Bonaire July 2012 Day 4

Monday, July 2, 2012

Since there was really no reason to get up early today, Eric and I slept in until a little after 7 o’clock. According to Tim, Jody was up about 3 or 4 a.m. After we were all up and somewhat awake we sat around and relaxed and decided what the plan was going to be for today. I made Jody and Tim and myself cheese omelets and after we got done with breakfast we all got our swim suits on to head out for the first dive of the day.

We had decided that we would do the Hilma Hooker first and then a new dive site we had not done yet called The Rock. So we got to the Hilma Hooker and got all our gear ready to get in. Jody went ahead and got in the water and took my video camera and then Tim got in the water and Eric carried my equipment down and put it in the water so Tim could hang onto it. At that point we realized that neither Eric or I had our masks. So Tim and Jody stayed in the water and waited while Eric and I ran back to the hotel to get our masks. We zipped back as quickly as we could and then got in the water.

Our little mask issue actually worked out for the better. By the time we were ready to get in the water and go down for our dive all the other people were gone and we were the only ones there. When we had first arrived there were actually quite a few shore divers there and two dive boats from different dive shops. So it was rather nice having the whole dive site to ourselves.

There were quite a few barracuda hanging around the Hilma Hooker and we also found one tarpon hanging out down in the shadows of the boat. We also saw a couple eels on the swim back in over the reef. Tim and Jody both really enjoyed the dive. This was Jody’s first wreck dive.

After that we headed back to the hotel to get some more mask drops and then headed back down the road to just past the Hilma Hooker to our next dive site, The Rock. This is actually an unmarked dive site just the other side of the Invisibles dive site. This has to be one of the easiest entry and exits for a dive site of any we have done here on Bonaire. It was a beautiful sandy section of beach where you just walk right in--no scrambling over slippery rocks to get in the water here.

At this dive site you actually swim out quite a ways, as there is just a lot of sand and a few coral heads on the way out, and then you drop right down onto this giant coral sea mount--thus the name The Rock. We saw quite a few Lion fish there and there was a nice sandy bottom with lots of garden eels. We also saw a lobster that could have fed a small African nation. On the way back in there were also a few eels and I spent quite a bit of time following a flounder all over the place. I think everyone really enjoyed this dive site.

By this time I think we were all getting pretty hungry so we headed back to the hotel to rinse out all our gear and take a quick shower before we took all the empty tanks back to get full ones. Then we went down the road a little further to get a few groceries. We decided to check out the new grocery store that we were told was down the street from the Warehouse (the supermarket we usually shop at). We went into the new store and it was very nice, so nice that you had to pay to rent a shopping cart. We looked around and did not think their selection was as good, so we headed back down the street to the Warehouse.

We got everything we wanted at the Warehouse and we did not have to pay for a shopping cart either. We finally headed back to the hotel to get some lunch. I think by this time it was about 4 p.m. We had ordered a couple pizzas last night so we could have the leftovers for lunch today. So we had our pizza and for dessert we had the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I had made at home and brought...Yummmmm!!!

Tim and Jody were tired so they laid down and had an afternoon nap. We decided tonight was the night we would do our night dive, so about 7 p.m. we headed out to the hotel pier. Jody was a little nervous about it, but we told her she had to at least give it a try. We got in about sundown and head out in front of the hotel not to far. We spent about an hour swimming around and seeing what there was to see. We saw quite a few eels out hunting, lots of banded coral shrimp, basket stars, brittle stars, tarpon, flamingo tongues, and some type of hairy little red crabs. On the way back into the pier we also saw a small octopus.

Jody survived the night dive and I think she actually enjoyed it. I think she would be a little hesitant to do a night dive on her own, but she enjoyed having someone show her the ropes.

After the dive we rinsed and put away all our gear and got cleaned up and had a little snack and some good conversation before heading to bed.