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.
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