Today was our kayaking and snorkel trip. Once again, it was fun. Snorkeling in the mangroves was my favorite part. The mangroves provide a nursery for baby fish and other marine animals. The mangrove trees provide shelter for the baby fish and they add some fresh water, so mangrove water is brackish. The water is murky but full of life. It’s almost like an underwater version of land. Instead of birds, there are colorful fish. Parts of the mangrove area was covered in sea grass (our guide called it turtle grass), and parts looked like an underwater prairie. There were lots of interesting sea plants. The fish stay close to the mangrove roots where they have protection. I didn’t see any turtles, but I did see a small starfish. It was hiding under some dead leaves. I tried to catch it so Bill could take a picture but it did not want to be photographed. Plus, you aren’t really supposed to bother the wildlife and I didn’t want to hurt it. There were little jellyfish everywhere. They lay upside down on the ocean bottom and filter feed. They can sting if you hit one while you are swimming but they are too small to cause serious problems. I stepped on a few by accident and they were just squishy. I don’t think I hurt them since they have no bones. It’s really neat to watch them swimming around. There were also things that looked like underwater mushrooms. I don’t know what they are. The creatures in the mangroves aren’t as colorful as the ones in the reef since they are there to hide until they are big enough to swim in the ocean, but it was fascinating to see that environment.
Our guide was a Dutch guy who moved to Bonaire 10 years ago after he got divorced. He loves it here and doesn’t ever want to have to go back to the Netherlands permanently. The people, culture and environment completely won him over. It’s so interesting that people can radically recreate their lives in a new place and feel like they’ve found their home.
We also met a Canadian couple from outside of Toronto. She was a veterinarian and he helped run the business side of her clinic. They were both semi-retired. They were avid divers. They had made over 600 dives all over the world, over 300 in the Caribbean. Bonaire is one of their favorite places because you can dive directly off the beach and you don’t have to charter a boat. That let them set their own schedule.
We have to turn our scooter in tomorrow morning by 8:30am so this afternoon, we decided to go for one more scooter ride to explore the northern part of the Island. There is a national park there so we drove along the ocean and into the park. Somewhere along the way, our road became one way and we couldn’t go back, so we did a big loop around the entire northern half of the island. We were a little short on gas, but we made it and it was a lovely drive. The northern part of the island is somewhat greener than the southern part. There are big cliffs on one side and the shore drops off into the ocean on the other. The water is much more powerful on the north and the waves slam into the rock cliff with a lot of force! It’s a stark environment but beautiful in it’s own way. We have now explored almost the entire island on the scooter!
Brandon texted me today to tell me that David Attenborough did a nature special on Bonaire about bats. Yesterday, Bill and I saw a research boat that used to belong to Jacques Cousteau, who apparently spent a lot of time here. So, Bill and I are exploring the same territory as Jacques Cousteau and David Attenborough. That’s neat! David Attenborough is in his 90s and is still making nature videos that require him to be out in the wild. He’s incredible.
We got back from our fairly long scooter excursion around 5pm and decided to snorkel around the hotel. I was hoping to see a turtle or some seahorses but no luck. It was a beautiful swim though with the sun setting and we saw lots of fish, sea anemones, crabs, jelly fish, and eels. We saw a school of the pretty little blue fish that are represented in the metal art I bought yesterday. I might snorkel one more time tomorrow morning before we have to leave. Our flight doesn’t leave until 4pm, so we’ll have some time. Overall, it was an awesome day, and I”m sad that tomorrow is our last day. But, at least we had a great trip, and I’m lucky to get to do things like this at all.
Traveling with Emily! 