Trip started October 13, 2004 from BWI to MBJ to BON via Air Jamaica arriving ˝ hour early with all luggage and dive equipment intact. Has AJ got it together or what! The weather was typical for Bonaire… sunny and B.E.A.utiful. Check in at Buddy Dive Resort no problem. We can’t wait to get in the water, looking forward to orientation tomorrow. (It will be a long night)

Second Day
My second visit, ....bobs third found us quickly achieving neutral buoyancy and ready to go!

Under we go at the bottom of the steps in front of the dive shop and a cursory look to the right finds an octopus on top of the rocks rocking in the surge. After realizing he was being watched he spewed a little ink our way and swam away to the safety of some obscure hole. This is going to be a great trip!

Remaining Days
We had great diving all week. Most all of the dives were done at Buddy Reef where the diving has to be the easiest anyone can do. We did one shore dive at Angel City and ….bob did several boat dives on Klein.

While ….bob worked on his photographic techniques I hovered around scanning and examining the reef seeing things that I had never seen when just following a divemaster on a tour. We did spend several hours looking for a pair of elusive frog fishes that we just couldn’t seem to locate, maybe next time.

Critters that we did find were: all kinds of unidentifiable juvenile fishes, an octopus in his hideout, fire worms, arrow crabs, stone fish, sea cucumbers, peacock flounder, a giant grunt, and huge groupers in addition to all the regular reef dwellers.

We will be returning at the end of February ’05, can’t wait.

.…bob is to be credited with all the photos; I hope you all enjoy them. (Camera Olympus 5 mega pixel in Ikelite housing)

Glad you had a great trip and thanks for sharing the awesome pics!

Thank-you for your report and wonderful photos!!

Thank you for the great pics John! Hope to see more soon!

Wow! What great shots. Thanks so much for posting them. We're always ready for more if you have the time.....glad to see you had a nice time on Bonaire...hard not to! LOL. Carole

Love the octopus pictures! Thanks for posting and ditto on what everyone said, if you have more, please post them. Debbie B.

John- Fabulous pics!!

I love the trunk fish peeking up!!

If there are more -we would love to see them!!

Great photos! I plan to give a talk to 4th graders at my old school about the coral reef.I'm a retired teacher. I plan to use some photos my friend John took on our recent visit to the island but would also like to use the outstanding photos I've seen on Bonaire talk. Would this be acceptable or would it be best if I used just our pictures. It's not for financial gain!! I am truly amazed at the excellent quality of the photos I've seen. Sue

Thanks for your report and those pics are really outstanding. I love seeing all the life you captured under water.

Fantastic photos
Carole

what a great set of pictures. The spotted drum is very friendly to you They are usually so shy

Thank you for the sharing

AWESOME pictures! Crystal clear. Makes my waterproof dime store disposable pictures look like.... well, waterproof dime store disposable pictures. :-) <sigh>

But I did get a REAL camera for Xmas, a SportDiver from Sea Life, so we'll see if they're any better.

Carl

Good show with the new cam for Christmas, Carl!! Try to experiment with it on land in NJ before you hit Bonaire next week...test it out in the tub, if necessary! LOL.

Have a great time and take some great shots, too. Can't wait to see how they come out...great, for sure. ayo. CArole