Trip Report-July 14-28, 2006

On our fortieth-and final-dive we had the good fortune of a manta ray encounter.
The lentil soup visibility didn’t dim the excitement of sighting our first Caribbean manta.
It was a twist of circumstances and luck that placed us at Red Beryl at the right time.
We were headed for Invisibles for our last dive at 8am, when the car in front of us pulled
over at our intended site. We decided to give them their privacy and kept driving south.
As we drove past Pink Beach (as we found out later) snorkelers were bugged-eyed as a
manta flew beneath them heading south. About 30 minutes later, our paths crossed...
A definite it-doesn’t-get-any-better-than-this moment…even in pea soup

Another over-sized critter was this jumbo green.
This guy lumbered out of the depths
and stared at us as if he had discovered
a new mutant species.
Check out those meat hooks!

He then banked and passed slowly between us.
He was HUGE.

From biggest reptile to smallest…we encountered
this little hawksbill on several different dives. He would swim up to our faces
and stare into our masks.
He may be a little too curious
for his own good.

We broke our record of turtle encounters:
we didn't see a single turtle north from
Torie's Reef to 1000 Steps, but south of Pink
Beach, we saw a total of twenty-one,
8 greens and 13 hawksbills. At Fisherman's Hut,
we encountered 5 individual turtles
on one dive. All of theses sightings occurred
between Margate and Vista Blue.
Here are some of the beauties:



Whichever sea turtle program is tagging
these hawksbills is doing a poor job.
We saw a number of loose and dangling tags,
placing the turtle at risk for entanglement.


Invisibles once more delivered in terms
of a feeding eagle ray encounter.
Although nowhere near as dramatic and over-the-top as last year’s event... http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/1022/289564.html?1152822286
...this ray provided quite the show nonetheless.
For the first time we observed how the ray drives the back portion of his wings
into the sand as leverage before
burying the snout.


Hold still! I’m not finished cleaning yet!

Jellyfish going nuclear

What dive is complete without
the chance to linger and enjoy
the transparent wonders of a squid.
Watching the colors change is psychedelic.

We’ve been admiring this blue vase
accessorizing with a crinoid at Fisherman’s Hut
for many years. The first encounter of each trip
is like greeting an old friend and leaves us
with a feeling that all’s right with our
underwater world

We stayed inland this year,in a Belnem residential neighborhood.This is our
furry "Meet and Greet" offering
their tail-wagging services after every dive.

The three-bedroom rental included this nifty dive shop on wheels.
We paid $1,735 for 14 days.

In the backyard we enjoyed both this mural and …

…feeding the birds

Dive Shop: Photo Tours. We paid $215 p/p for a
13-day shore dive package, which breaks down to
$5.38 per dive…what a deal. Their new shop by
the airport is ideal for folks staying south.
Karin, Michael, Richard, et al are wonderful,
ever-cheerful, and hard-working.

Air – flew on Continental, Sacramento – Bonaire
$720. Our first experience flying nonstop from
Houston. In some ways, this is the near-perfect
way to get to Bonaire from the West Coast…with
the exception of a mind-numbing nine-hour lay-
over (total both ways) at IAH. And for tall
people in the 6-1/2 foot range, overnighting in
a 737 makes "Snakes on a Plane" in comparison
resemble an upgrade to first class. Beg, borrow,
or steal seats C or D in row 5 for the best leg
room on the plane.

Next July we’re trying a new itinerary, using
American Airlines ffm SFO-CUR. Upside: outbound
only 9 hours 25 minutes to CUR, arrive in
Bonaire on Divi Dive at decent times, no killer
layovers in San Juan or Houston, no red-eye.
Downside: overnights in CUR both ways, pay Divi
Divi fare. We’ll give the itinerary a try and
see how it works.

We’ll be returning to the same cozy villa in
Belnem

Hi Greg and Lani,

Thank you for a most exciting trip report. All I can say is WOW!

Mare

Wow! Thanks for the report and a really big thanks for the pictures!!!

That is one great report... and great pictures !! Wow is right !

Greg and Lani, thanks for the trip report and great pictures. Just wanted to let you know that your eagle ray picture from last July has been my screensaver all summer. I love that picture.

Thanks, what a great report!

Great report & pic's! Love the ray & jelly! That turtle is huge
Thanks for sharing

Great report and awesome pictures.
A note on the tags on the turtles... I believe they are intentionally left "loose" on young turtles so when they grow they don't imbed in the flipper and cause problems. Don't hesitate to email the turtle conservancy with your concerns!

My heart is pounding! What an incredible experience and great job with the report!!

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful pics and trip report with us!

Nice report and encounters!

Amazing! You don't get to see turtles that large much anymore I hear. Beautiful. Loved the pics and appreciated the info & prices. Gives me something to shoot for! The blue vase and the squid are gorgeous colors. Hard to find enough superlatives to describe. Thanks for sharing!

Another WOW from me. Awesome, awesome pictures and great trip report. Thank you so much!!

Where do you stay?

Greats story and pictures.
Thank you for sharing

What an amazing adventure!!! Really intensifies that PBD! Great photos, thanks for taking the time to put this together for us, much appreciated!! Did I say WOW!!!

Great report but you guys need to stay off the coral.

Hi Greg,

Nice pictures! but as far as I can tell, it's some sort of eagle ray in the first picture. A manta has more black on the back and has feeding "flaps" next to the mouth. Also the head is sticking out a bit too much. For a nice image of a manta, check this site

Martin

Thanks for a great report. It looks like your diving style matches ours (courtesy toward other divers, snuffling around down there in the DEAD rubble, moving very slowly) and we love the southern sites too (although the north up by NuKove has been capturing us a lot lately). I agree with Matin, that really doesn't look like a manta - do you have shots from other angles?

Regarding the comments above
that the species is not a manta,
I'm attaching two more pics
that may or may not be more revealing.

When we saw the ray approaching,
there was a 5-second period when we couldn't
wrap our narcosis-riddled brains around an
identification. As it got closer, we saw the
distinctive mandibles.

Greg & Lani, nice report and cool pics! Thanks!

no fair! your vase sponge with the crinoid came out blue

the pics do a good job of characterizing southern dive sites - good job

Hi Greg and Lani,

nice report, good shots.... it sounds like fantastic holiday...
p.s. Martin is right about manta identification. The head is sticking out too much to be a manta ...

Hi Everyone!

I am glad the pictures are being enjoyed; yes, this trip had some momentous occasions!

And Tomas and Martin, oh yes, it was a manta ray, make no mistake; an exact match to the great pics you linked to Martin!
I had the good fortune of being several yards closer to the manta on this occasion than Greg (though he had the camera!)
Being on eye level with the ray, I was able to experience it coming directly toward me with its mouth flaps open; I could see the gill slits on its underbelly as well. Everything was identical to the manta rays on the Kona Manta Ray dive we had done previously in Hawaii.
The only difference being this one was even larger!
Camera perspective doesn't allow for the full sighting of the reach of the mouth flaps in front, which from the side and at a distance makes it look like a long snout. It was also black on its back, though in the picture it looks more greenish due to the reflective nature of the particulate in the water (which was full of plankton from the seasonal upwelling, which is no doubt why it was winging by shore feeding - which was underscored by the divemasters who had also sighted manta ray close to shore on that same day near the same location).

Cheers!
Lani

I do believe those are pictures of an Eagle Ray. I have dove, seen and photographed both Manta and Eagle rays. Mantas are dark brown to black on top with paler margins; they are mostly white underneath. These graceful swimmers are up to 29.5 ft (9 m) wide, but average about 22 ft (6.7 m) wide. The largest weigh about 3,000 pounds (1350 kg).
The eagle ray is among the most elegant and mysterious-looking fish in the ocean. Its back is covered with a symmetrical dot pattern ranging in color from white and yellow to green. Its underbelly is white and its long tail, sometimes measuring twice as long as its body, is black.





Not trying to start anything here. Just MHO

JIm

They also didn't catch about Staying Off The Coral! Please look at the pictures.

When you dive you should not TOUCH THE CORAL!

Ida I think they got it since you said it twice now..thank you for noticing..

Greg and Lani ... thank you for sharing your pictures and experiences !!!

Loved the trip report. Loved the pictures. You guys look happy and relaxed.
Freddie, our little moderator, you are always the voice of civility and reason!

Ditto Barbara's description of Freddie...

and let he/she who has never bumped onto the staghorn rubble cast the first hunk of calcium carbonate...

Greg and Lani, What wonderful pictures. I closely looked at your pictures and think you have great buoyancy control. I did not see you "on" the coral, but with control and skill "hover" above the coral. Not everyone is as skilled to do this...you show experience,appreciation of coral/animal life. I congratulate you! I am surprised others can not recognize being "on" the coral from skilled diving.