Thursday, September 14, 2006

Bonaire vacation!

Ahhh, vacation! The beautiful island of Bonaire was our destination yet again. This was our third visit and we just can't get enough of this tiny speck of land in the Carribbean. If you're not familiar, Bonaire lies just north of Venezuela next to Curacao and Aruba. If you don't scuba dive or windsurf, you've probably never heard of it. Not much else to do there...
The diving is phenominal! No boats necessary as the reef is just off the beach, and the calm waters of the leeward side make it a breeze to enter the water. All you need is a truck, some extra tanks, a little snack and you have a great day of diving ahead of you. All the dive sites (and there are many!) are marked along the road with a yellow rock with the name of the site. If there are too many people at one, just drive on to the next. You can make your own schedule. Our condo was right above the dive shop, and one of the best reefs on the island was feet from our door. We encountered a host of sea creatures including turtles, eels, seahorse, tarpon, shrimp, octopus, flounder and a million tropical reef fish. All of these photos including the underwater shots were taken with our new Fuji F30 point & shoot and it's way cool u-w housing.

Click on the pics for a bigger preview.

Arrival, sunsets and the pier outside our condo. Pool's open!

The coolest little critter we saw all week!

A view down the beach from the condo and Beth making friends with the locals.

Mirror portrait and some cool sea life. (Beth does a great turtle impression!)

More fun on the reef. Flounder, tarpon, shrimp and a hungry
tropical who wanted to eat my fin!

Scorpion fish (Great disguise!), green moray eel, spotted moray

A few scenes above water. The Willemstoren lighthouse and old keepers quarters, a white slave hut near the salt works, pylon on the beach, Main St. in Kralendijk and another view of the shore near our condo.
Cool breeze in the palms, boats on the water, us underneath. When can we go back?!