Eddy's Scuba Blog

This is a review of Captain Don's Habitat in Bonaire, and Jack and Sue Drafahl's week-long Digital Photo Adventure. On our last day we had time for a last dive since most of us were flying next Saturday. The plan for the rest of the day was to spend time on land and a "Graduation Day" in which all of us in the program submit ten or twelve of our best pictures of the week.

Last Dive: Witches Hut

This was my last boat dive of the trip. I had purchased discounted boat trips (I believe 10 of them) for the whole week. The discounted price was very worth it: $10 vs. $30 per boat trip (if my memory serves me well). The shore dives were pretty good and sometimes better than some of the boat dives. But after a while you want to see some variety.

I had done this dive site previously on the trip and on that occasion the dive was pretty good. The coral tubes were very healthy and you would find the occasional moray eel or spotted drumfish. The site was situated along a wall, so I swam along it.

I was looking closely through the soft corals looking for creatures. This is when I noticed a flamingo tongue, a kind of sea snail with brown, yellow and black spots. I had never got a good picture of this guy before, so this was a good opportunity to practice. I used macro setting settings for this picture and tried to get as close as possible. The major challenge was to get the camera close enough because the soft coral was in the way. It was also challenging to position the strobe. All of this was happening in mid-water, since there was no place to hold on to, so good buoyancy was a must.

Flamingo Tongue. 1/500 at f8.0, ISO 100, 8mm focal length

Drumfish with Bottom Lighting. 1/400 at f6.3, ISO 100, 8mm focal length

Almost on the way back to the boat, I noticed a drumfish moving around. This was strange since drumfish tend to stay in their "homes". I followed it for a while until it finally settled inside its cave. This little cave had an unusual shape, I could not position my strobe on top of the fish, so I experimented with a different lighting effect. I put the strobe on top of the sand, aiming the fish completely sideways and from below. Some of the strobe light was reflected by the white sand. I call this a "hollywood" effect, as the lighting does not look natural at all. It looks quite good nonetheless.

Captain Don's Habitat: the Resort

Captain Don's was a mixed bag overall, with some negatives. While being there I heard the story that once Captain Don sold the resort to a third party, it hasn't been the same. The location of the resort is very convenient, very close to the airport.

The main building is clustered around the restaurant (Rum Runners) where all meals are served. Tables are outdoors with canopy ceilings on some tables. The restaurant sits on a small cliff overlooking the ocean. From there you can see the divers going out on the boat and shore dives.

Boat Dive Dock at Captain Don's

Shore Dive Dock at Captain Don's

On occasion, the resident iguana will bask in the sun trying to warm up. This makes a nice photo opportunity. The view from the restaurant is actually quite nice and you can pace yourself well as you can easily notice when it's time to dive. In the mornings, you have to watch for sea gulls stealing your breakfast from your plate! They've been (annoyingly) trained to be fed by humans. You can even throw food in the air and they will catch it.

Dinner time is also nice at the restaurant since you face West, so you can enjoy a evening with a backdrop of a sunset over the dive dock.

The restaurant is located next to the bar, front desk, the dive shop and the swimming pool. So everything is within few steps. I stayed at Ocean Villas side which were a little bit far away, but the rooms were nice. It was a two bedroom apartment with a bathroom on each bedroom. It had a living room with TV, a full kitchen with oven/range, fridge and dual kitchen sink. The sink is pretty convenient for soaking photo equipment. Next to the kitchen was a dinette table with stools. The Ocean Villa also had an outside dinner table with four chairs. This was nice to setup or dry equipment. There was also plenty of rails to hang wetsuits. Next to the entrance there was an outside sink with a bucket, very convenient to wash up gear.

Dive Ops

The dive operations had much to be desired at Captain Don's. Nitrox is brought in from another place every morning and there is always a mad rush to sign out tanks in the morning. So it is wise to reserve your tank ahead of time. The dive dock and the dive shop are on different floors, so you have to walk a flight of stairs carrying tanks.

The lockers are in a state of neglect. The locker bins and tables are made of wood, making it easy for sea water to accumulate, thus causing bad smells. The floors on the locker area is rough cement and very uneven, so you see puddles of sea water which also contributes to the smell. There was only one bench to sit on; anyway, this would be the worse place to take off your wetsuit, as the floor does not look clean. I always walked with slippers in that area.

There were showers and dunk sinks next to the locker area. The cement on the shower areas was crumbling and the plumbing was rusting. There were not enough places to hang wetsuits. There was a precarious system of strings tied to the walls of the locker area. This was supposed to be the place to hang wetsuits.

Scuba Tanks

Dive Lockers

There were three boat dives daily going out: 8:30am, 11:30am and 2:00pm. If you try to do three boat dives in a day, the tightest one is between the 11:30 and 2:00 one. There is simple not enough time between those two dives. You come back from the 11:30 dive at about 12:30 or 12:45. So essentially you have one hour to wash up or prepare things and have lunch. I once had lunch at the restaurant and because the service is rather at "island speed", I ran out of time easily. Another bad thing about boat diving in Bonaire is that they don't allow you to do a two tank dive, so you waste a lot time coming back to the resort and unload/prep again for the next dive.

The divemasters were pretty good and the briefings were informative. They also were good at pointing out creatures for you. However, I never felt any personalized attention. Because of how the operation is run - you sign up on the boat dive you want on a whiteboard - you end up with potentially a new group of people every time. So there is no continuity with the dive personnel. It almost felt like an assembly line.

There was a dive store next to the dive shop. The stock was extremely poor and not even the t-shirts were well stocked. There was also a photo services shop, but there was usually nobody working there. The only plus side of the store was a vending machine with soda and beer that you can charge to room.

There was also a dive repair shop next to the store. The condition of the place looked poor. There were boxes of hoses and parts all over and it was dirty. I once had the unfortunate situation of having a leaky high pressure hose. Although the repair guy managed to fix it, I cringed when I looked at their workshop. It was messy and dirty, and the guy was smoking while he was fixing the hose.

Food and Parties

In general, the food at Captain Don's was ok to excellent, especially dinner.
Rum Runners is the house restaurant at Captain Don's and this is where all the meals were served. Breakfast was included with the room, but lunch and dinner are on a tab. This was annoying because on the first day you had to open a tab with your credit card, you couldn't just charge it to your room.

Breakfast was buffet style with an omellete station. There was a fresh orange squeezer for real orange juice, assorted juices, tea and coffee (served by waiter), fruits, cereal, cold cuts, and assorted bread. At the omellete station you could order on request your favorite style of egg. The attendant would take your room number as well.

Lunch was probably the meal that I enjoyed the least. The service was slow and there was no time in between dives. Later on, I learned to "pack my lunch" by making my own ham sandwiches during the breakfast buffet. Since I had a full kitchen, I would save my sandwiches in the fridge and heat them up for lunch and even enjoy them while watching TV.

Dinner was probably the best meals at Rum Runners. The dishes were close to "gourmet", very tasty and with great presentation. Usually at night there were guests not staying at the resort eating dinner. The desserts were great too. However, it was pricey, entrees were upwards of US$ 20.

Every week on Mondays there is a welcoming party. Rum punch is served and some vendors put out tables to sell their wares. Captain Don, who is still the figure-head, comes by at the party to greet guests.

With Captain Don

Barbeque at Welcoming Party

Captain Don is considered the pioneer that exposed scuba diving in Bonaire. He named many of the dive sites on the island and looks like old pirate. He even walks with a wooden leg.
One vendor offered a book of "old stories" of Captain Don, he is a legend in the island.

Dinner on welcoming day consists of a barbeque of different meats, including barracuda (!) and a dessert buffet. This is the only free meal that you would get during the week ;).

Sample Cuisine at Rum Runners (the house restaurant)

Dessert Buffet

Review of Jack and Sue Drafahl's Digital Photo Adventure

Overall the week with Jack and Sue was a great learning experience. If you take into account, the lecture time and individual instruction on and off the water, the Digital Photo Adventure week is a great value. In addition, Sue is a great host and makes things well organized. Jack is the goto guy for gadgets and Photoshop.

The lectures were kind of rehash of other lectures I have seen of them at Boston Sea Rovers or Beneath the Sea. However, they are good for review and some of the tips are very handy when you can practice them right away, like never leaving your camera in the sun without cover. It was challenging to stay awake after a full day of diving. So towards the end of the week, we concentrated on individual instruction, working towards our photo selection for Graduation Day, rather than lectures. I wished the lectures were tailored to the Bonaire sea life. One suggestion could be to make subjects "task" oriented like "how to photograph a trumpet fish" or "how to photograph a turtle". Each task then can include elements of composition, lighting and positioning.

Dee Scarr - Guest Speaker

Warning: Cameras Sunbathing

On one night (Monday) we had Dee Scarr as a guest lecturer. She is the local conservationist and member of the Women's Divers Hall of Fame. She gave a lecture titled "Touch the Sea", a more liberal view of interacting with the ocean without being paternalistic. Her philosophy emcompasses limited but careful interactions with creatures like tickling fish, befriending octopuses, being manicured by cleaner shrimp, etc. Dee was also responsible for the restoration of coral life at the Town Pier. In one of her slides she explained how she just tied up the fallen tube corals with nylon to the pylons. After some time they would attach!

On Graduation Day, Sue compiled a final presentation with the photo submissions of each of the participants. Each participant was presented and her/his individual pictures presented. Everybody at the resort was invited. After each participant's work was presented, Sue gave a certificate of "Graduation".

Jack and Sue were very knowledgeable, accessible and accommodating. I would not hesitate doing another trip with them. The next morning we got to see them again as we were taking the same flight to Houston. We got to hang out at the airport a bit. This is when I learned that Jack was working on scuba related sci-fi novel ... oops ... I might have spoiled the surprise. Jack is indeed a man of many talents.

Recommended Product: Olympus PT-030 Underwater Housing for SP-310/350