Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Jacquie and Dave joined us aboard Dignity before 9am for another day out diving. Our first spot was the “Hilma Hooker” a wreck a few miles to the south. There were already two dive boats there when we arrived so we snagged the third and only remaining mooring. The two dive boats departed before we descended but there was a group of shore divers also on the wreck so we weren’t quite alone. The ship was on its side on sand nestled perfectly between two reefs. The bottom was the usual 100ft and the top of the wreck around 50ft. We were able to swim around the wreck, under some of the superstructure and into the cargo holds. We finished the dive exploring the reef at shallower depths.

(The following pics of Helen & I were taken by Jacquie)

We all decided the quality of the reef down south was not as good as around Klein Bonaire so we agreed to head off to the north side of Klein Bonaire to the dive site Helen and I first went to. To get there we stuck out the head sail only and plodded along at 2½ knots deliberately killing time to allow the nitrogen to leave us.

Even though we’d dived “Mi Dushi” before, a different depth profile makes the dive quite different. I wanted to test the depth of the bottom as we’d limited ourselves to 70ft previously. 10ft from the bottom I decided enough was enough as we’d reached 125ft and I didn’t want to use up all our air. So we headed back to the 50-70ft range in search of the (totally) elusive sea-horses. We did sea a young turtle feeding on the reef and a number of eels among the countless other fish.

Back at the moorings we dropped of Dave to collect his dinghy and moored back on the spot that Inspiration Lady had left. We’ve given up on the local open internet connections. Our system seems too sensitive and is overwhelmed with all the coastal wireless networks. Further out we get good signals but up close its very temperamental. We’ve resorted to a pay by use service which is strong enough to counter the numerous other sites we see.

Our parts (wind gen and genset parts for Jackster) didn’t arrive yesterday although I know from the Fedex site they arrive in Puerto Rico on Monday. There is a flight in today so hopefully we’ll see them this afternoon. If we can, I want to devote a day before we leave to getting it going. We’re now looking at Friday for our departure, weather permitting of course.

This evening we’re planning a night dive. As our boats are adjacent we can all hit the water from our own boats and join up in the water. Not sure about the rest of the day.

Sunday was a two dive day for us. Jacqui and Dave from Jackster joined us aboard Dignity for these two. Their boat is longer than the allowed 45ft or so to tie up on the dive moorings so as we were aiming for sites further than it would be comfortable in the dinghy we invited them to join us.

From looking at our guide we set our sights on the location called “Forest”. Unfortunately, it was occupied by a dive boat when we arrived so we took the next one, “Southwest Corner”. It was on the farthest tip of Klein Bonaire and the waters were quite rolly. We quickly prepped and put on our gear and got into the water where, once below, the swell is no more. The sea life was abundant here with a huge variety of towering coral formations. At times the fish were swimming in lanes at different heights and different angles in and amongst the coral formations. I was reminded of that scene from the old B&W movie, Metropolis, where the lanes of flying vehicles snake between the skyscrapers. The area seemed to be a nursery for juvenile barracuda as we saw quite a few including three together at one point. Our deepest point on this dive was 109ft and overall it lasted 70 minutes.

We then moved the boat clockwise around Klein Bonaire to find a free mooring out of the swell for lunch.

In the afternoon we moved the boat back around to “Forest” which was now free. This was tight against the coast and again quite swelly. This dive proved to be perhaps the best so far in Bonaire. While the overall profile was quite similar with the 25ft sandy/coral bottom with a drop off to 100+ft it varied in that the reef drop off undulated with many buttresses. We therefore snaked our way along the reef and as we turned the corner on each buttress it felt like we were going somewhere new. Again the variety and quantity of sea life was amazing. I always like finding scrawled filefish which tend to be quite solitary. We found six large ones all together. We also saw (actually on both dives) immense midnight blue parrot fish as well as a graceful and large eagle ray. This sight had a surface current which was not too evident deeper down. Half the dive was spent moving up current below it. The second half was spent almost drifting back to the boat looking at the shallower coral gardens peering for the elusive sea horses.

By the time we got back it was 4:30pm. We took the mooring that Inspiration Lady had departed (to Curacao) hoping to get a better internet connection. This turned out not to be so sometime today we’ll shift the boat yet again.

We finished of the evening watching “Kite Runner” which I thought was a very good adaptation of the acclaimed book.

No diving planned for today but I will get the tanks filled.

Footnote: I sent this blog out the first time via SSB. Normally it doesn’t work this early in the morning but I tried some more distant stations. I made it via a receiver in Belgium, doubling my best distance yet, over 4,000nm away. We have also moved the boat and have good internet again.