Bonaire

Bonaire - a primary vacation destination for scuba divers. I'm no exception as I'd gone to Bonaire in June with the long anticipated expectation of getting some incredible underwater photographs. Short story - no underwater photographs....

On my first dive I discovered that my underwater housing for my Canon 20D had sprung a leak. Good thing I ALWAYS check my housing before I start heading down for my dive. For the very first time this routine check showed a little water in the housing. After getting out of the water rather quickly I discovered some very good news and some very bad news. Good news, no water had gotten to my camera or my lens. Bad news is that the housing had a major crack in it.

I tried to find another housing on the island - but to no avail. There is an Ikelite distributor on the island, but they did not have the 20D housing. I looked into renting a camera from the onsite photography shop, but all they had was point and shoot types. Not to be snooty or anything, but I don't need snapshops of underwater critters. They just didn't have the gear that I need to obtain the photographs I want. Guess I'll need to make another trip to Bonaire.

I did take a drive around with my topside camera and took a few shots of a lighthouse at the south end of the island, some people windsurfing, some historic slave huts, a coastline shot and a few shots of a salt mining operation with I thought was stunning. Those photos can be gotten to via my Caribbean link here. Click on Bonaire - June 2008.

Diving in Bonaire was fabulous - and about as easy as diving gets. Only thing easier would be a swimming pool. Crystal clear and very warm water, no current or surge, easy shore diving access and buoy markers to navigate entrance/exit points. The beauty of it is that the boats and the shore divers all go to exactly the same spots. Only thing is the shore diver gets to choose how many people are in the water with them at the same time!

Next trip I'll have some photos to share.

Cheers,

Monty