Pictures from Kati's and My 2005 Dive Trip to Bonaire 2005

Pictures from Kati's and My 2005 Dive Trip to Bonaire

About Bonaire | Where is Bonaire? | We stayed at Captain Don's Habitat

Photos from our other Bonaire Trips: 1997 | 1998 | 2004

This was our fourth trip to Bonaire, and our second time staying at Captain Don's Habitat. We spent 17 days on the island and did 35 dives.

The trip getting there took almost 24 hours door to door including the drive to the airport, check-in and the pre-boarding activities. We flew from San Francisco to Dallas, Dallas to San Juan Puerto Rico, then on to Bonaire. All our flights were on time. The flight from Dallas to San Juan was a bit longer than usual, as we had to fly around the Houston area to avoid Hurricane Rita.

We arrived at Captain Don's on a Friday evening on September 23rd. The usual ride from the airport put us in the tropical mood. The driver was friendly and the air was moist and warm. It had been raining that day and we would later see that the island has had a lot of rain. The hillsides are visibly greener than we have experienced in past trips, and a drive by Goto Meer to see the flamingos gave us a first hand view of the greenery.

On Saturday we did our dive orientation and paid the Bonaire Environmental fee of $25. We did our first dive on the reef directly in front of Captain Don's. We frequented the "LaMachaca" (small upside down tug) and "Cliff" almost daily (and nightly). "Cliff" is one of Kati's favorite dive sites. It is one of a few vertical walls on the island, and the wall is covered with sponges. Two large French Angel fish continually cruise the deep part of the wall at ~70'.

We stayed in on of the Villa Suite's. There are 9 suites along the waters edge, facing west, just north of the dive shop area. We had a small but nicely appointed kitchen, living/dining area, two bathrooms and a sleeping room. It was comfortable and the view was incredible. We had two televisions with cable TV, but no phone.

Our routine included getting up according to the boat dive we may have selected the night prior. The boats go out at 8:30am, 11:15 and 2:30, and you are free to sign up for any combination you choose. Our dive packet included breakfast, one boat dive a day, and unlimited tanks for shore diving. The dive center tallies your dives at the end of your trip and accommodates you with the best dive packet that fit your plan. They are very flexible, but you need to pick your plan ahead of time, and then adjust accordingly. If we had scheduled the 8:30 boat dive we'd arrive for breakfast between 7 and 7:30. The restaurant staff is very friendly and Jim showed off his Spanish speaking skills daily with the cook who was from Venezuela.

After breakfast we'd head back to our Casa and change into our swim suits and shorts and head to our dive locker where we'd pack up our gear and head to the boat. The dive locker is right on the water, very close to the boat dock (50 feet away) and closer to baby doc, the small doc set up for diving.

The boat trip to any dive location takes anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the dive site location. The pre dive talk is done by the dive master who tags along on the dive and is generally the same for each site. It goes something like this: "We are tied (there is no anchoring on the island so each dive site has a float to tie up to) at approximately 20 feet (anywhere from 15 to 50 feet was typical). This site is known for its beautiful reef system and soft corals. Once you are in the water check the current and head down onto the reef to approximately 70 feet. If this is your first dive of the day you may choose to go a bit deeper. Head up current, along the reef, until you reach 1500 PSI, then go up to the shallows between 20 and 30 feet and back towards the boat." The dive master will tell you about the unique fish and corals you might expect to see. Then you gear up and drop into the clear (typical visibility was 60 to 80 feet), warm (83 to 85 degrees on this trip) water.

The reef system around the island is close to shore and the lack of large waves adds to the clarity and the ease of diving, so we also did a lot of shore diving - gearing up on the back of our little rental truck, walking into the water and swimming out ~20 to 30 yards to the reef system for our dive. All dive locations are clearly marked and you can get a free dive brochure telling you about each site: where to enter, what to expect, and a bit about the uniqueness of each site. We did a total of 35 dives on this trip. Here is a synopsis of Kati's dive log:

We took a few days off from diving (but not many) and just kicked back. Kati read a lot and kept up on her dive log. We also did some island sight seeing. Although the island is small there is always something going on. Jim managed to get in a few naps, and kept up with his website business (Goodenough Website Services) utilizing the wireless connections in the office, bar ;^) and pool area.

We ended the trip with an early dive at Captain Don's during a thunder and lightening storm. When we finished we packed up our gear and took it back to the room for the shower rinse. The last day is always difficult as you look at the crystal clear water and wish you could go under for one last look.

We spent the day touring around the island and saw plenty of Pink Flamingo's, Donkey's, Goat's and Iguana's. We finished the day at Rum Runners - and said our good bye's until next time.

Location	Bottom Time	Depth	Of Interest
LaMachaca	63 min	59	Sand divers, Sergeant Majors (nesting on boat), cleaner shrimp cleaned Kati’s finger nails
Bonaventure (Klein Bonaire)	60 min	50	Night dive: Lots of Orange Brittle Stars standing on coral – spawning. Very large crab with pincher missing (righty). Many fish sleeping between rocks. One eel hiding out.
Cliff	62 min	55	Nice easy dive in calm waters. Visibility ~70 feet, water temp ~84. 2 large French Angels.
Thousand Steps	61 min	50	Three large, dark brown sea horses all spotted by the Dive Master. Large turtle swimming to the surface and diving down to bottom. Very large Parrot Fish.
Ivisibles	58 min	45	Watched blenny’s and small fish in the shallows. Sharp tail eels and garden eels at bottom on sandy bottom between double reef system.
Karapata	62	58	Spotted the anchors in the reef, covered with corals.
Cliff	61	60	Free swimming eel. Group of sea pearls. Squid – purple opalescence coloring. Was feeding in rocks. Would turn brown with entering rocks to feed, then back to opal when watching us.
Lamachaca	58 min	45	Night dive: Free swimming eel feeding. Large Tarpon (5 to 7 feet) joined us hunting in our lights. Lots of crabs coming out to feed.
East Shore - Cai	55 min	70	Dive with “Larry’s Wild Side Diving” – fun dives on a Zodiac boat set up for rough sea diving. 7 turtles, 3 sting rays, very large green moray, Octopus spread out over coral feeding. 1 small eagle ray.
East Shore – Blue Hole	55 min	40	At least 50 Tarpon’s hanging around. Turtles, Eels, Manta Shrimp on sandy bottom. Lots and lots of Beautiful, large purple sea fans.
Bon Bini Na Cas	63 min	58	Spotted Drums, Spanish Hog fish was eating a Brittle Star. Carried it to a hiding place to finish eating it.
Witches Hut (Webers Joy)	64 min	55	Nice reef with lots of fish. Jim and I both found a Sea Horse. The dive master was able to find 5 more. Many Banded Coral Shrimp.
Angel City	65 min	70	3 Barracuda in the sand between the double reef system. One of them followed us around for a bit. Large Conch walking on the sandy bottom at 70 feet. Jim spotted 5 squid in the shallows. We swam with them for quite a while watching them turn colors and watch us. Three were pointed one way, and the alternating two the other, as if keeping look out.
Wind Sock	63 min	70	Large green Moray Eel. Juvenile Jack Knife fish.
Oil Slick Leap	61 min	63	Short jump to 15 foot waters, very clear. Drums and a little current at the reef. Lots of nice fish along a beautiful reef.
Ole Blue	65 min	50	Beach entry – out across sand, Jim spotted a small Octopus under a small brain coral. The Octopus was still there when we returned. Lots of current heading North. Many small non-stinging Jellies at exit.
La Machaca	68 min	55	Many Moray Eels. Intermediate Juvenile Smooth Trunk Fish (large pea size). 2 Scorpion fish. Saw both orange Frog Fish that are neat the tug. One at 50 feet on an orange sponge, and the other at 30 feet on corals.
Cliff	60 min	50	Night Dive: Lots of eels and beautiful feeding corals.
Jerry’s Reef	65 min	55	Large Barracuda and one turtle.
Cliff	65 min	60	Very cold parts – down to 82 some places. Beautiful corals. Fragile Saucer corals, Honey Comb and Plate Corals. Sheet Corals and Scroll Corals all along the wall. Both Frog Fish at the boat on the way back.
LaMachaca	55 min	50	Both Frog Fish at boat. Eel swimming and hunting. Lots of crabs and banded shrimp. Octopus at 10 feet on swim back to baby doc.
Small Wall	70 min	70	Frog Fish at 38 feet on a large orange sponge. It was so difficult to spot even when pointed out by the Dive Master.
La Machaca	50	60	Frog Fish at boat (2), Scorpion fish and Jawfish in shallows. There were 8 beginner divers following us around.
Hilma Hooker	30 min	100	Ship Wreck: Barracuda at 50 feet during decent. Boat is getting nice coral growths. Seven Tarpon in a row, with the largest on top – unusual schooling for them.
Cliff	60 min	50	Pea fish (juvenile trunk) in 10 feet. Literally looks like a pea popping around the corals. Juvenile and intermediate Yellow Tail Damsel at boat. Sergeant Majors nipping at my pink fins – they were nesting. Watched them laying purple eggs for a while.
Knife	61 min	55	Large school of Black Durgeon (over 300) in the shallows. Lots of corals and nice reef on Klein Bonaire.
Salt City	40 min	65	Strong southern current. Brown garden eels. Spent most of the time hoping to see a spotted eagle ray – no luck.
Salt Peir	65 min	40	Night Dive: The BEST DIVE on Bonaire. On entry we spotted an Spotted Eagle Ray that swam around in our lights for a few minutes. Spotted Moray Eel and a Many Toothed Conger Eel free swimming and eating along the bottom. A large school of silver / blue small fish. Multiple Barracuda, one really large. 1 Frog Fish. Jim saw 5 large Squid.
Bonaventure	68 min	75	One large sea horse (brown, ~ 6 inches). Along reef and back in beautiful shallows. Large purple tube sponges and sea fans. Lots of fish. Slender File Fish and lots of Brittle Stars.
Cliff	62	55	Some current. A few eels along the reef and one large one just under the rope back to baby doc. A Band Tail Puffer in the shallows.
Andrea II	65	78	Large eel sleeping. Small Turtle swam about for a bit then cruised off. Sharp tail eels foraging in the reef.
Cliff	55	67	Free swimming Eels looking for food. Lots of sharp Tail Eels.
Cliff	58	55	Cloudy day, thunder and lightening while we were under. You could hear the rain and see the lightening at 40 feet. No Frog Fish today – last dive.

This FILE last updated: 11-01-2005, 10:19:01 PST

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