By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #503) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 3:40 pm: |
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!!
|
By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2299) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:06 pm: |
Wow, Scott!!!!!That is soooo incredible!!!!! I can certainly understand why you are still smiling. That is a once in a lifetime experience!!
|
By Jerry (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2894) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:08 pm: |
Lucky you Scott!
|
By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #203) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:22 pm: |
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!
|
By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #504) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:26 pm: |
Hi Cynde,
|
By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #204) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:49 pm: |
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!
|
By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #205) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:53 pm: |
How close did you actually get to any of the whales anyway? Did you get any PICTURES?
|
By GARY NATKIN (BonaireTalker - Post #26) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:54 pm: |
HOW COOL WAS THAT !!...looking forward to staying at buddy over the xmas holiday ...thanks for the heads up ...hope we get that lucky
|
By Debbie Babcock (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4676) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 4:55 pm: |
Wow! Totally Awesome Experience!!!
|
By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #505) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 5:46 pm: |
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.
|
By Cyn (GH) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #208) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 5:55 pm: |
Scott, no snorkel? See, they DO come in handy! lol!
|
By Vince DePietro (Bellevue Condos # 9) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #537) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 5:58 pm: |
Scott..I am green with envy! And who says there are no big animals in Bonairean waters?
|
By Denise Kacavas (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1366) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:03 pm: |
AWESOME :-)
|
By Tom (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3776) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:07 pm: |
Scott, I am glad to read you had such a great experience!
|
By Sea Goddess Kelly (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5046) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:38 pm: |
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 !!
|
By Marcus L. Barnes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #722) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 8:41 pm: |
Dude - that's enough to make me rethink my position on boat diving!
|
By Brian (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2578) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 2:49 am: |
Very nice, it's a big ocean and you never know what is coming next.
|
By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2503) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 8:31 am: |
That ranks up there with childbirth..what a gift..wow..shivers on my spine.
|
By Judy Trafford (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2659) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 9:04 am: |
WOW Scott - you were in the right place at the right time! Absolutely awesome
|
By Mara Mara on the wall (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1384) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 9:15 am: |
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.
|
By T-Shirt Divers John and Sue (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #493) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 12:25 pm: |
What an experience!
|
By Tami Booth (BonaireTalker - Post #22) on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 8:34 pm: |
I'm totally jealous!!!
|
By Connie (BonaireTalker - Post #11) on Friday, November 24, 2006 - 6:38 pm: |
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!
|
By T-Shirt Divers John and Sue (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #499) on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 12:40 pm: |
Thanks for the pictures.
|
By Barbara "CB" Gibson (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #422) on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 5:29 pm: |
Connie, those pics are just gorgeous, almost eery. Thanks for posting them. All that blue water....
|
By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #514) on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 9:30 pm: |
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.
|
Visit: The Bonaire WebCams - Current Bonaire images and weather!
The Bonaire Insider - the latest tourism news about Bonaire
The Bonaire Information Site, InfoBonaire
Search Bonaire - Search top Bonaire Web sites