Bonaire 2009

Once again the island worked its magic on us with the warm tropical air, the friendly people, the great food and most of all the wonderful diving. I think everyone in our group of 10 divers plus the two non-diving Muhlhausen daughters had a great time.

The diving in Bonaire offers something for everyone. Most dives start in shallow reefs with lots of small marine life to keep one’s attention. The reefs generally drop off pretty steeply and one can venture as deep as you want. Most of us stuck to one hour dives and stretched out gas supplies by staying shallow at the end. The rebreather contingent was able to dive deeper at times and enjoy a leisurely decompression on the second half of the dive while slowly ascending along the reef – still sticking to a one hour profile.

All the dives were great, but a special one for me was where we started on “The Lake” along the south central west shore. On this part of the island, there are two reef systems separated by a sandy valley. The valley is studded with wild coral formations at times resembling giant mushrooms. We headed south along the edge of the reef until a dark shape loomed ahead of us. This was the “Hilma Hooker”, perhaps Bonaire’s best known wreck site. We were able to do a leisurely tour of the Hooker before heading back at shallower depths to our exit point.

On most days we started with two boat dives on the Green Flash, one of Toucan Divers dive boats. Returning mid day, we tried to work in some lunch, before heading out in our pickups for an afternoon dive or two. We managed a couple of night dives during the week at the Plaza Resorts dive site, “18 Palms”, and usually finished the day with a fairly late dinner in one of Bonaire’s marvelous restaurants.

Perhaps my only regrets about diving Bonaire are that there are only 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. Most days we were hard pressed to get in all the dives we wanted to and still find time to eat. And 7 days is hardly long enough to fully appreciate the island.

More pictures (lots) are available at: http://picasaweb.google.com/darthmuhl

We’re working on plans for a return trip in 2010.

It wasn't Bonaire, but it was still nice diving.
A small, hardy group of us did two dives on the Sea Girt Wreck on
Memorial Day. The topside conditions couldn't have been nicer with
bright sun and flat seas.
Underwater the visibility was surprisingly good. Very clear near the
surface and maybe 20 - 30 ft on the bottom. The water near the surface
was around 52 degrees and after a thermocline at around 30 ft it dropped
to a chilly 46 degrees. (Compare this with 81 degrees in Bonaire :-( )

Thanks to my trusty rebreather, I got to explore more of this wreck than
I'd ever covered previously. Lots and lots of sea bass especially near
the chain pile on the east end. I didn't see any lobsters on the first
dive, but found two on the second. Lost a battle with the one that
looked legal and now I'm nursing a very sore thumb.

All in all a great day of NJ wreck diving and made getting up a the
unholy hour of 4:00 AM worth it.


Carl

For Seal Team pics follow this link - http://www.flickr.com/photos/scubasteved/

Hope you all had a good time!!

Sharon

Call it busy, call it lazy, but it has been a while since I updated. So, the economy is deeper then the Stolt, winter has been cold and long, Rex is finally marrying Karen, what else can happen this year? Well, there is nothing left to do but go diving. Ok granted the water is still bloody cold but we can start thinking about it. I am thinking about shore dives, lots of them. Like to get back to the duel wrecks off of Long Branch, the Pliny off of Deal. Or how about the Bluffs wreck off of Bay Head? And let’s not forget about our inlets both Shark River and the Manasquan. And of course my home away from home the Back Bay. My point is there are a lot of places to dive for no more than the cost of an air fill.

If you are looking for something to do in the meantime the New Jersey Shipwreck Symposium is happening Saturday May 2^nd 2009 from 2-6pm at the InfoAge Science/History Center. The Address is 2201 Marconi Rd Wall NJ. Our own Tina Held will be hosting the even and Steve and Maureen Langevin will be doing a Video presentation on The Women of Northeast Wreck Diving.

Please, Please, Please if you need to get your equipment serviced don’t wait until June 1^st. Now is the time to get those regs tuned up and tanks VIPed before the summer rush.

Well Happy Spring to All

Steve D