Bonaire 2008 - Day 7 - Friday, 11/28/08

9:30p
Our diving is done for this trip! We completed three dives today, bringing our total for this trip to 21 dives. Our First morning dive was on Corporal Meiss. We revisited this site because some of our group had not seen any seahorses; we were successful in locating the one from the previous day. The second dive was on Front Porch (directly adjacent to BariReef and the resort). We dropped in from the dock, visited the frogfish on our way, then made our way down the reef at 50' before descended along the old submerged mooring lines to the wreck of the Tug. We hit 100ft while circling the small wreck before ascending along the lines and swimming back along the top of the reef.

We decided to eat lunch at Sunset Grill, delicious burgers! After lunch we went back out on Bari Reef for our final dive. We decided to stay shallow since we are flying tomorrow late afternoon. We swam along the top of the reef, checked out the Reef Balls, then headed back in. For those wondering, no, the reef balls are not something dirty, they are actually man-made concrete and stone balls that are best described as giant 3' diameter whiffle-balls. The promote coral and animal life growth by providing protection and stability. they have been in the water for a few years now, but there still is not a lot of growth. We will check again in the future to see how they are progressing.

We rinsed our gear as best we could since this was the final dive. We then showered and headed downstairs for a Rum Punch party before heading to Richard's for dinner. Richard's is one of the finer dining establishments on the island, and we enjoyed Shrimp Scampi and Snapper while sitting next to the Sea. This was a relaxing finish to a busy but fun week in Bonaire!

Diving highlights from our final day:

Corporal Meiss:
Seahorse
Hawksbill Turtle
2 Juvenile Smooth Trunkfish
2 of each together eating a sponge:
Queen Angelfish
Banded Butterflyfish
French Angelfish
Juvenile Drum
Chain Moray
Amber Penshell
Red Snapping Shrimp
Peacock Flounder


Front Porch and the Wreck of the Tug:
2.5' Black Grouper
4 Scorpionfish
Large Octopus
Orangespotted Filefish
Atlantic Thorny Oyster
Lots of Spinyhead Blenny


Bari Reef and the Reef Balls:
Horse-Eye Jack
Large Schools of Yellowtail Snapper
Large Schools of Mahogany Snapper
Black Margate
Porcupinefish
Decorator Crab
Spotted Cleaner Shrimp
In the Reef Balls:
Juvenile Blue Tang
Minibaby Juvenile French Angelfish
West Indian Sea Egg
Long-Spined Urchin

Bonaire 2008 - Day 6 - Thursday, 11/27/08

10:30p
Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was the last "long Day" of diving. We completed four dives again today, two morning, one late afternoon, and one early night dive. We didn't have the camera today, but Rich had his and shared his photos with us, capturing some ciritical items, such as an Octopus (sleeping) and a Longlure Frogfish.

Our morning dives were south today with Dawn and Richard. We attempted to dive the lighthouse at the southern tip of the island but it was too rough. We abandoned a few other sites on the way back north due to swarming mosquitoes before settling on Pink Beach. We saw another Hawksbill turtle and abundant fish life on this site. If you saw one of any species, you pretty much saw countless, and often they were larger than typically seen.

After a short surface interval we decided to dive the Hilma Hooker site again, but not see the wreck and just stay on the reef. We crossed the channel at 80' to the second section of reef, a submerged ridge that parallels the shore. There really wasn't much to see other than a large Channel Clinging Crab that Kara spotted, but when we headed back across the channel Dawn

spotted another Hawksbill Turtle which provided a wonderful experience. This turtle was completely indifferent to our prescence and went about feeding on algea covered coral heads. We were able to swim with the turtle and what it feed for at least 5 minutes!

While heading back to town, our rental truck got a flat. We think it was low on air and broke the seal when we hit a bump. Almost immediately after pulling over, 2 men from a nearby construction site came over to offer assistance. We were on our way quickly; very nice guys! We ate a ate lunch and then headed down to the dock to do 2 dives on Bari Reef. The first was a dive with a mission: find the Frogfish. We had good directions and were able to locate it. We also saw a large sleeping octopus in a coral head. We completed an hour surface interval on the dock while the sun set, then went back out on Bari for a night dive. We saw a number of interesting things, including the largest lobster we have ever seen in the wild! We also saw another octopus, but this little guy was out hunting. Good night dive! Other Highlights from our dives today:

Pink Beach:
Hawksbill Turtle
lots of Whitespotted Filefish
lots of Rock Beauty

Hilma Hooker:
Hawksbill Turtle feeding
Channel Clinging Crab
10 Carribean Reef Squid in a school


Bari Reef:
Longlure Frogfish
Large Octopus
Juvenile Smooth Trunkfish
Tiny Juvenile French Angelfish
Small Black Durgon
Caribbean Reef Squid



Bari Reef Night Dive:
Small free-swimming Caribbean Reef Octopus
Spotted Spiny Lobster
Caribbean Spiny Lobster
Large Tarpon
Sharptail Eel
Spotted Moray

Bonaire 2008 - Day 5 - Wednesday, 11/26/08

10:00p
We completed four dives today, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. The bad news, my camera housing flooded. The good news, at least I got all of the previous pictures and the pictures from the first 3 dives today. I am not sure what the longterm prognosis is for the camera, but it will be out of commission at least for tomorrow while I let it dry out. Chances are it is dead, but we shall see. The unfortunate part is I was just finally getting this setup figured out and I was getting some good pictures! Such is life...

We ate dinner at Sunset Grill again (the restaurant at the resort). I had a mixed seafood grill, Kara had grouper. We enjoyed the meal but service was very slow. We probably will avoid Sunset Grill for the rest of the trip.

Although I may not have photos from the rest of the trip, I will try to continue to post some from the last few days to keep the write-ups interesting. I did get some good shots today, but I will save a few for later. Here are the diving highlights:

Witches Hut:
Webbed Burfish
Green Sea Turtle
Batwing Coral Crab
Whitespotted Filefish




Karpata:
Large Bearded Fireworm
Queen Angelfish
Branching Anemone
Green Lettuce Sea Slug
Caribbean Reef Squid
Small Spotted Trunkfish
Spiny Head Blenny

Corporal Meiss:
Seahorse
Spotted Eagle Ray
Small Green Turtle missing a rear fin
Slender Filefish
Juvenile Spotted Trunkfish
Sharptail Eel



Alice in Wonderland:
Ocean Triggerfish
Black Durgon Triggerfish
Large School of Horse-eye Jack
Larger Juvenile Spotted Trunkfish
Longsnout Butterflyfish

Bonaire 2008 - Day 4 - Tuesday, 11/25/08

9:00p
Today was a little cool, with a high only in the low 80's. We had two morning dives with the group, then Dawn, Richard, Kara and I headed out on our own for one afternoon dive. All the dives were over 60 minutes and physically challenging (long surface swims, tough entires, strong currents, etc), so we are worn out! Kara and I decided to try a new place for dinner, La Luna. This is a dutch restaurant on the waterfront. We shared bitterballs (dutch appetizer that can best be described as pureed mystery meet fried like a fritter), crab bisque, and a crab and smoked salmon salad. The meal was enjoyable, and the cool breeze felt great as we relaxed. We followed it up with Ice Cream from the islands only homemade ice cream shop, Lover's Ice Cream.

The dives today were very memorable. The first dive was a long drift dive from 1000 Steps to Witches Hut. We burned through all of our air after some hard finning to reach the exit and had a 76 minute dive. We then went on to Ole' Blue where we saw 3 turtles, which is extremely unusual! Kara also found what we have been calling "the pea" or "bumble bee", which is this tiny pea-sized juvenile boxfish. To find one is really difficult, so it was exciting when she found the first one either of us had ever seen! (see photo) After a late lunch we headed south past the salt flats to Torrey's Reef. This site requires a long surface swim out to the reef. There was a strong current and heavy surge at the entry/exit. Visibility was low for this area (70ft?) while on the reef, but when we came back in visibility dropped to 30ft in the sandy area. The conditions are a little rough to the south of the island due to storms, so we decided to head north again tomorrow until things calm down. Notable sightings from today's dives:

1000 Steps to Witches Hut (Drift Dive):
Porcupinefish
Chain Moray
Lots of Lettuce Sea Slugs
Scrawled Filefish









Ole' Blue:
Hawskbill Turtle
2 Green Sea Turtles
Spotted Anemone Shrimp
Smooth Trunkfish Juvenile
Large Schools of Boga
Spotted Drums of all sizes
Redlip Blenny




























Torrey's Reef:
Large Hawksbill Turtle
Peacock Flounder
Huge Gray Snappers schooling
Longsnout Butterflyfish
Spotted Trunkfish
Scorpionfish

Bonaire 2008 - Day 3 - Monday, 11/24/08

11:00p
We had a busy day with LONG dives. We completed 4 dives: 2 morning, 1 afternoon, and 1 night dive. Our three dives during the day were highlighted by a turtle sighting on each dive. The night dive brought some different crabs and lobsters we don't typically see during the day. We got some good pictures today, so we'll add more to this post. You can click on any picture for a larger version. We'll let you know when we finally get the actual photos posted on our photo site, but it may not be until we get back. Here are the highlights from today's dives:

Angel City to Helma Hooker:
Spotted Eagle Ray
Porcuipine puffer
Hawksbill turtle
Octopus
Tarpin
All kinds Butterflyfish
The sunken ship "Hilma Hooker"



Windsock:
Spotted Eagle Ray
Several puffer/balloon fish
minibaby blennies
small scorpion fish
chain moray
school of mahogany snapper
schoolmasters


1000 steps:
green sea turtle
2 large super male parrotfish
blackfaced blennie
dark mantis shrimp
West Indian Sea Egg (Urchin)



Bari Night Dive:
Sculptured Slipper Lobster
Spotted Spiny Lobster
Large Tarpon (Charlie)
Decorator Crabs
Three-Road Sea Cucumber


After Dinner a group of us went back to Casablanca (some others hadn't been yet and as mentioned, we would were planning on going back anyway this week!) Dive Shop owners - Ken and Mary, prior dive friends - Mike and Colleen, new on this trip - Kristin and Duane, and Mike Whitmire were there when we arrived a few mintues later. Brian had a pork dish and I had land and sea filet and shrimp. Although service is slow (ala island time) the food really can't be beat.

Bonaire 2008 - Day 2 - Sunday, 11/23/08

12:30p
We just completed our first dive!

Dive 1 - Bari Reef
After completing the orientation, you are required to do a checkout dive on the reef just off the dock at the resort to ensure you gear and weights are correct. This sounds like it could be a bad thing, but Bari reef has a tremendous variety of fish life, so it is a great place to dive. Notable sightings:
Adult and Juvenile French Angelfish
Queen Angelfish
Greater Soapfish
Whitespotted Filefish
Scrawled Filefish
Ocean Triggerfish
Honeycomb Cowfish, Smooth Trunkfish, Spotted Trunkfish
Sharpnose Pufferfish
Banded Coral Shrimp
Yellowline Arrow Crab
Fireworm
Spotted Moray
Tarpon
Mahogany Snapper
Peacock Flounder
Longsnout, Banded, and Foureye Butterflyfish
Large Coney, Schoolmaster, Trumpetfish, Sand Diver

6:00p
After some lunch in the room we headed north with Rich and Dawn for a couple afternoon dives. The weather became more overcast and it started to rain as we headed down to the water for our first dive. However, the rain was gone by the time we surfaced. Both dives were around an hour and were very relaxing.

Dive 2 - Jeff Davis Memorial
Took some photos on this dive, but the camera battery dies near the end... hope that is not a recurring theme. I am still learning this setup, so bear with me on pic quality...
Notable Sightings:
Two Queen Angels
small crabs
Scallop/Rough file clam
Large queen anglefish
Cleaner shrimp on a parrot fish
Flamingo Tounge
Honeycomb Cowfish

Dive 3 - Oil Slick Leap
This is always a good sight, but today it was better! There was a lot of fish life, and the reef was in great shape below 35ft. We saw lots of different fish and creatures, and typically multiples of each:
Sharptail eels
Goldenspotted eels
Lettuce leaf slugs
Flamingo Tounge
Many Yellowline Arrow Crab and Banded Coral Shrimp
Many Spotted Drum
Parrotfish in Supermale phase (huge)

10:15p
We just returned from dinner, Casablanca Argentinian Grill. Kara had a seafood pasta and I had some ribs. This is a place where we have eaten on previous trips and really enjoy, so we will probably hit Casablanca a second time on this trip. We are sitting around unwinding now, but bedtime is probably not too far away. Everyone is tired and we will want to be ready for two morning dives. Tomorrow will start with the Hilma Hooker (ship wreck). Ad yes, they do actually have t-shirts that say "I went down on the hooker in Bonaire".

Bonaire 2008 - Day 1

6:45a
With a 6:20a departure from Greensboro, we were on the road by 3:45a. A late night packing put us in bed after 1:00a, so sleep deprivation will take it's toll before the day is through. We are on our first flight now and will soon be in Atlanta to meet up with the rest of the group from Diving Enterprises. We are excited to see some friends from our past trips. Ken, Mary, Richard and Dawn will be sharing a 3 bedroom condo with us. We were also pleased to learn that Michael and Colleen French will be on this trip as well! We haven't seen them in 2 years since our last trip to Bonaire. We are starting to descend, so hopefully I can post this from Atlanta while we still have access to the outside world. You never know what kind of internet access you are going to get in Bonaire!

And for the record... Kara has slept more of the trip than not thus far. We'll see how long she can keep that up.

9:00p
The rest of the travel was uneventful. We arrived in Bonaire around 3:00p, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. After waiting for the group of 33 to clear customs and baggage claim we picked up our trucks and headed toward the resort. We quickly checked in and ran to the grocery store to pick up snacks and food for breakfast and lunch for when we don't have the time or energy to eat out. Dinners will be our primary meal this week, and we expect to eat out every night.

So tonight for simplicity we had dinner at Sunset Bar and Grill which is located on the Sand Dollar property. It was their Italian theme night. Kara had shrimp and snapper over tortellini, I had chicken carbonara; both were delicious. Tomorrow we will have our dive orientation meeting and checkout dive before lunch, and then the fun begins! Fortunately it looks like we will be able to document the trip along the way this time. It took some effort to get the internet connection working. We rented a usb modem that runs on the local cell service, and of course the standard installtion software failed to work. I had to set up a manual dial-up connection instead of using the fancy software they provided, but at least it works! (And to the GP, I know... "womb".) So, stay tuned for more updates, and hopefully some photos soon!

Italy Tour 2008 - Day 12 Rome

We are up extra early for a 7 am departure to the Fiumicino Airport for our journey home to the US. One last look, and a few last photos from the bus. Arrivederci Roma!

Italy Tour 2008 - Day 9 - Florence & Montecatini

Although we stayed in Montecatini about 45 minutes from Florence we had 1.5 days to shop and tour. We visited Michellangelo's tomb, the statue of David, the Birth of Venus and countless other works of art. Another exhausting and sensory overload city!


















Our first dinner in Montecatini was at a villa up on the hillside that's being run as a B&B. They grow their own olives and make their own wine. The food was absolutely delicious and the after party was a hoot.

Italy Tour 2008 - Day 7&8 - Venice

The city on stilts... wow!

We did all the things tourists do... the water taxi, the glass factory, the gondola ride, the lunch on a waterfront cafe... all fantastic.

Sunset was especially nice =)