Hello, everyone!

This was our first trip to Bonaire. We stayed at Captain Don's Habitat.

Because we got some great photos, I'll let them speak for themselves.

The rest of our photos, along with some fun short movie clips from my digital camera, can be found at http://pictures.kl8on.com/

We were very impressed with Bonaire. It was exactly what we'd hoped for.

The water was about 83F, according to my computer. Visibility was easily 100+ feet, which was incredible next to the familiar Seattle visibility of <20 ft.

We did 20 dives over 6 days. Favorites were the Salt Pier, the Hilma Hooker, Oil Slick Leap, and Karpata.

We spent one day up in Washington-Slagbaai park, including one dive at Playa Funchi. The dive was good, but we took a pounding on the exit. Substantial surge pounded us against the rocks. The park was also interesting since we were often surrounded by large hungry iguanas when we stopped the truck. Some of them were downright intimidating.

Being vegetarians, we were expecting to have a difficult time finding food. We were pleased to discover that the pizza was excellent (especially at the Pizza Temple at Captain Don's, as well as the excellent Pasa Bon Pizza). Pasa Bon Pizza also has the most incredible chocolate cake, served warm. My partner said it was the finest cake she'd ever had, which was a hearty endorsement indeed. Another favorite is the Garden Café, which was excellent.

Fish life was profuse and abundant in incredible variety. Many eels were to be found, as well as puffers and assorted other interesting fish. We spotted one small ray, but it escaped before a photo could be taken. Couldn't find any seahorses.

I can't recommend enough that visitors sign up for the "Turtle Lover's Snorkel Tour" that leaves from Karel's Beach Bar on the Kralendijk waterfront. We hadn't seen any turtles the entire time, and we opted into this snorkel tour on our last day (since we couldn't dive). We were taken out to an unmarked part of Klein and saw two *huge* loggerheads (one of which surfaced right next to me, as you can see in the video on my site), as well as a couple smaller hawksbill. The trip was $25/each, and worth every penny.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy the pictures on the site.

http://pictures.kl8on.com

Great Pictures! The colours are beautiful. Thank-you for sharing your report!

Thanks for the report and pictures, Clayton. I especially enjoyed Liberty's giant stride. Played it about 10 times in a row and I smiled every time! God, we get desperate for a Bonaire moment... :-)

Thanks for the great pictures and report!!! I think I have seen that same turtle!!

I'm glad you folks enjoyed the pictures and the clips. Thank you for the nice comments.

Darlene, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd seem the same turtle. That one looks old enough to have been around since long before any of us visited Bonaire. :-)

Love the pictures! I agree about the chocolate cake at Pasa Bon Pizza....we couldn't get enough of it while we were there.

Absolutely wonderful photography..Enjoyed viewing it!!!