Bonaire 2023 field school
Our second project this summer took place on Bonaire, an island in the southern Caribbean where we’ve conducted lots of research over the years. This time, however, we took our work to new depths with a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to go where no one has gone before.
The aim of this year’s project was threefold: 1. To investigate the anchorages of the southern salt pans in more detail; 2. To explore the deep waters at known archaeological sites using an ROV; 3. To document a shipwreck site on the remote east coast of the island. These were ambitious goals, but we had a team of ten eager students to help us out.
At the White and Orange salt pans, we conducted surveys of the historical anchorage areas in three ways. First, we snorkeled the shallow parts, where we found numerous remains of ships that wrecked here over the years. These were all meticulously documented and their locations plotted. Second, we dove transects along the deeper parts of the anchorages. During these transects, we found several historic anchors and lots of ballast. The distribution of ballast was used to determine the size and extent of the anchorages. Third, we conducted a survey with the ROV to explore the deeper parts of the sites, beyond diving limits. We launched the ROV from a boat, and everyone had a chance to operate the device themselves. The ROV survey was very successful, yielding 11 historic anchors, several anchor chains, and ballast mounds. These findings shed light on the extent of the anchorage zones, dating their use, and the types of ships that came to trade on Bonaire. The deepest artifact we found was an anchor at over 400 feet deep, making it the deepest archaeological artifact recorded on Bonaire so far.
In addition to the salt pans, we embarked on an adventure to document a shipwreck site we first looked at several years ago. Located at the wild and remote east coast, the only way to get there was by boat. For this part of the project we teamed up with Bonaire East Coast Divers, who took us to the site safely and in relative comfort. The c. 150-foot-long metal wreck was found at a depth between 75 and 85 feet. Our team spent two days documenting it, taking notes, measurements, and creating a 3D photogrammetric model. The ship’s identity is still a mystery, but we are conducted extensive documentary research in order to find out what ship it is.
Besides all the research we did, our students also had time to explore and enjoy the island. We started off with an island tour to learn more about Bonaire’s history. We went to Washington-Slagbaai national park, where we climbed the island’s highest peak. We did several fun dives on Bonaire’s beautiful coral reefs, saw the impressive Hilma Hooker shipwreck, dove with dozens of turtles at Turtle City, and had an otherworldly experience on an ostracod night dive.
On our last night, we presented our research results to the people of Bonaire. Our team did a great job with this and everyone on the island was very excited about what we found. We have much more work to do on the island to reach our final goal of creating an underwater archaeological map of Bonaire, so we will definitely be back in the near future. A big thank you to everyone who made this project possible, including STINAPA, Bloozz, Beyond the Corals, East Coast Divers, Vincent and Laura at Sea-Lutions, and our wonderful research team: Bridgette, Ryan, Bill, Camille, Conor, Annelies, Brittany, Abi, James, and Marlise.
