Snorkeling

News about snorkeling

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Second 2009 Underwater Cleanup is Saturday, April 18, 2009

The second quarterly underwater cleanup will take place at the dive site, Cliff, on Saturday, April 18, 2009.  All interested participants should meet at Dive Friends @ Hamlet at 1:00 PM. 

Everyone is welcome, and those not diving can also help, since shore support is always needed.  All participants are welcome to return at 5:30 PM at Dive Friends @ Yellow Submarine for the event’s customary BBQ; drinks and main courses will be provided by Dive Friends and NetTech, but participants are asked to bring a side dish to share.

For additional information about the cleanups, click here. (Source:  Dive Friends Bonaire and NetTech, N.V.)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Joint Effort Removes Over 60 Automotive Tires from Bonaire’s Reefs

Recently, a joint effort between sailboat cruisers and the Bonaire National Marine Park resulted in the removal of over 60 automotive tires from the shallows along the shoreline of Kralendijk.

Chief Ranger of the Marine Park, Din Domacasse, attended a meeting in which it was agreed that three park staff members--Juan, Apo, and Polina-- and a park boat would work together with the cruisers to pick up only those tires that had no coral or sponge growth on them.

A survey of the boaters resulted in 100 percent participation among them, as over forty people were organized into teams made up of divers, swimmers, and boat workers. Toucan Diving kindly provided free air fills for the divers. At the close of January, the group worked tirelessly (pun intended!) for three hours to retrieve over sixty tires, which eventually filled a garbage bin, provided by Bonaire’s waste management company, Selibon.

This event was so successful that the cruisers have agreed to complete the cleanup of tires from the remainder of the mooring area and adjacent reef.  STINAPA Bonaire thanks all the participants who made this special cleanup a big success.  (Source:  STINAPA)

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

First 2009 Underwater Cleanup is Saturday, January 10, 2009

The first quarterly underwater cleanup will take place at the dive site, Windsock, at Donkey Beach on Saturday, January 10, 2009.  All interested participants should meet at Dive Friends @ Port Bonaire at 1:00 PM.

Everyone is welcome, and those not diving can also help, since shore support is always needed.  This particular dive site, Windsock, is located at an area of popular beach activities, so much debris and trash can easily blow into the water.  This is a new site for the underwater cleanups, so it’s anticipated there will be plenty of trash to clean.

All participants are welcome to return at 4:30 PM for the event’s customary BBQ, held at Dive Friends @ Port Bonaire; drinks and main courses will be provided by Dive Friends and NetTech, but participants are asked to bring a side dish to share.

For additional information about the cleanups, click here. (Source:  Dive Friends Bonaire and NetTech, N.V.)

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The Pacific Lionfish Continues Spreading Southward in the Caribbean Region

As a followup to a prior story, the invasive Pacific fish, the lionfish, has now been sighted in Belize, the first such sighting in Central America.  As the species spreads southward, the Bonaire National Marine Park is making plans for its arrival on Bonaire.

Although not yet sighted in the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba, it’s only a matter of time before the lionfish makes an appearance in local waters.  Certain research by Mark Albins in the Bahamas indicates that a single lionfish transplanted onto small patch reefs can reduce the recruitment of natives fishes by 80%.

Because of the effect the species may make on Bonaire’s reefs, STINAPA and the Bonaire National Marine Park are making proactive plans for the fish’s arrival.

The lionfish has no natural predators in the local Caribbean waters, which is one reason why it can easily consume a large number of small reef fish.  Therefore, STINAPA is instituting a plan to use the island’s dive guides, who are in the water each day, to immediately notify the marine park when a lionfish is spotted.  When this occurs, Bonaire National Marine Park staff will enter the water at that dive site, and each ranger will be carrying two aquarium-type nets, and their plan will be to catch the fish and thus remove it from the area.  STINAPA does acknowledge that this plan may have to be adjusted as time passes, depending upon the number of sightings reported. 

Lad Akins, from REEF, provides some valuable web site links for lionfish information and reportings of sightings.  He reports that many have already been collaborating on research, education/outreach, early detection/reporting/rapid response and control, and many lessons have been learned from the past few years of intense work in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the US East Coast and the northern Caribbean.

For those of interested in staying current on lionfish distribution and new reports, please consider signing up for the USGS early warning notification system.  All data that is received is forwarded into this master database and any new records of lionfish or other non-native species are broadcast to those signed up for the early warning system. You can access the site at by clicking here, and just follow the links to subscribe.  For each of the records listed in the lionfish distribution map, additional information is accessed by clicking on the map dot.  Records in this system are well vetted and QA generally requires an image or very strong evidence of occurrence before inclusion.

Another site of interest may be the lionfish progression map showing the spread of this invasion by year, available by clicking here.  This map is updated regularly though not daily.

Sightings of lionfish and other non-native species can be reported via either the REEF Exotic Species Reporting page or the USGS NAS System. (Source:  NACRI and STINAPA (Bonaire National Marine Park))

Note Update January 15, 2009: The invasive Lionfish are coming further and further south and are now reported from the Providence/San Andres area (Colombian islands close to Nicaragua) at about the same latitude as the ABC islands. This sighting has now also been included on the USGS map of all sightings.

Lionfish reaching the Colombian islands are attributed to larvae coming in from the Greater Antilles, i.e. Jamaica, Hispañola and Puerto Rico, where they are now well established. The spread so far fits with theories on how drifting larvae spread throughout the region and with satellite studies on the distribution of released drifters.

Note that the fish in this report appears to be a grown adult, so it must have been swimming around there for at least a few years before now finally being spotted. And these are islands popular with divers. We might already have them in our islands but just not know it. Keep a look out and if one is sited in our waters, try to take a picture, and make note of depth, dive site, and any other locational notes, then contact the Bonaire National Marine Park at 717-8444.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Dive Friends Bonaire Announces New Programs and Enhancements for 2009

Dive Friends Bonaire, the island’s largest independent dive facility, has exciting plans for visiting Bonaire divers for 2009, with new programs and other enhancements to make each dive vacation unique.

Photographic and videographic services will be augmented on December 21, 2008 when Capture Photo Bonaire joins Dive Friends at the Dive Friends @ Dive Inn location on the southern section of the oceanfront promenade.  Capture will provide underwater camera rentals and sales, classes in underwater photography or videography, digital image processing, as well as camera repairs.  Having the expertise of Capture’s imaging specialists will enable guests of Dive Friends Bonaire to begin, or improve upon, their own underwater photographic endeavors, or let the experts join in on a dive to capture the moment forever in video or still photography, so divers can share their underwater vacation memories with family and friends.  There will be a Grand Opening in early 2009 to celebrate.

Dive Friends Bonaire’s two retail stores in Kralendijk—Dive Friends @ Divers Discount and Dive Friends @ Dive Retail Outlet—offer a complete selection of dive equipment and surf and beach apparel.  Additionally, Dive Friends is pleased to announce that they have been named an authorized dealer for both ScubaPro and Uwatec, and therefore, new equipment from both manufacturers will be available in January.

For popular beach- and surf-wear, the new 2009 collection of Oceancore board shorts is available, along with new Body Glove rash guards.  The high-quality t-shirt line by Deep Down is available in the stores in January, 2009, and just in time for holiday shopping is the latest collection of Reef sandals and apparel.  Coming in 2009 is a Dive Friends Bonaire Buyers Card, jointly sponsored by Reef, which will provide Dive Friends’ customers with a buying card.  After ten purchases on the card, customers will receive 10% of the total value of prior purchases off their next purchase; some restrictions apply—contact Dive Friends for more information.

For those divers who enjoy continuing their diving education, Dive Friend Bonaire’s has added a new PADI distinctive specialty to their instruction roster, entitled The PADI Shore Diver Distinctive Specialty.  Since many of Bonaire’s visitors have experience with boat diving only, this course will help familiarize participants with enjoyment of the island’s shore diving locations—there are fifty official dive sites on Bonaire’s leeward coast.  The course includes a short academic session with two dives where participants will learn the necessary skills to independently plan and conduct safe, easy, and fun shore dives.

Dive Friends Bonaire is one of Bonaire’s premier diving facilities offering full diving and snorkeling services while still providing personal attention.  Two retail stores are available in Kralendijk, in addition to four diving facilities.  For additional information about all their services, visit their web site at www.dive-friends-bonaire.com, or e-mail: info@dive-friends-bonaire.com.  (Source:  Dive Friends Bonaire)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Pacific Lionfish is an Invasive New Species Spreading Within the Caribbean

The Pacific Lionfish or Red Lionfish has been rapidly spreading throughout Caribbean waters. It was first sighted in the Florida Bay in 1992, possibly escaped from an aquarium during hurricane Andrew or released by aquarium enthusiasts. 

Over the next ten years, it spread along the southeastern coast of the United States and then jumped to Bermuda. In 2004, it was reported in the Bahamas where it quickly spread. In 2007, it reached the Turks & Caicos Islands and Cuba, and this year it reached Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the Dominican Republic. It was thought that it could not cross the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico, as this appears to be a natural barrier to larval transport, but in June this year many juveniles were reported from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Now it appears to have been sighted in St. Lucia.

It is only a matter of time before it arrives in the Netherlands Antilles, either in Bonaire and Curacao or in the Windward islands. The species can be very dangerous to our local ecosystems, eating fish that are not adapted to avoid these ravenous predators. It grows to 45 cm (about 18") and it is also dangerous to humans because of its long and sharp spines that inject a poison that is excruciatingly painful, similar in effect to a scorpionfish sting. It has no natural enemies in our waters, although reportedly groupers may eat it. 

The Red Lionfish inhabits coral reefs in depths of about 10 to 175 meters (30 to 575 feet). If you spot this fish, please report it immediately to the Bonaire National Marine Park at 717-8444. Take a photograph, if possible. For more information on this invasive species, click here.  (Source:  VOMIL)

Friday, October 17, 2008

Bonaire is Back to Business Following Tropical System Omar

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the tropical weather system Omar passed close to Bonaire, causing some wind, rain, and heavy seas.  Now, just days after the storm has passed through the region, the island remains open for visiting tourists. 

Flamingo Airport Bonaire did not close and is fully operational with slight disruptions in flights. Hotels are operating and report minimal damage beyond beach erosion, trees down, standing water in low-lying areas and loss of planking on docks. A report on reef conditions is pending receipt of data from the Bonaire National Marine Park.

All roads are accessible and island-wide clean-up continues. Structural damages to public areas are being evaluated and technical assistance is already in place to repair their infrastructures.  Diving activities resumed today in force throughout the island.  Underwater visibility is reported at near 75 feet, and is getting better each day.

Travelers who are scheduled to arrive on Bonaire in the next few days and have specific questions about airline schedules or hotel accommodations should contact their travel professionals, airlines, and hotels directly for information.  However, the Bonaire Insider has received the following reports from tourism entities on the island:

Dive Friends Bonaire reports that some minor damage was done to their piers at Yellow Submarine and Dive Inn.  One pier has already been repaired, while the second pier will require a bit more time to make proper repairs.  In the meantime, both piers are operational, and all their facilities are operating at 100% capacity.

Woodwind Sail & Guided Snorkel reports that they are open for business as of Sunday, October 19th.  Departures are now from the north pier at Divi Flamingo Beach Resort and Casino.

VINIBU at Bellevue reports no problems or damage other than there’s a little less sand on the beach now, which should return in the coming months.

Black Durgon Inn reports that no diving was missed as their divers dove the east side during the wind reversal. Today they are back diving out front of the Black Durgon with reports that, although there is sand covering some of the corals, visibility was over 60 feet and they viewed normal marine life.

Bonaire Dive & Adventure, Den Laman Condominiums, and Sand Dollar Condominium Resort are pleased to report that the Bonaire Dive & Adventure pier, which was closed during September 2008 for routine maintenance, was unaffected by the storm, and is “open for business” as usual for all Sand Dollar and Den Laman guests.

Den Laman Condominiums and Seaside Apartments both report no damage to their properties and they are fully operational.

Coral Paradise Resort reports that after a light cleanup, they are fully operational.  There’s no damage to the hotel and all diving activities are continued at this time.

As additional reports are received, we’ll be sure to post them. (Source:  TCB-NY, Bonaire Insider Reporter)

Note Update October 18, 2008: Captain Don’s Habitat also reports that they returned to normal operations on Friday morning, October 17th, 2008 and conducted their three regularly scheduled boat dives from Papa Dock. While some repairs are needed to Baby Dock, shore diving is being conducted from the new walk-in coral beach directly in front of the equipment locker area.  A ladder has also been placed on the north side of Papa Dock for those wishing to enter and exit the water in that manner.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Final 2008 Underwater Cleanup Marks Tenth Anniversary of Keeping Bonaire’s Reefs Clean

On Saturday, September 20, 2008, a group of nearly 40 divers, snorkelers, and shore support, representing several countries, gathered together to assist with the final underwater cleanup of 2008, conducted in an area of Bonaire’s anchorage in front of Dive Friends @ Yellow Submarine. 

During a complete briefing, it was explained what trash should be recovered and what should be left behind, as well as how to keep from damaging any marine animals.  Shortly afterward, the divers entered the water, descended and began to fill their bags with trash.  When filled, the bags were brought to the surface to those working as shore support.  There, Dive Friends crew and volunteers checked once again to be sure no marine creatures had been inadvertently included, counted and tallied the trash for statistics, and then disposed of it responsibly.

It was exactly a year since this area of the anchorage had last been cleaned, and in that year, the following trash accumulated and was brought out of the water for proper disposal:  1 paper bag, 3 plastic bags, 4 plastic beverage bottles, 71 glass bottles or beverage cans, caps and lids, 4 pieces of clothing, 12 pieces of monofilament fishing line, 1 fishing lure, 3 pieces of rubber, 23 pieces of assorted plastic, 2 car parts, 7 pieces of building materials, 1 piece of carpet, 1 pair of glasses, 1 anchor, 1 key ring, and 6 pieces of wire.

After the dive, all participants and their families were welcomed back for a Pot Luck BBQ—Dive Friends Bonaire and NetTech, the sponsors of the quarterly Bonaire cleanups, provided drinks and main courses, while participants supplied side dishes.

Since this particular cleanup, also held in conjunction with World Cleanup Day, marked the tenth anniversary of regular cleanups, four lucky winners were awarded raffle prizes that included free diving services with Dive Friends Bonaire or free Bonaire email accounts with NetTech.

Images from this cleanup are available online at the Bonaire Insider Photo Gallery by clicking here.

The next quarterly underwater cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, January 10, 2008.  Additional information about the cleanups is available at: http://www.dive-friends-bonaire.com/clean_up_dives.html.  All are welcome to join in.  (Source:  Dive Friends Bonaire and NetTech)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

CIEE Announces Upcoming Public Lectures

The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) on Bonaire has just announced their schedule for upcoming, free, public lectures.

At 7:00 PM on Tuesday, September 30th, Ben Holt, PhD, The Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom will speak on “The Importance of Being Colorful on the Reef.”

At 7:00 PM on Tuesday, October 21st, Maria Uyarra, also of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, will speak about “Appropriate Management of Tourism: An Essential Tool for Coral Reef Conservation in Bonaire.”

And finally, at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, November 20th, Claudia C. Johnson, PhD, Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, U.S.A., will speak about “Coral Survival in the Face of Changing Ocean Temperatures and Ocean Chemistry in Bonaire.”

All lectures are free, and everyone is invited to attend.  The CIEE Research Station Bonaire is located at Kaya Gobernador N Debrot 21 in Kralendijk.  For additional information, phone locally to 717-4140, or visit their web site by clicking here.  (Source:  CIEE Bonaire)

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Dive Friends Bonaire Launches the “Bonaire Easy Flight” Program

Dive Friends Bonaire announces the launching of its new Bonaire Easy Flight Program, to assist Bonaire-bound visiting divers with containing travel costs necessary to transport dive equipment.

Some Bonaire visitors have been already affected by new baggage fees being assessed by airlines, especially if they have domestic segments or layovers in the itinerary.  Additionally, some U.S. airlines have already increased the fee for a second checked bag to $50.00 one way, so packing dive equipment now can be a costly luxury.

To counteract these additional fees, Dive Friends has a new program available January 1st, 2009 and effective the entire year.  Any diver who books six consecutive days of diving can receive a package price with full dive equipment included at a discounted price, thus alleviating the need for extra baggage fees or the inconvenience of having to transport gear.  Of course, dive packages may continue to be booked without equipment, too.

Divers who reserve a minimum of six consecutive days of unlimited shore diving and full equipment are eligible for a package price of $350.00.

Divers who reserve a minimum of six consecutive days of unlimited shore diving, three two-tank boat dives, and full equipment are eligible for a package price of $435.00.

Restrictions do apply and sales tax is applicable; packages for diving and equipment must be booked a minimum of fourteen days prior to arrival, and the offer is subject to availability.  Rates are subject to change without notice.  For more information, visit the Dive Friends web site by clicking here, or email info@dive-friends-bonaire.com. (Source:  Dive Friends Bonaire)