Bonaire - 2013 Tuesday/Wednesday 11/13 and 11/4

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Another 2 days in paradise has sadly has come and gone. I don't think I could ever adequately put into words what it is like to visit Bonaire. The best word I can come up with is simple. There is no dress code; there are no schedules, only relaxation, smiles and great attitudes. I'm always asked the question, "Could you live there"? Yes, I could but never for more than 3-4 months out of a year. Why only 3-4 month? Because I always want Bonaire to be the "special place" it is and I'm afraid I would take it for granted if I lived here longer than 3-4 months at a time.

Bonaire is a lush tropical paradise on a desert island. It has cactus and palm trees living side by side, and the bluest oceans you will see anywhere in the world, teeming with marine life. It is not an island of five star hotels and resorts, it is an island of simple common sense buildings that are functional for the purposes of those who live and visit here. We come here to dive, others come here to kite surf. There is nothing you really need besides food, water and a place to lay your head in the evening.

Now, on to the last couple of days. We did a couple of boat dives on Tuesday, but since I don't like boats I'm sure I talked myself into not enjoying the experience. 20 people on a dive boat, all jumping in the water at the same time, swimming in the same direction, jockeying for position to look at the same fish is not my idea of an ideal dive. But 6 boat dives came with the package so we gutted out two yesterday and will try to do 2 more before we leave. In the afternoon we did a shore dive called The Cliffs which is just north of our resort. It was such a beautiful dive and we saw great marine life. I thought I would have some terrific pictures to post, only to discover the SD card hadn't made it back into the Go Pro! So luckily our friend Dave had taken some pictures earlier in the day with Jim’s other camera that I am able to post out on the blog. You will especially like the octopus and the dreaded lion fish which Bonaire has done an excellent job of controlling. We have over a dozen dives in thus far and have seen only two Lion fish.

Wednesday we dove from shore all day, beginning with ChaChaCha Beach. We met the nicest dive operator named Gordon, who works at Dive Inn in the heart of Kralendijk the main town on Bonaire. It and 5 other shops are owned by 5 gentlemen from the Netherlands. These 5 entrepreneurs have opened 5 locations around the island calledd Dive Inn and/or Dive Friends, a retail dive shop and a shoe store. They pour their profits back into their facilities on the island as well as organize trash pick-ups and a recycling program. They are painting and renovating buildings in town, and it shows. Gordon told us where to find a good size seahorse on the dive at ChaChaCha Beach that was wrapped around some rope coral. He was in 35’ of water and had been in the same place since January! He said he thought the other male seahorse had gone off to have its fourth batch of babies. The dive was easy and shallow, blissfully relaxing right up until the moment a large tug decided to back into the dock north of where we were and stirred up a gargantuan sand storm underwater. Within seconds you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Luckily we were just coming up or it would have ruined our dive.

Our next dive was Salt Pier a little further south. The Salt Pier belongs to Cargill Salt and used to require a permit and a guide to dive but that has changed. If there is no ship loading salt, it’s park and go. The entry was a little tough but we found just the right spot to go in and had an amazing second dive. The sea floor around the pilings has been a dumping ground for various pieces of equipment and metal off the ships, which has now become part of the reef system and I think has enhanced the sea life. We saw two spotted eels, a scorpion fish, a turtle, several large tarpons, and large schools of grunts.

After the second dive it was time for something to snack on and a cold beverage, so we drove south again to Atlantis Beach where the kite surfers have a school. There is a food truck that parks there called Cactus Blue. Well it’s not really a truck, but more of a small converted U-Haul type trailer. When asked how often he is there he said, “Every day there is wind,” which translates to every day on the south side of Bonaire! His menu is small, but by far the best food I have eaten on the island. Look him up on Trip Advisor you’ll see he has 4.5 and 5 stars on every review. I highly recommend trying his food if you ever visit Bonaire.

After a couple hours rest, we headed out to re-create the dive we had done the day before to “The Cliff” this time with camera loaded, but the current was running north, so we had to change plans and go south instead. We did a about a 50 minute dive, and as is typical that time of the day the reef was buzzing with activity. We saw three Scorpion fish, the last one being a new one even for us. See if you can pick it out in the picture.



It’s been a great trip so far. Jim and I have dove 3 or 4 new sites we have not tried on past trips to Bonaire, and it’s all new to our friends Dave and Donna. They have had quite a few “firsts”, which is wonderful. The few small rain storms we had when we first arrived have moved on, so the last couple of days have been sunny and warm though a bit windier than I can remember from past trips. I did ask one of the locals about the rain and the wind, and October, November and December are their rainy season which means it may rain each day for about 3-5 minutes. Dave and Donna said that wouldn’t even get “an honorable mention” on their news in Tacoma!

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Photos

SCORPION FISH
Poisonous fish, you don't want to step or touch this guy.