Bonaire Trip Report

My wife, my dive buddy Ray and I just returned from eight days in Bonaire. A
few observations:

Lenny and Ivan took a toll. We were last in Bonaire in January 1999, before
Lenny struck in the Fall of 99 and Ivan last year. The comparison is stark.
The lush, soft corals are gone from the shallow reefs and reduced in the
deeper reefs. The sponges are pretty much scrubbed from the shallow reefs
and less abundant at depth. We had seen turtles on almost every dive in 1998
and 1999, we saw only a few this trip.

The diving is still good: Thought Bonaire is not what it was a few years
back, it remains good diving. If you weren't there pre-Lenny, you won't know
what you missed.

Toucan Divers is a first class operation: This was the second time that we
used Toucan but last time we did almost all shore diving. I pulled my back
on our second day of shore diving as I played dive slave to my wife
(carrying her stuff into the water and helping her gear up) and, foolishly,
dived with a heavy, weight-integrated BC instead of my old, reliable
Seaquest Pro. Thus, we ended up doing a bit of boat diving. Examples of
Toucan's kicking it up a notch: 1) They took us to the east side 2) We did a
one hour drift dive of Klein Bonaire 3) We drift dived Margate Bay 4) If we
took two, one-tank boats, they charged us the same price as the two tank
boat, a savings of $10. Toucan has got to be one of the best operators in
the business.

Port Bonaire (PB): PB is a condo operated by the Plaza Resort, located
across the ditch from the resort and directly across the street from the
Airport. The units are large and reasonably well equipped and the price is
attractive. The downside is that there is no easy access to the resort from
the units -- you have to drive to the dive shop, restaurants, etc. If I were
to redo the trip, I think that we would stay in one of the apartment units
on the Plaza grounds. However, this would be quite a bit more expensive.

Good Food: Richards is still very good; Capriccio remains my favorite; Mona
Lisa was excellent; there is a new tapas restaurant two blocks north of the
port area -- it was very good.

Bad Food: The Lebanese / Vegetarian restaurant about four blocks north of
town on the west side of the road SUCKS and is expensive. There is a
barbeque / Mexican restaurant on the second floor of the shopping complex in
the port area -- it is not very good.

Other things: 1) Watch out for the gas gauge on the rental car, they may
tell you it is full but check. I did not and it cost me $30. 2) Petty crime
remains a problem; so what else is new. 3) If you need an equipment repair,
Bruce Bowker (Carib Inn) is the place to go. Bruce knows his stuff and
charges rock bottom prices. 4) If you are in the market for some new
equipment, see Bruce. I checked his prices on some new Scuba Pro equipment
and he was well below my local dive shop. 5) The Plaza Resort does have a
children's program. 6) From the water, it appeared that the Sand Dollar no
longer has any pier or diving facility.

I hope that you find this information helpful. If you have a flame for me,
you know where to put it.

>Subject: Bonaire Trip Report
>From: "Chris Pflaum"

> If you have a flame for me,
>you know where to put it.

My guess is that "in box" is full.

Capt. Bill

Chris Pflaum wrote:
> My wife,

Is that your best-kept or new acquisition?

> If you have a flame for me, you know where to put it.

In Greg's Fire Diving (FLAME) Torch?

-- Bob.

"Chris Pflaum" <cpflaum@everestkc.net> wrote in message
news:hVTNd.158$Sk5.114@fe10.usenetserver.com...
> My wife, my dive buddy Ray and I just returned from eight days in Bonaire.
> A few observations:
>
SNIP
>
> I hope that you find this information helpful. If you have a flame for me,
> you know where to put it.
>
>

Thanks for the report.

"Chris Pflaum" <cpflaum@everestkc.net> wrote in message
news:hVTNd.158$Sk5.114@fe10.usenetserver.com...

> Lenny and Ivan took a toll. We were last in Bonaire in January 1999,
> before Lenny struck in the Fall of 99 and Ivan last year. The comparison
> is stark. The lush, soft corals are gone from the shallow reefs and
> reduced in the deeper reefs. The sponges are pretty much scrubbed from the
> shallow reefs and less abundant at depth. We had seen turtles on almost
> every dive in 1998 and 1999, we saw only a few this trip.

I have dived Bonaire every year for the past 27 years, but not since Ivan.

Bonaire was in the best shape in 2 decades Christmas 2003, so the damage you
refer to is likely the result of only Ivan. The first few years after
Lenny's wave effects there was a lot of sand and sediment that had settled
on the reef, the obvious damage wasn't really significant for the most part
because over the years Bonaire has always sustained damage from the wave
effects of distant hurricanes (basically Bonaire has has evident shallow
coral damage for decades). I was on the island the year before Lenny when
Bonaire suffered damage from Georges. Bret caused damage in '95-'96?, Hugo
in '89, again these were all wave effects damages. Over the last two years
the reef seemed to have become clean of the sand and sediment and the sites,
particularly the North end around Rappel and 1000 Steps, has simply become
some of the most beautiful dive sites in all the Caribbean. It's like the
reef came back stronger after the damage.

Here's hoping it will recover similalry after the damage you report from
Ivan.

Thanks for the report.

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 18:42:05 -0600, "Chris Pflaum"
<cpflaum@everestkc.net> wrote:

> 6) From the water, it appeared that the Sand Dollar no
>longer has any pier or diving facility.

What a shame.

Good report.


-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

"HW "Skip" Weldon" <skip5700removethis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:080s019u0q0u31uer8c31u75oen6kue8av@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 18:42:05 -0600, "Chris Pflaum"
> <cpflaum@everestkc.net> wrote:
>
>> 6) From the water, it appeared that the Sand Dollar no
>>longer has any pier or diving facility.
>
> What a shame.

Sand Dollar has both a pier and a dive shop.....they just aren't located
where the old dock was. Next door, on the dirt road to Den Laman, they have
built a dive shop (though the last time I was there the photo shop was in a
cargo container...no kidding) and they have a newer dock further down
between the restaurant and where the Green parrot used to be. It isn't
nearly the same, or as convenient as the old dock was, but they do have it.

Another issue, for some of us, is that the Sand Dollar photo shop was
probably the best waterfront photo shop in the Caribbean. In my view better
than the fine facility Cathy Church has on Grand Cayman. I don't remember
his name, but the guy who operated it had really put together a fine
comprehensive photo facility. The new photo shop (which may or may not still
be operating out of the cargo container) is run by someone else..a Dutch
guy. He's a good man and knows his stuff but because he is just starting out
he doesn't stock nearly the variety and amount of equipment, parts and
pieces that the old SD photo shop did.

I know to those of you who don't shoot it doesn't matter, but for
photographers Sand Dollar Photo could at times be a lifesaver. I think the
shop up at Habitat is now the best photo option on Bonaire.