The Dives
We had our dive package with Toucan Divers at Plaza Resort Bonaire, including four days of boat dives. We only used two of them because we just loved the freedom of shore diving so much. Toucan's boats held 14 or so folks on them, which, after a few days of shore diving, is about 12 people too many. But the staff was very friendly and fun. One day, a buckle on one of my fins broke off and disappeared (I just got a postcard from Curacao - it's met someone). Toucan staff tried their best to help but eventually sent me to Carib Inn for a fix. The fact that they knew exactly where I should go to find the right buckle saved us a lot of time and effort.

We did three dives just off the Bellafonte dock, including one night dive where Eagle Eyes Geoff spotted a hawksbill turtle just before finding an octopus, who was really, really pissed at him for that. On the way out to the reef, we passed a juvenile spotted moray eel. During the dive (Geoff's first night dive), I tried to get him to turn off his flashlight to see the phosphorescent plankton. I should have discussed this with him prior to the dive but forgot, so he just thought I was insane for turning my flashlight off and waving my hands around. He could not see the fireworks that I was trying to get him to see.

Our favorite dives:
The Invisibles & Alice in Wonderland
Ooh, the cute wittle garden eels with their big eyes! They look like muppets under water. I like the diving on the south end of the island. The double reef is fun and it provides plenty to look at by just going straight out from the buoy.





Andrea II
This was our first venture onto the more isolated dives and we were very proud of ourselves for fearlessly going where no one had been…for a few hours. So many cool things on this dive. Another turtle, four barracuda (who held no grudges, thank goodness) and some pretty Queen Angels. We rented an u/w digital camera from Capt. Don's and took endless amounts of pictures of things that we can barely identify now but must have looked good at the time.





Hilma Hooker
I missed this dive on my first trip to Bonaire and I regretted it. Wrecks are my favorite and the Hooker did not disappoint. Big silver fish hanging around it. Someone said they were tarpon, so I guess we'll take their word for it. Some day we'll get around to that fish ID course.

Small Wall night dive
This was my fifth night dive and Geoff's second. However, once those big ole' five foot long tarpon showed up to hang out with us, you would have thought I had never been in the water before. I was fine the first time one of them swam by my head less than three feet away, but the second time, I figured he had it in for me so I wrapped myself around Geoff for protection. Once my heart rate settled down, though, I marveled at the close-up views they provided as they slowly glided around us. And the rest of the dive rocked, too. Two spotted eels, one of which swam so close to Geoff's face you would have thought he wanted to buddy breathe, one green moray, one big, fat red crab, one lobster and another octopus. It was tremendous. Beautiful dive.

Safety
We had no problems whatsoever. Our room at the Bellafonte was on the third floor, so I'm sure that offered protection but from the hardiest and nimblest of criminals. No problems with the truck, either. Left it unlocked and didn't keep anything in it that we would miss too much.

Speaking of the truck, next time we go down, we're getting one of those wooden tank holders for the pick-up truck. As it was, we just had a regular pick-up bed in the back with no way to keep the tanks from rolling around. Every time we took a turn, those things went clanking from side to side, front to back. Drove us so crazy that we eventually put the tanks in the back seat of the truck just to shut them the hell up. Oh, and I guess it was probably better for the tanks, too.

Great report and pictures. Glad you had a wonderful trip.

Thanks for reading it. :-)

Cheap anti-clanking device: Toss weights and/or fins in between tanks. We prefer the littler RAV4, with the rear seats removed. Once converted it holds 4 tanks across, has handles for hanging stuff across the back, and the roof provides a bit of shade when gearing up. Plus, your MC or VISA car insurance benefit will probably cover you in the SUV, but not in the pickup.

Thanks Leif. That's a great idea. The RAV4's are cuter anyway.