I can't believe it's Thursday already. Time goes by way too fast when we are having fun. We love Bonaire. Before Makenna was born I wanted to move here so we could dive everyday. But we didn't.
We got here Sunday around 5 am (2 am Cali time) and had our check out dive at 10ish. Then we went to The Lake and to the Hooker for a quicky (get your mind off the gutter). I was worried if I was going to remember how to dive and all the technicalities about it. It's been 2 years since I last hit the water. But it went really well. I was pretty proud of my buoyancy and air consumption. The Lake and the Hooker are still as beautiful as I remembered and diving is as incredibly fun as I remembered...
We thought about doing a night dive, but I was beat from the traveling and crashing around 9.
On Monday, before we left for the dive sites, I jumped in with Hill to see if she could clear her ears and go diving with us. She was having problems on Sunday. She got to about 30 feet and couldn't do it anymore, so we turned around and went back in. Then I left with the rest of the crew and we went to Invisables and then Red Barrel. We saw 2 Southern Sting Rays at Red Barrel on our way back. Chad chased them and found the rest of the family and tried to take me there, but they were gone. When we got back I jumped back in with Hill with the plan to look around even if she could only clear her ears to a certain depth. We got to about 50 feet this time and had a nice dive. We saw a Spotted Eel cruising along (they are normally hiding under rocks and coral).
On Tuesday Chad and his dad went to dive the Wind Jammer (a tech wreck). Hill and I decided to lay out at the dock and get a tan during the morning. I hadn't done that in such a long time. It was windy so it didn't feel hot. It was great to just lay there listening to the waves crashing against the rock. Apparently too awesome because I got a nasty sunburn on the back of my body. (Today is Thursday and I still feel the burn). In the afternoon Chad took the crew to see Scuba man and I hung around 70 feet with Hill (she couldn't clear pass that). We also did a night dive after dinner. We got a nice nap in the afternoon so I was rested and refreshed, and ready for a night dive. I had forgotten how much fun those are...
On Wednesday we went north. We did Karpata,where Chad tood Hill to 130 ft, and Andrea I,where all the fish in Bonaire hang out. It's like a nursery with so many juvenile fish. It's incredible. I got stung on the cheek by a little jelly fish that I didn't even see. We saw 4 little baby Spotted Drums. They are normally hiding, and this time they were in the open, all 4 together, just swimming in circles. Chad also chased and got video of a Spotted Eagle Ray. Last time we were here, Andrea I is where we saw turtles, but not this time... Then we had lunch and wanted to go to Oil Slick. There were 8 tucks parked there (with normally 2 to 4 divers per truck) and we were not up to a crowded dive site. So we went to Weber's Joy (aka Witches Hut). It was nice, but nothing special about it. Keith and Bob (who are dive fools) went in for a night dive as well, I was dead so I skipped it).
Today we went in around 9 for Kieth, Bob, Brandy and Jeff's navigation class. I was just tagging along. We went down to Scuba men again and I gave him a magic wand that I made during dinner last night!!! Then we surfaced, the "kids" got their headings and we went back down. I had problems clearing my ear on the way down so I stayed around 15 feet. I took some of the medicine we got for Hill (for the ears) and we headed to The Lake, we the plan to come back up at the Hooker (they are right next to each other). It was great. Except that for the longest time I couldn't clear my ears again (to about 50 ft.), they they suddenly popped and I could join them. We just swam by the Hooker. Then we did a second dive right there and stayed for about 30 minutes. Jim took Keith and Bob to the engine room (I think) and Chad took Hill. I had a smaller tank (due to some problems with other people's tanks on the surface) and decided to stay outside and a little above everybody else. I didn't want me or my computer to go into decompression! I did leave the water with 300 psi in my tank, but I still won cause everybody else, with the bigger tanks, had less!
Now the guys and Brandy are in the water finishing Navigation and I'm waiting for us to go to dinner and then got to a night dive at Salt Pier. I'm really looking forward to that, it should be a lot of fun and a nice shallow dive. We might do a second night dive after that too.
That's it so far. It's been fantastic. I'm starting to miss Makenna...
