Trip Report. Buddy Dive. March 19-26.
Getting there and away:
Flew Atlanta to Montego Bay on a Delta jet (was informed of the change the day before, no stress that morning, really, just an extra line to exchange AJ boarding pass for Delta one). Once in MoBay, walked straight from tarmac into terminal and onto AJ jet bound for Bonaire. In another twenty minutes, we were on our way. Quite painless for us but I had a feeling that most of the AJ plane had been waiting a little while... they applauded when the doors were finally shut.
On the way home, AJ was basically on time from Flamingo and while the plane was turned around in about a half hour (and not cleaned), the flight was no trouble. Once in MoBay we were informed that it was another Delta jet to Atlanta so... well, the boarding pass switch-a-roo was more hectic this time but we just went into the terminal enough to do that, then turned right back around and walked back out to the Delta jet. No Blue Mountain coffee this time... and a wait for luggage to get loaded onto the plane, but then straight to Atlanta with a gorgeous sunset and no more delay.
Our luggage made it, customs was swift and when released from the airport I was happy to have planned for the worst only to receive the best. The staff on the AJ planes were so pleasant it made up for the sagging seats and noisy hydraulics underneath the cabin. Free Red Stripe still thrills me, I know it’s not something I should so readily admit.
Accommodation:
We were literally in Lion’s Dive, three women in a two-bedroom apartment. Easy. The a/c was plenty (we turned it up -warmer- quite a bit) and the resort was basic but clean and well-maintained, as well as I could tell. I’m not that picky, though. Clean sheets, a good shower and a large fridge (for all that Bright!) with a fabulous balcony and I’m elated.
Diving:
Didn’t go crazy this time, only logged 16 dives. For two of our diving days, though, we had uncharacteristically strong winds from the South. This made the northern dive sites much more adventurous than I was willing to tackle while on vacation so we did southern shore sites and more boat dives to Klein (and a couple great local sites, very nearby) than ever before. I hope this doesn’t mean I’m aging, but the boat dives were extremely pleasant. Small Wall has become one of my top five dives ever – but we saw a lot of things for one hour. More on that later.
The Buddy Dive staff and facilities were excellent. Our group had reserved the big boat for all 0830 dives every day (several in our group were only boat diving). I can’t exaggerate the wonderful-ness of Mattheu (sp?) and Fredlyn – the two capts/dms we had on five of the dives – or any of the other dive op staff around the docks. Very impressed, I am.
The drive-thru air station is covered (nice touch) and has rinse tanks... and a hose for when your truck’s windows become opaque from wind and grit and blowing salt flats... We actually left our gear in the locker room by the docks the entire time we were there. Everyone seemed to, it was full of stuff. I never would have thought I would do that (even my reg), but at some point the paranoia goes away. Nobody in our group had any trouble with their gear being pilfered as far as I know.
Diving highlights:
Small Wall.
We did this as a boat dive, it’s only several minutes by boat from the Buddy dock. An hour’s bottom time with a max of about 60 feet revealed: orange (for the time being) frog fish, enormous spotted moray poking quite a ways out of the reef, a pair of scorpionfish in the sand slowly moving about (watched that for a spell), two enormous midnight parrotfish up in the shallows scraping so loudly on the coral as they moved along that I heard it for a good ten minutes after they moved on, seahorse, turtle (started down there, swam around showing off a while before growing bored of us), squid swimming away and loads of lizardfish. Not to mention the actual “wall” part of “small wall” or the regular cast of parrotfish, angelfish and small tropicals... The entire time I was on sensory overload and amazed.
Hilma Hooker.
I’m an addict. She still surprises me rising suddenly from the reef like that as we swim in from shore. Dig the human-dwarfing tarpon.
Ol’ Blue.
Despite my less-than-graceful exit (oh, I hope the group up on the cliff got a good laugh out of me – fins up, camera up, tank in the sand, reg in my mouth laughing as the waves pummeled me every second. I had air, I was ok, so I just did this dying cockroach thing until I could take the whole thing seriously), it was a great dive. Easy entry, great visibility for our weather once away from the sand...
Something Special:
My hundredth logged dive. A frog fish was the reason we went here, but a 5-6 foot long cornetfish (!!!!!!) was what makes this memorable. I like to think it made that appearance for me, but I know I'm not the center of the universe. Our DM was elated about the cornetfish, apparently had never seen on that big before. It was a grey-blue with purple-blue spots which matched the small school of wee purple-blue fish trailing it. So graceful, quite a slow spectacle I'm blessed to have seen.
Buddy’s Reef (or whatever the place is called between Buddy’s and Capt. Don’s).
We were watching one spotted moray swimming through the reef and then noticed another, VERY LARGE spotted moray (we think, but [s]he was very stout) right there, like the smaller moray was heading toward the large one but then there’s ANOTHER spotted moray also heading toward (or away) and suddenly the three of them – like cats – tangle quickly around each other (I sensed anger) and then they all shot off in different directions so fast we wouldn’t have missed it if we’d blinked. Totally National Geographic. Awesome. We hovered there watching the sand settle back down...
Also on the house reef:
I still love the dawn dives. Start at 0530 if you can, watch all the fish commute. It does wonders for a mild hangover, too. Try the Nitrox. Buddy Dive has unlimited Nitrox a plenty, for a price.
Food:
We aren’t actually restaurant people, but – the pizza (order it with Gouda) at Capt. Don’s is really amazing. Also had a great vegetarian burger at the City Café down town. Sorry I can’t be more about cuisine but I daresay some of the people on our trip who were culinarily adventurous had some discomfort later on from either overindulgence or worse.
Something I failed to remember this time that I knew I wouldn’t forget from last time:
Have a couple hundred cash going into your last day there. Tipping the dive crew, the maids (ours were excellent) and paying the exit tax, etc., adds up quickly. While the ATM I used dispensed dollars, it was still a trek to get more cash that last morning. I still don’t know what fees I was charged for that – I’m afraid to look.
All in All:
A great trip. No problems, no worries, friendly locals and tourists (like us.) We had a good internet deal with Chat-n-Browse (an hour for $8, use it as you go -- fast machines, flat panels without glare). Loved the warm water, wore a .5mm the entire time and only got chilled near the end.
Go now! Shoo! Get on the plane! Worry about connections or delays no more! It's all very much worth it. |
By Sienna Taylor (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 9:28 pm: 
