November 17, 2005 - At Least We Were Wet Already!

Gamma hit pretty hard yesterday. It was obvious that this island rarely sees such conditions. It was like a sponge that was completely saturated…the ground could do only so much. Streets were closed and buildings flooded. It was a good thing that our goal was to spend most of the day underwater anyway.

We dove off the dock in the morning. But going out and heading right, we managed to fin out to the Marchaca, a pretty mediocre wreck in from of Captain Don’s Dive Habitat. The sees were reasonable considering the light and sound display we had in the skies the night before.



Lunch was a true trial though. We had trouble finding a restaurant that was open in town. The first place we found was “full” so we proceeded to the other. You have to worry when the menu asked for patience because they may take a long time making each “fresh” meal optimally. Most of the time when I see this disclaimer, there is nothing special about the food…just bad service. Well, my ceviche and fish sandwich proved me right again. Steve seemed to like his iguana soup and goat, though.

We finally got back into the water in the afternoon. 1000 steps is a famous dive site here on Bonaire. That is not exactly for the diving but rather the staircase leading down to the water. There aren’t more than 70 steps in reality but with a back full of SCUBA gear, people say it feels like 1000. In reality, the climb in and out wasn’t that bad but the diving was spectacular.

Matt made the suggestion to go to Oil Slick for our night dive. The thought of a metal ladder leading down to the surf made me a bit nervous considering the brick of a camera that I carry; But, like the 1000 steps, the ladder was no problem. My little headlamp was left at the entry point as our beacon for return in the dark. I had the fear in my mind that the light would go out or would be lifted by a passer-by. All turned out okay, and we managed to navigate out and back without major difficulty. In between, we experienced a wonderful dive with lots of new sights. Cuttlefish, lobster, and an octipus made the dive unique for us.

The rain did make things more scary, slippery and cold, but it was yet another successful and rewarding day…and night.

The sun is out now…Gamma has given us a break for today.