Sunday, July 20, 2008

Log/Pic 60 Bonaire/Curacao


So in July we did another two-week 'all you can breathe' dive package. We paid for one boat dive over to Klein Bonaire island, a night dive at town pier, and this dive to salt pier. The soft coral that grew on these columns was incredible.
Here is the salt that is processed on the island.
Here is me feeding the local lizards popcorn from my mouth...and chest...and bellybuttom.
Mules were once used to transport salt. There is still about 100 wild ones left roaming the island. In the five weeks, we saw 64 of them. We like to think we never counted the same one twice.
A nice Dutch lady started this donkey sanctuary. They take in injured or abused jackasses. I know a donkey, mule and jackass are not all the same thing, but I can never remember the difference and didn't want to keep using the word donkey.
As we drove around the park, I think we saw close to all 300 donkeys they have on site. They chased our truck and forced us to stop. What looks like a vehicle inspection is actually just a few stragglers looking for a hand-out.
This is our first visit to the park during a surface interval from our dives. We bonded with some newborns.
This was our 2nd trip to the park. We were lucky to watch the babies feeding.
The day we flew out of Bonaire, we spent the morning saying goodbye to our new friends. I think mom and baby were sad to see us go. The jackass rolling around in the background could give a shit.

Mom watched as this baby actually nestled on my shoulder.
A week in Curacao would be a great place to rest and 'off gas' after so many hours underwater. This was taken from the pool and looking out at the ocean towards Venezuela. Our room is on the right, But we didn't stay there long before...
...we were back beneath the sea. Above is a colorful collection of plume worms.
A curious french angel follows us around.

Below, a chocolate chip sea cucumber...well, doesn't do much of anything. They have been around since the dinosaurs and have not evolved much. They have a hole on either end; stuff goes in, stuff comes out-that's it!