Day 9: Sunday Jan 30, 2011 Bonaire

Sunday January 30

I haven't mentioned the weather so far. It's been very nice: good temperature and sunny, any passing showers have been quick and uneventful. Well that ended today! Pouring buckets when we got up and through takeoff. Perfect timing! We flew via IAH and DEN, with a very long layover in Denver. But we spent it in the United lounge, so that made it much more pleasant! Got home around midnight.

FINAL IMPRESSIONS

Favorite thing topside:

Probably Buddy Dive. Great setup with the truck rental and drive through tank fills (even for Nitrox). We had a remodeled apartment which was very nice. We really enjoyed having our coffee on our deck every morning. Definitely one of our favorite vacation traditions.

Best dive:

Ol' Blue. Just a gorgeous reef. We liked the north better than the south. The reefs were extremely prolific and it was obvious what having protected reefs for over 30 years has done to maintain fish stocks! Definitely the best place we have dived so far.

Worst thing:

Can't really complain about anything: this was a great trip! I would have preferred to do more dives at Buddy Reef so we could have some chill out time by the pool. That was the one thing I missed. We left the resort at about 9AM and didn't get back until at least 3PM most days.

We definitely hope to go back to Bonaire. In fact, we've already got a return trip pencilled in for January 2013! Going to go for two weeks next time though. I would prefer to take a day off after 2-3 dive days to relax and recharge a little, and do some more dawn dives. A two week trip would give us more flexibility. Plus it took me about the whole week before I felt like I got even a minimum amount of competence with the shore entries and exits. Jumping off the dock at Buddy Dive is definitely easier!

This was a great group trip. Everyone got along and it was very relaxed. Makes us look forward to our Roatan trip in May 2012!

Day 8: Saturday Jan 29, 2011 Bonaire

Saturday 1/29: Dawn Dive

This was the dive I was most looking forward to. Everyone had told me how fantastic dawn dives were: starting in the dark and watching the reef come to life. We went the other way “left” from buddy dive or south. We saw a couple of the mucous sacs that the parrot fish swim in. The tarpon were also still with us. We had a very laid back, easy going turtle that swam with us for at least 10 minutes. It gradually got lighter, then all of a sudden, the fish came out! We also saw schools of fish that don't normally school together: parrot fish.

 When we had gone 40mins, it felt like we were really going with the current so I signalled Jim to turn around, but surprisingly, the current back wasn't bad at all. When we got back to the rope up to Buddy Dive, we decided to go beyond it to the north for a little while. In one five foot area, we saw two scorpion fish, one large moray, and one snake eel. It was pretty awesome, and the best way to wrap up our dive vacation possible. We stayed down for an hour and a half!

After breakfast Ron and Tina, and Scott and Tammy went out for another dive, and we decided to do some sightseeing since we were through diving. We went into Kralendeijk and looked around, did some shopping. 

We had a beer at a bar at the end of the town pier. That was really nice.

Then we went to a pond that is near the airport so I could photograph some flamingoes. There's lots of flamingoes in Bonaire. Unfortunately, they were too far away to get a really good picture of them.

For our final dinner, we went to a new restaurant no one had been to called La Barca. It was Italian and very good. The service was ssssllloowwww though. Fortunately we weren't in a hurry. When we first sat down, it looked like one of the sailboats moored in the harbor was on fire! But the fire eventually settled down; I guess the guy was having a major barbeque or something. After dinner, we all said our goodbyes, Randy and Shawn come home with us also.

Day 7: Friday Jan 28, 2011 Bonaire

Friday 1/28: Torie's Reef and (Red Slave)

I woke up with a scratchy throat this morning, and discovered by afternoon I was definitely getting Jim's cold. Good timing at the end of the trip though! Jim was sick for much of the trip with a cold. Just kind of miserable, but nothing that kept him from diving.

We decided to go back to Torie's Reef again since we didn't get to do a real long dive the first time there, and everyone liked it. Randy and Shawn decided to dive the Hilma Hooker instead. It was interesting diving this again at the end of the week after we had other sites to compare it to. The coral seemed much more beat up than the other sites we dove, but the amount of fish is just incredible. I read that this site is in the top 3 or something in the Caribbean for fish diversity. It's a really fun site. We saw a stingray this time and squids too!

My ears and sinuses were making weird popping and cracking noises the whole dive and I was feeling kind of sick, so I decided to skip the second dive today. (Frankly I needed a break anyway). We went south to Red Slave to see the huts there, and talked to some divers, who said the dive was pretty good today. So everyone else decided to do Red Slave instead of the dive they had originally planned. This site can be tricky. It's at the very southern tip of the island, so the currant can be pretty bad there. But they said it was nice today.

 While they were diving, I got in the pickup and did a little landside tour. I went to a lighthouse that was nearby and got some nice pictures. Watched the ocean there at the start of the eastern side of Bonaire. It's MUCH rougher there! Then went back and basked in the sun while they were diving. Very enjoyable! We didn't have any “relax and hang out at the pool” time on this trip, and I was missing that.

Day 6: Thursday Jan 27, 2011 Bonaire

Thursday 1/27: Oil Slick Leap and Ol' Blue

Hands down the best day of the trip! Back north again today. Oil Slick has a fun entry with a jump of the shore into the water. The short one is 4-6 foot drop, the higher one 6-8 feet. Great dive. We saw two octopi. The second one was out swimming, and put on a good show.

The second dive, Ol' Blue, gets my vote as the best dive site in Bonaire. The entry was moderate, and the reef was incredible! Very distinct coral and extremely lush growth. Fish everywhere, plus we saw two seahorses-both black which was unusual. Also saw a turtle.

For dinner we went to Patagonia. Much better than the other night! It was a steakhouse overlooking a marina. Very pretty setting. My steak was excellent too.

I definitely have to say I prefer the sites to the north over those to the south. In the south, the reef is further from shore which means a longer swim out and back. It's steeper in the north too, so the topography is more interesting.

Day 5: Wednesday Jan 26, 2011 Bonaire

Wednesday 1/26: Alice in Wonderland and Andrea 1, night dive

Back south today. Alice in Wonderland features a double reef system, which goes on for quite a while and encompasses several dive sites. The first reef is 30-50 feet then a large sand patch between, and the second reef is from 80-110 feet or so. The double reef system gave it some interesting topography.

Andrea 1 is just north of Buddy Dive. We went there because it is usually very dependable for seeing squid, but we only saw a couple.

This is where the dives start to run together.  They are all fantastic, but I can't remember anything really memorable about these, except the double reef at the first dive site.

We went for an early dinner to Captain Don's next door and had pizza, so we could be digested for our night dive. The night dive was awesome, just as advertised! We had tarpon with us the whole time. But they weren't too hungry yet, they followed fish, but didn't really try to catch any. Jim and I both got a kick out of the trumpet fish. They sleep vertically in the sea fans and corals for camoflauge. There were a LOT of them out there. Very neat dive. Got cold though. Should have brought my hood.

Day 4: Tuesday Jan 25, 2011 Bonaire

Tuesday 1/25: 1000 Steps and Karpata

There's actually 64 steps, not a thousand. This was the dive I was most worried about the entry and exit, due to the long staircase, but it turned out to be one of the easiest all week. Going down was actually harder than coming back up, because you had to worry about falling over forward. From the bottom of the staircase, it was a pretty easy entry into the water. Very nice dive, great reef with plenty of fish to look at.

The second site was Karpata. This was a fairly tricky entry. Lots of rocks, and there was a large slab of concrete that you walked next to and held on to while entering. There was an abandonded marine research station there at the site. But the dive was great! Very cool coral formations.

For dinner tonight we went to the Buddy Dive barbeque. Very good food and free rum punch!  I bought a home made Christmas ornament (check that off the list!) from a lady who was selling things as a fundraiser for the local humane society.

Day 3: Monday Jan 24, 2011 Bonaire

Monday 1/24: Torie's Reef and White Slave

They have a nice breakfast spread here. So nice to sit and watch the water and the divers going in/out of the water. The plan was to go south today. The first site was Torie's Reef, which they chose for the nice entry. We got there and started setting up, but Jim's reg stated free flowing and he couldn't get it to stop. Fortunately, Ron and Scott have been there so many times they could give us directions to the best guy to take it to. So we went back into Kralendeijk, and got his reg fixed. Didn't take the guy long at all, and he didn't even charge us anything! We got back to Torie's Reef before anyone else had surfaced so we decided to do a quick dive too. So many fish!!! Large sandy area at the start, but we didn't see any rays.

The second site was further south, White Slave, named after the white slave huts located there. Terrible, small, cramped things. I can't imagine living in them.

This site had a much trickier entry. The “beach” was layers of loose coral pieces and there was a steep slope down to the water. You basically slid sideways down to the water. The dive was pretty nice. There was current so we started out against it. Scott and Tammy set a fast pace, and I was huffing trying to keep up, so I just slowed down. Also a wide sand patch near shore.

Our lunch consisted of PB&;J's and trail mix washed down with Amstel Brights after each dive :) Jim and I had a bit of an adventure buying bread yesterday afternoon when we went grocery shopping. Since it was Sunday, many stores were closed. We found a grocery store that was open, but they only had 1 loaf of bread, and it looked rock hard, but we figured we needed to buy it. On the way back, we saw a mini mart and went in there. Their bread selection wasn't much better, but we picked up a bag of hoagie rolls. When we got back to Buddy Dive, I discovered that I actually bought apricot jam instead of strawberry. Jim liked it, but between the crappy bread and the apricot jam, I wasn't too fond of our sandwiches. I ate more trail mix instead :)

For dinner, we went to one of their favorite restaurants in Bonaire, Cactus Blue. Unfortunately, the owners had divorced since they last went down there, and the quality had gone down. I had an ahi tuna that I said I wanted medium. It wasn't at all what I was expecting: it was basically sushi. And it came out pretty raw too, so I sent it back to be cooked more. It was more edible the second time, but still pretty bad. Jim wasn't overly fond of his fish either. Too bad. Apparentely this place was pretty special in the past.

Day 2: Sunday Jan 23, 2011 Bonaire

Sunday 1/23: Landed at about 6:30 AM or so. Luggage made fine and clearing customs and immigration was painless and straightforward. When we got outside, there was Ron to pick us up as promised with beers for each of us. I have to say though that beer at 6:30 in the morning after you've been up all night doesn't sit very well. I didn't drink much of it :)

Ron gave us a nice tour on the way to Buddy Dive. We were checked into our 1BR apartment, but we could not find which one was ours. Very confusing room layout. We had to get the front desk girl to help us! We found out later upon looking at our check out bill, that our apartment was acually a 3BR that had been split up into our 1BR plus the 2 hotel rooms upstairs. That's why it was confusing :)

We dropped off the luggage, and ran to breakfast (we were both really hungry). We ate fast, threw our dive gear together, and then attended the mandatory orientation at 8AM. Then we had our first dive from the resort pier immediately following. This was LOT to accomplish when you have just stepped off a redeye after 24 hours straight of travelling. It was a little stressful.

You have the choice of jumping off the end of the pier or climbing down the ladder. I chose the ladder since I was stiff and sore from the traveling. Glad I did, I could just see myself wrenching my back or something on the first dive :)  The house reef was really gorgeous! Lots and lots of fish. Several large tarpon, and huge parrot fish. Lots of trumpet fish too.

We had lunch at the resort and decided to skip the afternoon dive so we could unpack and get settled in. The apartment is very nice.  Warm tropical colors and plenty of room.  Very nice deck.

That evening Jim and I ate dinner alone (also at the pool bar) but we saw other folks there too.

Day 1: Saturday Jan 22, 2011 Bonaire

Saturday 1/22: Flying all day. Went to SFO then to IAH, in order to catch the redeye to Bonaire. All flights went very well. Had a nice dinner at Poppadeaux's at IAH. Met up with Randy and Shawn at the gate.  They went a different route than we did.  Of course, I couldn't sleep on the redeye.  Seemed to take forever, but was around 6 hours.  I LOVE that blast of warm, humid, tropical air that hits you as you leave the plane.  Lets you know you've arrived!