New Years -- 2009

First drive North on Bonaire

Checkout dive -- Yellow Submarine

Slide Show

New video from old vacation shots - 2008

Non-Bonaire Vacation -- Spain

While the name of the Blog is Bonaire Vacations, on May 31st, 2009 we enjoyed our first European vacation. We joined another couple who was already on vacation in Spain for their second week. It was a very last minute, spur of the moment thing. We enjoyed a wonderful week in the Costa Del Sol region on the southern coast of Spain. We rented a car and did a number of day trips. In addition to day trips within Spain, we took a tourist bus to Tangier's, Morocco for a day trip.

Pack Day to come home :(

For most vacationers the last day of a vacation is not consumed with packing. For us, with all of the stuff we need to pack in the basement storage, it did take a big chunk of the day.

There will be NO MORE fish pictures until the next Bonaire vacation, which is scheduled for the last week of December 2009, and the first three weeks of January 2010.

Last Dive Day

Today is the last day that we can dive. You are not allowed to dive for 24 hours before you fly. Because this is our last dive day we booked a Boat Dive for two dives. The Friday boat dives go to the north end of the Island to dive sites that you can’t shore dive from. The first dive site was known as “Bloodlet”. The dive started out slowly but near the halfway point Trudy found an octopus in the open. I was able to get a few shots of it.

We also saw a Midnight Parrotfish, a Barracuda, Scrawled Filefish, Drum fish, plus the other usual fish.

  

 

And least I forget, we also saw another Turtle.

The second dive site was called “Bonbininacas” which means “Welcome to my home”. The was nice, but no exciting creatures, with the exception of three “Midnight Parrotfish”. These fish are very large by Bonaire standards, as they can grow to 4 feet, and are quite wide.

 

In the afternoon we lazed around, cleaned some of the dive gear and had a nap.

In the late afternoon, a few of the Yellow Submarine staff came over for a happy hour drink. The owner of the shop Gerri, the manager Asko and one of the dive masters Carolyn came over to help clean out our supply of beer and wine.

We enjoyed another Bobbiejans meal and plan on the same thing tomorrow evening. I got the Steak dinner, and Trudy got the Chicken Sate.

Frog Fish – Part Deux

We were going to do a morning dive to locate the Frog Fish again, and get some additional photos. Unfortunately Trudy was not feeling well in the morning, so I completed some more chores around the unit. I am almost complete with my work at the unit for this trip.

In the afternoon, Trudy was feeling better, and we got the dive in. We were eventually able to find the same location again, actually with a little help. A dive instructor came along with their group and I knew they were going to the Frog Fish, so I followed.

Tour Guide

This morning started very early for us. I had my alarm set for 7:30am but as it turned out I didn’t need it. At 6:30am they started a large jack-hammer right beside our bedroom.

The not so funny thing was that they were done and gone by 2:30pm, so they didn’t need to start as early as they did. :(

At 9:00am we met Lori and her husband who were in port for the morning on their cruise vacation. Lori’s husband is not a water lover, so I was taking  them to Lac Bay; Lori to enjoy a snorkel. The shot below shows Lori snorkeling:

While snorkeling we saw a couple of Reef Squid, which is only the second or third time I have seen them.

We also saw the usual fish that you see on a snorkel or dive, but in addition to the usual ones we also saw a Trunk Fish:

And a few Puffers, which was exciting for me as I have only seen one this trip so far. I should point out it that it was Lori’s eagle eyes that found this one.

Near the end of the snorkel we ran into a small Turtle, who let us get pretty close to him.

The hand you see in the next shot is Lori’s

After the snorkel I took them on the quick tour of the Island. We headed back to town around the south end, seeing the salt flats, salt mountain, some flamingos, the slave huts, and a few dive sites. We headed through town and up the coast north so they could see the differences in vegetation between the South and the North. I dropped them off at the Ship just a little past the deadline, but there was still a line up for them to get back on the ship.

The afternoon was spend napping; considering the lack of sleep we got last night.

And in ending, a picture of me working at the computer, correcting the photos of the day. And to appease some individual who has complained about too many fish shots.  :)

South End Dive

We did some shopping in the morning, and then a dive at the south end of the Island. The dive site is know as “Alice in Wonderland”. We enjoyed about an hour long dive, and saw a Slipper Lobster out in the open. At the end of the dive we saw our first Puffer the year.

The shot below is of a Slipper Lobster. This was the second time this trip we have seen this animal, and the first time we saw it in the open.

Drive North

Today we wanted to have an early dive. By early dive I mean immediately after breakfast. We got started fairly early, and I decided that we would dive at a site know as “Ol’ Blue” as it has a bit of a beach meaning it has an easy entry, which is the most important thing for us. We drove north, and when we got to Ol’ Blue it was full of locals, and the beach was gone. Hurricane Omar must have destroyed the small beach area. So we continued to search for another site travelling north. We went as far North as you can drive before turning around. We headed back to town, and had some lunch. After lunch we headed out to “Bari Reef”, which you are no longer allowed to dive unless you are a guest of the Hotel, so we ended up in a public area just south of the hotel. We have always swam to the north when we dove Bari in the past, but this time we went south and enjoyed a really nice dive. We saw many Whitespotted Filefish, both large and small. In addition we saw another turtle, and some eels for the first time this year.

Dry Day

I called a dry day, with no water activities. My ears get full of water after a dive, and it takes awhile for them to dry out. So after a two dive day yesterday, I decided to take a break from diving. I did manage to get the Batik’s hung, and as promised there are photos below. This job actually took most of the morning, once I got going.

We had “Bobbe Jan” take-away for lunch, followed by a nap for me.

For dinner we walked into town and ended up eating at “Bambu”