Final Bonaire Pictures and Videos

 

Reflections on Bonaire 2023

 As with every trip to Bonaire, there is more and more development on the island. But this year, there were more cruise ships than ever, many days with 2 cruise ships! I don't know how many people from the cruise ships go diving but I hope they know to respect the marine park. That goes for the people staying on the island too. There were definitely more people on the island than I'm used to. They have also been bringing in a lot of staff from Netherlands - we met many waitstaff who had just arrived from Netherlands within the past 2-3 weeks.  I know the island was hit hard by the pandemic but I'm sure this is not completely beneficial to the native people who would love those jobs too. 

Underwater, in addition to more divers, there was definitely more bleaching of the coral. I noticed a lot fewer angelfish, crabs and starfish. I did see lots of schools of baby fish which is good. There were also a lot more pufferfish and drumfish. Fewer lionfish which is also good. I didn't see so many eagle rays on the east coast, not sure why that happened. In general, the diving was great but very odd in how the fauna changed from past visits. 

The roads: the roads aren't any better but there is definitely more traffic. A new addition is the golf carts which greatly slow the flow of traffic. 

Restaurants: I noticed the presence of some new placed touting their foodie experience, seems a bit much for the island but maybe they're seeing more of that clientele. We loved the food at Sebastian's but were disappointment they converted the pier table which was a private secluded experience into a section of tables over the water - much less exclusive/romantic. It Rains Fishes was always mediocre in the past but is now under new management and was great! We also tried some Lebanese food from Papa Smurf's - meh. We didn't get a chance to get the lionfish burgers from Cactus Blue as they were not out on our last day when we went.

Flamingos - I don't have pictures of this but twice we saw massive flocks of flamingos flying, over the ocean! and over the salt flats. It was quite a sight in pink!

We stayed in Elegancia for the first time this year. It was a well equipped condo overlooking the water 1 block down from Dive Friends Yellow Submarine. It wasn't bad being across the street from the ocean. There was not much traffic except for weekend nights when the locals drive around in loud motorcycles and cars. It was great to be able to dive right from the condo, super convenient. It was nice to be able to walk to It Rains Fishes also, although we only went once. 

I think I still prefer Den Laman however. It's on the water, quieter, and Dive Friends is on site.

Till next time Bonaire!

Last 2 days of diving

Thursday, we dove the Cliff (by Hamlet Oasis) and Alice in Wonderland.

The Cliff was great, especially so because we got to get our gear set up and rinse off at Dive Friends on location. The walls were cool and we saw squid and a small eel.

Alice in Wonderland is one of  our favorite double reef system area. However, the current was strong so we decided to just do the first reef. We saw our friend the giant green moray that likes to swim over the reef. I looked it up and apparently they can live 10-40 years!!

Friday, last dive day! :(, We dove at 1000 steps and Margate Bay. 

Last time we were here, the seas were very rough and we took a big fall at 1000 steps. This time, the entry was super easy and we got over our negative feeling about this site. It was beautiful. We saw squid again! A bunch of lionfish, drumfish, large green moray, small spotted eel, and flamingo tongues!

Our second dive, and last dive of the trip, was Margate Bay. We were the only ones at this site when we got there. The coral was in so much better shape than most other sites. We saw another large green moray swimming on the reef. I saw a scorpionfish swimming but as soon as I took a picture of it, it camouflaged itself.

It was a great last dive because it had a great diversity of healthy coral Bonaire was known for, and hopefully will have again.

Spotted moray eel

Parrotfish

Filefish 

Spotted moray

Filefish

Large green moray eel

Lionfish

Sea urchin?

Pufferfish 

Lionfish 

Scorpionfish swimming

Scorpionfish camouflaged 

Scorpionfish 

flamingo tongue

Amazing last 2 days of diving

 Enjoy some videos

Green Moray Eel swimming freely

Squid

Stroopwafels

I love my morning coffee with stroopwafel! I also love this mug with houses.

Idyllic life in Bonaire

Wake up and enjoy a hot latte while watching the waves lap against the shore from a panoramic terrace.

Watch the water turn from dark blue to an iridescent turquoise as the clouds part and the sun shimmers over the sand and waters

Enjoy a yummy breakfast on the terrace while watching beautiful birds hunt for theirs.

Drive to a beautiful location and do the first dive. 

Have a yummy sandwich while watching the waves from the beach of the second dive site. 

See beautiful fish and coral.

Relax on the terrace, listening to the lapping waves, and watching the turquoise and blue waters transform into a brilliant orange as the sun sinks into the horizon.

Rinse and repeat...

East Coast Diving = lots of turtles!!

 If you don't like turtles, don't read this post and don't go diving on the east side. It is full of turtles. In fact, the second dive site is called turtle city where the turtles go to nap after eating. The first dive was at Funchi. Either way, the dives are right outside of Lac Bay off the barrier reef separating the east side of Bonaire from the Atlantic Ocean. The turtles love to visit the bay to have their fill of sea grass and then they head out to nap in Turtle City where there's a cleaning station for them to get brightened up for the road. The dives are drift dives in fairly strong current so you basically just float along and see tons of stuff. The coral is also a lot of healthy on this side.

We dive with East Coast Diving and they are great: https://www.bonaireeastcoastdiving.com/ 

huge lobster!

eagle ray

Jimmy - he likes to sleep in the coral

moray eel

nurse shark

nurse shark close up

sandy drumfish

another huge lobster

large turtle with 2 remora (sucker fish)

pufferfish from above

remora swimming

After diving on the East side, we had lunch at Sebastian's Beach - the sister restaurant of our favorite place in Bonaire - Sebastian's. We had a lovely view of the bay with the windsurfers

We drove back along the south side passing the salt pans