Sorry to all the people at home but I’ve been enjoying 85 degree weather since February 28th. My first stop, Bonaire, of my scuba trip went well. The stop was with SODA, a scuba group from Dayton. For the rest of my trip I will be traveling alone, this is where the trip will become more difficult but I’m looking forward to it. This is my seventh time diving in Bonaire and staying at Divi Flamingo Resort so I knew what to expect regarding accessibility. I’ve not been to any of the remaining islands on my trip but anticipate many challenges going forward.
Bonaire has change since 2007 when I was last here. More waterfront apartments and souvenir shops are being built because the influx of cruise ships. I don’t remember any ships stopping here but this week seven cruise ships have been docked. It’s very disappointing to see this change but it’s all about the tourism money.
My plan on the this trip is to do two dives every morning for five days on each island, having the afternoon free. I may do some tours or adventures but this trip is based around scuba diving. The diving in Bonaire was good. Very similar fish life to my previous trips. Seeing turtles, green moray eels, tarpon, frog fish, scorpion fish, seahorse, among many others. My favorite dive was on Wednesday at Angle City where we saw a 6 foot green moray and 3 scorpion fish. A new fish to the reef that was not here in the past is the lion fish. A very disruptive fish that has very few predators because of its venomous spines. Bonaire now has a lion fish hunting club to minimize the lion fish population as much as possible. A lion fish can lay up to 15,000 eggs at a time and reproduce every 6 weeks.
Besides diving in Bonaire, I made it into town every day just a short wheel away. One of the new improvements is a paved brick walkway along the waterfront. In the past, I had to wheel in the street to go into town with a flashlight so cars could see me. The walkway has curb cutouts, although some are steep, but a major improvement also with the addition of streetlights.
The trip with SODA was good but I’m ready to be on my own. The dive crew on our boat Pressure Drop, Endro and Max, were good. A special thanks to my dad for helping with my gear and it was good diving with him for the first time since Australia