Pam and I have been missing the sounds of little paws around the house since Max passed. Getting another dog seemed only a matter of time. I thought we might not, given the amount we traveled but we talked it over with a dog trainer and she felt it was fine.
We’ve gone to see a few dogs, at a number of shelters, but narrowed it done to a couple of candidates. We’ve finally decided on Jenny, a young Golden Retriever. She was in the Langley Animal Protection Shelter (LAPS), a wonderful facility where the dogs are given training in a very comfortable environment. The dogs are not simply housed, they are given daily training, with the goal of solving their problems from socialization to protection issues.
We are required to do some training with our trainer, Amy. So we’ve gone through the initial phases, and wanted to begin training sessions with Jenny, but unfortunately our trainer is going on vacation, so we’re not going to be able to conclude the sessions until June 4th. But she’s quite the lovely dog.
She’s super high energy, with a let’s go attitude. And she LOVES the water… they have a small kiddie pool that has fresh water in it, and she jumps right in and lays down! We’ll need to keep towels by the doors and in the car!
She’s going to get us off the couch and back into the parks! Looking forward to getting her home with us full time.
On Friday, our last full day in Bonaire, we took the morning trip to Klein Bonaire, an uninhabited island just off the coast of Bonaire. We had wanted to book a trip earlier on the Woodwind, a trimaran, but they have gone to three sailings a week because it’s the low season I guess. Anyway, I can not recommend this trip highly enough! WOW. The young lady who owns the boat, Dedrie (Dee for short) is so passionate about the waters around Bonaire, and it came across so clearly. She really cares about the island, and doing her part to protect the environment there. She gave great talks on the history of the island, about the creatures in the water, how to snorkel, how to apply your mask – she really was an amazing person.
We got on the boat right at the docks of the Divi resort, so it was easy for us to get there. They had a mango drink ready for us, before we even got on the boat! They quickly got a couple of sails up and we made the crossing very quickly. Along the way we got to see flying fish skimming along the surface. Those little suckers can really fly long distances! Then after a talk about the history of the island (cholera quarantine, goat/donkey sanctuary, to uninhabited protected site) we jumped in for a drift snorkel. The coral there is absolutely wonderful which is nothing unusual for Bonaire, of course.
Dee told us the names of fish or coral, then would dive down and point out them out. She would literally latch on to people, and take them over to see various things. She is a powerful swimmer, an awesome diver, able to stay deep under water for longer than I thought possible! Also along on the trip was LeAnn, from a photo place on Bonaire called BonPhoto. Most of the pictures in this post were taken by her, with her underwater camera, fitted with a fisheye lens. She was amazingly personable as well. And she could dive deeply, and hold her breath a long time too – some of her pictures were taken at incredible depths – especially the ones of the turtles. Remarkable stuff.
After two snorkels, one in the area known for turtles nesting – we saw four turtles that day – we had another quick sail back to Bonaire and grabbed a mooring ball close to the lighthouse. They served us a hot lunch, a kind of goreng, with chicken and noodles and plantains. Then they gave us a brownie with caramel sauce and whipped cream. There was plenty to drink, and the conversations were of the fish we had seen. It was a really nice day. HIGHLY recommended if you ever go to Bonaire. Take the tour early in your stay – it will make you appreciate the island even more!
I’m including a slideshow of the pictures taken by LeeAnn of Bon Photo here – I’ve put her pictures in the one gallery, separate from our Bonaire gallery. She used a Nikon P7000 with Fisheye lens to take the photos.
In the late afternoon, we took a quick swim around the reef by the Divi. It was our last swim, so we just slowly wound our away around the place. We saw some cool stuff – the most remarkable was a permit fish. He’s quite a large fish, and while we’ve seen permit fish in the past, we’ve never seen one close up. Usually they swim away quickly, before we can even get a half way decent shot of them. This guy didn’t even care if we dove right down into his face and took a picture. He just continued sifting through the sandy bottom!
Another unusual thing we saw was this crazy jellyfish called the tamoya ohboya, also know as the Bonaire banded box jellyfish. It’s a recently discovered jellyfish, officially described in 2011, and it’s sting is quite painful. It’s quite long, eighteen inches at least, and quite active in the water. There have been only fifty sightings of tamoya ohboya, so we’re kind of in a very select group!
It’s always cool to see different things in the water, and this trip to Bonaire was certainly fun for that! It will definitely be hard to go back home after all the fascinating stuff we’ve seen here! One thing we did not want to see was a lionfish, an invasive species, not indigenous to the Caribbean. We had not seen one the whole week, but our last day, last swim, in the last twenty minutes in the ocean, we spotted one! Heavy sigh… We reported it right away to the special “Lionfish Hunters” group.
Here’s a traditional shot for us… the last sunset… I’m thinking we will be back here, sooner rather than later. It’s a great island for snorkeling of course, but the people were really terrific. The island itself is much bigger than Aruba, but with less than ten percent of the population! We both felt comfortable there, like we were “regulars”…
Thursday was Three beach Thursday! We started by heading down south and jumping in at the Invisibles. I have no idea why it’s called that, but nothing was invisible! The water clarity was very nice, and there was lots to see. We’ve found that the way to snorkel here in Bonaire is to swim out to the dropoff, and swim against the current over the dropoff. When you are ready to get out, swim back into shore and drift back along the coral that is close to shore. That way you see “everything” and save energy!
After a couple hours, we got out and headed further south, past the salt plants. Bonaire, like most countries, has an unfortunate slave trading history, and their use in the salt industry is well documented. There are four different colored obelisks, representing the different qualities of salt available. When a ship stopped to pick up their product, they came to the colored obelisk corresponding to the salt they purchased. A flimsy temporary dock was quickly constructed. Female slaves would kneel, get loaded with heavy baskets of salt, and were pulled to their feet by the male slaves loading her. She would then carry it to the end of the shaky temporary dock to waiting crafts that were then pulled via rope to the offshore ships.
Travelling the south end of the island is on a single lane road, through wild lands, passing by one of many lighthouses on Bonaire, dotted with lots and lots of wild goats, donkeys, horses, flamingos, parrots and other birds.
The herds of goats are everywhere, and you better be ready to brake for them crossing the road, or simply milling about! It makes driving quite an experience! The roads are ok, not great, but the goats certainly add another dimension.
The parrots we saw are called Lora Parrots, a rare parrot, seen in very few places other than Bonaire. It used to be on Aruba, but is now extinct there due to poaching and poisoning. They estimate fewer than one thousand are left in the wild.
We dove in the water at Lac Cai, near the mangrove trees. It is supposed to be an amazing snorkel, but this was the one disappointing place we entered the water in Bonaire. Later, we discovered that we had missed the route through the mangroves to the great snorkeling! Ah well – next time we’ll find it.
We headed back to the Divi resort, and took a final dip in the ocean. And I’m sure glad we did! What an amazing snorkel it was! We swam over to the big main docks, where huge tugs are docked. Under that dock was an amazing world. Huge tarpons glided by, big barracuda hid under the tugs, huge schools of barjacks stalked the baitballs, and the pillars were lined with coral that was really amazing to see. Colorful and unique, teeming with tiny creatures, the pillars were a world all to their own.
Leaving the dock we went by a small pier. Under the pier was a huge snook. I’ve included this movie, because it’s kinda funny… about sixteen seconds in, you’ll see the movie take a big jerk… well it’s because I smacked my head on the pillar holding the pier up! And trust me on this one – it hurt! haha
Common snook movie…
Keeping close to the shore, we were in VERY shallow water – about two feet deep, and what did we spy? A turtle! He was probably getting some sun! He lazily wandered around us, taking his time. He was completely unafraid, completely unconcerned. We followed him around as he lazily swam around the beach. Just love to hang around a turtle!
Turtle movie with a barracuda too, from right in front of the Divi Flamingo Resort…
There was really so much we packed into this day. It was certainly busy, but oh so wonderful. So many great shots… so I remind you once again that the posts do not contain a link to all the pictures we took. You can access the gallery for Bonaire by clicking here or you can get to the gallery by clicking the gallery link on the menu line at the top of every page.
This last little movie is of a parrotfish being cleaned. I’m not sure how the fish know where to go to get cleaned, but they kind of “hover” and little fish dart out and nip off the stuff that is bothering the “victim.”
Bachelor’s Beach is south of the airport, right off the main road. The beachs are nicely marked with yellow painted rocks, and each entry to the ocean has a unique name. Every beach we’ve been to, has about twenty divers. The diving is phenomenal here, with every dive easily gotten to by simply entering the ocean – rather than needing a boat, like a lot of dive sites.
Bachelor Beach has a unique entry – a set of stairs to nowhere! The divers on the cliff above Pam are in the vehicle next to ours – the little white Jimny (no that’s not a misspelling – it really is called a JimNy.)
The coral was lush and magnificent, again, like all of Bonaire. The variety of fish was good, with tons to see. The most remarkable thing we saw was a “cloud” of margates. Now, we’ve seen margates before, one or possibly two together. But this was a mass of margates, literally hundreds of them moving over the reef. We saw this mass of fish, and I looked at Pam and said, “Are those margates??” Very cool sight.
This movie was taken by Pam, and the margates were down at about forty feet or so, so that’s why it seems so dark. When the margates “scatter” it’s because I’ve dived down to get a better close up shot. (Not very successfully mind you!) I’ve put another movie Pam took just below it of the margate’s usual behaviour – hiding in his little cave, all by himself, ultra-shy and wary of divers.
There were lots of barracuda of course. Each time in, we’ve seen four or five of them. One time, we saw one barracuda actually chase another barracuda off – and man, they can move big time! Usually they move very slowly, not disturbing the water – but when they want to go, wow…
Pam took a movie shown here of a bonefish. They are very shy fish, and very tough to get in the picture. They are very silvery, and shiny, and play in the very shallow waters, where the sun gleaming on their skin makes it tough to see them in the viewfinder of the camera.
We have a whole ton of shots of half the fish. OR they are out of focus because the camera simply can’t differentiate them from the brilliant white sand. It takes a second for the camera to focus on one, but it’s pretty darn cool.
The scrawled filefish is a big guy, about two feet or so, and we saw one as soon as we got in, and later on under a wharf. They are really cool in the ocean, changing color from white, to green, to brown to blue. They swim very lazily, and let divers get quite close to them before moving off.
This is a sunset picture right outside our room. That little dock there with the chairs on it is where we jump in the ocean for our late afternoon swim around the ocean. Pam’s been known to lie in the sun waiting for me to get back. 🙂
Have I mentioned how phenomenal the internet connection is here? WOW – I’m totally impressed. For an island that only has a population of fourteen thousand, I never dreamed they’d have this kind of highspeed connection. It’s even faster than my at home cable internet, and I’ve never lost connection even once. One of the reasons we’ve been able to put more movies in the posts is that the connection is so quick and reliable. Really great stuff.
Bachelor’s Beach is south of the airport, right off the main road. The beachs are nicely marked with yellow painted rocks, and each entry to the ocean has a unique name. Every beach we’ve been to, has about twenty divers! The diving is phenomenal here, with every dive easily gotten to by simply entering the ocean – rather than needing a boat, like a lot of dive sites. Bachelor Beach has a unique entry – a set of stairs to nowhere! The divers on the cliff above Pam are in the vehicle next to ours – the little white Jimny (no that’s not a misspelling – it really is called a JimNy.)
The coral was lush and magnificent, again, like all of Bonaire. The variety of fish was good, with tons to see. The most remarkable thing we saw was a “cloud” of margates. Now, we’ve seen margates before, one or possibly two together. But this was a mass of margates, literally hundreds of them moving over the reef. We saw this mass of fish, and I looked at Pam and said, “Are those margates??” Very cool sight.
This movie was taken by Pam, and the margates were down at about forty feet or so, so that’s why it seems so dark. When the margates “scatter” it’s because I’ve dived down to get a better close up shot. (Not very successfully mind you!) I’ve put another movie Pam took just below it of the margate’s usual behaviour – hiding in his little cave, all by himself, ultra-shy and wary of divers.
There were lots of barracuda of course. Each time in, we’ve seen four or five of them. One time, we saw one barracuda actually chase another barracuda off – and man, they can move big time! Usually they move very slowly, not disturbing the water – but when they want to go, wow…
Pam took a movie shown here of a bonefish. They are very shy fish, and very tough to get in the picture! They are very silvery, and shiny, and play in the very shallow waters, where the sun gleaming on their skin makes it tough to see them in the viewfinder of the camera. We have a whole ton of shots of half the fish! OR they are out of focus because the camera simply can’t differentiate them from the brilliant white sand. It takes a second for her to get one, but it’s pretty darn cool.
The scrawled filefish is a big guy, about two feet or so, and we saw one as soon as we got in, and later on under a wharf. They are really cool in the ocean, changing color from white, to green, to brown to blue. They swim very lazily, and let divers get quite close to them before moving off.
This is a sunset picture right outside our room. That little dock there with the chairs on it is where we jump in the ocean for our late afternoon swim around the ocean. Pam’s been known to lie in the sun waiting for me to get back. 🙂
Have I mentioned how phenomenal the internet connection is here? WOW – I’m totally impressed. For an island that only has a population of fourteen thousand, I never dreamed they’d have this kind of highspeed connection. It’s even faster than my at home cable internet, and I’ve never lost connection even once. One of the reasons we’ve been able to put more movies in the posts is that the connection is so quick and reliable. Really great stuff.
Tuesday we headed to Buddy’s Dive site. It’s the place that was so nice to us the first night here so we figured we’d check out the water. The entry was super easy via a set of metal stairs right into some nice warm water. The coral close to shore was a little beat up, but out near the drop off it was as spectacular as ever.
The site was infested with very large fish. We saw a number of tarpons, easily six feet or more. One was just lazily hanging around under a dock, surrounded by rather large snappers. But he simply dwarfed them… I’ve got a brief movie of him here, but it really doesn’t show just how large it was.
He was pretty lazy, just casually drifting along. If we approached really closely, he slowly moved off. But never hurried like some of the other fish do when you get too close.
There were some large barracuda too, one guy just hanging around under a boat! If I approached him, he just moved to the other side of the boat. Quite a shy guy.
Under another dock we found a couple of large snooks. This is only the second time we’ve ever seen a snook, so it was pretty cool. They are a strange looking fish, with a sloping forehead and what looks like a large vein running down their center. He was a good size, well over three feet.
We saw another large rainbow parrotfish, but not quite as large as the ones we saw at Black Durgon beach, but still a fairly large fish. In the movie I’ve put here, you can see another parrotfish quite close to him, and that fish is fourteen to sixteen inches, so that will give you some idea of how large the rainbow is.
Tuesday we headed to Buddy’s Dive site. It’s the place that was so nice to us the first night here so we figured we’d check out the water. The entry was super easy via a set of metal stairs right into some nice warm water. The coral close to shore was a little beat up, but out near the drop off it was as spectacular as ever.
The site was infested with very large fish. We saw a number of tarpons, easily six feet or more. One was just lazily hanging around under a dock, surrounded by rather large snappers. But he simply dwarfed them… I’ve got a brief movie of him here, but it really doesn’t show just how large it was.
He was pretty lazy, just casually drifting along. If we approached really closely, he slowly moved off. But never hurried like some of the other fish do when you get too close.
There were some large barracuda too, one guy just hanging around under a boat! If I approached him, he just moved to the other side of the boat. Quite a shy guy.
Under another dock we found a couple of large snooks. This is only the second time we’ve ever seen a snook, so it was pretty cool. They are a strange looking fish, with a sloping forehead and what looks like a large vein running down their center. He was a good size, well over three feet.
We saw another large rainbow parrotfish, but not quite as large as the ones we saw at Black Durgon beach, but still a fairly large fish. In the movie I’ve put here, you can see another parrotfish quite close to him, and that fish is fourteen to sixteen inches, so that will give you some idea of how large the rainbow is.
Pam and I have been missing the sounds of little paws around the house since Max passed. Getting another dog seemed only a matter of time. I thought we might not, given the amount we traveled but we talked it over with a dog trainer and she felt it was fine.
We’ve gone to see a few dogs, at a number of shelters, but narrowed it done to a couple of candidates. We’ve finally decided on Jenny, a young Golden Retriever. She was in the Langley Animal Protection Shelter (LAPS), a wonderful facility where the dogs are given training in a very comfortable environment. The dogs are not simply housed, they are given daily training, with the goal of solving their problems from socialization to protection issues.
We are required to do some training with our trainer, Amy. So we’ve gone through the initial phases, and wanted to begin training sessions with Jenny, but unfortunately our trainer is going on vacation, so we’re not going to be able to conclude the sessions until June 4th. But she’s quite the lovely dog.
