I thought you guys might enjoy some photos from my recent diving trip to Capt. Don's Habitat on the island of Bonaire in the Southern Caribbean. This was our 24th trip to Bonaire and we had a great time. I usually don't take many pictures , but I took a digital camera in an underwater housing with me this time and got a few nice shots.
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Above is our 2010 trip t-shirt.
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These are the docks we dive from. The near one is for shore diving. One reason we like Capt. Don's is the ease of shore diving. The reef is just 30 yards out in front of the dock!!. The larger dock is where the dive boats tie off to pick up divers for boat dives. Our package had 12 boat dives this year.
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Above is our boat.
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Here are my buddy and I heading out for a boat dive.
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A nice little barracuda.
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a frogfish
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A goldentail moray eel
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A green moray eel
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Frogman and a crinoid sea lilly
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Checking out a whitespotted file fish
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Exploring the wreck of the Hilma Hooker. This ship was stranded on Bonaire in 1984. The crew dissapeared and several tons of marjuana were found hidden in the ship. The ship was towed to a safe place and sunk in the sand. The bottom here is at 100 feet.
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On the wreck
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Exploring inside the wreck
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That's me and a nice tarpon
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Me at the ship's prop
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Above is a scorpion fish. Their spines are poisonous!!
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A sponge and a diver
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Sponge and diver
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Diver and reef squid
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Reef squid
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Loggerhead turtle
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A yellowtail snapper
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French angel fish
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Another goldentail eel
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Beneath the boat
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A sea horse
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Capt. Don Stewart, the father of diving on Bonaire! Our friend!! Just 85 years old June 25th!!
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Visiting with Capt. Don
That's a lot of pictures. I hope they all upload OK. Hope you guys enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them!!
MAKE BUBBLES!!
Jim
Wow nice. I like the turtle and hate the Moray :innocentwhistle:. How come there were no pictures of hot young babes without shirts :doh2:.
Really neat pictures and I am glad that you took the camera.
Jerry
That's flippin awesome. It's amazing to see some of those things under there.
Those reef squids, gave me the willys :sad3: ...great big ole eyeball staring ya down. Wow.
Cool pics! :yoyo:
Nice pictures, Frogman! Like diving in one's bath tub! :eyebrownod:
Those are some purdy cool pics Jim. Thanks for sharing. Those sponges under the water look a lot like the land type sponges we have here at wally world. :laf: :laf:
Very cool Jim !! I've snorkeled before and really enjoyed it.
I'd love to scuba dive sometime. Thanks a lot for sharin with us. :congrats: :congrats:
Those are really cool photos Jim! My brother inlaw is a certified Professional diver. He does some work now and again for underwater cable companies, wreck recoveries, and accidents. He's told me that folks would not venture into the river around the Pittsburgh area if they knew what was lurking on the bottom! Works for me! As I'll stay above the waterline. LOL!
Dave
great shots !!! very nice
Great pictures Jim. That has to be really cool to be down there seeing everything.
Wow these are really good ! I can understand why you enjoy diving on the reefs.
Jeb
:yoyo: Great pics Jim!
Jim, those pics are simply awesome!!! :highclap: :yoyo:
It's amazing that there is such a vast amount of different sea life on such a small section of reef. It looks like you all chose your dive site wisely. ;yes; :thumb2: :congrats:
A hearty "Ribot" to you, Sir Froggie! Glad you had a nice trip. Thanks for sharing the great pictures. :congrats: :congrats:
DANG! For a minute there I thought I got on a Jacques Cousteau website by mistake. :biggrin:
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! :thumb2:
Do Moray eels go around w/ their mouths open all the time? :confused:
:laf:
Shoot thats a great post Froggy!!! :congrats: Seems like it sure would be rtelaxing and fun to the point ya just wouldn't want to come out of the water.
WOW, just amazing.
Hey guys,
Thanks for all the nice comments. I have been very fortunate to do all the diving I have done over the years. It really is a very enjoyable sport. Very relaxing and quiet. Non-competetive. When we get back on the boat everyone is talking all at once telling what they saw. Diving is a very sharing kind of activity. Makes for a great vacation!! The eels do not always keep their mouths open. But they do open and close them continuously to keep water passing over their gills. They are not really dangerous, just as long as you don't jerk on their tails!?!? Here are a few more photos . . .
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That's me enjoying a dive
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Sponge and diver. I lilke these type of photos, so I had several similar ones.
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(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee269/Frog6man/bonaire2010/squid14.jpg)
These reef squid are really neat. The camera really doesn't do justice to their iridescent colors!
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee269/Frog6man/bonaire2010/tarpon4.jpg)
There were several of these 3 to 4 foot long tarpon on the wreck. They see divers every day and are therefore easy to photograph.
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A spotted drum.
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On the boat on the way to a dive site.
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A couple of our divers discussing the dive.
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A school of little barracuda.
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My dive buddy Donnie and a brain coral.
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I took several shots of this green moray eel. Notice in the second photo one of our brave divers is wiggling her finger at him???
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A peacock flounder. These guys can instantly change colors to match their background. Wish I could figure out how they do it. I would market a new type of camo for coyote hunters!!!
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee269/Frog6man/bonaire2010/DSCN1092.jpg)
And back to the boat ladder after another great dive.
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I'll end with a beautiful Boanire sunset. Some say they saw the "green flash" on this one but I'm skeptical??
I just wish I could get some shots of a dead coyote?????
Thanks for looking guys. Hope you enjoy!!
Jim
Very nice Jim. :yoyo: :yoyo: Thanks so much for sharing.
Pat
Them are pretty incredible and I see you got one half right :innocentwhistle:. The eel would have the space to himself if it had been me there :puke:.
Ya how those eels are always around crevices Barry.
You'd diffidently want to keep your diving britches up where they belong. :huh:
:alscalls: :alscalls: :alscalls:
Jim: How many dives did you do in a day & how many day were you there?
Great pictures Jim, lot of beautiful and amazing fish. Glad you have a great time every time you go there.
John
vv . . .
We were there from Saturday til Saturday. I did 13 dives. Can't dive the last day as we need at least 24 hours out of the water before we fly to avoid bends problems. Several in our group did many more dives. 26 was the most I think. I was having some discomfort from a tooth problem which limited the number of dives I felt like doing. The pressure must have been affecting a filling or something. We had 12 boat dives in our package. The diving right off the dock is really good. many of our group would comeback in from a boat dive, grab another tank and do another dive right off the dock. We also did some night dives off the dock as well. I lead groups to Bonaire each year. This was our 24th consecutive group to the island. Many of the people that work at the resort are friends that we have gotten to know over the years. Capt. Don especially, even though he is no longer active in running the resort.
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This is the room we stayed in.
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The view from our window. The pool below. I was in the pool once I think.
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The breakfast buffet.
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The restaurant at the resort where we had most of our meals.
The package price for this trip was about $2000.00. That included airfare from Columbus, OH, all your breakfasts, 12 boat dives, unlimited shore diving, airport transfers, a 2010 Scuba WV Bonaire trip t-shirt, and a Rum Punch party. Tanks and weights are also provided. We take our regulators, bouyancy control vests, mask, snorkel, fins, and suits. This is a really good deal, considering all that is included and the quality of the diving at Boanire! That's why we keep going back.
Jim
That is a great deal, Jim! I might have to join you next year! :eyebrow:
I've made dives at Cozumel and the clarity of the water sure beats Cumberland Lake in KY. :eyebrownod:
Semp,
That would be great. I would really enjoy sharing Bonaire and it's great diving with you! The trip will probably be scheduled for either the last week in June or the first week in July. With the economy the way it is the price might be even lower next year?? Maaybe we could get some more FnFrs certified to join us. The snorkeling is really good also!!
Jim