September 11th - 18th
Bonaire, Captain Don's Habitat

And so, before I forget any more about the trip I will log the Bonaire dives. We arrived early on Bonaire so that we could attend the introduction to diving the island that invloves a run through of the rules and regulations of the marine park, the requirement for a warmup dive to get your bouyancy squared and the way that things run at Habitat. Wilko, local photo pro and resident took us though that, we then checked into our room, grabbed our gear and headed out for our refresher dive.

The refresher dive is nothing formal and there is noone to watch over you or give you marks out of ten. We suited up in the 30-something degree heat made our way to the small pier and in we went. It was Sallys first dive in two and half years and only her regs were familiar, so we tok it slow and got bouyancy sorted. The end of the pier is only a couple of metres deep with agentle sand slope along which a guide ope runs straight out. We got comfortable and then headed out along the rope. At about 6m there is a large concrete block with a mooring attached and just beyond that the reef starts with a slope down to about 35m. This proved a bit too much for Sally, and as soon as she saw the drop off 'into the abyss' she indicated that was enough and we made our way back to the pier.

I was more concerned abbout Sallys wellbeing than the dive itself and can't recall much of what we saw, although there would have been corals and plenty of fish. Once I deposited Sally back on terr firma I did an incredibly non-DIR thing and turned around once more and headed out for a look at the reef on my own. The reef, known as La Mancha (after a small wreck in 12m) or just the Home Reef is quite spectatcular. OK, maybe not by local standards but by my standards certainly. A wall covered in life and teeming with fish, although nothing particularly large apart from the odd tarpon and massive green moray. And I did spot a single turtle.

On this first dip I did the uber-stoopid thing of being so calm that I didn't watch my depth too closely. I caught myself early on at about 26m and ascended to what I considered a safer depth, staying in the low to mid teen metres for the remainder of the dive and then doing a very slow meander back to the pier. The water was very clear, probably 20-25m vis. I headed left from the rope, did a lap of La Mancha and then headed back to and past the rope, turned again, back to the rope and then slowly back to shore. Lovely. Bonaire dive one complete.