80) Bonaire

Harbour Village, Kralendijk, Bonaire

12° 09.848 N 68° 17.077 W

They collected their snorkel gear, rented a car and headed for the southern shore to see the beaches.  I loaded the dinghy with my scuba gear and headed off to the closest dive shop.  We planned to meet up about 1 at the boat and continue the day from there.

The entire island of Bonaire is a protected marine park with strict regulations, as they would have you believe.  I knew that I had to go into a dive shop and purchase a park pass for $25 USD and then do a checkout dive.  This is where the confusion set in.  Well, first off they swiped my card for $250 USD as a deposit and would adjust it when my diving was over.  Even though I had all my own gear and boat and was only going to do one dive they still maintained their policy.  He said when I was done diving to check back in with him.  Hell yeah I was going to do that! 

Yellow Submarine Dive Shop   

Dive site with a boat on the mooring

They want you to don your gear, get in the water in front of the waterfront shop and make sure you are comfortable and your weight belt amount is correct.  Part of their review is to sit at the table and look at the local dive map and talk about protecting the reef.  That sounds fine to me.  They said that if I had a buddy we could go in the water and check each other out.  Or, I could have an instructor watch me from shore.  So I said, you don’t even know if I know how to dive.  It’s kind of the honor system.  We then chuckled and I said that why should I even get in?  Had to.  It’s the rules.  I said I was going to get in the water and then get back in the boat and wave as I motor off to the closest dive mooring.  We agreed that was OK.  He told me there was a wooden wreck right in front of the entrance to the marina and described how to find it.  I went to that mooring but had to wait because there was a dive boat already there.  They are allowed to stay on the moorings for 2 hours max.  I had a short wait and swooped in as they left.  I dropped in, got to about 30’ and found the line he told me to follow.  Sure enough it went the right direction but I gave up after swimming farther than I wanted to.  He described it as drop down; follow the line, short swim.  One of us might have had misinformation and based on that and solo diving the best thing was to modify my dive plan. 

            

 

I then focused on the reef.  It was once again tropical beautiful.  Lots and lots of coral, sponge, fish and creatures.  In the distance and deeper I saw a sand plain of these things that stick up and look like snakes.  I knew that when you get close they sink back in the sand and hide.  I got a great video clip of that.  I also saw lots of car and truck tires and engine blocks.  So much for the pristine reef.  They did say that this waterfront has been trampled by the masses and progress and that it was much more pristine the farther from here as well as across the water at Klein Bonaire.

 

                    

On my way back to the sailboat I saw Iguana lizards sunning themselves on the rocks and got a close look.  They hang out there because the tourists feed them.

Since I was the first back to the boat I had time to do laundry and take a shower.  This is the 2^nd time I have done laundry in the galley sink.  It gets the overall stink out of the clothes but I can’t really tell if they get any cleaner.  At least they are somewhat clean and I have somewhat clean clothes to wear.  After I paid $60 USD for a large load in Martinique I figured I spent all the money I wanted to for someone to put my clothes in the machine and put in the quarters.

The truck they rented appeared to be straight from Mexico and so did some of the terrain we drove through.  We cruised up the west coast and saw some very nice homes built in an exclusive area and newer ones popping up.  Along the coast road there are painted rocks identifying the dive sites.  There were many trucks and cars parked on the roadsides loaded with scuba gear and people.  This is a popular way to see the island.

                 

We wanted to see the Flamingo sanctuary that was up this way and struggled to see the flocks you see in the posters.  Apparently, that picture was taken from the pond on the south side.  But, we did see a few and up close.

The drive through the little jungle was neat.  Saw Parakeets and pigs.  The birds knock the fruit from the trees and the pigs eat it.  From here we emerged on the east side of the island, which is windward, scrub looking with cactus and looked just like Baja.  The tropical environment has ravaged most of the buildings and many of them are rusted and falling down.

Nancy and I went to the big grocery store since we were leaving in the morning.  There were a lot of Dutch products as this is their island.  I guess I’ve been hearing them speak their native language and that’s why I feel like a foreigner.  I think the worst part of this island and probably from staying in a marina is all the bug bites.  They get you at night when you are sleeping because the hatches are open.  We have not been diligent about screens around here.  I know that mosquitoes are attracted by the carbon dioxide that we exhale and that is how they find us.  I thought that if I had the fan on in my room it would dilute that gas.  I had it on low and that did not do it.  They bit me all over and it sucks. 

This happened to all of us.  I turned the fan on high last night even though it makes a racket and wore a long sleeve and light thin pants.  Too little too late.  Staying in marinas is nice except for the bugs and anchoring out pretty much gets rid of the bug issue.