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| Anemone |
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| Barracuda |
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| Blue Tang |
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| Christmas tree on brain coral |
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| Angel fish |
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| Angel fish |
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| File fish |
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| Flounder |
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| Cow fish |
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| Lion fish |
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| Moray eel |
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| Parrot fish |
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| Porcupine fish |
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| Eagle ray |
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| Sea horse |
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| Sponge |
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| Sponge |
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| Sponge |
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| Squid |
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| Tarpon |
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| Trumpet fish |
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| Trumpet fish |
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| Sea turtle |
.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Bonaire - Under The Sea
One of the people in our Waterfront Diving group, Brian, took a number of great underwater photos. Since we were under water for about 3 hours on most days these pictures are really what the trip was about. A sub set of Brian's pictures are below to give an idea of the variety of life on the reefs of Bonaire. Thank you Brian!
Monday, April 27, 2015
Bonaire 4/18-4/25
Bonaire is a small island about 50 miles North of Venezuela. The interior is dry with cactus and other dessert plants. Lizards, goats, and some donkeys make up the wildlife along with numerous birds including flamingos and pelicans. The main attraction is diving. This was a group trip organized by a local dive shop.
A reef runs around the island with about 60 dive sites on the calm (West) side. There is also a small island with another 25 dive sites surrounding it that is a short boat drive from shore. Diving is also possible on the rough (East) side and a few members of the group took a day trip diving on that side of the island.
We stayed at Buddy Dive Resort which is focused on diving. Along with the 9 boat dives that were part of the package the resort had pickup trucks and a drive through tank pickup station for easy shore diving. I have never been to island that had easy shore diving access as this island did. The resort itself was on the ocean and you could dive right from the resort which we did twice including a night dive.
The best diving was between 30 and 50 feet which made for long dives with good light. The reef has a wide variety of the usual carribean fish with a lot of life. The coral is reasonably healthy with a lot of different types of coral, see fans, etc. The group from Waterfront diving was a great group to dive with. They appreciated and respected the reef and moved slowly along checking everything out. There were three people who were master divers so there was a source of knowledge to learn from.
Beyond the usual parrot fish, angel fish, wrasses, and other carribean fish we saw turtles, tarpons, squid, and barracudas. There were also a number of different varieties of parrot fish including some much larger ones that I think were called midnight parrot fish. There were also many small crabs, cleaner shrimp, nudibranch, and a variety of other worms, baby fish, and other small creatures. We also saw two sea horses which I had never seen before. They were about 4 inches long, one reddish color and the other yellow. We also saw a number of fish change color as we dove. Trigger fish that changed color and added/subtracted spots. Also a purple and blue flounder swimming along that changed to white with gray spots to match a sandy area it settled into.
There is a park at the North end of the island which has some hills, a lot of cactus, lizards, and birds. It has North, East, and West shore exposure so there were some rough seas and jagged coasts to see. You can also dive in the park which we did. The road was rough so it took most of the day to check out the park and go diving there. 30 miles an hour was very fast in the park.
There is also a 4 foot deep large bay that has wind surfing. The wind is a constant 20 knots and with the shallow water and sand bottom it is a great place to wind surf. There is also kite boarding on the island which looked like a lot of fun.
The temperatures were very predictable and no rain. 87 during the day and 77 at night. The water was 80. Pictures below taken by Christine and Ken.
A lot of fun, good food, with the only down side being that time went by way too fast.
Dive sites we went to for future reference: (15 dives total with names below as close as I can remember)
Wayaka 2 (in park)
La Dania's leap *
Ol' Blue
Andrea 1
Small wall *
Buddy's reef
Something special *
Hilma hooker
Angle city
Just a nice dive
Keepsake
Bonaventure
Mi Dushi
Knife
* exceptional
A reef runs around the island with about 60 dive sites on the calm (West) side. There is also a small island with another 25 dive sites surrounding it that is a short boat drive from shore. Diving is also possible on the rough (East) side and a few members of the group took a day trip diving on that side of the island.
We stayed at Buddy Dive Resort which is focused on diving. Along with the 9 boat dives that were part of the package the resort had pickup trucks and a drive through tank pickup station for easy shore diving. I have never been to island that had easy shore diving access as this island did. The resort itself was on the ocean and you could dive right from the resort which we did twice including a night dive.
The best diving was between 30 and 50 feet which made for long dives with good light. The reef has a wide variety of the usual carribean fish with a lot of life. The coral is reasonably healthy with a lot of different types of coral, see fans, etc. The group from Waterfront diving was a great group to dive with. They appreciated and respected the reef and moved slowly along checking everything out. There were three people who were master divers so there was a source of knowledge to learn from.
Beyond the usual parrot fish, angel fish, wrasses, and other carribean fish we saw turtles, tarpons, squid, and barracudas. There were also a number of different varieties of parrot fish including some much larger ones that I think were called midnight parrot fish. There were also many small crabs, cleaner shrimp, nudibranch, and a variety of other worms, baby fish, and other small creatures. We also saw two sea horses which I had never seen before. They were about 4 inches long, one reddish color and the other yellow. We also saw a number of fish change color as we dove. Trigger fish that changed color and added/subtracted spots. Also a purple and blue flounder swimming along that changed to white with gray spots to match a sandy area it settled into.
There is a park at the North end of the island which has some hills, a lot of cactus, lizards, and birds. It has North, East, and West shore exposure so there were some rough seas and jagged coasts to see. You can also dive in the park which we did. The road was rough so it took most of the day to check out the park and go diving there. 30 miles an hour was very fast in the park.
There is also a 4 foot deep large bay that has wind surfing. The wind is a constant 20 knots and with the shallow water and sand bottom it is a great place to wind surf. There is also kite boarding on the island which looked like a lot of fun.
The temperatures were very predictable and no rain. 87 during the day and 77 at night. The water was 80. Pictures below taken by Christine and Ken.
A lot of fun, good food, with the only down side being that time went by way too fast.
Dive sites we went to for future reference: (15 dives total with names below as close as I can remember)
Wayaka 2 (in park)
La Dania's leap *
Ol' Blue
Andrea 1
Small wall *
Buddy's reef
Something special *
Hilma hooker
Angle city
Just a nice dive
Keepsake
Bonaventure
Mi Dushi
Knife
* exceptional
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| Salt evaporation ponds in South |
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| Salt slave quarters. VERY small. |
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| Resort looking toward room |
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| Drive up tank station. Unique! |
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| Dive boats and dock |
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| Ken in slave hut |
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| Park - NE coast |
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| Reef from times gone by |
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| Forest of cactus |
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| View from room |
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