Bonaire 2001
jun 10th, 2010 by Bart
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Bonaire 2001
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When we arrived at the house it was already getting a little dark. We opened all the doors and the windows to let it cool down a bit but this didn’t help much.  We only had a couple of fans but unfortunately there was no aircon in the house so we dripped like stalactites the first couple of nights. We had bought ourselves some diet coke so we had a nice cold BM (Coke with Bacardi Lime) on the porch. The porch caught enough wind to cool us down and with the ice-cold drinks there was nothing more to wish for the first night. We went in early that night to get up even earlier to check out the island and to investigate Wannadive ’cause it was there that we were going to get the our dive package. |
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 At Wannadives we were greeted by Erwin. He told us the procedures at their diveshop and we filled in the necessary paperwork. Erwin set us up with some weights and there was nothing else to do than jump in the water and let Hans have is first diving experiences in tropical, clear and warm fish filled waters. At first everything felt a little strange but after adding two more pounds we dove down to the reef and swam in the direction of the dock at Buddy Dive…….moreYou can use the image to get to the Wannadive website or click here. If you do go and dive with these beautiful people say hello from Hans and Bart. |
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| We had a very good time on Bonaire these days. We had no trouble whatsoever with crime and we left our car quite a few times with stuff in it. At Marlise’s (AKA The Birdlady of Bonaire) Hans bought a beautiful handmade dive-bag as I had done two years ago. These bags are very handy to pack all your gear in and use them while on holiday | |
| The Dives during these 9 days | |
| The numbers in front of the dives correspond with the numbers in my logbook. | |
| 159 | |
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Depth: 12.8 meters |
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| 160 | |
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Depth: 19.3 meters |
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| 161 | |
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Fortunately for Hans we do our buddy check on the parking lot in front of the radio towers. I told him to always do his own buddy check while putting everything on. So there he is in the 34? Celsius fully dressed but without his weightbelt. Finally he figures it out and this saves him from doing the 64 steps twice. The dive is perfect, getting into the water and back out at the end is no problem at all at this site with a very calm sea today. There is a spiny lobster we find hiding under some rocks and of course an eel. We have seen eels probably 8 out of 10 dives so if I don’t mention we have seen one I either forget or it’s just not worth mentioning. Navigation is easy on these reefs. You swim, go down and find an easy spot to recognize on your way back. I used an underwater slate for the first time to write down this “marker” and put the depth of it on the slate. Between dives we visit cafe de Tuin and have lunch there. We also use it to send some e-mail home. Our Dutch GSM’s don’t work here so internet is a nice alternative. Depth: 18.1 meters |
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| 162 | |
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Depth: 16.4 meters |
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| 163 | |
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The first nightdive……In the beginning there is some getting used to and we have to ascend once to make sure everything is all right with the mask and the rest of the equipment. We do this at our own pace and I’ve told Hans that if his is uncertain about this we abort the dive. The second time down everything is OK and we follow the sandy bottom to the reef’s edge. The snooks are there (Racquel baptised them Nikkiboko and Orinoco two years ago) and we also see two large tarpons. The biggest one is not as big as Charly so I think that Charly must be gone, eaten or washed away in the hurricane. We don’t make it quite to Habitat’s wreck but we do see a lot of other divers making pictures and shooting some video. Two of them are very wild and swim around like crazy. I wonder what they have seen because when looking at the spots they where shooting at we don’t see a thing. After the dive we had a nice Italian meal with some Amstel beers and a cappuccino. Depth: did not fill in |
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| 164 | |
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Depth: 25.1 meters |
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| 165 | |
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Depth: 18.3 meters |
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| 166 | |
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The third dive today and our second nightdive of the week. This time Hans finds out after putting on all his gear that he left his mask in Wannadive rinsing tank….It’s fun diving with a guy like this, you never know what to expect next. We take of our gear and drive to Wannadive to find out that the mask is still in the tank. Back to Buddy and this time with everything we need. Good thing is that is now totally dark! so it’s a real nightdive. Depth: ? meters |
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| 167 |
Lighthouse Point
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Depth: 27.9 meters |
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| 168 | |
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We decide to stay in the shallow parts of this divesite because it is our second dive of the day and we want to stay down as long as possible. We dive along the edge of the reef where the Anchor is and where we have to cross the gaps in the reef. The visibility is perfect and you can look down 75ft or more. After 20 minutes going with the reef on the left shoulder we return through the garden. I think to myself that this is a perfect spot for a turtle and just after this thought I see a green turtle some 60 ft in front of us. No camera of course but still we swim towards it and follow it from a little distance not to disturb it. Depth: 12,5 meters |
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| 169 |
Bopec Oil
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Depth: 15.9 meters |
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| 170 | |
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Again a nightdive at Buddy’s. We like it here so we don’t feel the need to do our nightdives elsewhere. After the dive we have good food and like the waitresses here a lot. One of them we’ve named Maria (she is from Columbia) and the other one we call Sensuela (you can figure this one out yourself!). Hans is leading the dive this time because I don’t want to swim in the lead all the time. He is a very good leader because he spots a turtle on the reef. I’m stupid enough to press the record switch twice on the housing so instead of filming the turtle the camera is back in standby mode. I figured this out just in time to get a few seconds of the turtle on video (will be in the clips section!) The turtle has a part of its shell missing at the tail section. Perhaps hit by a boat? or is it rotting away? When the turtle ascends to get some air we leave it and follow the reef again. Nice eels, Charly of course and the usual stuff but unfortunately no octopus. Hans and I have swapped flippers and I almost get a cramp without my volos! Depth: 18.5 meters |
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| 171 |
Oil Slick Leap
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Oil Slick Leap again because we now know where the seahorses are! There are two of them around a block of braincoral and Hans even spots a third one. I changed the setup on my videocam and messed up. The whitebalance is even worse then when I put it on automatic. If anyone has tips about how to get rid of these white spots I would like them to send me an e-mail and explain. This dive is one of the longest because we stay shallow again. It is very nice to watch the waves break on the coastline from underneath. I can’t help but think of all the wonderful images I’ve seen so far on the magnificent BBC documentary The Blue Planet. I hope you’ve watched it too! Depth: 13.4 meters |
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| 172 | |
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Hans is having some problems with his ear and we visited the hospital so they could have a look at it. Yesterday we skipped diving and today he only wants to do the Oil Slick Leap dive. I want to have another look at the octopus with my videocamera so I decide to do a solo-nightdive. In front of Buddy’s this is no problem at all because there are always many divers in the water. I put my strobelight to my first stage and go for an octopus hunt. I’m in the water quite early so in the beginning there is enough light from above and I don’t need my lights. Meanwhile Hans is having a good time with Jasmin and Darlyne (that’s what I think). I follow the reef to the Habitat wreck and shoot the eels and the tarpon and the snook all hunting for their meals. No turtle but at the end of the dive I find another octopus. Unfortunately this one is in his little whole and has no desire to step into the floodlight of my camera and perform his “see-me-change-color” for me. At one time he pokes out one of his tentacles to investigate. I’ll put it in the videoclips section if it is good enough. Depth: 13.7 meters |
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| 173 |
Hilma Hooker
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As I promised we came back to the Hilma because this was one of Hans’ favorite dives so far. We swim all the way to the wreck at the surface and try to get down to the wreck as fast as possible. We manage to dive the wreck from stern to bow and even have a glimpse in the cargo-wholes. A huge tarpon is hovering in one of them. On the sandy bottom there are a lot of garden eels sticking their heads out and feeding. There are even a couple of small barracuda on the wreck. After 20 minutes Hans is getting low on air so we swim to the shallower reef to safe some air for the end of the dive. In 10ft of water we investigate the coral blocks. I show the “aggressive” damselfish to Hans and he decides to swim right above their nest. I got bitten once by these cute little fishes and let them bite my volo to show Hans they really bite. Hans is not bothered with this and forgets that there is also a way up if you think there is nowhere you can go. Depth: 26.8 meters |
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| 174 | |
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We were promised by the Wannadive guys that if wind would drop we could have a dive at the east side of the island. On our last day this is the case so we meet at Wannadive and head for Lac Cai. Depth: 17.3 meters |
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This has been a wonderful week of diving. It was great to be back on the island again after two years and I even met some people who still recognized me. There has been a lot of changes in the two years and probably due to Lenny (the hurricane) some of the hotels has some renewals on their beaches. I’m certain Hans had a very good time and that he will continue diving. Maybe in he couple of years when she gets a little older he will buddy up with his daughter Lisa who’s fond of swimming. If Remoras will have another trip with “all” its employees all depends on how successful we will be next year in our business. You can come back and check out if we have! |
This is the first dive we do in front of the Wannadive center. It is a very easy dive because we want to make sure we have the right amount of weights and Hans has to get used to diving under these conditions. After doing his C-card dives in Holland with about 15ft of visibility and wearing a 7mm dry-suit this is quite a difference in diving. Everything works out fine for us and we swim in the direction of Buddy Dive. Our first encounter is with a scorpionfish and a little bit along the way I spot our first moray eel but this one disappears and so Hans didn’t see this one. There are some flamingo tongue snails and also a fingerprint snail. Because this is the first dive we did not bring the camera with us. Hans is impressed with the visibility and the beauty of the reef and its inhabitants. But there is a lot more to investigate in these waters!
It’s good to be back on this island after two years and to see that not many things have changed. Unfortunately the hurricane that passed here in 1999 did do a lot of damage to some parts of the reef. The divesites in the park are completely damaged according to the guys at Wannadive and some of the spots on Klein Bonaire are damaged too. We were fortunate enough to get some Naf. From the ATM today so we can have lunch after the dive. We decide to go to Alice in Wonderland to kick the rock that opened Racquel’s leg in 1999. The dive is very good and Hans spots his first eel. No turtle but they will certainly be seen by us, I’m sure of that. After the dive while writing in my logbook I forget about the delicious pasta with tuna and banana on the stove so this burns….the iguana in the garden however love it!
In preparation on our nightdive tonight we visit Buddy Reef in front of Buddy Dive. This is a very nice spot to go do your first nightdive. Everything is lit by lights so if you are a little afraid (as I was the first time) for your first nightdive go do it at Buddy’s. They also have very easy access to the water. We took our own gear from the car and walked towards the pier. Nobody seems to mind at Buddy’s and we entered the water from the wooden stairs. But this dive was still during the afternoon so we checked out the route we were going to take on the nightdive. If you swim out to the reef and go down to approx. 40ft you can swim with the reef along you right shoulder until you reach the wreck in front of Habitat. When you swim around the wreck and return this dive takes you some 40 minutes depending of course on how fast you swim. The slates a very handy to communicate especially because Hans is not my regular buddy and Racquel has understands my gesturing very well. We seem to have our own underwater sign-language. Hans keeps pointing at his ears and I think he has trouble equalizing or feels pain. Above water I find out he thinks he hears boats all the time. Later I find out that is the noise of his own exhaust bubbles that sound a little like a boat engine underwater.
This time the videocamera is with us. We enter the water very slowly to not slide or fall down and risking to damage anything. Hans is quite a air-user so we snorkel out to the wreck to safe as much as possible. The wreck of the Hilma Hooker lays on its side between a double reef. It is in 90 ft of water so for a beginner it is a deep dive. In front of the wreck I can see a weightpouch in the sand and I decide to go and pick it up because it is quite a loss for anybody. I hand the camera to Hans and tell him to hoover at 30ft and wait there for me. When I descend I think “hey this looks like the weightpouches I use, I then realize it is my own pouch and I quickly thank Poseidon that he helped me get my pouch back. 
On of the best sites I can remember is Oil Slick Leap. I like the way you get into the water and have had some dives her before. The giant stride we did in our training are nothing compared to this one so I let Hans have a taste of the real thing. It nice to be back at the site that cost me a mask 2 years ago. This year (a coincidence?) I’m diving with a new mask again because the old one leaks and I hate a leaking mask. Hans switches to my old mask underwater to find out if this one doesn’t leak for him but it is no good so I decide to throw it away (leave it at Wannadive’s) after the dive. We even perform a double swap which is not in a PADI training program I think we are fine with it. So now he has my new mask on his face and I have the one I bought after my old one broke 2 years ago. I like my old one, but Hans doesn’t’ like my new one so we switch again but this time after the dive.
This is a divesite I have not been before and is a divesite I will not return to. Visibility is very poor. The picture is taken in the park and has nothing to do with the site but now there is at least something to look at. You can skip this site there are a lot better close by.
After a very hot day in the Washington Slagbaai Park where most of these pictures were made we decide to go diving in front of the Bopec. Although it says here that you are not allowed to dive we were sent here by Erwin one of Wannadives instructors. According to him this is one of the best dive site around the island. We are very eager to dive and there are a few other cars there so diving there is probably allowed unofficially. We find the broken mask of the wreck that lays in front of the reef in 135ft of water but we stay on top of the reef. There are a few Tek divers doing their deco stops here and we have some fun videoing each other The place is nice but after we leave the water both Hans and I decide that we liked Karpata a lot better. Erwin is a bit disappointed when we tell him this in all honesty. Hey, all divers are equal, but some divers are more equal than others and therefor like some divesites better than others…at least that’s what I think. During this dive my Citizen Hyper Aqualand is in error. Fortunately I have the Cobra with the same features so no need to abort the dive.