Bonaire pictures

There is a spot on Bonaire quite well known for kite surfing and our first few days on the island were quite windy, so we stopped and watched them for a while.

We were on an exploratory mission and drove for 20 minutes on an extremely rough road, eventually arriving at Lac Bay. The road was so rough that we were not sure if it was even a real road but just a track out to some beach. As we rounded the last corner, we were stunned to discver that there was a bar there. Beer was $2.

At Lac Bay Bar, there were six piles of old conch shells. We ended up doing our last dive of the trip at this location with a guide, who told us that the shells were decades old and that the conch were pretty much all gone.

Flamingos.

Cactus blooming.

We did a hike up "Mount" Brandaris, the highest "peak" on the island at 790 feet. Good view but it was a little hazy.

This is Bonaire's other industry, which is sea salt. Ocean water is used to flood a shallow, dammed area and then is allowed to evaporate. Graders are used to collect the salt and conveyors used to load ships.

Getting ready for my second night dive.

Exiting the night dive with Bev from Okotoks. Nan had done one; that was enough for her.

Nan on a dive.

OK, this is my pride and joy: first ever glimpse of a seahorse. It's pretty much right in the centre of the picture.

It is NOT breaded shrimp.

Some colourful coral.

Alittle better view of the seahorse.

Beautiful and dangerous: a lionfish, which is an Indo-Pacific invasive predatory species that is a threat to Atlantic fish as it has few natural enemies in the Atlantic.

On our one guided dive, the guide killed seven, taking the largest home for his lunch. It is common in the Caribbean for local divers to dispatch them whenever seen.

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lionfish.html

Anchor crab. Legs extended, this one would be about three inches across.

Eew. I mean, eel.

The picture is of a juvenile drum fish, the tiny black and white fish with long dorsal and tail, right above the obvious fish in the picture, which is photo-bombing the shot.

Crab, on a night dive.

Multiple lobsters under one rock. They were so common on this dive you had to be careful not to bump into them.

This starfish thingy was walking away from us. It didn't appear to be in any hurry.

Hermit crab invading a conch shell.

Conch invading a hermit crab shell.

Eew.

Juvenile queen angelfish.

Payback time. A local fish eating a dispatched lionfish.

Crab.

You should see three videos below. I say this because I could not seem them from my computer at the office.

My buddy the seahorse. Of course.

Don't stick your finger in there. This guy was about four feet long.

These are tarpon, very large fish. Though we saw this school on a day dive, prior to this, I had only seen them on a night dive as they are attracted to the dive lights. Generally, they hang out on the east side of the island whereas the majority of our diving occurred on the west side. This was shot on the east side.