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