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Trip Reports: Scott's Trip Report Pt 1: Snorkelling with Pilot Whales!
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2006-2008: Archives - 2006-08-31 to 2006-12-31: Scott's Trip Report Pt 1: Snorkelling with Pilot Whales!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #503) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 3:40 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Gale and I just got in last night from our tenth trip to Bonaire, and while I will definitely get around to more trip report details, I wanted to share with you the most incredible experience I've ever had on Bonaire. To those of you who may doubt the veracity of this, two divemasters (Zoo and Fredlyn) and one assistant dive shop manager (Martin) at Buddy Dive can confirm it. I snorkelled with a pod of about 100 pilot whales!!

I was heading out for an afternoon boat dive (Gale was taking a siesta after doing some shore diving earlier) and was hanging out on the bow with divemaster Zoo. From the bridge Fredlyn says "hey, what's that out there?" pointing to something about a mile ahead, and Zoo and I immediately shout out "dolphins!", not an uncommon sight on Bonaire. We headed towards them, figuring that some of them would ride the bow wave, but once we caught up to them we realized we were in the middle of a HUGE pod of pilot whales. At one point I counted thirty on the surface in one direction, and we were surrounded by them and many were diving, so I'm figuring maybe there were about 100 of them. We had been heading up to the dive site Bloodlet, and were right about in the middle of the deep (1000-foot-plus, I gather) section halfway between, say, 1000 Steps and No Name beach on Klein Bonaire. Fredlyn contacted Martin on the radio (Martin was out on another boat), and Martin gave permission to drop six (out of about 15) of us into the water to snorkel.

For about 10 minutes the six of us were out there in the deep blue, and every time we'd swim closer to the whales, they would back away and we could not see them under water. Just when we were about to give up, we got close enough to see about 8 of them hanging down from the surface, dark gray/black and about 15 or 20 feet long. One big dude suddenly appeared about 15 feet below us and dove down and out of sight into the deep. Then, about 6 whales that we were watching dove together from the surface and effortless sailed underneath us and again into the deep blue. We then got picked up by the boat, watched them for a while more from the boat and then we all headed to Bloodlet for a great, though somewhat anti-climactic dive.

This wonderful experience happened last Wednesday the 15th. An hour after our time with them, a boat went out from Buddy's to look for them and they were no where to be found. It was truly a special, very rare treat, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been lucky enough to experience it. I couldn't stop smiling for hours afterwards, and it's a week later and I still find myself literally laughing out loud just thinking about it.

More trip report stuff to come later. We had, as always, a fantastic 10 days on the island.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2299) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:06 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Wow, Scott!!!!!That is soooo incredible!!!!! I can certainly understand why you are still smiling. That is a once in a lifetime experience!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2894) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Lucky you Scott!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #203) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:22 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Scott, how wonderful! We get pilot whales here and I've seen them (from the boat), but never in a pod like that! They are normally just pairs. How great to get in the water with them...I would be ectatic too!

Is Martin the same Martin that kiteboards? He's now assistant manager? Is Sandy still there?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #504) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:26 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Cynde,
Yep, that's not only the same Martin that kiteboards but also the same Martin who's a model in the Litman's Jewelry advertisement in Bonaire Nights! Sandra is still there, and she's actually the other Assistant Dive Shop Manager. Augusto took over as Manager when Corinna left to open up Cactus Blue. And of course Murph is still there.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #204) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

OMG, MARTIN IS A MODEL FOR LITMAN'S??? How cool! He is such a sweetheart, good for him! Gee, I can say "I knew Martin when he was just lowly a DM" LOL! He went on my check out dive with me one year when my buddy (SGK) hadn't arrived, and showed me my very first frogfish!

I wonder if Sandra's dad Gerritt still lurks on BT? I met he and Sandra on our very first trip in 2001 and had dinner with them. He brought me cute little Dutch candy tin, still have it!

(Message edited by cyndelee on November 21, 2006)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #205) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:53 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

How close did you actually get to any of the whales anyway? Did you get any PICTURES?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By GARY NATKIN (BonaireTalker - Post #26) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

HOW COOL WAS THAT !!...looking forward to staying at buddy over the xmas holiday ...thanks for the heads up ...hope we get that lucky

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Debbie Babcock (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4676) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Wow! Totally Awesome Experience!!! :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #505) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 5:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Cynde, NOBODY on the boat had an underwater camera; hell, I didn't even have a snorkel! I had to "snorkel" by taking a big breath, looking underwater, lifting up my head to breathe, looking back underwater... As far as how close we got, I would guess that when we were looking at them hanging on the surface (their heads/blowholes were on the surface and their tails hanging pointing down towards the bottom) we were maybe 40 or 50 feet away, and when they dove under us they passed maybe 10 or 20 feet below us.

And yeah, if you look at the current issue of "Bonaire Nights" (one of those touristy thingies) Litman's has two ads just inside the cover: one featuring Brad Pitt and on the opposite page one featuring Martin posing with a female model. The juxtaposition is pretty funny and the source of some good-natured teasing on my part.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #208) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 5:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Scott, no snorkel? See, they DO come in handy! lol!

Martin opposite Brad Pitt...that is certainly teaseworthy! lol!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Vince DePietro (Bellevue Condos # 9) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #537) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 5:58 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Scott..I am green with envy! And who says there are no big animals in Bonairean waters?
If I were you, I'd buy a lottery ticket..Your luck may still be holding out!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise Kacavas (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1366) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:03 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

AWESOME :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3776) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Scott, I am glad to read you had such a great experience!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sea Goddess Kelly (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5046) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:38 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Wowww how cool for you ! And Martin AND Brad Pitt... well Brad ain't got nothing on Martin... that's all I'm saying... lol !!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Marcus L. Barnes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #722) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:41 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Dude - that's enough to make me rethink my position on boat diving!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2578) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 2:49 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Very nice, it's a big ocean and you never know what is coming next.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2503) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 8:31 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

That ranks up there with childbirth..what a gift..wow..shivers on my spine.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Judy Trafford (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2659) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 9:04 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

WOW Scott - you were in the right place at the right time! Absolutely awesome

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mara Mara on the wall (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1384) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 9:15 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Scott - what an awesome, awesome experience. It's these types of unexpected treasures that never cease to amaze us. Now I don't know anything about ranking up there with childbirth but I think one of them is painful and one is not but what the heck do I know...I never birthed any of my own...children that is - not whales.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By T-Shirt Divers John and Sue (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #493) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 12:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

What an experience!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tami Booth (BonaireTalker - Post #22) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 8:34 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'm totally jealous!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Connie (BonaireTalker - Post #11) on Friday, November 24, 2006 - 6:38 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

What a wonderful experience! Believe it or not, I had a similar opportunity in May 2006 while onboard the liveaboard the Easy Goin'. We were returning from Bimini, Bahamas to Ft. Lauderdale when the Divemaster spotted what he thought was a pod of dolphins. Turned out it was a large pod of pilot whales. It was something I will never forget. Found out after 3 snorkeling excursions with them that we were in 2000+ ft. of water!

My husband was able to get a few pictures.

Pilot Whale

Pilot Whales and Calves

And my favorite:
Pilot Whale Mother and Calf

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By T-Shirt Divers John and Sue (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #499) on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 12:40 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for the pictures.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Barbara "CB" Gibson (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #422) on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 5:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Connie, those pics are just gorgeous, almost eery. Thanks for posting them. All that blue water....

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #514) on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 9:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Connie, thanks for the photos. We too were in some deep water, and your images of giants set against the deep blue color is EXACTLY the image that's burned into my brain from my experience last week.

 


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