Large Turtle - Klein Bonaire

Yesterday we went diving on Klein Bonaire with our friends off the yacht Aphrodite. We filled our dinghies with tanks and dive equipment and motored over to the island. Our friends picked a dive site called Leonoras Reef and it was excellent. A very old and large turtle dived down from the surface right next to Ian. It swam past us then headed for a coral crevice. It banged into the coral with it's head then wedged itself into the crevice and appeared to go to sleep. It was so old and tired that we decided to leave it in peace. At the end of the dive it was still resting in the same position. We saw some other really cool stuff on the dive including a scorpian fish that was swimming, loads of beautiful soft and hard corals and a wide variety of reef fish. We had a very bumpy dinghy ride back to Faraway and we had to bail water out along the way as it was so rough and choppy. In the afternoon we hit the City Cafe bar with our friends for sundowners and stayed on for fish and chips. We enjoyed talking about the dive adventure but were all pretty tired and headed back to bed around 9pm. Today we are preparing Faraway for our sail to Panama. We leave tomorrow morning and estimate that it will take around 6 days to get there.

Kalabash Reef Bonaire

Today we dove Kalabash reef with a German couple Andreas and Cordula from the yacht Aphrodite. It was raining when we set off but it cleared up and the sun came out as soon as we started diving. I was looking for sea horses but once again it was in vain. Saw plenty of other critters though including a pair of heavy weight lobsters.

Dockside Walk Bonaire

During our extended stay in Bonaire we did some walks along the dock where Faraway was moored in front of the swimming lanes. I later found out that this was an excellent snorkelling site. A few times a week a cruise ship would come in to dock and the whole atmosphere of the town would change. Market stalls would spring up and the cafe and side walks would become instantly crowded with visitors. The top photo shows Ian posing outside the dive shop. We would park our dinghy at the jetty, cross the road and get our tanks filled. It was sooo easy.

Shore Dives Bonaire

On Friday, April 22 we took the hire car loaded with dive gear down south to do some shore diving. The first dive site was called 'Alice in Wonderland' and it was fantastic full of marine life and abundant with corals. Ian and I did a 72 minute dive we just didn't want to get out of the water. The next site was called Jeff's Memorial dedicated to marine medicine researchers. We went looking for seahorses but were unlucky. The hardest part about the diving was carrying your equipment to and from the car. The reefs seemed to be very healthy and were being closely monitored by the Marine Park service.

Sundowners Bonaire

On Wednesday April 20 when the antibiotics were finally finished Ian and I had a celebration beer at the local restaurant on the dock. The sunset was beautiful and we both really enjoyed getting out for the evening. I discovered a new beer called Amstel Bright which you drink with a slice of lemon. Absolutely delicious!

Snorkelling - Octopus and Squid

While waiting to recover before diving again I managed to do some nice snorkelling. I had an interesting encounter with an octopus and some squid. The octopus was pretty friendly and changed colour defensively every time I dived down to get a close up! The Caribbean reef squid were very curious and beautiful to watch as they sparkled in the sunlight.

Land tour of Bonaire - I'm back!

After 6 nights in hospital with suspected Dengue Fever that turned out to be an infection on my kidney I am now back to normal (I hope). I had a small operation and received a lot of intravenous antibiotics during that time. The hospital was a bit lacking with no air conditioning or hot water and a ton of mosquitoes. Patients brought their own fans in! Ian was very patient in taking care of me and we hired a car and did some land exploration of Bonaire while I was recovering. We managed to find the very pink flamingos, checked out the huts that the poor slaves were housed in to mine the salt, found a local brightly coloured lizard, and drove past the shore based dive sites. I told Ian that when I got better we were going to do some of these dives from shore. Divers just pull up in there pick up trucks and the dive site entry and exit point is clearly marked. Note the number plate on our hire car 'Divers Paradise'.