This was our 12th (twelfth) trip to Bonaire
and the 11th staying at Bruce Bowker's Carib Inn. We even made it on to Bruce's Friends Page (all the way at the bottom). We obviously like it.
Danny, Becky, Jenn and Drew joined us. Juggling diving, babysitting, photography work, fish and creature identification, gear maintenance, etc., made for a busy time.
The ocean on the west side of Bonaire and all of Klein Bonaire is the Bonaire National Marine Park (the original one in the Caribbean) so the reef and inhabitants are in as good condition as just about anywhere in the Caribbean. That said, we've definitely seen degradation in our many years of diving Bonaire — due almost entirely to human impact (insufficiently treated sewage, silt run off from construction, global warming, invasive lionfish). That's why we've moved from shore diving to boat diving with a focus on those areas far from people (way up north or down south or off Klein).
The Xs mark our dive sites on this trip.
Danny really took to snorkeling:
While Becky focused on piggyback rides:
Becky was also very careful when the wind blew — to hold on to her hair (thanks to Grandmother's advice)!
Besides the water, there's other wildlife on Bonaire:
But the focus remains on what's in the water. Your faithful photographer worked hard:
to get the photos you want to see:
And Jenn made her 100th dive:
We also dove way up north in the Bonaire Slagbaai National Park which was new for us. The boat loaded up with two tanks each to make the hour ride worth it.
We generally had breakfast and sunset overlooking the Carib Inn dock:
Until we had to say goodbye as we left a day before the rest of the gang:
(Larry is captaining and new Divemaster Maria is working the lines. Larry provided the extra images.)
Bottom line: Andy spent 22 hours 41 minutes underwater over 19 dives and Val spent 21 hours 11 minutes underwater over 17 dives.
On to the photos!