Friday, June 20, 2008

Log/Pic 59 Bonaire


So on June 11th, my students left the building, excited about their summer. I pushed them out of the way and beat half of them to their cars. More excited than most of them, I was already packed and well on my way by nightfall. June 12th I arrived in West Virginia and hiked that states section of the Appalachian Trail-four miles!
I stayed a couple of days in Florida and then flew from Miami to Bonaire!
Like the plate says, Bonaire is a diver's paradise.
With over 60 shore dives to choose from, Lisa and I stayed busy logging exactly 100 dives!
We saw stripped and green moray eels as well as this chain eel.
We saw about eight octopus including this one during the day. It not only tried to camouflage its color, but attempted to imitate coral.
Within my first week there I reached my 600th logged dive. I celebrated the dive at a reef appropriately called Larry's Lair.
We bonded big-time with turtles. We watched them eat and swam alongside them.
The squid were abundant. We often saw a dozen together and once hovered motionless for about 15 minutes with a group of 26.
The one major wreck was the Helma Hooker. Here is me with it's propeller.
This moon jellyfish was about 24 inches in diameter (minus 20% from appearing larger underwater and another three inches because I tend to exaggerate.
After 62 dives we finally found a seahorse, my favorite fish. We didn't really find it, it was pointed out to us-but we did see it!

Below is where I want to teach my future students.