Belnem, International

This morning we had no class obligations so we decided to dive a couple of sites on the north side of the island. These 2 sites are ones that Paul and I have wanted to do for quite a while.

We started out at 1000 steps. This is one of the big to-do Bonaire dive sites. To get to and from the site you have to go down and up a stone staircase of about 70 steps (but seemingly 1000 on the way up). This site was great! The coral was very healthy and had a good variety of fish. On the way back to shore was a large patch of staghorn coral. We always manage to find lots of small and juvenile fish among the staghorn.

Next was Tolo. This was a pretty easy entry, even with some decent waves. The dive was great: nice coral and fish. The highlight was watching a large green moray swim around over the reef. There also were a lot of spotted drum, which we usually don’t see too many of.

After lunch the class went out to Lac Bay which is a shallow bay on the east side of the island. The class was going to see the mangroves. We also spent some time watching the windsurfers. From there we drove around the south tip of the island, stopping at Willemstoren lighthouse (which is a very rough, advanced dive site as well as an actual lighthouse) and passing by the slave huts. There were a few flamingoes in the brackish water just in from the shore, but they were too far out to see clearly. We also got to watch salt being collected from the evaporation flats.

Tonight is a laid back evening in. The girls have a test tomorrow evening and we have plenty of leftovers to eat.