Scuba Steve's Blog

Bonaire 2008 - GONE

I will add pictures to this in a separate posting. For now, this is the text version. If you want, take a look at a couple pictures I have posted so far as well as a couple videos of the wrath we felt of Hurricane Omar!!

Well, it is over. Bonaire 2008 is done. There was definitely some excitement though. Anybody that knows Bonaire, they know it is Shore Diving Heaven. Well, until now I never though that that statement would require a qualifier to be spoken with it. It should actually say “Shore Diving Heaven when there is not a Hurricane over top of it”. It really was a great week, but there was 2.5 days where we could not dive because of the effect from What ended up being Hurricane Omar. Bonaire got hit with a maximum of a Tropical Storm and not a hurricane, but wow the ocean was angry.

Day # 1 (Saturday)

- Arrived in Newark Airport from Buffalo and had a 4.5 hour wait

- Paid the money to have access to the “President’s Club Lounge”. The cost was $45 for 24 hours access but it was well worth it for a long wait.

- Sat in comfort and enjoyed free drinks and snacks and the company of the two people I was travelling with and 2 new friends from ScubaBoard (Dwayne and Julie). It was a great time.

- We tried to connect with Dwayne & Julie for a couple of dives but it never actually happened. Next Time.

- Our flight left for Bonaire on time around 11:55pm

Day # 2 (Sunday)

- Landed in Bonaire around 4:40am

- Arrived at Den Laman around 6:00am and was able to check into our room early thanks to Monique not sleeping well and getting up early.

- Enjoyed coffee with friends (John & Lisa) that we were meeting there

- Short Orientation with Bonaire Dive & Adventure, Grocery shopping and 2 Bari Reef dives

Day # 3 (Monday)

- Introduction to UnderWater Photography course with Fish Eye Photo

- 9:00am ~ 11:00am was quick classroom introduction then a 1 hour Bari Reef dive to try to put classroom introduction to work

- Invisibles (great dive but did not see anything spectacular – somehow I could not find the second reef???)

- Andrea II (great dive – saw 2 turtles)

Day # 4 (Tuesday)

- Woke up to do an early’sh Bari Reef dive, suited up in our room, carried everything down to the dock and realized that conditions were bad due to Omar

- Reluctantly we stood there in full scuba gear (no tanks yet) watching the waves pound the shore (I was thinking to myself “If we time the entry right........just maybe….NOT”)

- Coffee with the group and then we decided to drive around and see just how bad it was.

Day # 5 (Wednesday)

- Planned ahead of time to NOT dive

- Drove around again as the weather was much nicer but the waves had not stopped

Day # 6 (Thursday)

- Planned Wednesday to be up and suited up by 6:00am to try to get lots of dives in. Saw from the conditions that they were anything but perfect. We still decided to do a dive but it was 7:00 or so before we got into the water.

- Conditions going in were OK on the surface but the visibility was 3-4 feet between about 0 feet and 20 feet. Below that there was little wrong other than a bit of a current.

- When we surfaced, the conditions had degraded significantly and a terrific surface current picked up. Surface swells were estimated at about 7 feet.

- Did not do another morning dive but planned on doing some afternoon dives.

- Tried Andrea II but the waves were still knocking people off their feet so we then went to the “Wild Side”. Conditions seemed better but people were hesitant so we aborted before we started.

- Got back and did one more Bari Reef dive. The conditions had improved drastically but it was far from perfect. We found our first frogfish but because of the condition of getting out of the morning dive, we both left our cameras in the room. Does that not just figure? So, I mentally recorded where it was for the next day.

Day # 7 (Friday)

- Woke early enough to be in the water at Bari Reef by 8:00. Went straight for the frogfish to see if it is still there. Obviously since I got pictures it must have been.

- Drove over to West coast and dove Baby Beach….the exit was challenging

- Dove Corp Meiss…..this is always a great dive.

- Final Dive was Bari Reef because it is close and handy

Day # 8 (Saturday) OFF GAS DAY

- Spent about 45 minutes in line and gas tank EMPTY waiting to get gas because some of the stations were closed due to lack of fuel (my guess is because of Omar).

- Went to the Donkey Sanctuary and had some real laughs.

- Had Bobbie Jeans take away for dinner….finally. I have to agree their ribs are delicious.

- Packed and dreaded going home

Day # 9 (Sunday)

- Was up at an ungodly hour (namely 3:00am) so that we could have a couple coffees and still be on our way by 3:30am

- Everything moved quite smoothly at the airport and other than a Continental BLIP of a gate change in Newark, all went smooth the rest of the day.

Number________Date________D.O.W. ________Site

1________________10/12__________Sunday___________Bari Reef

2________________10/12__________Sunday___________Bari Reef

3________________10/13__________Monday___________Bari Reef

4________________10/13__________Monday___________Invisibles

5________________10/13__________Monday___________Andrea II