Our Trip to Bonaire

By

Leigh Vinzant

Seahorse and frogfish sightings were my mission on this trip. The goal was accomplished as early as the morning of the fourth day. In addition to meeting that objective, the ten of us “Deep Six” divers had a very memorable vacation in Diver’s Paradise.

Our group of John and Neicy McGrath, Ben and Merry Beth Vardeh, Ed and Maria Fazekas, Jerry and Marilyn Neely, Mark Quaintance, and myself started our trip Friday, February 6 by driving from Lakeland to Miami. We all decided to take our time heading down and spend the night at a hotel where we could park our cars for the week. Half of the group arrived early enough to brave the Miami traffic in search of an authentic Cuban dinner. After numerous u-turns we found what we wanted and it was delicious.

Saturday morning began early with a quick trip to the breakfast buffet and a shuttle to the airport. The staff of Air Jamaica were friendly and helpful. Once we had our boarding passes, we took them and our passports through airport security. Most of us cleared the gates without any trouble, but Neicy learned the hard way that the security area is not to be videotaped. We left Miami right on schedule and landed in Montego Bay an hour and ten minutes later. We changed to a larger plane and experienced a little delay before disembarking for Bonaire. The Flamingo International Airport was in view in less than one and a half hours. Bonaire’s time is an hour ahead of ours, so by the time we cleared immigration, claimed our baggage, and found our escorts to Buddy’s, it was already after 4:00 p.m.

At Buddy’s Dive Resort we found our rooms, unloaded luggage, and had an orientation to the diving facilities, which included 24 hour tank availability and a drive thru fill station. We also checked in and got our rental trucks. By then, some group members were ready to eat, while others wanted to snorkel. By the time dinner was over, we were beat and called it a day.

Bonaire is known as the shore diving capital of the world. The diving on the mainland is near shore. There is a wall about 100 yards off the beach that starts in about 20 to 30 feet of water that drops to around 130 feet. The wall is covered with sponges and soft corals, as well as branching and hard corals. Before being allowed to begin any diving, we had to perform a buoyancy check off Buddy’s dock. Many of us learned that the combination of 5mm wetsuits, aluminum tanks, and salt water required more weight than we were accustomed to. We ended up completing four dives on that first day. We dove Buddy’s Reef, the Salt Pier, Alice in Wonderland, and then did a night dive at Buddy’s.

Buddy’s Reef has two ways to enter the water – a set of steps or a giant stride off the dock. After attempting some other shore diving, we learned that this was the best set up on the island. At the Salt Pier, we geared up at our trucks, carried our fins in our hands, and carefully stepped over the sharp, often tumbling rocks to get into the water. As soon as we could, we put on our fins and began swimming away from shore to get out of the surge that wanted to smash our bodies into the rocks. This proved to be one of the group’s favorite sites. Under the pier were huge schools of grunts, needlefish, and schoolmasters. There were beautiful angelfish, silvery tarpon, a mysterious sharptail eel, and a curious group of squid. The exit from the dive was a bit more tricky than the entry and required teamwork to get out of the water and over the rocks without the waves knocking us around. Next, we drove down the beach to the yellow stone marking “Alice in Wonderland.” Again, the shore entries and exits were trying, but with one another’s help we were successful.

After the last dive, we were getting hungry. Finding food on the island was almost as challenging as the shore diving. Stores and some restaurants close from 12 noon to 2 o’clock for siesta and most other restaurants close from 3 to 6. Following this first full day and not consuming enough nourishment, we learned to squirrel food away from the breakfast buffet to eat in the afternoon. Munching on bagels, apples, or peanut butter and jelly during our surface intervals gave us the energy we needed to keep going.

We did our first night dive of the trip at Buddy’s. It was late by the time we collected ourselves and assembled our equipment, so the water was black as ink. Because of the darkness, the bioluminescent plankton was more obvious than ever. Green glitters could be seen with each stroke of our buddy’s fins, as well as when we shut off all lights and waved our hands madly about. As my group headed north, we were accompanied by a large tarpon. The fish stayed with us throughout our 60 minute tour and by the end of the dive, two of his friends had also joined in.

Rain, followed by a gorgeous double rainbow greeted us Monday morning as we began our boat dives. On this day we were scheduled for a two-tank trip. The ten of us and our 20 Nitrox tanks were waiting at the docks for our 8:30 departure. The crew, Alex and Zoo, loaded us up and we were off to Klein Bonaire. It is just a short boat ride out to the small island of Klein Bonaire (meaning “Little Bonaire”) where the diving is similar to that of the mainland’s but the reefs are extraordinarily healthy. The first dive was at “Monte’s Divi Tree” led by Zoo. Alex led our second dive at “South Bay,” where we found us a pair of secretive seahorses. The first mission had already been accomplished!

We rested and did a little island exploration before reboarding the boat for a night dive at Klein Bonaire. The night dive took place at “Sampler Reef” and was a typical dive with lots of eels.

On Tuesday, we did another round of two-tank boat diving. At “Ebo’s Reef” off Klein Bonaire, Alex found us our elusive frogfish. He was orange, spotted, and lumpy and looked just like the sponge he was hiding on. The second dive was at a “secret spot” on the northern end of the main island. It was here that Zoo showed us a tiny pair of rare, black eely-looking fish.

When the boat dropped us back off at Buddy’s, we had just a few minutes to regroup before our next excursion, an island cave tour. Five of us chose to participate in the exploration underground. Our guide took us into three of the 201 registered caves on Bonaire. The first one was hot and humid and had no water in it. The next two had refreshing pools in them in which we snorkeled. There is a lot of cave diving to do in Bonaire, but getting into the systems could be quite treacherous.

Tuesday’s night dive was probably the most interesting dive of the week. We dove the number one night dive spot in the world – the Town Pier. The way Alex described it was fitting, “It’s the best garbage dive you’ll ever do.” Upon descent we found ourselves in what looked like the city dump. There were bottles, tires, pipes, and other debris scattered all over the ocean floor, but all of this rubbish gave the animals places to live. We saw another pair of seahorses on the dive. We also spied more eels, decorator crabs that looked like walking sponges, many juvenile fish, a young sea turtle, and some color-changing squid. Additionally, the coral and sponge growth under the pier and on the pilings was phenomenal. The colors were vibrant oranges, yellows, reds, and purples. The diving conditions were shallow and crowded, making buoyancy control more complicated and divers who continually bumped into one another. This was not one of the group’s favorite dives, but was perhaps the most talked about. Afterwards, we picked up pizzas for 12 hungry divers and returned to the resort where we could scrub down our gear and take disinfecting showers.

By Wednesday, we had used up all but one of our boat dives, so this was a single-tank trip. Our crew took us to “Hands Off” in Klein Bonaire, where we witnessed Bonaire’s version of the “Creature Feature” feeding. Alex put a slice of watermelon in his mouth and allowed a French angelfish to nibble on it. When we told him about Boomer’s and Slate’s feedings in Key Largo, Alex found it amazing and a bit insane.

Eight members of the group wanted to do another morning dive, so when we got back to the docks, they suited up and dove Buddy’s Reef again. Buddy’s has as pretty of reef line as anywhere else on the island.

John and I opted to stay out of the water and get prepared for our rebreather experience scheduled for that afternoon. He and I had a short lesson on the workings of the units and then underwent an hour long dive using a Drager Dolphin semi-closed circuit system. I was surprised to learn that once the mouthpiece was in place it had to stay in, or else water would enter the unit creating a “caustic cocktail.” Breathing warm, moist air was enjoyable, as was the absence of bubbles. Without the noise interference from our exhaled breath, we could enjoy the sounds of the reef and become one with the many fish in the circling schools. What I did not delight in, though, was the lack of fine buoyancy control and the limited mobility in the side to side movements of my head.

Thursday was our last opportunity for a full day of diving. We elected to dive the Hilma Hooker, Bachelor’s Beach, and Karpata. All three were shore dives and with the wind we had been experiencing throughout the week, wave action was stronger than normal for the island. The entries and exits were physically demanding and by the end of the day, quite comical.

The Hilma Hooker is a 230 foot freighter sunk in 1984. She sits in the sand between two reef lines in 95 feet of water. The wreck is intact and had enough to see that it made for an entertaining dive. She was a nice break from the reef diving along the drop off that we had been doing all week.

Friday morning was our last possibility we had for diving in Bonaire for this trip. John, Mark, and I were laughed at when we suggested getting up at 5 a.m. and doing a sunrise dive. The three of us slipped into the calm, dark water at Buddy’s at 5:45 to begin our last dive. The reef was exceptionally quiet at this hour. We descended to the sand at the bottom of the wall and slowly worked our way north. Our friendly tarpon joined us again, as did a hungry snapper. The snapper were fun to watch on the night dives because they would swim with us, watching small fish in our light beams. As the smaller fish drew near, the snapper would snatch them up. John witnessed several cardinal fish meet their maker in this manner. This dive gave us the good fortune of seeing parrotfish sleeping in their cocoons. Previous night dives always occurred too early in the evening to observe this. We turned our dive when we reached the upside down tugboat and moved back toward Buddy’s. About halfway there, the sun began to rise. As the visibility increased, so did the noise and activity levels. Fish appeared out of nowhere to begin their daily routines of schooling, crunching, and preying. What a great way to end an awesome week of diving!

The rest of the group did a relaxing morning dive at Buddy’s and the remainder of the day was spent exploring the island. We visited the National Park on the north end, then drove past the wild side of the island on the east, where seas reached at least ten feet! We continued south to Lac Bay and watched the windsurfers sail across the ocean. We rounded the southern tip and continued the journey, stopping to see the lighthouse, slave huts, and salt pier, and photographing goats, donkeys, and flamingos.

Beautiful pictures were taken, awesome memories were made, predetermined goals were achieved, and many dives were logged. Most importantly of all, however, lasting friendships were built.

For more information on diving Bonaire: www.buddydive.com.