We dived on a couple of sites and it was the first time we’d gone out by ourselves without a local guide. That means we read the book on the sites, and got better at planning and using our compass’. I took my little camera case along to see if it would work out. It’s kinda cool, you put your iPhone 6S in it and there are buttons on the face side you use to take pics. On the first dive I only got one pic, and unfortunately missed getting the pic of the 5’ long moray eel swimming in free water (usually you see their faces in a hole). It was gorgeous, and gave me a little chill, odd because most things don’t. I guess because I automatically feel a bit more like prey in the Bonaiwater due to my relative newness to the whole thing.
The first dive site was Alice in Wonderland. We had to do that one since Crystal is such a fan. We had to make a second trip home to get our masks because we’d loaded everything else before going to the dive shop to get tanks and our other stuff. But at least we locked the key in the room when we went back. :D The dive went well, our buoyancy is getting better which means we don’t yo-yo up and down in the water so much. That’s better for everything.
Dive site #2 was Angel City. That’s part of the double reef part of the system around Bonaire. We had a great plan and mostly followed it well swimming in a big circle and actually finding our way back to the marker. We did go a bit too far one way to start with and found ourselves 88’ deep and looking at the bow of the Hilma Hooker. That’s actually the next dive north and the one we’ll do today. I got more really bad pics on the second dive and I like a couple so they’re down below.
Then we went to the Woodstock Bar and Grill, which is run by our hosts downtown in Kralendijk. It was good, the music was fun, Eric spins tunes off two turntables in the opened up cab of an old VW Bug. On tap is “soup of the day” which is ..... Beer. No other explanation. After that we wandered to La Cantina which was recommended by our first local scuba guide from AB Dive, Rory. That was great. It’s a brew pub, and I ended up with a Quinoa burger which I liked. WE all liked the many beers we had along with the food and folks. Wandering home we got gelato from a stand, 2 scoops each and it was fab!
Today I think we’ll do the actual Hilma Hooker dive and try to do the Salt Pier dive. Hilma Hooker is a wreck dive, we won’t go in since we don’t really have the training for that. The Salt Pier is actually the real pier from which they load the salt from the local salt works. That’s also where the desalination plant is for the island, so they make money selling the salt. Pretty smart. It’s a long pier and divers can go there when a ship isn’t currently being loaded. We’ll try to do that one in the afternoon so the sun will be pretty for pictures. Crystal will take her little underwater camera I got her and we’ll see what we get.
So far, we’re having lots of fun and enjoying our time here. Mornings like this one, we sit in the sun and visit and have a cup and plan our day. It’s good.
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