Bonaire, Snorkel day

No more scuba for us for safety reasons as leaving the island tomorrow.  Instead of diving we went snorkeling with our cameras and stopped at the Salt Pier because we were told by the cute Kite City food truck boys that turtles like to hang out there in the sand flats to the north of the pier.  We were not disappointed! Saw 2 or possibly 3 turtles, all swimming quickly away as soon as we spotted them.  Mary was shooting her fish eye lens which turned out to be a very good choice.  She got some nice Action Chick photos of me freediving around the pier.

Mr Turtle.  Photo by Mary.

Yours truly freediving at the Salt Pier.  Photo by Mary.

Yours truly freediving at the Salt Pier.  Photo by Mary.

Yours truly freediving at the Salt Pier.  Photo by Mary.

 Then we headed south to Tori’s Reef (I think?) because the book said it was good snorkeling. It was just OK… Cool to swim with huge schools of tiny fishes in the canal but the rest of the site was really hammered and rather boring. 

A Scuba selfie of Mary and I.

Fantastic Trip!!

Bonaire: Dive 17 – The Lake, Dive 18 – Pink Beach, Dive 19 – Captain Don’s Habitat, Via Buddy Dive, Dive 20 – Bonaire Oceanfront Apartments House Reef – Night/Flouro

Dive 17 – The Lake 

90 ft/49 minutes

NICE double reef.  Fairly easy entry… Worth doing again.  Spent quite a bit of time out on the second reef because the coral was in such good shape and really fishy. 

Dive 18 – Pink Beach

116 ft/52 minutes
Surface Interval :28 Minutes

General fun in harassing a large (the biggest yet) lionfish that was out in the sand channel between the reef steps – see the photos.

That HUGE Lionfish, large enough that Mary was essentually hiding behind it in this photo.  Notice her yellow fin.  

Mary and I took turns taking photos as the beast turned it's fins from her to me.  That is their defense mechanism - if you get too close to a Lionfish you end up looking at their butts.  

Mary, Photobombing the Lionfish.  

Dive 19 – Captain Don’s Habitat, Via Buddy Dive

98 ft/48 minutes

Surface Interval 3:03

It was ok.  We swam over from Buddy Dive.  The wall wasn't entirely vertical – more of a slope.  Saw a Black Durgeon, lots of file fish, and a lot of eels, etc…

French Angels in a wreck at Capt Don's.

Another eel...

Maryphotobombing another eel.

Yet another eel.

Dive 20 – Bonaire Oceanfront Apartments House Reef – Night/Flouro

73 ft/59 minutes

Last dive of the trip.  It started out lame.  I only had video lights so had to stay with Mary.  Half way through it was starting to feel like a bust but then we started seeing eels everywhere.  Sharp-tail eels in a pile and lots of spotted eels out hunting culminating in a large spotted coming out into the open, being aggressive to my camera, then swimming into a crevice in the mooring and snatching a male sergeant major for dinner.  How cool to watch the eel eat – if a bit creepy.

Mary photographing those little eels.

You can see a silver Tarpon cruising behind the eels.

A closer view.

This guy was about 4 feet long and is the subject of the video below.  

Listen carefully and you can hear Mary laugh.

Bonaire: Dive 14 – Hilma Hooker, Dive 15 - “Honey Hole”, Dive 16 – The Cliff

Dive 14 – Hilma Hooker
98 ft/34 minutes

Surface Interval: 1:07

Long-ass swim to the Hooker.  Lots of life around the wreck, a school of at least 8 tarpon inside, and a spotted eagle ray feeding in the sand channel just beyond the wreck. 

A drawing of the Hilma Hooker, courtesy of Mares.com

From numa.net:
She sailed under five aliases, carried an illegal cargo and was wanted by the FBI. Built and christened the Midsland in Holland in 1951, she visited a host of foreign ports while changing owners frequently over 30 years. She also sailed at the Mistrial, William Express, Ana, Doric Express and, finally, the Hilma Hooker. Her last port of registry was San Andres, Columbia, South America.  The 236-foot freighter was heading north from San Andres in 1983 when it experienced steerage problems near Bonaire. The captain maneuvered his ship to the island and tied up at the Town Pier, but failed to navigate through customs. He had no papers to declare the vessel’s port of departure or designated port of entry. Local authorities red-flagged it, then ran it through Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) as a prime suspect for drug trafficking. Both Interpol and the FBI had been tracking the vessel for months, the latter dubbing it “a designated drugger.”  Sure enough, a fine-tooth comb search uncovered 25,000 pounds of marijuana stowed in bales behind a false bulkhead. Bonaire’s customs agents had themselves a sting and shipwreck aficionados had a new dive site.   In 1984, after dive operators and volunteers diligently prepped her for sinking, the Hilma Hooker was put down off the southeast cost of the island. She came to rest on her starboard side in 60 to 95 feet of water and is heralded today as one of Bonaire’s premier dive sites.

Dive 15 – “Honey Hole”

106 ft/46 minutes

Surface Interval:  6:10

Unnamed dive site we named “Honey Hole” just south of Invisibles.  The entry was next to a small-ish (think 2’ square) concrete block next to the road.  Easy sand entry with a long-ass swim to the wall.  At depth was a sand channel with an “Island” of coral that was 105’ at the sand and rose to 65’.  VERY cool.   3 Lionfish in a small area, lots of fishes, holes, etc.   Crossing back over the sand channel (populated with Garden Eels) we found a MASSIVE Green Moray – at least 5-feet long and very girthy.  Also saw a large spiny lobster in a large cavity behind a coral head. 

We thought we had discovered a new kick butt dive site but later on I found it in the book, listed as “The Rock” (rather than the normal yellow painted rock, there was a rock stack on the shoulder of the road marking the site). 

Mr. Green Moray

Dive 16 - The Cliff
113 ft/40 minutes

Dusk dive.  We entered down a cobbly beach into uneven substrate difficult to maneuver with the surge.  Decent dive, but nothing super special.

Bonaire Dive 13 - Bachelor's Beach.

90 ft/51 minutes

We went back to show Mary it really was a nice reef after all.  Our first time here she was in caffeine withdrawal and had a wicked headache making her just a wee bit less than stellar.  

No special photos to share though. 

Bonaire Dive 12 – Yellow Submarine

92 ft/42 minutes

Surface Interval: 1:55

This is at the north end of Kralendyke.  Decent entry with a nice wall.  It was like swimming in a fishbowl with so many fishes. We saw 5 – FIVE juvenile spotted drum in the same little nook.  VERY COOL.

Mary, excitedly telling me she sees 5, count em - FIVE, juvenile spotted drum.

Look close.  You can see the little beasts in the lower right of this photo.

This is a juvenile spotted drum.  

The entire fish, including that long top fin is maybe 1 to 3 inches tall.   

The adult looks very different from the juvenile.  Mary took this photo.  

 Mary took this photo.  

 Mary took this photo.  

Bonaire: Dive 11 – Buddy Dive – House Reef

May 14, 2014, Bonaire:  Dive 11 – Buddy Dive – House Reef

130 ft/38 minutes –consumed 1,900 PSI

Surface Interval: 45 minutes

Went back with the cameras to try and film the Garden Eels.  Unfortunately they weren't cooperative.  Buddy has a coral nursery program, photos below.  They attach coral fragments to the floating trees so the corals can grow.  Later they'll reattach them where needed.

Mary, behind the "coral tree", always taking photos.

Yours truly, hanging out in front of the coral trees.

Bonaire: Dive 10 – Bachelors Beach

May 13, 2014, Bonaire:  Dive 10 – Bachelors Beach

102 ft/47 minutes –consumed 1,900PSI

Steep staircase to a rock, then down a few steps to a gorgeous white sandy beach.  SUPER easy walk in on sand then across a rubble pile – passing fire coral and then the drop-off in about 30 feet of water.  Lots of fish, gorgonians, a few eels, a honeycomb cowfish star coral, trumpet fish, and a black grouper.  Decent vis.  Sadly no turtles.  

This was our only dive of the day.  Mary apparently opted out of drinking coffee today and had a wicked withdrawal headache.   Note to Mary:  DO NOT stop coffee while on vacation.  :)

Mary taking pictures in a school of fish.

A few of those trumpet fish I mentioned.

Bonaire Dive 9 – House Reef @ Bonaire Oceanfront Apartments – Night Dive

95 ft/47 Minutes

Second Flouro Dive!  This time I had the camera set on video so got some cool shots including an octopus shot normal, macro, and flouro.  

Mr Octopus.  

The same octopus, but I played with the color settings a bit.

A little Moray eel out hunting.  He was maybe 3 feet long.

Flouro coral.

Flouro coral.

Flouro coral.

Bonaire Dive 8 – House Reef @ Bonaire Oceanfront Apartments – Night Dive

85 ft/55 Minutes.  

Flouro Dive!  UV lights underwater are amazing!   It was similar to a blacklight show.  Fluorescence occurs when an object absorbs light of one color (wavelength) and then re-emits light of a different color. Do you remember the novelty shop posters that fluoresce under ultraviolet (UV) light? That's a good example of fluorescence.

Unfortunately my Gopro somehow was set to take photos instead of video so I missed most of the dive and the shots I was lining up.  No Worries, we did a second dive!  Lots of trash around from the sailboats mooring in the area.  We were constantly buzzed by an annoying Tarpon.

Being buzzed by 4'+ Tarpon is a bit intimidating at first.  

Coral, lit up by my UV lights.  VERY Cool.

An Anenome, lit up by my UV lights. 

Bonaire Dive 7 – Windsock (at the end of the airport runway)

95 ft/47 Minutes – consumed 1,900PSI

We picked the sandy entrance, which was SUPER easy.  Fire coral in just 5 feet of water.  Lots of bright blue “devil fish” (just the name I like to call the blue spotted damsels because they piss me off) in the shallow coral.  Also saw a grey/white eel/snake cruising the rubble.  The lower reef was pretty much hammered but still full of life.

Bonaire: Dive 6 – Calabas Reef – Off ChaChaCha beach just south of the Carib Inn

116 ft/44 minutes –consumed 2,000PSI

EASY entry down some stairs over a sand beach.  Just a few uneven steps in the surf zone – but no major surf.  Saw an old anchor - but not too old (it had the crossbar).

Nice rolling wall with lots of cool critters.  Shot the GoPro with just the color correcting filters and lights.  Will probably use just the 20-50' depth filter and then adjust with the lights for deeper areas.  Without lights the 50+ filter would make more of a difference.  Saw a HUGE lionfish around 100 feet – maybe a foot long. 

Surface Interval: 47

Bonaire Dive 5 – Margate – Spreading Mom’s ashes on Mothers’ day.

82 ft/45 minutes –consumed 1,800 PSI

Easier entry but just a bit slippery with lots of algae to walk over.  Nice big plate and brain corals.  Saw another lionfish.  Refreshing thermocline at about 40’.

Spread Mom’s ashes (along with a bit of Brandy’s) on Mothers’ day after having a bit of a breakdown in the parking lot.  Boy did Mom make a mess, but her ashes settled out quickly.  We were in about 40-feet of water away from the reef about 15 feet which had us at least 30 feet over the next coral below us.  The wall is steep.  J

Me, in front of the dive site marker.  Photo taken by Mary Jackson.

And here is the video of me spreading some of Mom's ashes.  Dad added in a little bit of their dog Brandy's ashes "so Mom wouldn't be alone", he said.

Bonaire: Dive 4 - Alice in Wonderland

100 ft/41 minutes –consumed 2,300 PSI

Slightly challenging entry with uneven footing and waves but ok once you get past the coral and into the sand.  This area is part of the double reef system.  Garden eels at the bottom.

The rock in the photo below is the standard marker for all named dive sites on Bonaire.  A rock painted yellow with the name in black.  Enter at your own risk.

Bonaire: Dive 3 – House Reef @ Bonaire Oceanfront Apartments

121 ft/34 minutes –consumed 2,200 PSI

VERY fishy dive.  Best vis yet.  Easiest entry ever.  We’ll be back for a flouro/night dive tonight.  Sandy entrance with a bit of rubble.  Swim out a bit and pass the moorings for the sailboats.  They asked us to clean their bottom – we declined. 

First dive with GoPro.  I used the 20-50’ filter and the Macromate.  Lights worked well – high strength may have been a bit too high.  Shot some Christmas tree worms and anemones with macro.  Cool.  

Mary, at the easiest entry point ever.

One of those Macro Anenome shots.  

Bonaire: Dive 2 - Oil Slick Leap

83 ft/39 minutes –consumed 2,100PSI

Easy entry down a ladder after a harrowing walk across very rugged coral.  Fall here and you’ll be shredded.   The ladder drops down to a small coral platform with a cave forming under and behind the ladder.  The cave traveled well back and created a small blowhole maybe 3 inches in diameter.  

Very cool. 

We saw 3 small lionfish (in 80, 70, and 30 feet of water), one maybe the diameter of my hand with none of them larger than a dinner plate (with fins spread).  We also spotted a tarpon, a brown white spotted eel, a yellow and black small eel, a very big blue parrotfish, lots of arrow crab, hordes of trumpet and cornet fish, and oodles of other fishes – oh my.

I found an ammo can near the bottom of the Oil-slick marker guarded by a vicious damselfish.  Geocache!  Inside the can were little key chain cache items with instructions on how to register them at geocache.com and then a request to move them forward to a new cache.   I retrieved a little turtle and Mary a dolphin.

Dinner at BobeJans for delicious BBQ Ribs and Chicken Sate.  And the rum & diet coke wasn’t bad either.   Took a walk around town to burn off the drinks, found some free wifi to check in, then gelato, then home for a swim, and now playing with the day’s video.  Soon off to bed.  It’s all of 9pm.  We’re wild, I tell ya…

Bonaire: Dive 1 - Buddy Reef

129 ft/25 minutes – consumed 2300PSI

My first dive since 2005.   We stopped in at Buddy Dive to do our checkout dive at Buddy Reef.  The entry was down the stairs into a coral rubble area.  The reef starts in 35 feet and drops off steeply to ~130 to a sand bottom with a large area of garden eels.  We’ll be back later with cameras to get these little critters on photo/video.  We also saw what looked like a coral nursery area, with staghorn coral hanging from a PVC pipe frame.   This was my first dive in 9 years so I was breathing like a banshee trying to get my buoyancy control in line, gear situated, mask strap adjusted.  I’ve had to switch to a mask with readers.  Getting old sucks.  We also saw an octopus in about 20 feet of water hiding inside a tire.  Cool.


An entry where you walk down some stairs.  Sweet.  I didn't take this photo and have no idea who it belongs to.  If you recognize it as yours, drop me an email and I'll give photo credit or remove it - as you wish.  

Vacation!

I've had a very stressful past few years culminating with the death of my Mom and the demise of my relationship. I lost my mom to cancer and my relationship to a lack of integrity (his) and, truth be told, a case of mismatch. At the end of the day even without his lies we were not a match. He's conservative politically, I'm not. He's uber risk adverse - I'm not. He lives in Florida and does NOT own a pair of shorts or flipflops. I should have known from that alone. He freaked out that evening at sunset on the beach when I was exploring a tide pool, imploring me, "Come on, baby.. get out of the water - there are... Sharks!". Um, I'm in water to just above my ankles. And for pete's sake - I'm a marine biologist - I KNOW the risks. Sheesh. (stepping quickly off my soap box).

I've made it out the other end of all that stress and decided it was time to reward myself with a much-needed and very overdue vacation.

I broke out the passport, my dive gear, and upgraded my camera gear and am taking a dive trip with one of my oldest and dearest friends, the Luscious Ms. Mary.

10 stress free days in paradise. Just what I needed.

Scars are Sexy…

To me, scars tell the life’s story. I have a lot of scars. My emotional scars aren't that evident – I've tried to do the introspective work to deal with them so they fit into a small carry-on. These thoughts don’t run my life nor do they surface often – unless I deal with folks lacking in honesty or integrity.

I digress.

My physical scars have always been a non-issue for me, even when I was a card-carrying nudist. That was a few years back before I acknowledged how bad the sun was for me. My nudist days were also coincidentally before I received that scar resulting from cutting out a nasty little sun spot gone awry. A basal cell carcinoma is thankfully easily treatable, but brought the seriousness of the damages of tanning home.

I measured tonight and tallied up 69 inches worth of scars. My favorite number!

Besides being one of my favorite numbers, I wonder if it's impressive or scary to have scars of that magnitude?