The Ice Cream is easy to explain. SandDollar, Lover's Ice Cream, hot afternoon, and 10 guilders burning a hole in my pocket. Enough said.

The squid encounter was unforgettable and I'll explain it later.

That leaves the helicopters. On one of our visits to Bonaire several years ago, I remember a helicopter that flew up and down the west coast periodically every day. I thought it was either Law Enforcement or the Marine Park. I don't remember (or maybe I never actually knew), but I'm sure someone here does or will.

Tuesday, we saw a green helicopter fly low from the south, go over SandDollar, then make 180 degree turn, fly back over SandDollar heading south, and turn east just south of Eden Beach and disappear. And this guy was really low.....

This morning, we saw another chopper do almost the same thing, except after passing SandDollar heading north, it turned out towards Klein, flew over to the island, and hovered. While this one was hovering, another helicopter flew very low from the southern tip of Klein over towards Eden Beach, up towards SandDollar, then out to Klein. It hovered with the other guy, then they both headed towards downtown.

One of the choppers was painted an olive drab color with markings on the side. It looked paramilitary to me, but I didn't detect a flag or country marking. I know it was not a Huey, Blackhawk, or Apache. The other one looked kind of like a Bell - similar to one that might be used for a traffic report or news reporting......

Funny thing was, that no one on the dock seemed to care. They were getting a boat loaded for a trip, and as far as I could tell, not one of the divemasters or staff looked up or paid any attention to it. One or two of the customers looked up, but no one seemed to care.

I just found it interesting to see two helicopters doing maneuvers on Bonaire.....

On to the squid........ first, we want to thank everyone for watching the reef cam to capture our photo. It is very deceiving underwater as to where the cam actually points and how far away you should be. But the picture got the point across, and that's all thats important. Thanks to everyone!!

Near the end of the dive, we came across nine squid. They were the most inquisitive squid I had ever seen. They were right up in our faces, and didn't seem afraid or intimidated by us at all. They would line up, put there tentacles in the air and swim past, through, and between us in unison. Then they would swim backwards to about where they started, put there tentacles up, and come past us again. Individually, one or two would come right up to us and stare into our masks. I tried not to exhale, fearing the bubbles would frighten them off. But when I did exhale, they just held their ground. They were all about the same size, and about the size of other adult ones I have seen in the past. This went on for probably 15 minutes. the only reason it ended was because we were out of air. If we could've stayed indefinitely, we would probably still be watching them (or them watching us - not really sure who was being "watched").

Saw a nice crinoid on the dive also. Scorpion fish, tarpon, and more schoolmasters. This was the first time we had ever done Eden's Beach. I have to say that I was surprised at the lack of a reef..... there was plenty of fish activity, but no coral. Not a bad dive, especially around the Willy, and the large cement pylon thing. I just assumed it would look more like the other dives..... not sure how that sounds.

Our other two dives were Andrea I and Bachelor's Beach. Both good dives and very typical. Both had lots of schoolmasters...... still looking at me. Now I think the schoolmasters have the Rock Hinds looking at me too. I think all the fish are starting to gang up on me!!

OH! At Andrea I we saw two large blue parrot fish, and two midnight parrot fish. Man those guys are HUGE! And in the shallows after we got in the water, Leslie saw a pair of queen parrot fish.

Ordered a pizza from Pasa Bon to eat while watching Survivor.

One more thank you: Some of you have PMed me regarding my stated opinion on the kite boarding controversy. Some of you have validated my statements via this board. I want to say thanks for all the supportive comments and responses. I was just saying what I felt based on what I saw. Apparently, I am not the only one that feels this way. Thanks again.

Tomorrow we are planning an early morning dive at Karpata. We like to drop down to about 75 feet and cruise the wall and "canyons". Then we come back in at 25-30 feet looking for turtles. Its a great way to start the day.

And for all of you folks suffering from PBD, I'll be sure and stay wet all day, wear only shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, and relish the taste of seawater. I'll actually enjoy sand in my booties, and I'll hope my mask leaks a little bit. We will go downtown tomorrow and have a couple of brights while we listen to the waves subtly crash up on shore sitting at Karel's.

Does that make the PBD any better??

Dave & Leslie.

Hi Dave,

I am enjoying reading your series as it takes me back to a couple of weeks ago when we were there!

If you look under the dock at Eden beach there are tons of lobsters and crabs in the overhang. We also saw an octopus there in the middle of the day!

Also, at Jeff Davis memorial there are 5 of those huge male parrotfish that eat so shallow and close to the bank, that their fins are out of the water! These are HUGE! 3 different days we went there and the same 5 parrotfish were there doing the same thing. It was fun to watch them stick out of the water!

Reckon on the color of the helicopters (Westland Lynx SHD14), it might have been the Royal Dutch Navy. Doing some flight drills.

Did it look something like this?

Eric: Yes I believe that was the helicopter. I kinda figured it might have been the Dutch Navy. But I didn't see any Navy Ships in the area.....

I would assume they would've had to come off some cruiser or frigate or something.

Hey boss don't forget my Brite saturday!!!!! Cya soon bud. The shop is still standing had a few minor problems yesterday but nothing I couldn't handle.

Jay - you are not allowed to say that "p" word while your boss is on vacation... now repeat after me. "It's all good boss, it's all good!"

There is a frigate permanently stationed in Curacao.

They might have flown in from Willemstad, maybe even looking for drug smugglers, which is there main task.

LOL Mara he trusts me---I think--to handle whatever comes up. I still wonder about our sanity though with both of us being gone from the shop at the same time. Not sure we will ever do this again. I worry to much.

I think Bonaire may cure the worries....

Dave, if the downtown cam is not stuck, can you stop by and wave?

I love your daily report and writing skills. It makes me want to get right on a plane and get back there!

We had a similar helicopter fly over us on Curacao at Porto Marie one afternoon on our 2004 trip, while shore diving with a group of Dutch and German tourists. They mentioned it was the Dutch Navy / Marines, performing similar duties to the Coast Guard here in the USA. The Dutch folks mentioned the Curacao postings are highly competed for in their military - I can understand why!

John,

I'll try and stop by the downtown cam. Can't be sure when though......

I'll have the "Drake" shirt on!

dave.

Dave & Leslie
This is definitely my daily "fix" for PBD (only pre-Bonaire Depression)!
Hope you get to the street cam at some point.
Thanks for your reporting - it's a lot of fun reading.
Looking forward to future updates

Loved your description of the squid encounter!
I had a similar experience at Alice in Wonderland last year...a 20 minute encounter with about 15 squid ranging in size from small juveniles to mature adults, in a straight line, arranged pretty much by size! The eldest (largest) were quite inquisitive and swam right up to my mask. Often, they would change color in synch with each other in response to small movements on my part.
This happened in the shallows near the end of a long dive, and were it not for the empty tank, I would probably have spent another hour just watching those beautiful creatures!