Lily's Travels: Day 2 of diving - diving the East Coast!!

Even though it's my 5th trip to Bonaire, I've never gone diving on the east coast, until now. I think it's their problem in advertising. I've always thought it would be really difficult and scary but it wasn't that way at all. Of course, I was told by Bob (the boat driver) that it was the best day because the water was so calm. Some days they have to cancel the trip because the waves are so high they are higher than the top of the boat. Plus I was told that the weather's been rainy and cold for the past 2 weeks with some really rough seas and today's the best day in a long time. Yay for me!! I think the roughest part of the east coast trip is the boat trip out of the lagoon (where the water is super calm) and into the rough sea but it's not a long ride. The swimming wasn't difficult at all but getting into the boat can be difficult if the waves are big. Our dive master was Kim who was fantastic. She told us great stories and gave us 2 great dives.

Dive #1 was called Funchi. It's named after this guy who was turtle poacher turned turtle preservationist. Apparently, a lifetime of turtle poaching taught him all the key skills need to assist the turtle preservation group in setting up their business. It was a drift dive on a wall that's just south of the entrance/exit of the lagoon. Apparently, the big marine life go into the lagoon to feed overnight and come out in the morning to the south side of the island. Therefore, a trip north along this route affords the opportunity to see them on their exit. I saw 7 turtles, 2 eagle rays, 3 moray eels (just hanging out) - one of the eels was being cleaned by banded coral shrimp!!, and just gorgeous coral. The coral here is definitely more intact. There were beautiful fans just waving with the current. The eagle rays were magnificent but too far for a great picture. We also saw some very large trigger fish and the biggest lobster I've ever seen.

Dive #2 started in the white hole and ended in turtle city . In the white hole, fish and marine life go to rest from the current. We saw at least 15 tarpon and a very large lionfish plus 2 large turtles chilling. Then we swam over a grove of sea fans which were beautiful as they swayed back and forth in the current changing colors from one side to the other until turtle city. As soon as we got there, I saw 6 turtles, all in a row!! Over the course of this second dive, I counted 37 turtles but the divemaster said she counted more than 60. Of course, I was wasting time looking at individual turtles and getting close to them and taking pictures of course. Some of the turtles were napping or resting - very cool! (very similar to posing) We saw another eagle ray. It was a fantastic dive.

I love the east side. I wish I had a better camera so I could have captured how beautiful it all is. My battery was on the fritz and I couldn't take videos otherwise I could have captured all the turtles in a row and the the waving fans. Next time. I'll definitely be back!!