Gregg and I set out this morning, he to dive and me to snorkel wherever he chose to dive. Drove past Tori's Reef and we saw a pod of dolphins going south by the dive buoy. Wow! We knew the drill, we went down to Sweet Dreams, get all geared up, he had his camera, I did not have one, and we get in, takes about 20 minutes for the pod to get there, so he tells me he is going down under and maybe will see them coming as he was going to dive north, OK, I get in and swim out to the reef's edge and wait for the cresting fins I am so hoping to see.

Not much wind today, so not many kiteboarders, figure they may stay shallow instead of going out and around deeper, either way, I figure Gregg or I may just get lucky for an encounter.

I can see the dive buoy at Vista Blue from the reef's edge where I was hanging out on and lo and behold, I see fins coming right at me!!! Oh Lordy, Lordy, I was so excited!

First a pod of 8 dolphins came up and swam close by me, checking me out, huge they were and I was so happy to be there and see these magnificant creatures. I thought it was over and only 8 were going by, so I head north and head back to Sweet Dreams and then BAMM! Dark shadows all around me, I am thinking the sun went in or something, but nope!

There were lots more dolphins and I was right smack in the middle of all of them, I counted a total of 38, but lost track of them when I saw a baby dolphin in the mist, it was so cute and it was not shy, oh no, it's mommy let it come up and check out my mask then drew it back to her. My heart was thump, thump, thumping, and I felt like Aerial the Mermaid under the sea, oh under the sea! This all was in about 20-25 feet of water and the second pod swum around me for quite a while, it was breathtaking!

Never in all my diving and encounters with dolphins did they ever swim with me in the center, I felt like one of the pod. Was tempted to touch them, but knew they were wild and didn't want to find out what happened if I did. They flipped their noses at me and looked liked they were saying, "Hey, we know you can't dive this trip, so we will put on a show for you!" And they did, they sure did. I will never ever forget this awesome experience and so glad I wasn't blowing bubbles at the time as they come so close when snorkeling it was awesome, no words can explain how it feels to be in the middle of a dolphin pod, I am still singing "under the Sea" here and smiling from ear to ear.

Now, I know what a mermaid must feel like is all I can say.

Vince, I saw your dolphin encounter, must have been the same pod. I would have missed it if we didn't have to wait for the a/c guy to come to adjust one of our a/c units. I am so glad he was late now. So very glad.

This is the start of my third week out of five here, and I can't think of any other dive I have gone on that beats that snorkel adventure in all the years I have been coming here.

WOW! Laughing with happiness for you!

Any pic's?

Lucky girl.

Wow!!!!! How cool is that? Incredible. They knew you were from Jersey. They have relatives up in Sea Isle. LOL

You and Vince have had an awesome experience. That is marvelous.

Really x 100 jealous. Thanks for sharing!

e.

Sorry, no pics, Gregg took the camera, he was diving same spot but at 47-50 to see if they came by at a deeper depth. I lucked out, oh yessiree I did!

Jim, yes, they felt bad for this poor old Jersey gal who had seen way too much snow this year! Hey, when I went in, I figured Gregg would be the one to see them, but nope, he did not, too deep. So no pics, but they are etched in my mind, can still see all of them.

Off to see what kind of adventure I can have this afternoon with the fishes now. Later!

Awesome Debbie! You got some good Kharma going there girl!!

How awesome is that!!!!!! I am so happy for you!!!!! That is a Bonarian moment for sure!!!!!
See you soon!

Debbie, another great story. Thanks for sharing.

What an amazing experience! I'd be happy with one dolphin... can't even imagine the excitement you must have been feeling.

Fantastic! I'm so happy for you!

Debbie, I have a huge grin on my face WOW WOW WOW!!!! What an incredible experience. I am so happy you got to be as mermaid today! 32 days and we'll see if we even get half as lucky!!! You go girl!!!

Debbie - Yikes & double that! Got a BIG smile on my face Can't imagine what that must have been like Sooooo happy for you.
You must be doing the dolphin dance Bet you'll have the best dreams tonight

Debbie -
HOW COOL IS THAT!!!! If you see them again tell'em we'll be there soon!!!

Hey Judy, my Bonaire sister, really wished you could have been right there with me! I was so excited, I found the perfect word for the feeling ~ OOOHHHHHHMMMMMMM! Hee. Hee, I was sure doing the dolphin dance when Gregg submerged and singing "Under the Sea"

Carl, will do.

Debbie - how awesome. I'd have done a happy dolphin dance, too

Hey - Debbie, my Bonaire Sister - OOOOOHHHHHMMMMMM Wish I could have been there too! Happy Dolphin dreams to you
What a great experience!!!!!!!!!!!

Debbie, I believe Mother Ocean LOVES YOU!!! How fascinating!!!!!

This happened to me about 4 years ago, what a wonderful lifetime memory!! CHILLS

What an experience!!! Those animals are so enchanting. I love when the baby came up to you. That's worth 1000's

How cool . I remember our last dolphin experience was when were were on the Mushi Mushi and there were about 15 dolphins around us. It is just amazing. What a sight !

Almost a repeat of yesterday, however, wouldn't you know it a cruise ship rounded the corner and then about three fishing boats were close by and the pod went out further, so didn't get to see them today up close, but from afar. Still nice though. Poor timing on the pod ship, very poor.

Please post the time, location, and direction of movement for the dolphins so we can be on the lookout in case they follow any sort of schedule and pattern. Thanks.

Nathalie, the last two days, the dolphins were an hour difference in time passing by, so can't really say any schedule they have at the moment. They were going south as they usually do, but times are various right now.

Hi Debbie. Might they have been THESE dolphins? My brother and I were in the water at Tori's Reef when you drove by. I managed to get these shots off ... and you should see the video.

:-)

AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't put enough exclamation marks to show how awed I am.

Alan, Can we see the video too???

You now have me singing "Under the Sea" too :-) I have the youtube of the song embedded on my personal web page so I can sing along - Ha!

You have to wonder what the dolphin are thinking when they see us. "Look at those clumsy fish. And why do some of them wrap hoses around their necks?!"

Oh, wait, thought I was posting on ScubaBoard...

e.

Wow Alan...FANTASTIC!!!!

Alan, I think they are! :0

WOOHOO Again Today!!!!

Swam with another pod of dolphins, oh yes I did and so did Gregg, my FIL and MIL and Pat and Mary Murphy, Leanna, my neighbor and Sandy!!!! This pod was huge, a totally different pod than the one I saw the other day.

There were two babies inside it and it was so cool, another truck of people saw them cresting and it was a free for all to swim out to the edge of the reef and then out some to get there to see these magnificiant creatures.

Oh yeah, Gregg got pics, and he dove the Lighthouse way down south and it was crystal clear, no current and lots of nice pics there too. Really wished I could have dove that site with him, but hey, I swam with two pods of dolphins in a few days, so no complaining from me.

The dolphins we saw today were two toned colored, gray/black and a lot thinner than the other day. I am going to have to google to see how many different species there are here on Bonaire.

Oh and today, the pod went by LBR pretty close to 2pm in the afternoon, a very slow moving pod, so we had plenty of time to get to a good location to view them further down south, we watched them spend a long time with two other snorkelers near the Salt Pier, hope they had their camera!

Wow--what a great experience!! So happy that you got to swim with them. I'm super jealous--all I wanted was to see them.

Let's see if I can post a pic from hubby's shots today.

O.K, and this one.

How about a free swimming green moray?

How about a free swimming green moray?

WOW!!! How cool! I am so glad you guys are having such a great time! Meanwhile back in NJ ... 18" of SN*W! I'll be you're even more glad to be in Bonaire! Big hugs!

WOW...Alan and Debbie...wow wow wow...Alan, yes on the vid please!

Eric, we have a sense of humor over here too tee hee

Ok. I'll post the vid when we return to the States this weekend (need some higher bandwidth to pull that off).

i'm all goose bumps... this is too cool...

Thanks Debbie for such detailed information. I loved reading your story I'm excited about Bonaire all over again. I can't wait!

wow
hope i have the same experience
elaine

OK, Debbie (and others), here you go. It's quite brief -- maybe 10 seconds -- but it's because I was alternating between video and still (and trying to also drink it all in).

Alan,

Video will not play - says "private video".

Dying here - need a Bonaire fix.

Debbie - 5 weeks? Not fair. Janet is whining in the background.

David

Ummm ... right. Fixed. Sorry 'bout that ...

thanks Alan!!!!!!

Nice!

David, yup, life is good, I can get used to this! Starting my last week today.

Nice video!

Debbie, enjoy the week!

Awesome video!!! They really didn't seem to care at all that you were there - too cool!

Thanks for posting that for those of us still snowbound

Wow! That's such amazing footage. Thanks for sharing. Debbie enjoy the week!

Very cool thanks for Sharing!