20/May/2012, North of Kralendijk - Bonaire
Sue doing underwater cartwheels...joy at seeing the large Blue Parrot Fish
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20/May/2012, Kralendijk - Bonaire
So far we have only seen the Kralendijk district of the island, still much more to see further afield but not until we hire a car for a few days. The plan is to share a pick up truck with the folks from "Fox Sea" and "Iolea" for three days sometime this week; a chance to tour the national park in the north, do some more remote dives via shore entry to the water and visit one of the larger supermarkets to haul lots of heavy goodies back to the boats.
The trade winds are back into fine fettle with a solid Easterly breeze in the 20-25 knots strength. Good passage making weather, downwind only of course, but not so wonderful for taking the dinghy to exposed areas loaded with dive gear and the Sprucettes. There are, however, a few dive sites more in the lee of the main island which we have been sampling. A few days of lighter winds would be much appreciated before we move on, so the dive sites around the coast of the nearby islet of Klein Bonaire are more manageable.
Until then another photo of an underwater location.
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20/May/2012, North of Kralendijk - Bonaire
Another interesting dive this morning, our first time to Andrea II. A beautiful plateau of white coral sand with large Gorgonian soft coral fronds waving in the gentle current provided a wonderful backdrop to the latter stages of our dive. The overall impression was of a winter landscape with frost coated trees. The highlight of the dive, during the earlier stages, was a large (one metre long) Blue Parrot Fish which kept company with us for quite a while.
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17/May/2012, Kralendijk - Bonaire
A treat with an evening out at a local restuarant. The occasion to celebrate was Vicky's birthdy. See photo, clockwise from bottom left: Kate (Iolea), Vicky and Bob (Fox Sea), Paul (Iolea), Sue and Andy (Spruce). A lovely meal with the fine company of our regular dive team. Iolea are from Australia and have been in Boaire for nearly 3 months, Fox Sea left Grenada about a month before ourselves. The restaurant, "It Rains Fish", situated on the sea front at Kralendijk, offers romantic views across to Klein Bonaire as the sun sets; a little before 7pm in these latitudes at this time of year.
Just before going out for the evening our friends Christian and Birgit sailed into Kralendijk aboard Pitufa after 3-days at sea. They departed Grenada after being re-launched; a couple of weeks ashore doing various jobs including anti-fouling. Birgit & Christian are also divers so once oriented will no doubt be taking the plunge into the crystal clear waters. Birgits first comment was "It's so clear!"
Vcky's birthday commenced earlier with the six of us diving at "Small Wall", a site about 2 miles north of the moorings. Another smashing dive, so good we'll probably head back on the morrow. Notable sightings included: a decent sized Tarpon which swam around us, his 4 feet length was quite impressive and caused a bit of a start as he cruised into view alongside from behind; a Hawksbill Turtle joined us towards the end of the dive,his flippers easily propelling himself against the current; Cleaner Shrimps displaying their slender but business like pincers from crevices in the coral, and a small Golden Tail Moray Eel peeping cautiously at our inquisitive gazing.
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14/May/2012, North of Kralendijk - Bonaire
A dinghy trek beyond the de-salination plant and away to where the limestone sheet rock has been undercut by the waves. This was a new dive site for us, named Barkadera and number 21 on the list of Bonaire sites.
A really enjoyable dive. Lots of gorgeous coral and sponges inhabited by a decent range of fish including a couple of decent sized Barracuda of which we have not seen many here so far. The most notable species was the non-native invasive Lion Fish, in all we spotted eight of them in a 55 minute dive...maybe the drive to keep their numbers under control in the Caribbean Sea has already failed. These creatures are reported to eat many times their own weight in fish every day, their fins are used to herd small shoal fish into tight corners where they can be pillaged. They even hunt in packs and can be quite voracious.
The photo shows one of the Lion Fish squaring up to the photographer ready to do battle and show who was boss.
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14/May/2012, South of Kralendijk - Bonaire
Another day of brisk trade winds from ESE. Low lying land of the island makes the air turbulent, the wind gusts fiercely for a short while between lulls, the direction changing as the stiff breeze pushes our hull one way, and then the other. Washing hanging on the makeshift lines flaps furiously with each alteration of angle. A new device to aid the chore of wash day has been added to the manual tools of "Trug Bucket" and "Pumping Arms", a wash-board. A Mexican made brand found floating in the harbour in Grenada; no claimants in spite of touring the anchorage so we are putting it to good use aboard Spruce. Everybody had one in the pre-washing machine days so the old methods remain viable.
Chores done and lunch consumed left us free to go diving some more. This time we headed in the opposite direction, southwards, just off the end of the airport runway. As we prepared our equipment a thundering noise engulfed us and we gazed above as the nose of a low flying jet-plane hurtling towards the tarmac beyond our dinghy. So that is why vessels with masts are not allowed on this particular dive buoy at the site called Corporal Meiss. The wind strengthened and the surface of the water whipped into a frenzy of choppy crests, the peaks blowing away in the strong afternoon breeze. Pre-dive checks completed and we rolled into the blue sea, oriented ourselves, signalled OK and ready to descend.
The change in the environment is still quite astounding to us newbies to diving. Air released from our BCDs and we slip gently below the surface. The waves and wind vanish, a new world emerges as we fall slowly to the reef below. An almost imperceptible current drifts us over the sea-bottom-scape; definition hardening through the clear water as we get closer to coral and sponges on the reef edge. Purple tube sponges look strangely other-worldly amongst yellow and rusty looking brain corals, perfectly formed ridges and curls in the patterns of these colonies of polyps; millions of individual clones clustered to form each coral. Distant sounds penetrate: surf breaking on the shore, outboard motors, clicking of sea creatures; an all enveloping series of background noises which are hard to pinpoint.
Once onto the edge of the reef we slowly fin our way down the slope and descend to a depth of 60 feet. The residents of this underwater kingdom react in different ways to the invaders. Some continue munching, little bothered, others rapidly flit away from our path. Moray Eels snake amongst the coral holes and hollows, an occasional peep to check us out. Colourful Parrot Fish gnaw agitatedly at the coral, eyes suspiciously darting glances in our direction, until with a momentary flit of the tail they glide away, their turquoise and red and yellow iridescent bodies shimmering in the filtered light from above. Fleets of Blue Tangs, swimming as pairs and threes in line astern formation; a spread out shoal of perhaps one-hundred fish passing between us without alarm. So nice to be able to savour this beautiful alien environment at our leisure, instead of hastily gulped lung full's through a snorkel.
Photo shows the strange sight of a Queen Parrot Fish with a Trumpet Fish swimming in close company. The trumpet fish seem to spend lot of time trying to look inconspicous by laying alongside other creatures or hanging vertically amongst coral and sponges.
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