Diving Red Slave Bonaire | The Shore Dive Collection | TropicLens - 4K

Red Slave is possibly our top dive site on the island, although a few others give it a run for its money. Located at the southern tip of Bonaire, it can have some current, so caution is advised. That said, such currents also bring spectacular sea life. We saw schools of blue parrotfish and southern sennets. There were spotted eagle rays, southern stingrays, turtles and sea horses as well as a field of elkhorn coral. From conchs to eels and palometa to porgies, Red Slave is not to be missed. You might not believe this description, but rest assured, there’s all that and much more in the video. So stop reading this and check it out!
If you dive Red Slave, lease add a comment and let us know what you saw there.
We want to encourage more shore diving, so this video provides some guidance where the site is, how to dive it and what you may see there. If you want to skip to or review specific topics, the section timings are below.
UNCOMMON SEA LIFE AND FIRST TIME CAPTURE IDENTIFICATION
We primarily use two sources to validate sea life we don’t recognize. The first is Florent's Guide To TheTropical Reefs which can be found at reefguide.org. Its free and has lots of pictures, but is not comprehensive. The second is “The Reef Set: Reef Fish, Reef Creature and Reef Coral (3 Volumes)”. The box set can be found on Amazon; however with all our travels, we also purchased the eBooks (fishid.com/store/product-categ...) so we don’t have to carry an extra five pounds of paper in our luggage. :-) We also reference other sources from time to time as well.
Here are some links to more information/images about animals from this video.
Eulima - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulima
Longsnout Seahorse - reefguide.org/longsnoutseahor...
Arrow Squid - www.snorkelstj.com/arrow-squi...
Post Larval Surgeonfish - reefguide.org/carib/surgeonfi...
Goldspotted Eel- www.whatsthatfish.com/fish/go...
Blue Parrotfish - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_pa...
Encrusting Zoanthid - sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/...
Check out these resources for some history around the slave huts.
www.beautiful-bonaire.com/sig...
blue-oceans.com/index.php/bon...
And here is a link to fishing rules on Bonaire.
bonairereporter.com/back_issu...
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:29 Site Background/Description
3:39 Site Logistics
7:06 Dive Profile
11:57 Sea Life
15:23 Night Diving
CAMERA EQUIPMENT
Underwater Camera - iPhone 14 Pro Max
Underwater Housing - Divevolk Seatouch 4
Underwater Lights - Kraken Hydra 8000 WRGBU
Camera App - Default iOS camera app
Land Camera - iPhone 13 Pro Max
Driving Camera - GoPro Hero 9 Black (using the GoPro suction cup mount)

[@frankscarabino3597]

David and Leslie: your site has gotten so wonderful. But one complaint with this episode: What !!!??? NO SMILEY FACE? Frank and Elisabeth😀

[@TropicLens]

We’re out and about right now, but will double check when we get home. Isn’t there an “adorable smiley face” on the smooth trunkfish at the end of the Background section?

[@TropicLens]

Just got back. It's there. Sorry you missed it the first time, but as Rick did NOT say in Casablanca, "Play it again, Sam". :-) Seriously, we are very glad you enjoy those...almost as much as we enjoy when sea life comes up to us for a closer look. We'll keep them coming!

[@Fuentesdefinanzas]

Very beautiful you guys. Best regards from Colombia

[@TropicLens]

Well, thank you to our Columbian fans! :-)

[@justsomeguy2943]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the swaying soft corals.

[@TropicLens]

Mesmerizing, aren't they!

[@Pete_R63]

About 10 minutes in now and I have a short video of a small school of 8 trunk fish. I was surprised when I saw them because I had never seen them group together like that. Interesting to see that you have seen that, too.

[@TropicLens]

Indeed, that was the largest school we've seen. There is an undocumented site just north of Red Slave that we're going to shoot in the next few months, so it will be interesting to see how similar the sea life is.

[@Pete_R63]

Kind of jealous, I dove Red Slave but didn't see sea horses or a lot of the other things you mentioned. I had to look in my logbook to see that I saw a big green moray. So far, I have 85 dives there at about 50 dive sites and there is still so much I want to find. I have just raw unedited clips of things I saw there on my channel.

[@TropicLens]

Yeah, we visit each site multiple times, Pete. We certainly don't see everything mentioned on one dive...unfortunately. Still, with 85 dives at 50 sites, we're sure you did see some pretty cool sea life. The other trick, at least for us, is that we go super slow. Some divers like to go faster to cover more ground; but we find going slower allows you to look around more and the sea life doesn't get as scared so they don't hide as much.

[@johnmontgomery2735]

Spectacular footage and commentary. Been there 3 times but i dont think we have dove red slave yet. But you can bet we will in October. Thanks again for keeping me connected to the place I love!

[@TropicLens]

You are too kind John. Definitely swing down there the next time you come. Hopefully, the currents cooperate and if they do, you will NOT be disappointed.

[@johnweir3168]

We didn't dive Red Slave when we stayed due to a fear. We heard stories about the current dragging some divers out to sea there. Thanks for the video.

[@TropicLens]

Glad you enjoyed it John. When you and Susan come here in the fall, we can go together if you like. Typically, you can tell when you get down there if it's going to be problematic and abort the dive before things get too hairy. :-)

[@kylehickey8179]

Looks like we'll need to go to bonaire now that we've done curacao

[@TropicLens]

Curaçao certainly has its own appeal, Chris but Bonaire is definitely worth a visit! Totally different island vibe as well.

[@johnleatherwood2591]

Great video as always, well done 👍

[@TropicLens]

Thank you so much John. The animals did all the work. ;-)

[@chrishughes4788]

Great video David & Leslie! I think that's your best variety of uncommon/first captures! I think the jelly like creature might be a type of Siphonophore? Ive seen a couple variations, but I'm definitely no expert.

[@TropicLens]

Thanks Chris. Unbelievable variety! Also, thank you for the siphonophore tip. We'll take a look at that. It sure was strange...

[@jackhenryadams9063]

Hello! I am coming to Bonaire to do some filming and I wondered if you might have time to recommend some dive sites? Please let me know, I've been going through your videos and getting a great feel for island :)

[@TropicLens]

Hi Jack Henry (or do you just go by Jack?) "Recommend some dive sites"...how much time do you have? :-) There are so many great sites on Bonaire. As a short list, here are some recommendations. * Hilma Hooker - to get a wreck in. * Salt Pier - just never disappoints. * Red Slave - for abundent and special sea life. * Something Special - for an easy, downtown site with lots of long shallows. * Karpata - for a taste of the northern sites. Unfortunately, the national park is current closed for diving. * Klein Bonaire - Since you didn't specifically mention shore diving, a boat to Klein typically gets to even more terrific sites that get less traffic than the main island. Of course, Jeff Davis Memorial, Oil Slick, Pink Beach and Aquarius are all spots we visit regularly as well. Be sure to hire a local guide for one or more dives as there are a number of known sea horse and frogfish locations, but they do move around. We use Go With Jo Diving quite a bit, as you've probably seen referenced in the videos. Let us know if you have more questions. We could go on and on and on...

[@TheNicintime]

What is (are) your typical / recommended dive profile(s) here? Is there a time of day / conditions when current is a bit less or is it just a roll of the dice? Loving your videos!

[@TropicLens]

Thank you Tom. We love that you love them. :-) As far as profiles go, we either go north OR south. You could do a big loop, but you'd be moving pretty fast and since we're shooting a lot, well...slower is better. As far as time of day goes, we've had both calm and currents at day and night. A lot of people don't have much choice to wait out the weather if they're only here for a week, but if you're here for a couple of weeks or more check the weather for calmer days. You can also get a pretty good idea on the drive down there if there are higher waves hitting the shore. It can be a long drive, especially if you're staying on the north side of Kralendijk; but it's definitely worth it.

[@TheNicintime]

@@TropicLens Thank you for your reply! I have always loved the Southern sites, and when I'm in Bonaire (it's been WAY too long) we spend a fair amount of time down South, so it would be simple to check. I've sometimes been a bit hesitant to dive there because of the huge sand flats and the ripping current that I have often encountered. Knowing I can go South as well (and that this is one of your top 3 sites!) encourages me to tackle it again! After more than 300 dives on island I'm not looking to cover ground, but rather find an amazing place, slow down, and explore it again and again.

[@Pete_R63]

In just under 3 weeks I'll be back in Bonaire - do I like it? It will be the 4th time in a year and I am heading back in November.

[@TropicLens]

We love Bonaire, not only because of the diving; but, for us, it is a better lifestyle fit on land as well. It is great that you get to visit at different times of the year as there are different sea life opportunities. A few weeks back, there were about ten manta ray sightings!