Night Dives and Shipwrecks

A typical day of class!

Sea anemone feeding at night during our night dive.

Two lionfish we saw during our night dive at Yellow Sub. They are extremely invasive and harmful to the reef ecosystem, yet due to their poisonous spines, they are very difficult to catch and control.

This is the deep dive wreck we went to. The ship, Hilma Hooker, was built in 1951 and sunk in 1984. She now lays 100 feet down right off the island and we got to dive down and explore!

This is the view from when I went inside the hull of the shipwreck, looking out on the main mast.

Checking out Hilma Hooker.

Port side of the ship. 

A look down at the propeller of the ship. 

Port side windows of the ship, now homes to many critters. 

Sunken Hilma Hooker. 

Bojnaj

Iguana found by the ocean. 

Queen conch shell on a pile of hundreds of other old dead conch shells. 

Wild donkey that walked up to our car windows. 

Found while snorkeling and fishing in Lac Bay. 

Sunset at the dock of Yellow Sub dive shop by where we live. 

Fishing at Lac Bay on the East side of the island. 

Yellow Sub dock. 

The sun is shining

Example of the switch to wind power on the island! However, the story of how this car got there is a mystery.

Little crab found by the surf. 

Octopus found out by Yellow Sub where we go swimming everyday.

Small squid we saw while night snorkeling on the South part of the island. 

Wind power!

This boulder was thrown up on the shore by a tsunami wave long ago. 

A look out the window of an old research building left to fall apart.

Yellow Sub dock and some fellow class mates heading out for a dive. 

We went for a tour around the North part of the island today and saw many beautiful new parts of the island, including iguanas, parrots, a forest of cacti, ancient cave paintings, and even got to pet a wild donkey that walked up to our car window. Another great day on the island!

dh

Happy Bonaire Day!

A cross on a viewpoint overlooking the island. The writing on it is in Papiamentu, the local language spoken only in the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, and it states "Yesterday, Today, and Forever". 

An outlook on the Northern side of the island overlooking the city. 

Today is Dia di Boneiru, or Bonaire Day and it similar in celebration to Flag Day or Independence in the US, just on a smaller scale. The celebration was an organized even with food, music, and stands with local crafts, including these colorful dream catchers. 

A local house catching the rays of the sunset.

Taken on the way to the Bonaire Day festival, sitting in the back of our open-backed dive truck. 

Tried many new things this past week, including a local delecacy of Goat's Blood, went windsurfing on the east side of the island, and night snorkeling. Can't wait for all of the adventures still yet to come!

dh

Scuba Boot Camp

One of our professors/dive instructor, Professor Caren Eckrich! This is at a dive site named Angel City due to all of the angel fish that are around there. Beautiful sights!

Fish on the Angel City dive.

The mooring blocks off the dock by our house where we always dive and snorkel. These are a bunch of Sargent Major fish making nests.

Our whole crew on the way to our dive! 

A sunfish sailboat that many locals use on the island.

dh

Day 6

Obelisk marker on the island. There are 4 others throughout the island -  red, blue, white, and orange - which are still used as navigation markers for incoming ships. Bonaire is a large stop for due to its oil refinery and salt production. 

This is the Yellow Sub Dive Shop dock where we do most of our diving and snorkeling. And a few morning swims. It is less than a block away from us!

And it wouldn't be Dutch without a windmill on the island! There are a few larger wind turbines in Bonaire as well since they are trying to switch to mainly wind generated power here..