By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #56) on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 7:50 pm: |
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...
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By The Ginocchio's @ Golden Reef Inn (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #378) on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 11:15 pm: |
Bill and Donna,
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By Linda Suter-Gibson (BonaireTalker - Post #16) on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 11:28 pm: |
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?
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By Meredith Lynch (BonaireTalker - Post #89) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 7:09 am: |
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!!!
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By Bob Smits (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #182) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 10:09 am: |
The 4th trip in 12 month!! Already planning yr new trip I guess? You make me green.
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By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1202) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 12:02 pm: |
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!
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By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #57) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 12:49 pm: |
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.
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By Elvira M. Bolanos (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #736) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 1:22 pm: |
Hola Bill and Donna,
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By Elvira M. Bolanos (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #737) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 1:23 pm: |
Liz, good luck on Nov 14 with the appointment. Let us know how all went. Hugs to you.
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By Elvira M. Bolanos (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #738) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 1:25 pm: |
Liz, wasn't thinking it meant Nov. 16.
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By Meredith Lynch (BonaireTalker - Post #90) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 11:07 pm: |
Bill and Donna,
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By Jack Chalk (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #204) on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - 1:08 pm: |
Hi Bill and Donna,
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By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #59) on Friday, November 5, 2004 - 10:52 am: |
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?
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By Mare (Mary Wills) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #389) on Friday, November 5, 2004 - 7:17 pm: |
Bill and Donna,
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By Jack Chalk (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #205) on Saturday, November 6, 2004 - 7:29 am: |
Dear Bill, Donna and Mary,
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By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #12575) on Saturday, November 6, 2004 - 2:54 pm: |
Jack, thank you for the information. 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..
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By Mare (Mary Wills) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #391) on Saturday, November 6, 2004 - 7:01 pm: |
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.
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By Bill and Donna Goodwin (BonaireTalker - Post #60) on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 12:56 pm: |
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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