Last day in Bonaire - 11/9/13

Today was our last day in Bonaire L The week went by so fast.  I’m not sure how we got from plenty of days left to our final day  Bonaire was wonderful as usual.  The diving here is still better than anywhere else in the Caribbean even though we saw less stingrays and large animals/fish than usual.  I still don’t know if it’s due to the weather or the season we’re here.  We’re already planning our next vacation here. Maybe next year in September when the turtles hatch on the beach!

This morning I had breakfast by the water with 15 iguanas.  It rained very briefly and I was able to enjoy a fabulous rainbow.  I went for a dip in the ocean and I think I got bitten by whatever little bugs that have been eating my dive buddy.  I felt them as soon as I got in the water and came up with tiny little red bumps. Fortunately, prompt hydrocortisone solved the problem. 

Then we took a nice drive up north (before the 1-way road) and got some excellent pictures of the vistas from there and found a fabulous locale for enjoying the sunset (for our next trip to Bonaire).  We returned to that bar on the pier (Karel’s) for lunch.  It was pleasant because we were in the shade and in the oceanfront breeze.  Bonaire weather is great when there is a constant current (which there usually is, except for a couple of the stormy days we were here). 

In general, this was a great trip as usual.  The diving is incomparable.  I really enjoyed our dive company – Dive Friends which has 5 locations on the island which makes it super convenient to dive those spots.  I liked Sand Dollar also but it could have been improved by placing the swimming pool closer to the ocean.  Of course, I didn’t really discover the joy of sitting by the ocean until the last day but I think the inconstant wind had something to do with that also.  I’ve been looking into house and apartment rentals since some fellow divers on one of our boats said that they were renting a 4 bedroom place by the water for 1800/week. There appears to a number of good options that have a pool and are close to the ocean and are quite affordable.  We might do that next year and maybe dive again with Dive Friends.  I will definitely return to the dive sites at Cliff (at the Hamlet Oasis) and Bari Reef (at Sand Dollar), and maybe Dive Inn if seahorses are still around.  Such a shame that I didn’t get  picture of that guy (or the octopuses I saw). There is always next year!

Iguana love

the scuffle

Rainbow!

Last day of diving...sigh

We did 2 more boat dives on Klein Bonaire today.  We went to Hands Off and Keepsake.  The sun was in and out of the clouds today so the colors were dull one moment and vibrant the next.  We were again accompanied by some porcupinefish and saw a number of eels.  We saw a lionfish which was the first time one of our fellow divers had ever seen one so it was quite a treat for her.  On the second dive there were lots of schools of tiny fish which was super cool.

After diving we went for lunch by the pool and then relaxed by the pool.  We enjoyed sunset again at the pier bar. An odd thing happened as a porcupinefish found its way to the pier.  He swam next to our table for a while.  At one point, a small boat came by and the porcupinefish must have been frightened as it inflated itself and became a spikey ball.  How cool! We were worried about the fish eventually finding its way back to the reef however. 

Porcupinefish - normal

Porcupinefish - ballooned!

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Capriccio recommended by someone on the boat.  It was ok, not fabulous. 

squid video

Shore diving once again

No boat dives today. We went for 2 shore dives. The first was at the Cliff right outside the Hamlet Villas.  This is one of Dive Friends’ locations and was perfect for us. We safely parked there and were able to rinse off and dry off afterwards for our surface interval.  Our second dive was supposed to be at salt pier but the salt boat was parked there so it was a no go L Instead, we went to Something Special and we were not disappointed.  On both dives we saw squid and eels!  On the first dive we also saw a little turtle.  There was a cliff as the name suggests.  The sun came out towards the end of the dive and the colors became really beautiful. The second dive was really something special.  It’s rare for me to be impressed by fish on dives but I was really impressed by the number and types of fish we found. There were so many fish schooling. It was really beautiful. I was so distracted by them I forgot to look for other things. However, we did come across more eels than we could count and a number of drumfish.  Both dives were great but Something Special really lives up to its name (and my 4 previous dives there).

Peacock Flounder

Squid

Salt!

Eel

Perhaps my best squid picture!

Eel and its entourage

Blenny

Sea Anemone

Dive pictures from 11-5-13, including night dive

What a great night dive!  Lots of eels. 3 Tarpin followed us around. We had heard ahead of time that the tarpin here have become acclimated to hunting by night divers' light. I'm pretty sure this is bad as not only can you target fish for eating (by the tarpin) but they just end up swimming around you wherever you go.  We tried this out of course and watched one of the tarpin eat a little fish in one gulp. There was the little fish that got away - faster than the evil tarpin.  No octopus :(  Saw some lobsters and drumfish though.

Red Banded coral shrimp

I'm hiding, you can't see me.

Eel 1

Pederson Cleaner Shrimp

Eel 2

Eel 3

Adult lionfish

Arrow crab

Eel 4

Baby lionfish - probably should have killed it

starfish

Spiny lobster - finally

Drumfish

Dive pictures from 11-5-13

Pet Angelfish

What are you looking at?

I'm coming for you

And now I depart

King Lionfish

Porcupinefish

Diving the northern shore

We took a boat to some of the boat only dive in the north.  We went to Bloodlet and La Dania’s Leap.  We saw many (>5) turtles – most of them pretty small, at leat 4 porcupine fish, way too many lionfish (although it is reassuring that most of the restaurants here are serving a lionfish dish thus motivating the fishermen, hopefully), and a couple eels.  Like our boat dives yesterday, the reef is nicer in these boat only areas.  Unlike most other dive places, Bonaire is where boat diving is the exception rather than the rule so the boat sites are better preserved. 

We will venture out for a night dive outside our resort – Bari Reef.  Dive pictures will be uploaded after the night dive…

Parked along the beach is Paul Allen's Boat Tatoosh - yes that is a helicopter on the boat

more about the boat

forgot to post 11-5-13

Today we went to Klein Bonaire – the island off the main island that’s uninhabited and in all the times that I’ve been to Bonaire, I’ve never been to this small island.  Our 2 dive sites were Forrest and South Bay.  The reef there was great – in much better shape than by the main island.  We saw 2 turtles – a baby one and then a large one with barnacles.  I saw perhaps the largest lionfish I’ve ever seen.  We saw a school of squid, they were too far for pictures L In general, the reef was much more pristine on Kein Bonaire.  I’ve definitely noticed a decrease in big marine life on my dives this year. However, I can’t tell if this is just a consequence of the recent storms. However, there are tons of schools of small fish so maybe this does not portend to a barren future. 

Dive pictures will be posted later today.

We watched the sunset from the pier again and had dinner at the Mona Lisa which was as good as we remember it.  I had a super fluffy and light mango cheesecake.

funny cactus

View from our resort

Iguana enjoying the view and the sun

Boats at sunset

Fish (baracuda, dorado, tuna) and shrimp

Mango cheesecake with mango sorbet

We went to the southern half of the island today for our diving.  First stop was Angel City. Upon descending into the water, we encountered 3 squids! How awesome is that? This is only the second time I’ve ever seen squid and these didn’t have to be chased down at top swimming speed. 

There are so many trumpetfish all around – big ones, baby ones, multicolored ones, all trying to blend into the coral.  We also saw lionfish and flamingo tongues.  The visibility is improving but still not ridiculously awesome in Bonaire fashion.

For our surface interval we visited the lighthouse at the southern tip of the island and the red slave huts. 

On our second dive, we went to Red Beryl We saw our first turtle – an adorable little green turtle.  We saw 2 scorpionfish and the yellowlegged something that I thought was a crab yesterday but now think may be a spider or something.  Any ideas?

We ended the evening with drinks and food by the ocean.

Boat dives tomorrow!