A Green Turtle at “Turtle City”, one of 40+ that we saw on a single dive.
January, 2019.
East Coast Diving takes all of the elements of the best dives on the West side-where divers normally go-and combines them into an exclusive handful of action-packed dives that are only accessible by boat. You’ll love the thrilling boat rides, great reefs, wall-to-wall sea turtles, and other pelagics.
Your trip begins in Sorobon at the fisherman’s warf, in Lac Bay, a beautiful wildlife refuge. The Bay is a shallow 15′ deep, and sheltered, making it an ideal habitat for sea grasses which attracts Green Sea turtles to the area. Due to the productivity of these grass beds, Green turtles here grow 30% faster than anywhere else in the Caribbean. With the prevailing westerlies, its always windy here, and you’re likely to see some world-class wind surfers in action here too. The pre-dive briefing is about a half-hour long, and takes place enroute on the calm waters of the Bay. They travel at a slow pace to watch out for the turtles, where we did see some surfacing.
There are three dive sites on the southern barrier reef at the mouth of the Bay that opens up to the sea: Funchi, White-Hole, and Turtle City. The dives are all in the 60′ range, or less, and only accessible by boat. The current was minimal.
The northern dive site, Funchi, is on the outer sloping reef where we saw Spotted Eagle Rays, two reef sharks, Green turtles and a friendly Hawksbill turtle that came up to the group.
In the middle is White Hole, essentially a crack in the shallow reef plateau, which has filled with sand over the years and lends it its name. It’s fairly narrow and about the length of a football field-large enough to be visible on Google Earth- and about 40′ at its deepest. The water surrounding the hole is only about 10-12′, deep, which is why its only accessible on calm days. Usually it functions as a hiding spot for Tarpons in the day, with numbers varying from 0-200!
The southernmost dive site of the three is their most popular, Turtle City, which I think is the best dive on Bonaire. Its a large portion of the outer sloping reef, and as its name implies, you will literally see turtles everywhere you look. We saw 40+ Green turtles on just one dive, and that’s not even a high count! The reason for this high concentration of turtles is that the topography here has a lot of cavities in the reef in which turtles can use to wedge themselves in for a long, safe nap. The reef here is particularly beautiful, healthy, and varied. All of the following photos were taken in just a morning two-tank dive, particularly at Turtle City.
The zodiac ride out and back is half the fun! Since you’re on the windward side, waves are an average of 6′ in height. But the ride takes only minutes from the mouth of the Bay to the dive sites. The operators of East Coast Diving are highly knowledgeable and professional, and I highly recommend them. Tip: wear your dive mask, hold on, and have a blast!Green turtles literally everywhere you look at Turtle City. I caught this one swimming by out of the corner of my eye. You will gain appreciation for the effectiveness of the camouflage on their shells once you almost fin past one resting on the bottom. Note the quantity of fish life here. At one particular spot, about 20′ deep, there is a Turtle cleaning station where turtles go to have parasites, algae, and other debris removed. The two turtles pictured here were being cleaned by these yellow-coloured wrasses. Turtles literally have been seen to stack three or four high on top of each other to wait their turn, like a drive through carwash! I didn’t want to get any closer and disrupt the spa treatment.A natural light photograph. All the shallows in front of the Bay are covered with beautiful waving Sea Fans. Note the second turtle in the distance (just forward of the centered one).The turtles here are not used to divers and as such are skittish. You’re best to use a wide angle lens rather than chance a Fish Eye, for which you have to get really close. You’re asked not to chase them and to remain at least a meter away from them. The turtles should be approached from the side (as here), leaving a path open for them, which makes them less nervous.Turtle City has some of the healthiest corals that I have seen in the Caribbean, like this field of plate corals.A large Green Moray Eel at Turtle City. Note the cleaning goby on its head.
Many thanks to the operators of East Coast Diving and in particular Fred Bekaert, for cheerfully answering my many questions.
