ARTICLE FROM MIKE DUGGAN
From: Michael Duggan
Subject: Stuff for the site
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 10:17:47 +0100

BONAIRE 2000

A full year has passed and it is time for the winter dive trip. Last year Bonaire was good fun and I made some friends, T.C., Juni, Ditti, Nick and Ted Geurts to name a few. I also did not dive on all the sites so it would be rude not to go again!! The flight is easy, Heathrow to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Bonaire; the whole trip taking about 18 hours from leaving Chichester (West Sussex, England) to checking in at Captain Don’s. I enjoyed staying at Captain Don’s Habitat last year; the rooms were good and the food excellent. They also provided some of the best diving and diving facilities I have come across so far. Last year the dive crew were very helpful to me and coped well with my slight disability.

An early start then check in at Heathrow, run round Amsterdam and land in Bonaire. Touch down was at 19:10 (only 10 minutes late!) and then the transfer to Captain Don’s. At check in I found I had been up graded to a cottage and T.C. was in the bar. Time for a reunion and a number of beers!

Sunset In Bonaire




The first day and time to recover from the flight. Bonairian law requires an orientation before diving so I attended that; “handed” my weights in (to say I was not diving) and bought my $10 marine park ticket. Bonaire Tours, who met me at the Airport, gave an “orientation” on Bonaire and provided some very useful information on the island, transportation, money matters and sight seeing. I walked into Kralendjik to remind me of the town and buy postcards. In the evening I met T.C. again, in the bar, as well as a number of the dive crew I had met last year.

Bonairian law requires that you do a try out dive, to familiarise yourself with your equipment and show the dive crew you can dive, so I checked the board out for a buddy. Buddies seemed a bit difficult to get hold of for the time I wanted so I coerced Giovanie into diving with me on La Machaca, a wreck on Captain Don’s house reef. Looking back, Giovanie had the dubious pleasure of being my buddy on my first dive the previous year on Barcadera (there were no shore try out dives last year due to Hurricane Lenny). I was surprised at how many fish species I could recognise from the previous year. There were Yellow Goatfish, Blue Tang, a Spotted Scorpion fish, Squirrelfish and Tiger Grouper to name a few. We also saw various corals and sponges as well as Christmas Tree Worms.

That afternoon saw my first boat dive, which was on Something Special. Again, there were loads of fish such as Banded Butterfly fish, Queen Angelfish, Sergeant Major and Spanish Hogfish. We even saw a Lizard Fish, also known as a Sand Diver. I was using a 3mm shortie (probably not necessary) with 6kg in weight and a Sunto Favor dive computer. The dive lasted for 47 minutes and I started with 210 bar whilst finishing on 100 bar in water temperature of 30°C. The dive boat was Ocean Freedom and my buddy was Loy Webb, who had not dived in 3 years. As usual, the dive was recounted over bottles of Amstel at the Deco Stop bar at Captain Don’s.

Scorpion fish




The next 12 days were a mixture of getting up late-ish; walking into Kralendjik and diving. The dives I made were on Punt Vierkaut, South Bay, Bon Bini Na Cas (my 50th dive), Andrea II, Windsock twice, Mi Dushi, Bonaventure, Jeff Davis Memorial, Small Wall and Joannes Sunchi. All these were boat dives mostly from Ocean Freedom but some from Reef Freedom and one from Bonaire Diver. The reef life was prolific with fish, corals and sponges. I managed to see my first seahorses as well as a snake eel. Other fish included Chromis (both Brown and Blue), Parrotfish, Angelfish, Barracuda, a number of Rock Beauty, Butterfly fish, Trunkfish, Puffers, Greater Soapfish and even Spotted Drums.

A Spotted Drum




The Moray Eels were there and this time I saw a lot of Spotted Morays and a Golden tail Moray. I still remember the sight, last year, of a large free swimming Green Moray just above the soft coral at Joannes Sunchi.

This year I clocked up my first night dive on Town Pier, which is supposed to be one of the best dives on the island. My only regret is that I did not take my camera; well, it was my first night dive so I did not want to be cluttered up with too many toys! The anenomies were superb and there was a large difference in fish activity. Next time my camera goes with me.

I met a lot of people from all over such as Alan & Ursula Mackintosh from Scotland; Ray Chang from Tenerife; Angela and Marv from the States and Loy Webb from Canada. The previous year I had made some friends, like T.C., Loly and Juni among others, from Captain Don’s and this year I renewed my acquaintances as well as meeting others who lived on Bonaire. My last night Robert invited me to watch one of Captain Don’s teams play football in the large stadium. I’m afraid they got stuffed 5 – 2, oops! The party after was good fun. On alternate nights there is entertainment provided at the Deco Stop varying from slide shows to entertainers. All are good fun, which you can relax to whilst discussing the length of the Moray Eel you saw on the last dive. The eel usually gets longer the more beer is consumed; they have quick growing eels at Bonaire!!

One Of The Local Bands




This narrative gives a quick overview of my second holiday in Bonaire. I had a great time, met some good people and had excellent diving. All this adds up to having to go again this coming December, during the first 2 weeks. In fact, the next trip to Bonaire is being organised so that I will see Ted and Loy at the same time. Hopefully the staff at Captain Don’s will have stayed there and we will watch them win the football this time!