Bonaire December 2008

07/06/11

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After having such a good time in June of this year, we decided to return to Bonaire in December for 2 more weeks of SCUBA fun.  We did have a good time, but think we will stick to summers from now on as we found that during the rainy season, mosquitoes outnumber people about 20 to one.  We also found that theft in Bonaire is still alive and well as they stole our fins and the Divi dive bags they were in while we were there.
 

We arrive on the red eye flight early Dec 6th and find the resident iguana is waiting for us.

Most of that first day was spent arranging for our dive package, shopping for groceries and napping since we got little sleep on the overnight flight.  The 2nd day (Sunday) we started at the Divi resort for our checkout dive and then out to Tori's Reef, one of our favorite dives on Bonaire.  We were in for a surprise as every site was impacted by hurricane Omar.  Mostly very shallow damage, but many entries were different than previously.  A new camera that Donna brought had the added benefit of taking small movies.  Kind of fun for some of the many creatures we see, so you can see them moving too.  A couple are included below.

 

Fish and octopus at Tori's Reef 

 

Next day, we went to Andrea I, a great site for critters and easy in/out  

This turtle didn't care if we took his picture or not.

In fact he posed.

Don getting up close with a French Angel

Pretty stripes on this guy

Harlequin bass

Trumpets are so strange

This little striped shrimp was impressive

Don found a frog fish

Another trumpet hiding in the soft coral

and these guys were soooo tiny

On to more sites and more creatures....

This site is called Ol' Blue

This lettuce leaf was so colorful

Christmas Tree worms everywhere

A magnificent specimen Scrawled File Fish

Curious barracuda

Tiny cleaner fish in an anemone

Back to Tori's Reef 

So many good creatures here....

Squirrel Fish

Strange coral

Mahogany parrot

Another file fish hiding

Fairy basslet up close

Many beautiful plants

This lettuce leaf was on the move

Arrow crab up close

 

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MOVIES....this new camera of Donna's takes little short movies that shows the unique movement of the different creatures.

We were so lucky to see this eagle ray going both directions.  He was unafraid of us and came right up to us and continued to feed all around as we took pictures.

  And a little movie of his feeding (1 minute, 8MB

 

This juvenile spotted drum fish was so animated. 

Here is a still shot and here is a movie     (35 seconds)

And a peacock flounder, first the still then the movie   (28 seconds)

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There was a group of 3 to 4 large rainbow parrot fish, one particularly large that hung in schools of doctor fish.  Or maybe the school hung around the large parrot fish.  They were most impressive.

Coming straight for us

Magnificent

We did see a pair of these elusive ocean trigger fish.  They seemed to be making a nest in the rocks where we were at.

Prettier than your average sponge

Butterfly fish

Glasseye grouper

Flamingo tongue

Three shots of an eel....

On our way back from diving one day, this mother and son donkey walked right up to the car and were ready to feed and be petted.

Our last day on the island.  We didn't dive and went exploring to parts of the island we had not been to.

Flamingos very close to town...

Northeast part of the island had this abandoned light house and housing for the light keeper 

Some ruins of a large building & cistern...

A picnic lunch at Ol' Blue...

 

Coming into Rincon...

 

After two weeks, we had to come back to real life.  Many thanks to our hosts at the Bonaire Village Villas that we continue to rent an apartment from each trip to the island.

 

 

Home | Fiji October 2009 | Bonaire December 2008 | Bonaire June 2008 | Bonaire 2006 | August 2006 | Dad's 85th | Port Aransas 2006 | Pomona trip 2006 | Trip to Quartzsite 2006 | September 2005 Trip | Fiji Islands 2003 | Bonaire June 2010 | Bonaire 2011 | Jekyll Island 2011

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   This site was last updated 07/06/11