Bari Reef and Ingridients

Dive #2 – Bari Reef. The sun had come out so the colors were better but the visibility still wasn’t up to Bonaire’s usual standard (which is – awesome!).  We had an amazing dive however.  Bari Reef is known for having more types of marine life than any other site in Bonaire.  It proved right.  We saw lionfish, scorpion fish, another octopus, a cool little worm, a tiny little crab with yellow feet, a shiny eel that I haven’t quite identified yet, and a variety of see cucumbers.  Unfortunately, no pictures as my camera did not charge properly but it is charging now and there should be some cool pics tomorrow.

We went to Ingridients for dinner.  For an appetizer we had bacon wrapped lionfish. They had a salt-encrusted sea bass and we had to have it. It was great. They even let me have the fish head J  They had amazing pina coladas – really little chuncks of pineapple – delicious!

Our first dive - Cha Cha Reef (house reef)

This was my first dive on this trip.  It was on the house reef of Dive Inn Dive Friends which is one of the 5 locations that my dive shop has.  We were lured there with stories of seahorses – a pregnant one too!  So of course we headed there.  Visibility wasn’t great because it has been a little stormy over the past few days and it poured a couple times earlier in the morning.  It took a little getting to being underwater again. 

Yes, we did see a seahorse and it was huge!! Sorry, no pictures since it was my first dive and it’s nice not having a camera my first time out.  Hopefully, we’ll make another trip to the site and get pictures then.  Oh, also, I got certified for nitrox today so it was also my first nitrox dive.

            

Another awesome thing we saw was this octopus – not big, about 6 inches in diameter – but the special thing about it was that it was completely on the reef just chilling out, in broad daylight! Of course, after I was there for a bit, I spooked it and it went into hiding inside a reef.  All in all, it was a great first dive. 

            

A great thing about our resort is that it has its own dive site (as in its beach leads out to Bari Reef).  Therefore, we’re just going to chill out for a bit and then head out and dive our local reef – there’s tanks right by the water! This will also be amazing for night dives.

            

The sun is out and it’s not too windy so hopefully the visibility will improve.

First day in Bonaire

There was definitely a scare when disembarking the plane in Bonaire and they felt the need to explain the procedure in case our luggage was lost butt fortunately mine arrived with or plane. The alternative is horrible as there is only one plane per week.

We have arrived and the resort is great. We are at the Sand Dollar condominiums and got the 2 bedroom site which is massive. Not only do we have our own bedrooms AND bathrooms but there is enough space to entertain 30. If only we had 30 friends here :p

There is a great screened porch overlooking the ocean and i have an angelfish overlooking me. :)

Tomorrow will be our first dives. Can't wait!

Off to Bonaire

En route to Bonaire - a diver's paradise. I believe this is my fourth trip to Bonaire. It is definitely my favorite dive locale (in the Caribbean anyway since I haven't made it to the great barrier reef yet). However, the loss of the direct flight on continental definitely makes the trip there less pleasant.

I am very excited for staying at a resort that has a on site dive site this time. I'm looking forward to walking out of my room onto the beach and into my dive site, particularly for night dives. There are even tanks kept seaside!

T - 1.5 hrs to take off!