Bonaire's Forgotten Reef ep. 21 | A Diver's Life

Hi

Welcome to my Video: Bonaire's Forgotten Reef ep. 21 | A Diver's Life

A mystery reef and deep wreck on Bonaire! Come to Bonaire and let us take you to this forgotten reef system south of Small Wall and the Black Durgon Inn and north from the Dive Friends Hamlet Oasis Cliff dive site entrance. Due to development, access to this site is extremely limited so divers overlook the site. Since the area is rarely dove, many parts of this reef system, such as Jen’s reef, are spectacular! The area has a little known deep water wreck called Water Barge 101 - also called Cooper’s Barge. We believe we are the first to film this area in 4k and we are almost certain to be the first people to dive and film this wreck at night, the base of which is 46 meters down. So, in watching this, you will be among the first to experience the amazing, haunting beauty of this wreck at night. The colors ignite on the screen with our new 15,000 lumen lights. What will we find under the wreck?

There are other firsts for us in this episode. This is the first use of our newly acquired tec diving skills and equipment as well as the new lights. To film something at this depth you can't be a recreational diver.

We will give you an underwater tour of the area, tell you how to access it, share Captain Don's accounting of the sinking. We will use our new Tec diving skills to take you to this deep wreck in the day and night night. The wreck colors, at night, really pop with our new 15,000 lumen lights!
The island is considering putting a container port in this area. Should they do it? We would love to hear your thoughts.

We would like to take a moment to thank Captain Don Stewart as, although no longer with us, he was instrumental in our being able to tell you the story of the barge's sinking. Captain Don Stewart is the father of Bonaire SCUBA diving. We are fortunate that he wrote an accounting of the water barge's sinking in his book "Reef Windows." Look below to see how to order a copy.

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==== Chapters ====
0:00 Kaya Rotterdam and it's Forgotten Reef
2:14 Monologue at Cliff Dive Site Entrance
3:21 A Diver's Life Introduction
4:23 Jen's Reef
7:30 The History of the Sinking of Cooper's Barge (Water Barge 101)
10:45 Visiting the Water Barge
13:10 Cooper's Barge Night dive to 45 Meters
=====

Credits:

Divers, dive buddies, and team mates:
Bob Burks
Steve Ando
Doreen Schwerdtfeger
Rich Schwerdtfeger
Tom Whoolery

Cinematography, Script, Editing
Rich Schwerdtfeger

Camera Equipment:
Panasonic GH5s, wide angle lens,
BigBlue 15,000 lumen lights
Sola 3800 lights
Nauticam GH5 housing
GoPro 8 (above water)

Tech equipment
Apeks regs, harness and wings
Double Aluminimum 11 liter tanks with Air and 6 liter 50% Nitrox deco bottle

Rec equipment
ScubaPro regs, Dive Rite BC and harness
Nitrox 32%

Recount of Water Barge 101 Sinking

Reef Windows - Captain Don https://captaindonbooks.com/

Music:

Apollo - Dream Cave Epidemic Sound
Blue - Eklo feat. Jordin Laine (RFM youtube)
Slowly Until We Get There - Joey Pecorarao https://bit.ly/30C7Kfh
The Adventure of a Lifetime - Grant Newman Epidemic Sound
Views from the other Side - Magnus Ringblom Epidemic Sound
Walk Tall - Johannes Bornlōf Epidemic Sound

#oceanconservation #bonairediving #bonaire