and different
lenses. If we get back in time I'll try to process the film immediately and post (hopefully)some better pics this evening. Keep your toes and fingers crossed.

Ohhh...you guys are really going to make me envious now. Good Luck!

Walt, we may have already covered this, but is the Rec Tek Scuba Web up and running yet? Hugh has completed a lot of theory for rebreather diving, but sadly he became unwell on the Caymans and was unable to do the Course.. Perhaps he could e-mail you with questions re: training, if that's OK???..

As for the site, I understand there are Dive Operators on Bonaire that will take you to see the Sharks.. Hugh missed his chance last year as he was doing his Divemaster Training, but the boat was going..............."somewhere up North"..

Thanks for making me really envious this morning...dang! However thanks for sharing the story and pics. A dive report, especially one such as this is a real pleasure. Jack, I hope you found them again and got some pictures...

Dara are you just dying or what! Soon...soon...take a deep breath girl!

BTW, Walt and Jack, nice write up about you guys in the August 2001 issue of Sport Diver...

Well guys, Walt and I went this afternoon and yes, we did see the sharks again, however, no pics. There was a boat a the next dive site and the divers were on open circuit so the sharks were a little skittish and didn't get close enough to get any shots. We'll keep trying though. We did see a Hawksbill turtle, a Green turtle and a coronet fish as well as all the other standard reef inhabitants at most of the dive sites on Bonaire. We did a 1 1/2 hour dive and even though we didn't get any pics of the shots we got the images in our minds and sometimes those are the best ones. BTW, see you soon Dara and Cynde, thanks for the plug on the Sport Dive article. I did take a couple of pics of the Green turtle and if they are presentable, I'll post a couple tomorrow.

Jack, hope to see the pic. We are really hoping to see at least one on our trip!

The one I saw at the end of July was at Karpata and swimming south. (sharks only travel in one direction - right?). So maybe they were at Webers joy.??

hmmm some one was playing with the new orfice weren't they???? jack thought you said we would be able to the difference between the shark and walt

Yes Jason I have been playing with the NEW orifice. Next will be 60 %, 80 and 70% work just fine. With 80% it gives me about 66 to 68% inspired and 70% gives me about 55 to 57% inspired at a Low workload. I'll let you know how 60% works out. Basically NO bubbles!! Should have played with it sooner!! I scared a few divers up North they didn't see me behind a coral head until I popped up right in front of them this is going to be fun!

Walt, will they have to nickname you "stealthy?"

Walt...I think a really neat lizard mask and gloves would fit the picture for sure. Maybe a long tail Then your nickname could be "Stealthy Lizardman"

Walt. Jack.... having been forced to actually go diving this weekend to do checkout dives... (something about rest of staff having other things to do once they read the weather firecast).. I was quite surprised by two things.. 1) To see fellow lurker Bob Davidson also out there (I thought the combination of his new instructors and commission checks from Bruce would negate the need for hin to be out there on such a wonderful weekend)..and the rare opportunity to photo the rare fresh water blue shark.. (apparently a cousin to the Daytona Beach shark family if diei ie the judge...) Thought I would share

Hello Jack Nice pictures of your adventure with this shark, if i am you I will be very afraid but i think it's a great emotional experience, such a bloody experience never apen again !!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS !!!! good continuation.