Dan Benson's Dive Log

Wind and waves cut down the visibility on this wreck in May, 2006. From the gazebo at Fantasy Island follow the line with inverted jugs to the DC3 wreck. Continue that heading or a little to the left to the Prince Albert. USE CAUTION on the return, because there are also inverted plastic jugs leading directly from Prince Albert to CoCo view. Pretty cool wreck, although penetrating a wreck freaks me out!

This is the house reef for Habitat Curacao, and is very good. As mentioned, the rope from the dock goes out to the edge of the reef and then down to about 85' where the rope stops. Don't forget the shallows where there are numerous octopi, a mantus shrimp, sharptail eels, etc. Huge green morays to the east of the line at about 40' depth. And there is a frog fish at 45' west of the line on a rocky outcropping with about 4 sponges on it. HARD to find unless someone is good enough to show you. The reef gives out about 130' depth, and then the bottom continues to go down fairly steeply. I got to 170' without much trouble, and it would have been easy to continue deeper. Dive shop was very excellent. We loved diving from here. Honest air fills. BE WARY OF THE CURRENT! The current can change from nonexistent to undivable within an hour. Ask people coming in, but since conditions can change so quickly I recommend diving it with the thought that it's o.k. to abort!

This is also called Alice in Wonderland. Well, Alice has been on vacation! There's dirty sand on most of the coral down to at least 40'. This may be the result of Hurricane Ivan, which passed 90 miles north a few days before we dove it.

Entry is $9.00 a car load, and we didn't feel like paying that much, so didn't dive it. Other divers said good things about it.

To the WEST of Breezes resort is a protected inlet with a swimming beach and two restaurants. It's a very easy entry. Just walk in at the beach. Current goes East to West, so dive around the breakwater and into the current. This is a really fun dive, and fairly unspoiled. Good stuff including lots of octopus, flying grunards, squid.

This is my favorite dive site on Curacao. NO crowds and spectacular diving. The sand is white, and goes downward to 100+ ft.in a slope that reminds me of a ski run. There is one shade tree and no services.

Three dollars a car load gets you access to multiple dive sites in this area that are wonderful. Beautiful white sandy beach, and no other divers! Just what I like! The trip in is rough over a dirt road, etc.

This is rated one of the better dive sites, but I didn't like it. TOO MANY PEOPLE! I do shore diving to get away from divers. There were at least 20 divers in the water at a time. And they crowded around the rinse tank full of dirty water like it was an oasis. Furthermore, the divers were inconsiderate of other divers. Good bar and a very nicely run dive shop. The rinse tank and storage area for tanks is next to the dive shop and is public property. For about $.10 you can get a token which will give you a shower for a minute. WONDERFUL! Dive it straight out to the second reef, swing Left to join the inner reef and follow the inner reef back to start.

Just West of the Cruise ship Mega terminal is the entry site for the Superior Producer. Park on the dirt on the shore. The entry can challenging, since the shore is exposed to the surf. It is pretty shallow for quite a ways out, and there are sea urchins in the shallows. A large buoy is attached to the middle of the shipwreck. This is a great dive, and well worth doing. On the way back don't forget to spend some time on the shallow reef, which is quite pretty in it's own right.

There's a fairly long surface swim to the drop off. In about 40-50' of water is a pretty nice mushroom coral forest. Otherwise, this is about like most of the dives on Curacao.

West End of Grand Cayman Island is Turtle Reef, right next to turtle farm. Dive operation is DiveTech a very well run complete dive facility. Entry down a ladder into the water of a sheltered cove. Swim or dive straight out to the first buoy. Follow the rope to the second buoy. Straight out is the top of a 40' wall which is excellent. 60' max depth. Turn left about 30 yards to see some tremendous tarpon just hanging out. Also: rays, pike blennies, sea lettuce slugs (right at the second buoy), turtles, etc. OR you can continue QUITE a ways out to the big wall. I just had enough air to get out there (at 30'), descend to 140+ feet, turn around and come back. Not worth the swim!

We dove all over Bonaire, and this was one of my favorite dives. There is a double reef. The second is separated by a beautiful white sandy bottom that looks like freshly fallen snow. The second reef is PRISTINE! It would be hard to find another reef in as good a condition. Not a lot of small, colorful reef fish, however, because it's a relatively deeper dive at 80+ feet. The beauty of the bottom sand coupled with some nitrogen narcosis makes this a dive to remember!

This is the house reef for Buddy Dive, and open to anyone. This is diving at it's easiest. We stayed at Buddy. Picked up our tank, walked 5 paces and were in the water! And despite the traffic the reef is in very good condition, with two resident Octopus, etc. The slope begins in 30' of water and falls off rapidly to 130'. The bottom continues to slope to deeper than you can go. Nice colony of garden eels at the 130'.

This site is a sunken ship lying in 100+ feet. It is fairly new (20 years), and as such doesn't have a profusion of coral or life yet. Give it another 10 -20 years and it should be a great site.

There are no bad sites in Bonaire! This site is pristine, with lots of great stuff to see. The entry can be somewhat difficult when the surf is up. Also, the road is one way, and to drive back to town you have to go a long way back. A trick: look at the map, and take the dirt road back! Saves many kilometers

The horrors of the walk up and down the One Thousand Steps are greatly exaggerated! IT'S NOT THAT BAD! And the dive is well worth it. Just don't push the computer, as the walk back and heat may increase your risk of DCS