I'm wondering if any of the shore accessible deeper sites.. 100-150' have any buoys. Or does the local wal-mart sell good rope and lead? ;>)

do you mean the "local wal-mart" on bonaire???? there isn't one fortunately. for rope and (maybe) lead you could try kooyman or boomerang hardware or a marine supply shop near the harbor village marina. please keep in mind that the area surrounding bonaire from the high tide line down to 200 feet is a protected marine park...i don't know what their rules are regarding making your own buoy. i would guess that they wouldn't allow it. i do know that the local fishermen are only allowed to use stone anchors when fishing over the reef.

quote from Bonaire E-News: "But, says Diaz, the divers also have to stick to the rules. How many times do we see divers get into the water along the coast and they don't even put up a buoy or a diver's flag, which is what the law requires. ..."

So I see that putting a buoy/marker down would not only be o.k. but that either that or a dive flag is the law (for divers). But I'm still wondering about buoys or markers that are already there so that I don't have to consider bringing my drop line along or purchasing one when I get there.. are there any markers/buoys in the 150' or more range? That would have me covered.

(Message edited by subaqua on November 25, 2005)

Subaqua--
I believe that your inference from the quote you're referring to is incorrect.

First, I'm pretty sure that Pat is correct in that the Marine Park rules do not allow you to drop a leaded line; even if the rules say nothing about that, it's probably not a good idea from an ecological point of view. A flag on a float would obviously be another way to go.

Second, I'm not sure where the quote in Bonaire E-News is from, or what law they are referring to, but I have NEVER seen anyone using a dive flag on Bonaire. Of course the boats fly a flag, but for SCUBA divers diving from shore, no one that I know of ever uses a flag.

As a free diver, you obviously are in a bit of a different situation; hoping some of Bonaire's free divers will chime in with their experience.

As far as "buoy's or markers in the 150' or more range", the best way I can answer that is to describe the scenerio at the scores of marked shore diving sites around Bonaire. Generally speaking, the reef begins to slope in the 30-ish foot range. Most marked sites have mooring buoys which do not contain a dive flag but are simply mooring buoys for the dive boats. Most of these are at the top of the reef. In my eight or so trips to Bonaire, it has always been my understanding that the general concept of things is that boat traffic should be limited to past the top of the drop off, and that boats should always assume that there could be divers ascending anywhere inside the top of the drop off. Hence, I guess, the reason why scuba divers don't use flags.

So, if you're free diving (something I don't know much about) I guess you could begin your dive from over the top of the drop off and descend at an angle along the sloping reef drop off, OR you could go out beyond the top of the reef so that you could do a vertical descent to your desired 150+ foot depth. In the first case, you'd be ascending and descending inside a relatively safe zone, in the second case you'd be ascending and descending in an area where there potentially is boat traffic.

Hopefully this makes some sense, helps a bit, and is not too full of gross inaccuracies.

I have seen bouys on the Hilma Hooker, but most of the dive sites, shore diving sites do not have bouys. Why would you want one? to pull yourself down deeper? Remember that it is a National Underwater Park and there are rules, so I would check with the local authorities first. Also dropping a lead weight could damage the coral reefs, which would not be very smart.

There is also a local store, commonly referred to as "wal-Mart" because it has also most anything, turn right at the circle.

The drop line is mainly for safety, for the spotter to know your vicinity on the deep dives, and for my orientation if there are currents or lack of visibility (something I hear shouldn't be a problem in Bonaire) and also as an aid to pull yourself "up" should you desire. On occassion I sometimes do pull down and up as in what is called "free immersion" in the freediving circles, as this is much easier than finning down for sure, but that's not the discipline I'm working on. I'm mainly into just finning down and up or using no fins at all. These are the two disciplines I'm pushing now. Plus, it holds the tube float for all my gear from floating away.
I will check on the depth of the Hilma Hooker.
I am not a drop the lead, bust the reefs kinda diver, and respect the reef very much, and would be just as inclined to tie the drop line off on a rock but that limits me on pushing my limits.
Yes, I will be checking on the rules and regs of the island before hand.. and I have found a dive shop geared mainly to freediving that should be of help too.
wal-mart - it was a sarcastic statement..hence the winking smile after the sentence in my 1st post ;>)

(Message edited by subaqua on November 25, 2005)

It would be interesting to have a link to the Bonaire E-News quote above. BE-News has been out of operation for over 5 years.

On a parallel note, the Marine Park has a published set of rules for divers. I just tried to find it in it's BMP form on the web and cannot. Lots of paraphrases but no 'horse's mouth' version. Can anyone provide a link to the 'original'???

There is a link to the 1991 Marine Environment Ordinance in English translation ( http://www.mina.vomil.an/Wetgeving/MarineOrdinance1991%5BEng%5D.html ).

All of the reefs of Bonaire drop off rather quickly to 100'-150' feet, even along the bridge to Klein and the inner slope of the double reef system. (And then to a few thousand feet.) You don't need a dive site marker buoy to find 'deeper' water-just swim out to blue water!

Glen, I should hope that I do not need a marker to find deep water... You must not have read my previous post or possibly misread the statement I made about the spotter to know your vicinity. That is so that the spotter knows.. when you are out of site at 100+ feet, that you are hopefully near the drop line (should there be a problem).. and possibly attached to it with a tether. I just want to know if there is a buoy in the deep water... already there for me to use as a drop line so that I do not have to bring or buy my own.
Again, that is the information that I'm looking for..
here is the e-news link http://www.bonaireenews.com/html/oct99stack_0.html

Glen, also, thank you for the link.. I read it, and saw no reference there that dive flags/markers were required even by divers, so the individual I quoted in the above may have been wrong.
By the way... a drop line does not need to hit the bottom, or even be attached to the bottom of the ocean.. it can just hang with weights on the end of the rope.. and if that is what is necessary then that is what will have to be done... although, if there is even the slightest currents, it is so much easier if the drop line is anchored or fastened somehow to the bottom. I would much prefer to arrive in Bonaire, find that there is a marker/buoy somewhere in the 150' range that I can go and "snorkel" around and then maybe, drop down for a look to see how it is fastened to the bottom.

I've read up on the Hilma Hooker and see that it is in about 100' at the deepest and has many moorings on it for dive boats..but yet is generally not crowded. This sounds like a nice freediving site and we should snorkel out to it if it is not so far from shore. The steep walls of Bonaire sound like a fantastic dive site, it is always a pleasure to freedive near vertical drops, and that is what intrigued me to plan our trip there. But I am really looking for just a line in slightly deeper water for the day I push my personal best. It's an opportunity I cannot ignore when I'm in water that isn't dark and isn't near freezing at the first thermocline.

The Hooker has three mooring lines around it. The only line that goes to the bottom is the center (midship) line that marks the east reef top of the double reef system. The bow and stern line are attached to the wreack... Ron

Steep walls of Bonaire??? Vertical drops??? Are you sure you're not talking about some other island?

the hooker is actually one of the more crowded sites i've seen on bonaire. we usually avoid it because there can be a dozen or more trucks there at any one time plus two or three dive boats.

i agree with seb...bonaire doesn't have the steep walls that you'll find in the bahamas and other places. the reef gradually slopes from 25' down to 100' or more but there aren't the drastic drops that i've seen at other places.

Scott is correct about the boats. Boats aren't supposed to be operating in "light blue water" (unless of course they are leaving or coming back to the dock, in which case, the boat operator watches the water VERY carefully for divers below). However, I have seen boats zipping through blue water before....

If you have your spotter at the top of the bouy in the deeper water, they should have a dive flag that is extended up on a pole and VERY visible to the boats zipping up and down the coast...

Pat is correct on the hooker, and if you have a spotter, I'm not sure how the boat operator would react to a spotter in the water hanging out at the bouy...

Here is a link to the shore diving sites and it has depths. Also, you may want to get Shore Diving Made Easy (book). It has great descriptions of the shore dives, entry, exit, depth, etc.

Shore Diving Map

Park Rules

The reference quoted above is not correct. It is a comment from a reader of the EZNews, and from 1999. I've done some searching in the past, and this morning, but can never find the Bonaire Park Rules stated on their site...this site does have a quick run down though:

Everyone is painting me a good picture of Bonaire and I appreciate that very much.. I am spending a lot of time deciphering the information.. it's what I tend to do when planning a trip to someplace for the first time. When I travel and hit the water I like to feel like I know it before hand, and this is all helping very much. I appreciate the time you are all taking for your responses. Working on holding my breath already!