The Unofficial Innerspace
Cayman madness is a regular event for me. It features great diving with
Bob Soto's Diving, great deals on food, and a lot of fun. Stay at the Seaview Hotel for the best shore diving
with on-site diveshop.
This was our second trip to Bonaire after staying previously at the Sand Dollar.
This time we stayed at Captain Don's, since the Sand Dollar dive had not yet recovered from Hurricane Lenny
(See "Death of Sand Dollar" slideshow above). Captain Dons had great accomodations and dive operation with
unlimited shore diving. We anticipate returning here again in the near future. It should also be noted that all
of Bonaire's diving is sheltered by the smaller island "Kline Bonaire" and therefore is an excellent place to dive for
beginning divers and those who suffer from motion sickness.
Excerpt from my submission to Undercurrent:
Comments: After reading negative to mediocre reviews of Lighthouse Reef Resort in past issues of the
Divers ChapBook after booking my trip, I was pleasantly surprised. Before too many divers are
frightened away from here let me detail my experience.
After a 20 Min. ride from Belize on a 12-seat Cessna we arrived at the resort's private airstrip.
The staff took care of delivering our luggage to our assigned rooms while we were greeted by Brett,
the manager, and given complimentary Rum punch. The luggage was also picked up and loaded on the
plane at the end of the trip.
Being advised from previous Undercurrent reports of killer numbers of no-see-ums here I came prepared
with Deep Woods Off. I was sure this part of the report was true when we were swarmed by large
numbers of these bugs during the welcome briefing. After covering myself with bug spray I returned
later that evening for dinner and was pleased to discover very few if any of the bugs still around.
This held true for the rest of the trip, and I only used the bug spray one other night as a steady
breeze seemed to keep most bugs away the rest of the time. I ended the trip with fewer bites than my
Roatan CocoView trip.
While there was no shore diving, they would take us out snorkeling between dives on the few occasions
when we had the time. The package included 3-dives per day, 3 of which were all-day trips due to the
distance some of the sites were from the resort. The boat was fast and included a head - much
appreciated. The distance from resort to dive site seemed to be no more than about an hour travel
time and often less than that. Lunch was provided on board and was picnic-style (cold meat or fish
pockets, pasta dishes). The food on board and at the resort I found to be exceptional or certainly
better than average.
The rooms were air-conditioned and about as spacious as I have stayed in. Plenty of room for two
people - each with our own double bed. The showers had good water pressure and I never ran out of
hot water. Liquid soap was provided both at the sink and the shower - nice. The tap water was
potable.
As for the diving and boat. We had about 17 divers on board which may be too crowded if the divers
were not compatible or lacked experience. Fortunately all the divers at the resort were capable
divers and the large number on board did not seem to be a factor. Many of us had cameras and the
crew was very good about handing them to divers coming and going. While they had two rinse tanks for
cameras, the number of cameras on board crowded these tanks causing our cameras to get knocked about
more than I would have liked. The worst incident occurred when the plastic water cooler above the
one rinse tank fell from its shelf and landed in the rinse tank with our cameras. A fellow diver
advised the manager of this in hopes that it would be better secured on future dive trips. Due to
crowded camera conditions and the water cooler mishap, I found my camera controls and strobe to have
been moved out of position at least twice. Both times this included my 35mm lens being twisted on!
its mount so that its locking pin was out of the groove. I noticed this problem only after leaving
the boat at the end of each dive day - and it seemed to be related to the build up of pressure in the
camera (Nikonos-V) sufficient to push the lens forward enough to disengage the locking pin. This
combined with the rough handling caused the lens to turn. The camera did not suffer any damage or
leaking during any of the incidents though.
The water can be choppy so bring motion sickness medicine if this is a concern. Due to the wave
conditions, number of divers, and the lack of babysitting mentality of the guide, the diving might be
difficult for very novice divers. Most capable self-sufficient divers will be happy here.
The crew was very good about explaining location of the wall relative to our boat, and what to look
for. I don't recall them ever not sending a guide down on a dive, and would not hesitate to guide a
dive if requested. They would always suggest a deep to shallow repetitive dive profile, and would
dutifully record our Max. Depth and dive time after each dive. There was seldom a dive time limit
imposed, except on one or two dives - the last dive of the day when they wanted to get back to the
resort before dark. Divers were treated as competent unless proven otherwise. We were allowed to
dive our own profiles and not penalized if we occasionally went deeper than they requested.
A number of the sites had disappointing visibility due to sand being stirred up and drifting down the
wall, but many of the sites had great visibility of well over 100 feet. The water was a bit cool
(about 75 to 80 degrees with 77 average). I found my full 1/4" wetsuit top to be just right but I
like it warm. These reefs have seen a lot less traffic than many other locations. A number of them
had more schooling fish than I have seen in years. Several times we came upon lobsters that would
come out in the daylight, and twice I found lobsters that would move further out of the entrance of
their hole to check out the diver looking in. I saw about 4 to 6 spotted eagle rays throughout the
trip - One of them while snorkeling in shallow water! Twice I saw large free-swimming green moray
eels, and several times a number of our group saw sharks (both nurse sharks in the coral and some
free swimming sharks). I even snorkeled with a dolphin during a lunch stop - anchored in shall!
ow water near one of the cayes. The dolphin was curious, but wouldn't come closer to us than about 5
feet. It was still a neat experience. The night dive was a bit disappointing, and I didn't see much
- especially when compared to an average night dive in September at Grand Cayman.
In summary - I'm a city boy and like creature comforts and I would give Lighhouse Reef Resort a
"Thumbs Up" overall and would consider returning here. A final word about the "obligatory tip of
$140.00" mentioned in an earlier Undercurrent report. No guest is obligated to tip anything, however
they offer suggested amounts for the different staff classifications (the total of which is $130.00).
Those in my dive group that I spoke with were so impressed by the service that they gladly paid the
suggested amount for the entire staff as did I.
Water Temperature: 75 to 80 Fahrenheit
Water Visibility: 50 to 100 Feet
Where else dove: Grand Cayman
Bonaire
Curaco
Roatan
Truk
Weather: sunny windy rainy
Water conditions: choppy
Wet Suit used: yes
Dive your own profile: yes
Any dive restrictions: 130 ft. limit
Sharks: yes
Mantas: None
Dolphins: 1 or 2
Whale Sharks: None
Turtles: > 2
Whales: None
Ratings: 1 (worst) to 5 (best)
Coral: 4
Tropical Fish: 4
Large Fish: 3
Large Pelagics: 3
Small Critters: 3
Dive Operations: 3
Shore Diving: 1
Overall Diving for Beginners: 2
Overall Diving for Experts: 3
Condition of Accommodations: 4
Level of Service: 5
Quality of food: 4
Underwater Photography
Subject Matter: 3
Boat Facilities: 2
Shore Facilities: 2
Overall rating for photographers: 3
Comments: The diveboat had two rinse tanks for camera on board. However, we did have a
fairly full boat (about 17 divers I believe).