Bonaire 2024 (page 6 of 9)

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Day 6: Feb 15, 2024

The day started with breakfast at Indrigients. While we were eating, it rained hard for a couple minutes, but then it was done. After we got back to our room, we planned our shore diving for the day. Our first plan was to go to Salt Pier for one of our dives but it turns out that there is a ship there now, getting loaded with salt. The guard said it should be gone by 2 PM tomorrow so hopefully we can get that dive in before we leave.

We next went a bit further down to Pink Beach, named for the pink colored sand across the road, and the pink water nearby. The pink color is due to foraminifera, a small pink shelled organism that make up a lot of that area. Across the road from the dive site, we could see a few flamingos, and this is the first we'd seen them after hearing that they were here on the island. The entrance was just a small beach that had easy access. The dive was great. We saw at least 2 big green moray eels (finally, the size we're used to seeing!), and one was free swimming. Mike was following it with the camera but then it stopped and gave a challenging look - ha! Don't mess with Mr. Eel!

Once we were done, we logged our dives, Mike tried to get a couple flamingo picture with the dive camera, and then we headed to our next dive "Something Special" which was in town and had been what we'd planned on going to dive a couple days earlier. We parked on a little side street, geared up, then headed out for the dive. The book did a great job of explaining the site (just not how to get there). It is near a marina, so supposedly the reef isn't as good as it used to be but the fish were still supposed to be plentiful. What a dive! This is our favorite so far. We saw a turtle, a HUGE flounder, Black Margates and a golden moray eel. There were just so many different fish at this site, it was amazing. It is a shame that there were also a lot of tires down at the bottom, but the fish seemed to not mind this. I'd highly recommend this site to both divers and snorkelers, and it had a nice little beach too. Pretty amazing for it being right there in town.

We made a quick stop at Van Den Tweels, the Dutch grocery store that was closed for Mardis Gras on Sunday. Mike went in and got some snacks, beer, and cheese, but Greta waiting in the truck since we had the camera equipment with us. After that, we headed back to Buddy to get new tanks, rinse our gear, and head out to Oil Slick for a day dive.

We got there without issue, planned our dive and then got in. The dive went very smoothly and due to the lack of any current, we were back sooner than expected. We didn't see a whole lot on this dive compared to the others that morning, but it was still a great way to spend an afternoon. We did see a large coral head surrounded by Bar Jacks who were swarming it, then realized that there was a Spotted Moray Eel inside the coral head "hissing" at them! We also noticed a larger (6 inches or so) fish laying on the bottom in the sand on its side. The top was gray and the bottom was yellow – we almost wondered if it was dead or dying when it suddenly popped up and swam away. It definitely looked like it was just napping for a bit and then we woke it up! After that we headed back to Buddy to drop off the tanks and rinse our gear again, and then it was back to the room for an hour or so to rest, clean up and research a place for supper. The restaurant on site (Ingridients) seems a bit too pricey/fancy for our tastes that night but Eddy's was right next door, and had gotten good reviews, so we tried that. It was perfect. We didn't have a reservation, but there were open tables and supposedly some no-shows, so we were seated immediately. We each had a couple fruity drinks, plus crab fritters with a dipping sauce, and we both got the blackened mahi-mahi (catch of the day) with creole sauce, coconut rice & veggies. It was a perfect way to end the day. Since it was very close by, we walked there & back, and it was a beautiful evening to do so.

Once we got back, we relaxed a bit and then headed to bed, in preparation for our last dive day.

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