Bonaire Diary

by Derek Dear

Monday: Orientation and Dive 1
Buddies: Sanjay and Ian

The dive orientation talk lasted for 45 minutes and was very interesting. We were told the do's and don'ts of diving here. There were lots of 'do's' and very few 'don't', as the policy is dive freedom: you do what you like, so long as you take responsibility for your actions. The dive guides are there to help: they don't tell you where to go, or what to do, unless you ask them. There were three forms to fill in, and they were quite detailed:
1. Application to dive in the Marine Park
2. Dive waiver - i.e. if you kill yourself, they are not liable.
3. Technical diving waiver for nitrox.
There is a board to write your name on if you don't have a buddy, but want to go diving. There's another board where you put your name for boat dives. The night dives happen on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The boards for these dives go up at about 3 pm the day before.
Of the fifteen new arrivals at the talk, I am the only one with Nitrox training, so although I can take a tank of Nitrox when I want, having registered as a Nitrox diver, it looks doubtful that I'll find anyone to dive with me on Nitrox. The nitrox tanks are a standard 32% mix - if you want anything different, you have to ask. On the boat, it has to be a 32 mix, so that nitrox divers don't keep everyone else waiting at the end of a dive.
There are two jetties, called Papa Dock and Baby Dock. Papa Dock is where the dive boats come in, so swimming, snorkelling and diving are not allowed from there. That is from Baby Dock, where there are steps for getting in and out of the water. There's a rope along the seabed from that jetty that leads out to the drop off.
As I stood in the queue to show my papers to the dive people, I was behind a Dutch couple. The girl said that all she wants to see is a seahorse. If that's all she sees, then it won't matter. I said that I was in total agreement - that's why I have come to Bonaire, and if I see one, it will make the long journey and everything worth while.
I spoke to Ian and Sanjay and asked if I could join them for a check-out dive. Ian has done 25 dives, and is BSAC Club Diver (in the old system, that means he has Novice 1 & 2). He said he uses a lot of air. Sanjay has done a lot of dives, but has done nothing for two years.
I didn't have the dive computer or camera with me, but that wasn't a problem. I had my back-up system ( i.e. the analogue pressure gauge and my watch), and made sure I didn't go any deeper than anyone else! In fact, having agreed no more than 20 metres, we spent most of the time at 16 - 17 metres.
We went into the water from Baby Dock, where it is about 3 metres deep. Something in Ian's equipment was making a noise, so he sat on the bottom by the jetty while we swam around him to see what it was. We couldn't find anything. We followed the rope out and at about 4 metres, my ears began to hurt. That's unusual, and probably a result of the long plane journey yesterday. Ian had more trouble. I was uncomfortable, but he was in pain. The coral has been badly damaged for the first 10 metres or so from shore, but after that, it is good. There was no current, even when we went over the drop off. By the time we reached the drop off, Ian said he was fine. We'd arranged to go right when we reached the drop off, swim till someone got to 100 bar and then swim back again. The coral is in a narrow band, from 5 metres to 25 metres depth, then the bottom is sandy. The maximum depth anywhere here is 40 metres. All the usual things were here, like parrotfish and sergeant majors.
Ian went far too fast. Now I know why he uses so much air. I suggested that he slowed down! Sanjay and I followed at a more leisurely pace, and he spotted a sea snake, with yellow spots. I found a brittle worm - we were told these are the nastiest things around at the moment. As they don't leave the rocks, if you don't touch the rocks, you'll have no problems. It was about 7 cms long, and noticeably moving - unlike the sea slugs, where you need to look closely to see if they are moving at all.
15 - 20 minutes into the dive, Ian said he was getting low on air, so we turned round. I had 8lbs of lead on my weight belt, Sanjay had 12 and Ian had 16. I felt I needed another 2lbs. On the way back, I spotted a moray eel and some shrimps, but as Ian was anxious about his air, we came back. It was an excellent dive.

Tuesday 11th September 2001: A date no-one will forget in a hurry.
Dive no 2 : The first night dive. The town pier.
Buddied with Fritz.

We were told to be at the jetty by 6.30. The boat left at 6.50. The boat is powerful, and we were on site in about five minutes. By road, it takes about ten. The dive plan was to go into the water at the deepest point - that was about ten - twelve metres. The maximum time was to be one hour under water. The dive guide went in with us and said that if he saw anything interesting - for example, a sea horse, or a frog fish, he'd sound his hooter. The dive is shallow, at about three to five metres. We were told to stay underneath the pier, as there are passing boats. The pier stretches about 106 metres out from shore, then turns a right angle, continuing for another 75 metres. It is supported on pillars and three or four iron cylinders. These are about eight metres across.
There are a lot of old tyres on the bottom, which cushion the ships that tie up here. There was some rubbish, but not as much as sometimes is found in these situations. We swam in and out and round the pillars at about five metres depth. I used very little air until the hooter sounded after about 20 minutes. The guide was calling us to see a red sea horse, about 5 cms long, which was very close to one of the tyres. I had about 12 shots left on the film, and I used 7 of those on the sea horse. (At that time, no-one had told me that they get very stressed and can die because of over-use of flash photography.)
As we swam along, I saw a baby moray eel, looking out of its hole. It wouldn't come out, so I gave that up. I don't know whether it was because it was early, but in the first half an hour, I only saw two, then, suddenly, they were curled around the pillars, and every tyre had its resident leopard or brown moray eel - sometimes, two or three. Some were only about 15 cms long. One of them, about a metre long, was fully out. Then I saw an octopus scuttling across and back into his hole. I was the only one to see this.
The hooter sounded again, and this was another, smaller sea horse. We saw a sponge crab. This looks rather like a football as it moves along. I'd seen one before, and didn't know what it was, but the guide showed us this one, and I was able to ask him afterwards what it was. There were also some large trumpet fish, about 60 cms long. Back on the boat, we discussed what we had seen. One couple said, "What seahorses? You saw moray eels? We saw none. You saw arrow crabs? What are they?" Fritz admitted that when he saw we were diving at five metres from a pier, he wondered why he'd come, and thought it would be a waste of money, as he hadn't heard of this world famous dive site. He got quite excited about the morays, but didn't follow me when the hooter sounded, and so didn't see the seahorses or the sponge crab. I think he was a bit bored with the dive, and that it wasn't what he had expected. I know I'm possibly rather blasé about some things that I see, but it was still a good dive, and I scored it at 8 / 10.

Wednesday Dive no 3 : The Cliff
Buddied with Eric and Roger.

Yesterday, I left a message on the board, asking that anyone who wanted a dive at 9.30, to meet me at the lockers. No-one came at 9.30, so I waited about 20 minutes, till someone else came along. Two men came, who turned out to be brothers. One had a camera similar to mine. I spoke to them, explaining that I'd been let down, and had no buddy, and asked if I could join them. Their plan was to look for the seahorse, then possibly go along to the cliff before coming back.
They had been told to look for the flag, but didn't know where this was. Luckily, I had seen the flag, and was able to direct them. There is a memorial stone at about 15 metres to 'Divers who have gone before us' and above it is a pole with a dive flag. I don't know what the flag is made of, but it looks pretty battered. The seahorse is supposed to be about 3 metres south of that.
We looked around, but after about ten minutes, gave up on it, and went on to the cliff. This wall is decorated with large orange sponges, tube sponges and wire, bristle sponges and anemones. On the way back, I spotted a moray eel, and called them over. Then I saw a big scorpion fish. I used my clanger to call them over, but at first they couldn't see it. While they were still wondering what I had seen, it blinked, and they realised what it was.
There was a little confusion about how much air we had left, as these two were working in PSI (pounds per square inch), and I use bar, but we sorted that out quite easily. We surfaced after 54 minutes. That was a good dive. I thanked them, and as we were taking of our kit, they asked if I would like to join them on a dive at the Oil Slick, further along the coast.

Dive no 4 The Oil Slick.
This dive is just north of the desalination plant, and south of 1000 steps. It is on the south part of the coast road that has been taken up by the millionaires' housing development. We went too far, pulling off the road at Weber's Joy, where we met two men and a girl who were just finishing their dive. We asked where the Oil Slick was, and they were kind enough not only to show us the place, but the two men came into the water with us to show us where to find the seahorses. If they hadn't helped, I don't think we would have found them. We went into the water from a shallow drop, and our 'guides' took us straight to the place. There were two seahorses there, about 10 cms long. I was about to take a photograph when the movement of the sea knocked Eric against me. He was quite upset and apologetic about this, but it wasn't his fault. I left Eric to take his photo, gave the seahorses time to recover from that flash, then I took mine. It was a very pretty dive, and the coral was amazing. There were tube corals, brain corals, gorgonians, star corals, lots of fish ... It was a good dive, and we all enjoyed it.

Thursday Dive no 5 : Hilma Hooker.
Buddied with Sanjay.

The Hilma Hooker is a 78-metre-long steel hulled freighter. It docked in Bonaire in urgent need of repairs, but customs officials found she was carrying a cargo of marijuana. The police burned the cargo. Bonaire's winds blow regularly from east to west, but on this day, they blew in the opposite direction, so a large part of the island was affected by the smoke from this particular bonfire! Bonaire's dive operators decided to clean the vessel, to make it fit to sink as a dive site. She was sunk in 1984, placed between the double reefs at Angel, just in front of the Trans World Radio masts. She rests on her starboard side, aligned from north to south at a depth of 33 metres. There were 11 of us on this boat dive. We were given a maximum of 25 minutes if we wanted to go to the bottom, at 30 metres, to allow for a safe ascent. Those who were happy to stay shallower than this were allowed 30 minutes. I told Sanjay that I was taking it very slowly on the descent, as my ear is still not right. He seemed quite happy about this. The water was so clear that as I looked down, I could see the whole ship laid out beneath me - and it is 235 feet long! We soon realised that there was no point in going to the bottom, as it is just sand. There isn't a lot of coral on the ship - it's only been there 16 years. We saw a lot of tarpon - they were up to a metre long. We went in and out of the hold, and looked at the propeller. After 25 minutes, we surfaced. I hadn't reached decompression time, but Sanjay's computer is set at a more conservative level, and he had. On the surface, we discovered that this is the only dive where gloves are allowed - but we hadn't known. That's because the rope has been down a long time and has algae on it. If you run your hands along it, you may get burns. It was a nice dive, but diving a wreck is not why I came to Bonaire.

Dive no 6
Buddied with Dale and Lyn

I didn't have a buddy, so I waited at the jetty for someone to turn up. Dale and Lyn came along, and I spoke to them. It quickly became obvious that Lyn is the boss in that partnership! She was happy for me to join them, but explained that as she had already done a 21 metre dive, she didn't want to do a deep dive. Their plan was to enjoy an underwater toddle. As they had no preference, I asked to go to the left. We swam along the rope to the drop off, then turned left, slowly swimming along the top of the drop-off. After 15 minutes, we began to notice the current was pushing us along, so decided to turn back. Dale found a big sea cucumber, about 60 cms long, speckled like a chocolate chip biscuit. They have seen this one before, and wanted to take a photograph. I found a moray eel, and as Dale wanted to finish his film, I tried to attract his attention. However, the eel was back in its hole before Dale noticed me. We swam along, looking at the coral. There are lots of brain corals, mustard hill corals and small tube sponges, and the reef slope was dotted with large domes of mountainous star coral, purple tube sponges and orange elephant ear sponges.
There's also a fishing boat wreck out there on the coral, which makes a good marker. We came back to the rope, where Lyn made a highly descriptive signal to ask if I wanted to see a seahorse - she mimed riding a horse, underwater. I won't forget that! I said I would. Until then, ambling was too fast a word to describe what we were doing, but she swam off like a rocket! Dale and I exchanged looks, and he just shrugged his shoulders. Apparently, this is normal behaviour for Lyn. It turned out that she wanted to try and find the seahorse before I got there. It has been in the same place - just past the flag - for the last five days. This was a pleasant dive, lasting 51 minutes. Our maximum depth was 17.5 metres, and the visibility was, as usual, excellent.

Friday : Dive no 7 (148).
Buddied with Richard and Karen.
Sanjay told me he was going to do his first dive with his just-qualified new wife, so I chose not to go with them! I waited till 10.15 before I began to kit up. At 10.30, a couple came along, called Richard and Karen. Richard was probably in his 50's while Karen looked to be in her 30's. They were happy for me to join them, but qualified that by saying they planned a slow, shallow dive along the reef. That was exactly what I had hoped to do. The plan was to swim to the drop-off and check which way the current was flowing. Their system used PSI, and I was using Bar, so we decided that to avoid confusion, we'd just swim out till the tanks were half-used, then come back. We swam to the drop off and straight away saw a big fish. After the dive, Richard said it was a barracuda, but Karen thought it was a tarpon. I thought it was a tarpon, but thought it best not to comment. As this swam away, I looked down and saw a large, yellow spotted snake. After that, we swam slowly along the coral, and it became apparent that Karen was the more experienced diver, as she swam close to the coral, while Richard was about 3 metres above. He called me to look at a large moray eel. It was tucked well into its hole, but it was a big one. There was a lot of pretty fish life.
At the half-way point they were slightly ahead of me. I saw a very large scorpionfish, so I called them back. It is such a pretty place, you could spend an hour over one square metre of coral. Karen found a very nice bristle worm - about 10 cms long - on top of a rock. So, in one dive, we saw three 'nasties' - the snake, the scorpionfish and the bristle worm. Richard signalled that he was going up. I was a little surprised when Karen signalled back, "Ok, you go. I'm going a bit further." I was reluctant to leave Karen on her own, so I stayed with her, but we made a circle round, then surfaced. We'd been under water for just 60 minutes. This was another nice dive, which I would do again.

Dive no 8
Buddied with Ian.
The intention was to encourage Ian to slow down. I began this process before we entered the water, by being slower than usual in kitting up. He dashed around, but I said, "Go as fast as you like, but I'm not hurrying." He replied, "That may teach me to slow down!" He waited in the water while I finished getting ready, then we swam out to the drop off on the surface, on our backs. The plan was as usual for a Captain Don's shore dive - to swim out till the tanks were half-empty, then to swim back, but hoping to find the seahorse on the way back. We went the same way as the previous dive, but began by going slightly deeper. By going just 3 metres deeper, it is a different dive. Ian was always close by. I took plenty of photos. I saw the tail of a big moray, but I couldn't find where its head was! Then I spent a few minutes looking at something, trying to make up my mind whether it was a frog fish, or just the water making something move. In the end, I gave it up! After 20 minutes, I saw a very nice nudibranch. I've not seen one like this before. It was about 5 cms long, sky blue with white pinhead spots on the top. I called to Ian, but although he looked hard, he couldn't see it. It was difficult to see, hidden in the crevice between two corals. We were about 23 minutes into the dive, and Ian signalled that he was now down to half a tank. We swam slowly back. I saw another nudibranch, sitting on top of a boulder, so this time, Ian managed to see it. Later, he told me that at this point, he wished he had a camera, as while I was photographing this nudibranch, I was framed by a shoal of blue fish. As we crossed the sandy area, I saw another blue nudibranch.
We came back as far as the wreck, and I checked his air. He had 70 bar left, so we agreed to look for the seahorse. However, he stayed above me, and while I was looking for the seahorse, signalled that he had just 40 bar left, so we surfaced after 43 minutes. I had enough air to have completed an hour, but I was happy to surface with him. When we came back, he said he had enjoyed the dive.

Saturday Dive no 9 : Captain Don's Habitat
Buddies: Richard and Karen
Sylvia was washed against Little Dock and her camera hit the jetty. Result: Flooded camera. We bought a new one - another Sea and Sea MX10 (the only other available camera was the MX50). I'd been having a lot of trouble with my MX10, so today I took both cameras. I went to the lockers at about 11.30, but there was no-one about. I took my time about kitting up, thinking if no-one came along, I would be pretty lonely. At this point, Karen and Richard came along, and were happy for me to join them.
Their plan was to do a deeper dive to 30 metres, then to ascend slowly, so it would be a shorter dive. I was happy with this - all I wanted was someone with me so I could check out the cameras. We planned to swim into the current on the way out, but as we went over the drop off, there was so little current, it was hard to tell which way it was flowing.
Karen and Richard were about 10 metres below me. It was very pleasant, swimming along, looking at the coral. For the first part of the dive, I only took two photos, using the old camera. After that, I changed the flash unit from one camera to the other. This was a bit complicated, but I managed it. Karen came to say they were turning back. I took a photo of a trumpet fish as it swam along beside me and another of a large potato wrasse. Then I saw another nudibranch, very small, about 21/2 cms wide. I called Karen across, but she had difficulty seeing it. Later, she said that she thought it was a cone shell. She spotted a bristle worm on a piece of coral, then we saw a second one, moving across the sand. I'd taken my allowance of photographs, and switched the camera off, putting the flash away. Then I saw a large angel fish, about 45 cms across. I had to have a photo of this! As we came into the shallows, I saw two small yellow butterflyfish moving together in and out of the coral and a small goby.
Coming across the sand towards the jetty, there was a noticeable swell, pushing us around a bit, mostly towards the land. Then it began to get very dark. I looked round for Karen and Richard, who I knew were close by, and couldn't see them at all! I surfaced to see where I was, and I was past the end of the jetty. It was quite a surprise, but we all surfaced and left the water safely.
The dive lasted 53 minutes, and my maximum depth was 23.6 metres. This was dive 150, and my total time underwater is now 98 hours 41 minutes.

Dive no 10 Captain Don's Habitat
Buddies: Tim and Kay
I met Tim and Kay at the lockers. Kay is extrovert, gregarious, chats to everyone. Tim is quieter, and just gets on with things. This was their third dive today and their plan included finding a seahorse and a mermaid / merman - Kay didn't mind which! She took ages kitting up, because she was talking to everyone, so I sat on the bench waiting. The next thing, she came along and tried to push me into the water. Their preferred mode of entry was to clamber down the jetty steps. I did my usual stride entry from the end of the jetty. We went to the left before we reached the drop-off, and I discovered there was a lot of coral along the top at about 5 metres. We meandered gently along, enjoying the coral. Suddenly, Kay began to hit her cylinder with her torch. She was very excited about something close to a very large fan coral. I swam all the way round, but couldn't see what it was. She told me later that it was a clam. I looked the other way and saw a free-swimming moray eel. Tim took a lot of photos while Kay just made a lot of noise!
At 145 bar, they turned round. This was a good decision, as the current was beginning to pick up. We came back to the boat area, and I found a large scorpionfish under a rock. It was about 45 cms long, seriously ugly, big and fat, and Kay said it was the biggest she's seen. I looked again for the large moray eel that's supposed to live in the area, but I still haven't found it. We were under water for 49 minutes, and I came out with 94 bar. It was a pleasant dive.

Sunday Dive no 11 : Klein Bonaire; the Forest
Buddied with Katherine
This dive, on the furthest corner of Klein Bonaire, is from a boat, and it took a little while to get there. I thought Sanjay was doing this dive with his wife, but he arrived on the boat without her. We were not sitting together, but I assumed we would dive together. When the dive master asked who needed a buddy, Sanjay put his hand up. Before I could respond, the dive master paired him with another bloke. I spoke up, saying that left me without a buddy. Katherine, a Dutch girl with long, long legs, dived with the guide yesterday at the pier, and was diving as a threesome with Kay and Tim. She suggested that I should dive with her, making a four with Kay and Tim. She has been here for four weeks, and learned to dive in that time. She now does 3 or 4 dives a day and is like a fish in the water, but has become frustrated by the high air consumption of some of her buddies. The dive is all about the black coral which grows under a ledge to the east of the mooring, along with a huge orange elephant ear sponge and lovely gorgonions. We were told that a turtle lives around there, but we didn't see it. We saw an orange and brown fish, about the size of a dinner plate, but Katherine can't find it in her book.
I looked down and saw the dive guide, Karen, looking into a large hole. I went towards her, but she shook her head to say there was nothing to see. Katherine and I were first off the boat, and last back. She was thrilled because we did 63 minutes under water. This means my accumulated time underwater is now 100 hours and 23 minutes. On this dive, my maximum depth was 33.2 metres - deeper than on the Hilma Hooker.
There are two dive guides on boat dives. One goes in the water, and the other stays on the boat. When almost everyone's on the way back, the one in the water returns to the boat to help the other take the kit as the divers come aboard. This morning, the boat was full, but Karen was still in the water, with Katherine and me. The bloke on the boat was getting a little uptight, because he felt he was doing all the hard work!

Dive no 12: Klebe reef.
Buddied with Katherine, Kay and Tim
On the way back, Kay asked if I had seen a frogfish. I hadn't. She said they knew where one was, so would I like to go with them to see it? She explained that they had planned to go out at about 11 o'clock, but it was 10.45, and we were still on the way back. We fixed a time for 11.30, but she asked me not to talk about it, as too many people would frighten this very shy fish. I thought the dive was around here, but it was the other side of the town pier. Katherine drove us to the site. She doesn't like using low gears, so it was an interesting drive! When we arrived at the site, Katherine parked and we began to unload the kit, but it was about 150 yards to the site. I looked around, and saw a small gate leading onto the town pier, so I suggested that we should park there.
We kitted up and went into the water. Kay had been given specific instructions about finding the frogfish, to the nearest half-centimetre, but we couldn't find it. We spent the next 70 minutes at a maximum depth of 17.5 metres, just looking around and enjoying ourselves.

Monday Dive no 13: Captain Don's Habitat
Buddied with Tom.
I was playing 'life guard' and talking to Pam while Sylvia snorkelled when Tom, a Dutchman, came along and asked if he had missed the orientation dive. I explained that there was no guided orientation dive, one just went and did it with one's buddy.
"What if I have no buddy?"
I explained that you just wait for someone to come along and ask to go with them. The next couple came along as we were talking, and it turned out to be Richard and Karen. They were happy for Tom to go with them, but they were planning a deep dive to the fishing boat - not the one on the coral, but a 55' fishing boat called La Machaca, lying at about 35 - 41 metres, which was far too deep for a check-out dive. Sylvia had come out of the water by now, and suggested that I should kit up and go with him. I made this suggestion to Tom, and he was happy to wait ten minutes or so while I kitted up. When I came back, Sylvia said that Richard and Karen were expecting him to go with them, but I was happy to take Tom on an easier dive. As soon as we went into the water, it became obvious that Tom was not a novice. We went to the right at the drop off, and had an enjoyable dive. We saw morays and bristle worms, but overall, Tom wasn't impressed. Fair enough - you get to the point of seeing enough of moray eels. After 25 minutes, I suggested that we should turn back - 40 - 45 minutes is quite long enough for an orientation dive. We came to the place where the seahorse is, but I couldn't find it today. When we came back to the line, Karen was there, having just completed their dive. She showed us a large bristle worm, wrapped around and over the top of a piece of coral. It made a nice photograph.
The dive lasted 51 minutes, and our maximum depth was 17.5 metres.

Dive no 14: 'Seahorse'.
Buddied with Karen.
We came out of the water, and Karen asked if we'd found the seahorse. I had to admit that we hadn't. She insisted that it was there, as they had just seen it. Tom wasn't interested in going back in, and Richard was going to check their flights, but Karen can be quite forceful, and she persuaded me. Karen has more diving experience and expertise than Richard, and I think Karen gets a bit frustrated because of this. I got the impression she just wanted to dive with me again. I told her that I was booked on the 2 o'clock dive boat and must be there, but she insisted that we'd just be ten or fifteen minutes. We changed the tanks and went back into the water. As we approached the seahorse site, we saw another diver using flash. We went to see what was there, and found two free-swimming moray eels. Usually, these tend to stay close to their holes, so it is very unusual to see two together. These two seemed to be disputing the ownership of the lair, and were actually snapping at each other! I've never seen that before. We were in the water for 25 minutes, with a maximum depth of 13.4 metres.

Dive no 15 Klein Bonaire, Forest
Buddied with Katherine
Earlier in the day, while I was watching Sylvia snorkel, I noticed a girl who had just completed her open water dive course. She had done seven dives and was going in for a check-out dive, but she was not carrying enough weight. She was with us on the boat to Klein Bonaire, along with several others who had just completed the course. I had this feeling that I would be buddied with her, and so my dive would be very short. Tom was on the boat, along with Katherine, and the Dutchman with the video camera. I needn't have worried, as George, the dive guide, took this girl, and the other students chose to stay with him, too. Katherine asked to be my buddy. My plan was to stay relatively shallow, as Katherine and I had both done two dives that day. Katherine said she was ok to go to 40 metres - she was qualified to do this, and her computer said that it was ok. I told her not to be a naughty girl, to which she responded, "I am often a naughty girl!" She was persuaded when I said that if we kept at a lesser depth, we would get a longer dive. The dive guide was first into the water, and Katherine and I followed him. Last time I dived at the Forest, we dived to the left of the mooring. This time we went to the right, which is unusual, as it would mean a hard swim back against the current. However, today, there was very little current. As we entered the water, we saw a large grouper, then passed over a large area of black coral.
It was a picturesque dive, and we swam along happily for about 25 minutes. The rest of the group were slightly ahead of us, and at this point, turned to swim back. They said they had seen a small shark. Katherine and I had enough air to go on for another 5 minutes. Suddenly, Katherine was making a lot of noise. I wasn't even looking at her, but I could hear her excitement. She had seen a giant green moray eel under an overhang. It was about one and a half metres long, but its diameter was about 30 - 35 cms, and it had a huge head. We felt that it was time to turn back, as it was unlikely that we would see anything better than that, unless it was a shark. On the way back, Katherine had a little trouble with her mask. After 55 minutes, we were almost back at the boat. I was down to about 60 bar, but I wasn't worried, as we were at 12 metres. Suddenly, George appeared, looking for us. We said we were going to take about another 15 minutes, under the boat, and after 67 minutes, we finished the dive.
The dive guide chatted to me - and I couldn't get away! He said that he would like to offer some more adventurous diving. There are a couple of dive sites on the other side of the island, but they are rarely dived, because of the wind and surf. He said that the diving on that side of the island is just as good, if not better. However, because the schools are never sure about the status of their American guest divers, they stick to the safer diving on this side. The locals often do a drift dive along the reef at the mouth of Lac Bay.

Tuesday, Dive no 16 : 'Charlie'
Buddy: Ernst
It was very quiet today and I waited ages for someone to come along for a dive. Eventually, Ernst came along on the off-chance of a dive, as he wanted to check some camera equipment. He didn't mind what we did, so in the end, we went to see the resident tarpon. He lives by the wreck of the fishing boat at about 16 metres. He is called 'Charlie', is about 2 metres long and looks fearsome, with large teeth. Today, he just hung in the water without moving anything except his eyes while I swam round him a couple of times. Ernst took a few photographs, then Charlie got bored and swam slowly away. I tried to take a photograph, but the camera didn't work. We messed around for about half an hour, then came back. It was a pleasant dive, but it would have been better if I could have taken some photographs!

Dive no 17 : Night dive, Klein Bonaire
Buddied with Max.
The guide couldn't get a permit for the town pier tonight (I got the impression that he hadn't tried very hard), so we went to Klein Bonaire. The site was ok, large, with a depth of about 10 metres. The coastline was on one side, and a big drop off on the other, and the boat was well-lit, so you couldn't get lost. I went in with Max, an experienced British diver, as there were three in his group. The current was noticeable, but not too strong. Within two minutes. Max saw the first spiny lobster on a rock. I came up to him and said, "Two spiny lobsters." And those were the highlight of the dive. Although the site looked promising, with lots of coral, fans and sponges, which should have been teeming with life, there wasn't much to see.
We spent a pleasant 60 minutes tootling around, but after that, with the boat in sight, Max indicated that he was having trouble with his ears, and went up. I began the ascent with him, but when I realised that it was getting choppy up there, I signalled that I would join up with the others. There was another spiny lobster making its way across the sand, and hopefully, I have got a good photo of that one. There were a couple of morays about, but apart from the lobsters, there was nothing we couldn't have seen in daylight.
After 69 minutes, I looked around and realised I was alone. I thought, "Ooops, everyone else has gone. I think I'd better join them!" I came out with 102 bar, having been at a maximum depth of 9.3 metres.

Wednesday Dive no 18 : Cliff
Buddied with Rob and Ernie.
I took the faulty MX10 to Ernst yesterday, and he has fixed it. It was just a slightly mis-matched connection that was easily fixed! Today, I was kitting up to dive and check out this camera when I saw two people approach wearing Buddy Commando stab jackets (the same as mine). I asked if I could join them. They were about to do their first dive. I left them to get ready, but Rob came to me and said, "Do you normally wear a hat?"
"Yes."
"A big hat?"
"aah Yes?."
"I've seen you before, on a boat in the Red Sea."
!!!! Small World, we had been in the Red Sea together six years earlier.
When they were ready, I said I would take them to where the seahorse should be. We swam out to the cliff, and on the way we saw a coral banded shrimp and a moray eel. After that, I saw a cleaner shrimp on a fish. At the cliff, I showed them a bristle worm, then, about 25 minutes into the dive, I looked up and I saw the biggest crayfish I have ever seen. I couldn't see how long its antennae were, as it was inside a hole, but it was about 60 cms long and 25 cms high.
I thought I couldn't show them anything better than this, and 50 minutes for a check-out dive is a good time, so I signalled that we should turn round and go back. They seemed quite happy with this. As we swam back, I saw the place where the seahorse should be, and I found it.
I used all the film, and the camera worked without a problem. It was a good morning!

Dive no 19 ; 2nd night dive at the Town Pier
Buddied with Tom.
There were 14 divers on this trip. My cylinder had 270 bar of air in it, and it should have about 212! Because the air pressure was too high, my regs and stab jacket were over-filled. I disconnected my jacket and allowed the air to trickle out, and ten minutes into the dive, I reconnected it. I took lots of photographs, finishing the film, but the flash was a bit slow kicking in, so I may have a few dark photos on this film. It wasn't as good as last week's dive, where the guide looked for things to show us. This evening, the guide was content to check we were all ok, and let us look for ourselves. We saw plenty of arrow crabs, and some with eyes on their backs, which look very funny, as well as a big tarpon. There was a hermit crab in a huge shell - I felt quite sorry for it, having to carry such a weight around! The coral on the wall of the pier is spectacular, and at times, I drifted away from the pier, pointed the camera into the light and flashed away. On the way back, after about an hour, I used the last five photos on a free-swimming moray eel.
I felt quite sorry for Tom at times. He stayed with me the whole time. Wherever I went, I knew he was close to me. He didn't say, "What's over there?" or that he wanted to go anywhere - he was content to stay close to me.
Derek said that Mr Loud-mouth is just that. Under water, he's nothing special, and Derek noticed that he got in a tangle while trying to read his computer. Derek has also noticed that the lass from next door is very good under water. When I asked about the two lads, he said, "I wouldn't notice them, would I, not with the girl around!"

Thursday Dive no 20 : the final dive of this holiday
Buddied with a mother and daughter, whose name I didn't discover.
The daughter is about 50 - no, perhaps 40? Her mother can't be 70? The daughter was a good diver, but her mother was not so good. Before we went in, they asked about the Red Sea. The mother doesn't like diving with current, so I suggested that perhaps the Red Sea was not a good place for her. The daughter asked when it was a good time to go, and I said the time of year doesn't really make a lot of difference to the diving. Sadly, the current, normally slight to non-existent, was rather strong today. After about 5 minutes, I was sorting out my camera, which had become tangled with my regulator. I looked down and saw the sea snake. It was about 60 cms long with yellow spots. It went towards a hole, then turned back on itself. A parrotfish came along, accompanied by a trumpetfish. This happens quite a lot. I got them in the frame together, then a cowfish swam close and I got all three in the frame! The parrotfish attacked the seasnake, and I took loads of photos, changing the setting and my position half-way.
While all this was happening, the mother was hanging onto the coral, as her buoyancy was poor and the current was too much for her. After about 25 minutes, I let the current to take me back to the line, and waited there. A moment later, the mother, having seen me come back that way, drifted by me quite fast. Her daughter was with her, and said they were ok. We were at ten metres, so if they had got into trouble, all they needed to do was surface and swim back.
I knew I only had one, maybe two photos left, so I found some purple tube coral and waited for a fish to swim into shot. Once I'd got that, I began my ascent. At four metres, I suddenly had nasty pain from my ear, and at that point, decided that this was to be my last dive.
Lincoln BSAC Branch http://www.lincolnbsac109.com/

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