It's been 4 years since my last trip to Bonaire - the haven of shore diving. This will be my 5th trip to the island. I'm going to be staying at Den Laman which is adjacent to the Sand Dollar (where I stayed last time). I had tried to book at the Sand Dollar again but they overbooked and gave us an upgrade to Den Laman instead. I've never been to Den Laman but I do remember seeing their private pier next to Sand Dollar's property with its "Private Property - No trespassing" signs. It's supposed to be a nicer more boutique type of place. We'll see! Because of the overbooking I made sure that we're still allowed to use the Sand Dollar facilities.
United has a direct flight from Newark. Hopefully, it's just as nice as the direct flight on Continental was. Of course, with stupid airline baggage regulations, I have to pay for a check-in bag, :( It's unfair that Caribbean destinations don't have a free bag when Latin America destinations do.
I've been cataloging my previous trips to Bonaire to determine which sites were most frequented (which clearly means I liked them best since I plan all the dives and therefore must have chosen them from previous good experiences). My top 3 dive sites were: outside Belmar (since I stay there for 3 trips), Bari's Reef (which is off Sand Dollar but I've been there even when not staying there), and Something Special (which lives up to its name) - each with at least 4 dives. The next 2 were Angel City and Karpata each with 3 dives.
In reading my blog posts and my dive log, it's clear that the marine life has been decreasing over the course of my trips :( It's a combination of pollution and erosion. It's sad that I've notice a difference even over the less than a decade of diving these sites.
No comments:
Post a Comment