Bonaire - Sept 11-18, 1999
Well, we are back from our trip to Bonaire. This was my third trip and my Lynne's second. In the past, I have stayed at the Sand Dollar and Buddy's. This time we stayed at The Plaza Resort and dove with Toucan Diving. We just wanted to try a little more "luxurious" accommodations.
We departed from the Baltimore Airport on an 8:30am Air Jamaica flight that connected in Montego Bay with another Air Jamaica flight and then proceeded directly to Bonaire. We arrived ON TIME with ALL OUR LUGGAGE AT 2:35PM. What a treat. In the past, all the flights from Baltimore arrived in Bonaire after 8:00pm.
We were met at the airport Plaza personnel and whisked to the resort. After a fast check-in, we proceeded to our room and changed into our swim suits in preparation for our checkout dive. This dive is normally done in the mornings, but I had E-mailed Steve at Toucan Divers and was told that he would arrange for check-out on our day of arrival. By doing this, we could make the first boat on Sunday morning. Thanks again Steve, you're the best.
On arrival at Toucan Diving's shop, we were greeted by Steve, did the paperwork and C-card thing, shown around and told where things were and how the operation worked. We were then met at the pool, given the layout of the beach diving entries and did our checkout dive. We were now ready for the next morning.
The diving
I had planned to do at least four dives per day, including two boat dives and a couple of shore dives. However the strangest thing happened. My wife and I are both in our early 50s and due to a couple of sore backs and a little laziness, we only managed to do three dives per day; all of which were boat dives. It was just sooooo easy and laid-back, we couldn't help ourselves. The first two-tank boat departed promptly at 8:30am. We usually, but not always, did our first dives somewhere off of Kline Bonaire. The second dive would then be another Kline dive or one of the more northern dive sites off of Bonaire. On the am boat we were given ice water, fruit and/or sandwiches and fruit juice between dives. BTW, the boat usually had no more than eight divers and sometimes only four. . Again, this was a real pleasure. We would usually return to the dock anywhere between 12:00pm and 1:00pm. The one tank afternoon boat would leave at 1:30pm. Since I was trying our some new camera techniques and settings, this was just enough time to run to town and drop off my film and make the afternoon boat. The pm boat would then take us to a Klein site or usually another more northerly site.
Just a short paragraph about Toucan Diving's operation. This was the first time I have used this operation. Since I don't like to type, I'll keep this short and to the point. This is a first class, professional, fun and friendly group. The divemasters are great, know the sites, know where to find the elusive frogfish and seahorses and will show you a great time. They will give you all the freedom you want or hold your hand, if that is what you desire. The boats are big, fast and well maintained; they have all new tanks and equipment; offer Nitrox for those certified for it's use and operate a great facility. For shore diving, you can just back your vehicle up to the fill station and grab whatever you need. From your vehicle to the fill station is about 10 feet. Every bit as good as Buddy's and better. I would not hesitate to use them again. I would like to offer a special thanks to Willy and Picu (sorry if the spelling is not correct). You guys are the greatest.
Conditions
The diving conditions were, as usual, great. Surface to about 90' was usually 83F-84F. For the first time in my three trips, there was a distinct thermocline at several of the dive sites that dropped the temperature to around 81F. On one occasion, while we were searching out a frogfish at about 58', a cold water "wave" or "river", for lack of a better description, swept over us dropping the temperature from 84F to 81F in a period of several seconds. I have never experienced this before. Visibility was usually in the 75' to 85' range. There was, however, one exception. One night I awoke to a rain and wind storm at around 2:00am. While the rain was fairly heavy with a fair amount of wind, it was far from anything severe.
The next day in route to our first dive proved my perception of the storm was not correct. In addition to the wind and rain, the water in the harbor from just north of the airport extending to about a half mile north of town had been very rough the previous night. Many small boats, and several larger ones, were severely damaged or destroyed. We saw pieces of boats floating, several smaller boats just poking through the surface from their water graves and several boats smashed against the sea wall. It was not a pretty sight. Thankfully, no one was hurt or killed and damage to the town and dock side business was minimal. The following day, and only that day, the visibility decreased to about 50' in several areas while other areas remained in the 75'-85' range.
Food
We rarely eat any breakfast, usually just a light lunch and then pig out for dinner. The first night was at one of The Plaza's waterside bar/restaurants, can't recall the name. Food was very good and the atmosphere and view over the water was great. The second night we were off to Richard's. We had read and heard great things about Richard's, however, the restaurant was closed until the week after we departed Bonaire; bummer. We proceeded to town in search of The Capriccio Ristorante. We had little trouble finding it and promptly found the it, as with many restaurants on Bonaire, do not open till 7:00pm. Since it was 6:30pm, we went around the cornet and had a couple of beers at Karl's Beach Bar while we waited. Capriccio's has both a inside and outside seating area. Due to the heat and humidity, we elected to eat inside. The food was very good, price fairly high. We will return. The following night we tried a new place called Amadeus.
Our favorite restaurant
I am the first to admit my flaws. One of them is that when I find a restaurant I love, I can't stay away. Mona Lisa Bar & Restaurant is one of Lynne's and my all time favorites. This a small restaurant with only about 10 tables and reservation are highly recommended. Everything, we ate there was superb. They bake their own bread daily and serve it with home made garlic butter. The lamb was beyond belief. The next night we took two other couples back and they loved it. We then went overboard and ate at Mona Lisa's for a third night in a row. Boy it was great.
Photography
My present rig consists of a Nikon N90s in a Sea & Sea NX-90 housing. I use the 60mm and 105mm macro lenses and a 20mm wide angle. My favorite, at this moment is the 105mm macro. On this trip I experimented with my Sea &Sea YS-30 strobe mounted to the top of my port in the TTL mode. On occasion I would hand hold this strobe for different lighting effects. On other occasions, I would use two Sea & Sea YS-300 strobes in TTL in addition to the YS-30 in the slave TTL mode. Again, I sometimes hand held the YS-30 for different light effects. On this trip, my keeper count per roll went up significantly. Most of the shots were made at f 32. Some of my shots are on the Bonaire Pictures page. I hope you enjoy them.
Ed & Lynne