Brian & Sue return to Habitat September 2006

Our trip started with us getting an earlier than scheduled flight from the UK to Amsterdam, which meant we had time to take a train into the city for a couple of drinks and a very enjoyable Thai meal before returning to the airport to catch the late night KLM flight to Bonaire. We had a bit of a shock at the gate though, we handed over our boarding cards but our seats had already been allocated to somebody else! We think that although we caught an earlier flight to the Netherlands, the check-in agent in the UK had omitted to remove us from the manifest for our original flight, and consequently we had been technically offloaded from the Bonaire flight as it had been assumed we had missed the first leg of our journey. Luckily there was room on the flight and we were allocated alternative seats, and we also double checked that our luggage was on board.

The flight left on time, was smooth and actually got into Bonaire earlier than scheduled, and so we arrived at Flamingo Airport at about quarter past three in the morning; we were amongst the first passengers to retrieve our luggage and immediately got a taxi to take us to Captain Dons Habitat.

We love staying at Habitat, Jack and his team always take very good care of us and the Habitat experience contributes tremendously to our enjoyment of our holidays in Bonaire and is one of the main reasons we keep returning. As always we stayed in a first floor Junior Deluxe Suite, with a superb view overlooking the ocean and Klein Bonaire. Our room had been recently refurbished, and the spacious facilities now include a laptop sized safe with electronic combination lock rather than the old key system, a kettle and a powerful hair drier, all of which we found extremely useful. We also took advantage of the Habitat wi-fi service which meant we could access the internet from our room and the Deco Stop bar.

We had scheduled our trip to coincide with the September coral spawning, and so this was the focus of the first week of our holiday. Most of the action occurs after dark, and so we took advantage of the easy access to the Habitat house reef and did all of our coral spawning dives right off baby dock. Habitats diving freedom means that tanks are available 24/7 and so we were able to do some late night dives – eventually getting out of the water after 11:00pm on a couple of nights. This years September spawning was one of the most spectacular we have witnessed (this is our 7th spawning trip). We were lucky enough to see the amazing sight of boulder star coral heads releasing egg packages en masse, touch me not sponges smoking and orange and ruby brittle stars releasing eggs and smoking.




We also saw several things for the first time, including blushing star coral releasing sperm, a small worm like creature releasing eggs in the water column before falling back onto the reef, a fire worm spawning and gorgonians smoking (this happened at about noon on the last day of the spawning). We also saw a different type of brittle star spawning this time (the smaller brownish/pink hairier variety, we think these were sponge brittle stars). They release their eggs much more vigorously than their smooth orange and ruby cousins – like they are doing a 1970s disco dance!
We did see a sea cucumber in the cobra position, but not smoking this year.

Apart from diving the Habitat house reef, we did mainly boat dives this trip, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The marine life is extremely prolific and diverse, and we saw a tremendous variety during our 36 dives, including baby black tip reef sharks, a Southern sting ray, green and hawksbill turtles, sea horses (a highlight was two red ones entwined at Witches Hut), several frog fish (including two on the Habitat house reef and three at Something Special), more squid than we have ever seen before including huge groups of 30 or more, and a cornet fish. We saw several Queen and French Angels on almost every dive, several of the huge blue, midnight and rainbow parrot fish and the biggest crab we have ever encountered on a night dive at Habitat. We also saw more octopus than on any of our previous trips, both pygmy and the larger variety on our night dives, and enjoyed a very long encounter with a big one during the day at Monks Haven on Klein. Juvenile fish were everywhere, particularly French and Queen Angels, spotted drums and smooth trunk fish (dice), plus a rare sighting of a tiny yellow honeycomb cow fish at Barcadera. We also saw several tuna, jacks and barracuda, including an enormous Great Barracuda at Kallis Reef. Another favourite is the purple and gold cherub fish, which we observed during a safety stop on the house reef dive (near the concrete blocks). The tarpon at Habitat were very active; we saw them on almost all of our twilight/night dives. We also encountered several lobsters, including a Spanish slipper lobster.





Apart from the juvenile honeycomb cowfish, we also saw a number of other things for the first time on this trip; our first Bonaire Grey Angel at Montes Divi on two occasions (both times being chased off by its French cousin); a Bonarian Banded Box Jellyfish at Something Special; squid mating on several occasions at various sites plus one encounter with squid actually laying eggs in the reef during our penultimate dive at Invisibles. This was a fascinating event to witness; the female did not seem at all bothered by our presence as she repeatedly darted down into the reef to deposit her eggs, dramatically changing colour from an iridescent mother of pearl to a darker mottled brown as she descended and approached her nest. Another first was what looked like a black version of the Apricot Sidegill Slug, although we were unable to find a reference to this variety in Humann. We came across this creature twice on dives at Something Special.





Just at the end of our very last dive of the trip we spotted a hawksbill turtle and stretched our dive by an extra 20 minutes to enjoy an amazing encounter, he was not the least bit bothered by us as he munched away at various sponges. It was strange because I had been thinking to myself how fantastic it would be to see a turtle on our last dive, and there he was waiting for us just at the mooring - what an amazing finale! The Habitat dive crew were as friendly and helpful as ever, we especially appreciated the care with which they handled our cameras, and also their keen spotting skills, particularly Chris, Wilco, Max, Netto and Karin.






As far as dining is concerned we ate the majority of our meals at Rum Runners at Habitat, which we think is one of the best restaurants on Bonaire with wonderful views over the ocean and Klein Bonaire. We enjoyed all of our meals at Rum Runners, the tasty soups, crispy Caesar salads and fresh fish are always favourites, but the absolute highlight was a special meal we arranged for our 29th wedding anniversary. Our candle lit table, on the lower level of the restaurant which gives the illusion that you are actually suspended over the ocean with a completely uninterrupted view of the sea and Klein Bonaire, was set with a crisp white linen cloth. Owner-chef Floris had prepared a superb four course seafood feast tailored to our tastes exactly. It is impossible to pick a favourite dish as they were all delicious, with each individual flavour being discernable whilst combining to enhance the dish overall, but a definite highlight was the steamed King crab legs served with a sour cream wasabi chiffon, mmmmmm, and the main course combo of marinated rainbow runner and amberjack served with black bean beurre blanc and creamed potato, grilled onion and zucchini gratin was superb.



We also ate at Cactus Blue and thoroughly enjoyed our meal, the food was excellent (crab meatballs/red snapper in a coconut and chilli sauce with rice/key lime pie) and the patio setting very pleasant. We also really liked La Flamboyant and ate there twice with friends, we particularly enjoyed the Bonairian Fish Consomme and we love their leafy courtyard setting. We ate lunch at City Cafe on our first day; their tuna mayo salad on brown French bread is extremely tasty.

Mid-way through our trip we took advantage of the Intermezzo Day Spa at Habitat, both enjoying a deep tissue massage which was very welcome after all the diving we did during coral spawning week. We would definitely recommend the Spa, it is a very relaxing environment and Marina and Amelie are excellent masseurs.

It was good to meet up with friends old and new; several of our regular coral spawning buddies were on island, including Neil, Ruud & Denise, and Ditte who used to be an instructor at Habitat a few years ago and first sparked our interest in the coral spawning phenomenon. Also Ernst, Steve, John & Gail, Dave & Kathy with whom we have had a lot of fun over the years, plus of course Captain Don, Jack & Karen, Wilco, Max, Floris & Nannie and all of our friends at Habitat and Rum Runners. And it was great to finally meet up with Susan and Geoffrey and also Wes and Mikki, all of whom are excellent company. It was nice to see Michael Gaynor again too, thank you for the ice cream and help with trying to check-in on-line for our flight back to Amsterdam.




There were rumours that our flight home was seriously overbooked and we entertained hopes of maybe spending a few more days in paradise, but inevitably KLM found room for us and our journey home was thankfully uneventful. So, we are back in the UK now, and it is grey and wet outside which is not helping our PBD at all – but at least we have our pictures and Week in Review DVDs to remind us of our fantastic holiday, and we are already planning our next trip back to Bonaire in January, which really is the only remedy.....

Great report Brian! Thanks for taking the time to write and for the great pictures.

Wow, I love the details in your trip report and your pictures are great! I am hungry after seeing and reading about your food. Glad you had a nice 29th wedding anniversary too! What a great place to spend it!

nice pics;)

may actually run into you guys in jan;)

What a wonderful trip report. Hmm - now if I can just get the last kid into college then we can go on "off" times and MAYBE I can go solo. No - hubby wouldn't here of that I'm sure. ;-)

Great trip report and pics Brian - thanks again for immersing me once again in my PBD.

Thank you so much for taking the time to produce and post this excellent report. Great pictures too. It never fails to amaze me how really good the house reefs are at Bonaire.

Great report Brian! We will be there in 5 and a wake up!! Can't wait! Normally have 2 2week trips a year but had bypass sergury in January and missed our May trip... Ron

Hey Brian, amazing pictures and an excellent report!!! thanks.

Well done Brian.
Nice pic's.

Brian...Great photography! Enjoyed the photos..How DO you find those frog fish?

Great report and details Brian!
Your pic's are excellent
More pic's, please?

Great pictures and trip report...good idea on taking pictures of the food platters!

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! Thanks for posting those pics and the story Brian!

Bravo Brian, 5 stars. Great pictures and text. Thanks for taking the time. It was also very informative. I have not had good luck with the squid lately, we'll see later this week.

Super report and pictures, Brian!!! Enjoyed reading and viewing the pics. Got any more pictures to share with us, can never get enough!

Great report Brian!! It was good to meet you last year..hopefully we will cross paths again...your photos are spectacular!

Cam

Hi Brian and Sue,
GREAT pictures and great report.
Thanks for sharing and posting!
Mare

Thanks for the terrific photos-vivid colors-loved all of them

Brian..I've never seen pics of coral spawning before! Great education!

Brian, as usual, great report and great pictures. Thanks for sharing

Brian,
It was great to meet you both - and of course I love looking at your wonderful photos. Thank you so much!!

Thanks for you kind comments, I can't take all the credit though. Sue wrote the report and took many of the pictures.

Here are a few more.

Hi Brian and Sue;
Your pictures are great. We also saw a baby honeycomb cow fish. What a treat. We ho[pe we can be as observant as you two some day. We also hope to be there for your 30th aniversary next year. Enjoyed seeing you guys and say hello to Neil.
Dave & Kathy

Hi Dave and Kathy,

It was really great to meet you guys again and we hope to see you next year for the coral spawning.

Best wishes.

Brian & Sue

Brian, where did you see the cornet fish? We looked for two weeks but couldn't find it. I see you met our octopus friend at Munk's Haven. We stayed with him for awhile. I also see you saw the web burrfish. It was the first time I saw this fish. It looked strange, though.

We found the Cornetfish on the House Reef at Don's. I have never seen so many Octopus from Pygmy upwards.

Brian, what beautiful pictures. You sure have a gift.

John and Sue, I would suggest looking for the coronetfish cruising the reef at around 4 in the afternoon, or at night, in the shallows. I got incredibly close to one at night that way.

(Message edited by seb on October 17, 2006)

(Message edited by seb on October 17, 2006)

Sue & Brian - absolutely wonderful report!! Thank you so much for taking the time and including topside pics too!