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Trip Reports: Bill and Donna plus Gideon during coral spawning time
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2004-08-02 to 2005-05-08: Bill and Donna plus Gideon during coral spawning time
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #56) on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 7:50 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We returned to Bonaire on Oct 2 for 12 days and, well, we sure played with some fish! This was our 4th trip to Bonaire in the last 12 months and our last trip report as well as most everyone else's has covered the diving/eating/sleeping basics and the usual suspects of the aquascape, so this report will mostly hit the weird and the unusual...

Let's start off on a romantic note. After meeting Mitch and Joan at Sun Oceanfront Apartments (Joan owns one of those), and then having dinner and water time with them at Josie and Muys' cliff edge home in Belnem, we met up for a late afternoon dive at our favorite reef, Margate Bay. We criss-crossed each others' paths underwater, but then we lost track of them. When we surfaced (after a typical dive time of 95 minutes - how your air lasts when you're relaxed in warm current-free water!), they were waiting for us. Asked about doing a night dive with us, Mitch replied that they wouldn't be going since they were "...heading for Mona Lisa to celebrate." Whatcha celebratin'? we asked... "I proposed to Joan during our safety stop and she accepted!" and as proof Mitch showed us his slate upon which was scrawled "Will you marry me honey?" Joan said she had immediately accepted, learning in the process what it was like to blush underwater. Congratulations Joan and Mitch!

On to the weird and unusual...

We made a dive with Bas on the east (wild) side again - first we drove way the heck outback to Boca Onima because the east side had been so calm the day before but now there was a troublesome swell breaking into the small very rugged cove and we decided not to risk it (getting into the water was probably not too much of a problem but if we had been getting out just as a wave set arrived there would have have been contusions and lacerations at the very least. So back to Lac Cai where it was very calm, no surf on the barrier reef, and absolutely no current in the channel - that was cool because this time we could linger a bit with the big snappers and tarpon who always hang in the channel. The reef produced some groupers and morays but not the eagle rays we had gone to see. The miniature sea fans that covered an upper slope of the reef where surf would normally be breaking were beautiful, as were the octopussies hiding in the rocks under the sea fans.

The very next day we encountered a spotted eagle ray at Margate, first on the forereef and later up on the shelf. We also found the giant green moray we had discovered there in July.

Down at Red Slave, conditions were as calm as they could be and, what's that - a lone dolphin playing around in 20 feet of water? Gideon had his snorkeling gear on first and as I was grabbing mine I caught glimpses of a fin and my son swirling around each other. I was there in a minute and watched as this rather small dolphin closely examined rubble until he (she?) found just the right place to scratch a little itch on his cheek. He swam around us, looking into our masks and making high-pitched sounds, for about ten minutes. Then a bunch of other divers came out and the dolphin left. Never seen a solitary dolphin like that before in my life...

Also at Red Slave, the three of us were swimming along around 70 feet when we spied what looked like a swarm of locusts darkening the sky up by the reef crest. We swam diagonally upwards as fast as was safe and lo and behold, there was the largest bait ball I've ever seen underwater, and really large fish to boot - not the usual small blue anchovie type but big silvery shad or herring or some such. Oh, did I mention my digital camera with 30 min. of mpeg capability flooded the day before? The only way to "capture" that school was in a movie... so this huge school (Gideon - the mathematician in real life - estimated 90,000-10,000 individuals - what a biomass) blocked out the sun, and underneath it in the dark space, maybe 10 feet between the bottom of the school and the crest of the reef, lurked several large tarpon. Through the school, with a very audible rushing sound, slashed a lone big barracuda. And the entire circus was patrolled by five large, very serious, all game-face crevalle jacks, shoulder to shoulder and looking dangerous (to a herring anyway). The huge mass of bait fish, the sea of eyes watching us, the varied predators, the play of light and dark and reflections, the sounds, the sheer otherworldliness of all this overwhelmed us and we spent our entire dive there. Not one of us made the slightest motion to leave until we were down to 700 psi - it was silently understood by all that this was something very special.

Spawning - we came for the spawn and we found it - we did a night dive at Margate and it was amazing but we were too early in the evening for spawning. After that we kept it at Buddy's because it is just so convenient there - the hassles of night diving are almost non-existent in their superb setup. So we would set everything up down on the dock, go up and have a delicious dinner, walk it off and make a late dive. We found the biggest coral head on Buddy Reef just as it "went off" - a magical sight to be sure. We saw all the brittle stars out doing their love thang, and other corals doing it too. It seems the magic time is between 10 and 11 PM during the appointed dates in September and Oct. Charlie the bigbigbig tarpon was there opportunizing on our lights, and so was the usual big Buddy schoolmaster and the several large spotted morays that have learned to hunt by our lights. Big green moray came out too - first time we've seen one at Buddy's.

At Cap'n Don's we swam up to Small Wall and really enjoyed it - amazing population of wire corals on it as well as the "vertical fish modality" you see at the piers. The Salt Pier was particularly generous this time, with big octopuses in their lairs and an abundance of the usual critters. The lighting there in the late afternoon is sensational, and we exited in time to catch the green flash in waist-deep water.

Tom and Jerry (our names for the almost-tame tiger grouper pair at Don's) were totally cool - first time we've met them - more like diving with a pair of frisky dawgs...

The condition of the reefs after Ivan - lots of dead soft corals and gorgonians piled up in drifts at the top of the reef at Red Slave, devastated staghorn in the Atlantis-Margate area, small amounts of damage other places, a little silting on coral and sponges, but overall not as bad as we had feared... the staghorn actually spreads its colonies in this method as the scattered broken-off "jacks" continue growing and turn into new thickets. We could see all the new growth (white corallites) already overgrowing the broken-off pieces. No storm damage seen below about 30 feet.

In the water column just to seaward of the reef crest one evening, the plankton pickers convention set up as usual, with one interesting difference - the immense number of small fish segregated themselves along a very clear line of demarcation - brown chromis to one side, juvenile creole wrasses to the other - in the slanting rays of sunlight, the brown and blue halves were remarkable. Then a squadron of five juvenile barracuda came off the reef and moved between the chromis and creole wrasses creating a most attractive tableau n silver, blue and brown.

Regatta Week - some good music but very noisey and very crowded with all the people from Curacao that came over just for the week-long festivities. Parking in town was at a premium and people went through our unlocked truck at night in town at least twice - stole a hat...

A negative - according to the most recent Bonarian Economic Bulletin, the local fishermen state that they don't fish on the reefs. Like many of you, we have seen them fishing a lot along the reefs of the south side - the guys that seasonally base themselves at Fishhut and down by Chogogo DO fish the shallows as well as the reef, and they do it every day and without any attempt to hide it. We have found new shiney hooks caught in the patch reefs at Margate and Atlantis, I followed a puffer with a big hook sticking out of its mouth, and we watched a man with a throw net working the shoreline of the Salt Pier. What's up with this? The barracuda, mahi and wahoo of the open waters as well as the deep water fish beyond the marine park boundaries aren't enough? What does STINAPA and Jack Chalk have to say about this?

Well, as soon as we get the pictures from my ol' Nikonos 3 developed we'll put the good ones up.

Love to you all...





 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By The Ginocchio's @ Golden Reef Inn (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #378) on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 11:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bill and Donna,

Glad you had such a great trip! We arrived home without fanfare on the 14th. Finally got the appointment with the neurosurgeon. Wish me luck, I will be going at 8:30 am on Nov. 16th. I am hoping to get all of this over and done with by the end of the year. When are you all planning to go back to Bonaire? We can't wait to see you guys again and HOPEFULLY dive with you! Hugs!

Ed and Liz Ginocchio

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linda Suter-Gibson (BonaireTalker - Post #16) on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 11:28 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

What amazing experiences you had!! I'm so jealous. None of that cool stuff ever happens to us. Can't wait to see your pictures. Did you get any of the bait ball?
Linda

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Meredith Lynch (BonaireTalker - Post #89) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 7:09 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

We also saw that huge bait ball in September and was totally amazed. I even had my camera in my hand but was so much in awe I didnt get any pics!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Smits (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #182) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 10:09 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The 4th trip in 12 month!! Already planning yr new trip I guess? You make me green.
And what a wonderful experiences. I would settle for 50%.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1202) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 12:02 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Bill and Donna, Glad you had a great trip! You are so lucky that you got to play with the dolphin!! I had heard of quite a few encounters with the lone dolphin while I was there. I even went to Red Slave with Renee, Liz and Ed to see if we could find him, but he wasn't around :-( Maybe next time! I did get to see two dolphins in the distance when I was on the Woodwind though it's not quite the same!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #57) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 12:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ed and Liz - yes, it would be great to dive with you next trip (late Jan/early Feb). Liz, all the best of luck on your coming health solutions. If you need physical therapy, talk to Donna - she's one of the best.

Meredith - You saw that spectacular bait ball in September? How cool - we're wondering how long a school like that hangs around - we saw it the morning of Oct 6. When in Sept. did you see it? We were wondering if that lone dolphin was there for the fish, although we never saw the dolphin at the bait ball...

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Elvira M. Bolanos (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #736) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 1:22 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hola Bill and Donna,

What a great adventure you guys had. Thanks for the trip report and look forward to seeing pictures. :-)



 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Elvira M. Bolanos (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #737) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 1:23 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Liz, good luck on Nov 14 with the appointment. Let us know how all went. Hugs to you.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Elvira M. Bolanos (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #738) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 1:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Liz, wasn't thinking it meant Nov. 16.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Meredith Lynch (BonaireTalker - Post #90) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 11:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bill and Donna,

We saw the bait ball on Sept 18th. No dolphin there, but a couple days later we saw one in the distance at another site (dont remember which one). There were some huge Tarpon there though, kinda watching us and the ball. I swear from underneath the ball it looked like a huge tornado! AWESOME!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Chalk (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #204) on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - 1:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Bill and Donna,

Sorry for the delay in responding but am currently in the U.K. on business. In regards to your question on the fishing...what you have encountered is entirely legal. Our local fishermen are well within their rights to fish anywhere they want to. We do encourage them to be on the lookout for divers in the shallows though and for the most part they do comply, however fishing by traditional means, i.e. handlines or rod/reel are perfectly legal.

The person with the throw net, I'm not sure about for there are only a few people on the island with a permit to use nets of any kind and then they must be of a certain mesh size. Anytime you see someone with a net, please feel free to contact the Marine Park at 717-8444 and we will have one of the Rangers investigate. They usually use these though only for catching baitfish.

Glad you had a wonderful time.

Jack Chalk, President
STINAPA Bonaire

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #59) on Friday, November 5, 2004 - 10:52 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

We always appreciate Jack's reasonable and knowledgeable voice. We therefore must ask you, Jack, how STINAPA can defend the following: Just north of Red Slave in October there was (maybe still is) a net placed in the shallows apparently intended as a sort of holding pen so that fish already caught could be kept alive until the market needed them. However, that net was actually acting as a gill net (intentionally or otherwise, I can only speculate) and several tropicals (parrots and angels - not food fish) were entangled. An outraged friend released the ones that were still alive. Furthermore, by all reports in past years there used to be larger grouper living in the area that are gone now. Perhaps they just swam away, but all the large fish hooks we've seen in four trips over the last 12 months in fishes' mouths and caught on reef structure suggest otherwise. Spearfishing is banned yet a type of fishing that is much less discriminating in what and how many are killed is allowed. The restaurants generally serve wahoo and mahi and deep water fish, so obviously the reef fish that are caught by local fishermen are going somewhere else. We appreciate the need for these fishermen to make a living, but between the availability of offshore fish and the need for protecting the reef ecology, why are they allowed to continue fishing inshore marine park waters? And gill netting, if indeed that is what is going on (it's at least de facto if not actually intentional), should be illegal everywhere for its indiscriminate killing and wastefulness. A puffer with a large hook protruding from its mouth (it looked like it kept the fish from foraging well, causing a slow death by starvation), angelfish dying slowly in that ersatz gill net, whole chapters of the balanced reef story being removed (loss of large groupers) - isn't STINAPA interested?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mare (Mary Wills) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #389) on Friday, November 5, 2004 - 7:17 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bill and Donna,

When I was last in Bonaire, the folks next to us were avid fishermen and had not taught their children how to tie knots. Fishing is allowed, the kids were fishing, and next time I was in the water, at least three fishes had hooks in their mouths: a barracuda, a lovely french angel, and I forgot the third type of fish. Just how much can STINAPA do?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Chalk (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #205) on Saturday, November 6, 2004 - 7:29 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Dear Bill, Donna and Mary,

The net Bill refers to should not have been left there unattended and I only wish you would have reported it at that time. We (STINAPA) certainly would have taken action had we known about it.

As to the hooks in the mouths of fish, it also concerns us as well, however, until the laws are changed (which is not very likely to happen) there is little that can be done. With this writing, I will be proposing a change in the Marine Park Ordinance which will require the use of hooks on Bonaire which will, when left in the mouths of fish, will dissolve rapidly as opposed to the current stainless steel hooks which are widely used.

Yes, STINAPA Bonaire is concerned, but you must realize that we also have to respect the rights of the Bonairean people and their culture and heritage. After all, this is their island and you must admit, compared to a vast majority of other locations, the Bonairean people have accepted and even instituted themselves, rules and regulations that would be scoffed at in many Caribbean islands, i.e. no anchoring, no spearfishing, no fish traps, limitations on mesh size of nets that are used legally, ban on taking of turtles for food, acceptance of CITES rules on the export of conch shells and coral, etc., etc.. Native Bonairean divers even pay the $10 BNMP fee to dive in their own ancestoral waters.

While it upsets many of us to see fish swimming with hooks in their mouths, we need to take a step back and look at the big picture. Bonaire still has the highest documented diversity and numbers of fish species of any Caribbean island (according to REEF).

In regards to the diminished stock of grouper, STINAPA is actively working and lobbying the local fishing community to accept "NO TAKE" areas in order to allow breeding areas where fishing is not allowed so as to replenish the diminished stock. We have also been negotiating the possibility of expanding the BNMP to include the 12 mile territorial waters so as to have better control over a larger majority of our fisheries in order to protect it from foreign fishing vessels. We also have one of the most active primary and secondary school education programs in order to change the mindset of our future generations in regards to sustainable use of our natural resources...all of these programs in addition to maintaining over 80 dive moorings, enforceing rules and regulations, prosecuting offenders when caught and educating visitors on positive interaction with our natural resources.

So Bill, in response to your question..."isn't STINAPA interested", yes very much so. Mary, in response to your question..."Just how much can STINAPA do?". In my humble opinion, STINAPA does quite a bit.

Thank all of you for your concern and please feel free to express your opinions and suggestions to us at any time. You may e-mail our Director, Elsmarie Buekenboom at director@stinapa.org for general comments and questions or feel free to e-mail me at any time.

Sincerely,
Jack Chalk, President
STINAPA Bonaire

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #12575) on Saturday, November 6, 2004 - 2:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jack, thank you for the information.


quote:

compared to a vast majority of other locations, the Bonairean people have accepted and even instituted themselves, rules and regulations that would be scoffed at in many Caribbean islands, i.e. no anchoring, no spearfishing, no fish traps, limitations on mesh size of nets that are used legally, ban on taking of turtles for food, acceptance of CITES rules on the export of conch shells and coral, etc., etc..




I only wish that there were more protected marine reserves, caps on species rapidly being depleted (they usually wait until there are about 2 left before they put a "no catch" to the species locally), ANY moorings for fishing and dive boats, more education on how to act while in the marine environment (look DON'T touch everything and play with it as if it were a toy), etc. etc. in our waters off the Channel Islands, particularly Catalina, which gets so much traffic. The marine life has changed so dramatically in the last 6 years it is just sickening. 90 plus divers on 3 boats in one spot during the summer...all that's left is sand...there is a SCUBA shop in Avalon that is working with the local government agencies to install moorings for dive boats...it's a start, but is it too late...

Why am I ranting this? Because Bonaire is pretty dang lucky to have the protection of the reef that they do. It's much harder to get an environmental program started in a place like ours, when there is so much red tape and bureaucracy to get through to put in one mooring, or try to stop the over fishing...kudos to you Jack and the work that STINAPA does...

P.S. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's acceptable to participate in illegal activities in the waters of Bonaire, I just think that with STINAPA, it's a heck of a lot better than what we have here (and we aren't the caribbean)...

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mare (Mary Wills) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #391) on Saturday, November 6, 2004 - 7:01 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jack, I did not mean to diminish the work that STINAPA does, I did want to stress that they cannot come by every fisherman to see that they tie their knots on their fish hooks well enough.
The fisherman next door were not locals, they were visiting folks who have an ocean front lot. It was fun for the kids to jump off of the boat into the water, and fun for a while for the kids to loose hooks in fishes mouths because they weren't taught how to tie knots.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #60) on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 12:56 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jack, you have enlightened me. I did not realize the locals could fish in Marine Park waters. I am not sure I understand the logic of that (I can't fish in certain protected/restricted waters in my own country - just assumed that protected meant PROTECTED). At some points I may have sounded arrogant or callous re. the fact that this is Bonarian water, not the sole province of us interloping foreign divers, but I actually am totally pro Bonaire for Bonarians. It is, as you say and imply, to the Bonarian's benefit to have an influx of foreign capital from divers, and of course that capital influx is intimately linked to the high quality of reef life resulting from the Marine Park's stewardship of the reefs. Therefore many of us still harbor a hope of the reefs being protected from ALL actions that take reef fish and/or harm the reef ecology. That said, considering the near-pristine condition of most of Bonaire's reefs - the Marine Park waters are exemplary - there is no question that the work and attitudes of STINAPA are largely successful. And this is valid not not only for Bonaire but for all the other Caribbean sites that have taken their lead from STINAPA. Excellent work, truly. Well, I guess I'll just shut up and enjoy the place during our quarterly trips instead of fretting over a few slow-dying tropicals. Thank you Jack for the lucid and knowledgeable explanations. Next time we see a net in place with tropicals getting "gilled" in it, I'll call that STINAPA ranger's number you gave us. Thanks for all your work for this cause.

 


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