Digital Underwater Shootout in Bonaire

The shootout sounds like a lot of fun--enjoy!

I dove Bonaire back in the stone age.  It's probably built up more now but the island is great for diving since it's flat and doesn't get much rain, so no run-off to cloud up the water.  So I recall the viz to be very good.  All boat diving was done at stations that had names.  No hooks were allowed to be dropped and it was basically first boat at the mooring got the dive site for a few hours.  This is back when I was using a Nikonos V with either one or two strobes.

And of interest perhaps, the dive master's girlfriend got bent and had to be flown to Curaçao, the only island with a chamber.  She ended up fine but we were all counting down the hours and minutes to see if she would be able to join us for the flight home.

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Never been to Bonaire, but definitely looking forward to it. I've been diving Roatan so long and so much it will be nice to see something different in the Caribbean.

This is going to be very different from my normal diving, especially since my wife died. For one thing, I've been shooting a DSLR rig since 2016, and I've never even seen another DSLR rig since then, though I saw someone on a liveaboard in 2012 shooting a D90. (Loved his images, was a big reason I upgraded to DSLR.)

Two weeks sounds like a long time for just Bonaire but who cares if you're in the islands.

I had one of the best times of my life going to Antigua in the summer (off season) one year.

The only prob is that while it can actually be cooler than up north due to the trade winds, the sun is piercing.  So lube up and make sure you wear a shirt if snorkeling.

Note:  I had a D90 for over 10 years and sold it within the past year.  That was one of Nikon's really good efforts.  Miss it!

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

I do 3 dives a day in Roatan for 2 weeks every year. Last year I started thinking of doubling that. It's like a road trip. You get into a rhythm and your world shrinks.

And there is far more to do where I'm going than where I go in Roatan! (Not to mention people.) Besides the diving, there are instructional seminars in the afternoons. In Roatan I just spent each evening post-processing shots, and some videos this last time. While it's convenient on the boat and diving, it does get a bit lonely being the only one at the dinner table every meal.

About 40 dives in two weeks--that's strong!

And just random, but close to Roatan, I got to dive Jacques Cousteau's Blue Hole.

Our group was staying and diving in Ambergris Caye in Belize and the organizers scheduled a side trip.  I almost said no.  But a few of us boarded a puddle-jumper and flew down as close as we could get then boarded a converted shrimp trawler to travel to the Blue Hole inside the reef system.

One of the most memorable days in my life, diving or otherwise.  The whole experience was awesome.  We did get down to the cave/stalactites at 150 feet.

When we got back to the boat the chef put out a whole table of fresh fruits and freshly- backed cookies!