Bonaire Day 6

Thursday, June 4, 2009. Last night Eric and I opened the curtains in our room so we could wake up with the sunrise since there are no clocks/alarm clocks in our room and we did not feel like reading the instructions to set our portable alarm clock that we brought along. We ended up getting up about 7 a.m. Bonaire time and I fixed breakfast for Dick and I and we ate out on the back patio, enjoying the refreshing morning breeze. Eric then packed up our dive gear and we headed out about 8:25 a.m. to be at the dive shop by 8:30 a.m. for our boat dive trip to Klein Bonaire. We were the only two that got on the boat at the Port Bonaire Dive Friends location. We took off by boat and headed down the coast line to pick up the rest of the divers at the Yellow Submarine Dive Friends location. After everyone had gotten all their gear loaded on, we headed out to Klein Bonaire, which is a small island just off the coast of Bonaire. Klein Bonaire has 26 designated dive sites all around its coast. We did a two tank dive trip and our first stop was at a dive site called “rock pile.” Unfortunately, today was a VERY windy day and the waves were pretty large, so there was a fairly good current and the visibility underwater was not what it normally would be, but it was still some fabulous diving. We saw a very big spotted eagle ray, some eels, a scorpion fish, very colorful soft and hard corals, and tons of fish. This was my very first boat dive, so I got to have the experience of sitting on the edge of the boat with my tank and all my gear on and just rolling backward off the edge of the boat and into the water. Anticipating it was actually more scary than doing it. It was actually very easy to do. The hardest part was maneuvering around on the boat while it was tipping at a 45-degree angle or more from side to side in the large waves (not a very big boat). Our first dive was about an hour long. Then all the divers climbed back on the boat and we all switched out to new tanks and headed to the next dive site. We had about a 45 minute surface interval before the next dive. Our second dive was at a dive site called Joanne's Sunchi (Kiss). On the first dive Eric and I had kind of gone off on our own, but this time we decided to travel with the rest of the group. We got to see our first seahorse (an orange one), and several more eels, and we got some awesome pictures and video of another smaller spotted eagle ray that swam practically right in front of Eric's face. By the way, we will post many more photos and videos after we get home as our internet connection here at the hotel is not very fast. Again, this dive was about 45 minutes or so and then we all climbed out and headed back to Bonaire. If and when we return to Bonaire (which will probably be later this year), we definitely plan to visit Klein Bonaire again. The diving there is really nice and would be even better on a calmer day. When we got back to the hotel we quickly got cleaned up and headed out to lunch with Dick and Lou (they decided to visit the Donkey Sanctuary while we were out diving and very much enjoyed their visit with the donkeys.) We tried another new restaurant for lunch—Chibi Chibi, which is at the Divi Flamingo Beach Resort and Casino. The atmosphere was nice (right on the water) and the food was good too. Then we headed to the Last Bite Bakery to pick up our Key Lime pie at 3:30 p.m. Unfortunately, when we got there she had just put it into the fridge and she told us it really would not be ready until about 4:30 p.m. So since we were already on the other side of town, we decided to take the scenic drive down the coast line to the other end of the island. We did kind of a speedy tour since we only had an hour before we had to be back, but we did see a few wild donkeys and of course lots of goats, but we also saw a crested caracara. We got back to the bakery just before 4:30 p.m. and picked up our pie and Eric and Lou also bought some homemade Gingersnap cookies. We then headed back to the hotel, sufficiently stuffed from lunch, and a bunch of us laid down for a little while. Eating a good meal and then going for a drive can easily put one in the mood for a good nap, especially while on vacation. Since we had such a late lunch, we decided to dine on cheese and crackers, Gingersnap cookies (for Eric and Lou) and of course Dick and I had to cut into the Key Lime pie for dinner. As tomorrow will be our last full day on Bonaire, Eric and I plan on doing an early morning dive and then that will be it for the diving part of the vacation. We will probably plan on driving around and seeing some more of the island and/or shopping, etc., or whatever we feel like really the rest of tomorrow.