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