I started the 3rd week on Bonaire taking a Free Diving Course with our friends Cindy & Robert from Juno. This is something I've wanted to learn for years. My goals is to be able to stay underwater for longer while free diving to see the undersea creatures better and take better underwater photos. During the last 2 weeks at Bonaire, I continued to practice the techniques I had learned at the free diving course. 

Blair and I went on a tour of a couple of caves on Bonaire. Bonaire is actually along a tectonic plate that pushed the sea floor so close to the surface, that coral was able to establish, and over millions of years the coral grew to create an island. Our guild Dirk was very informative, and it was fun to swim in a fresh water cave. 

We also went to a presentation on Manta Rays that was very informative, and although they are rarely seen on Bonaire, the presenter shared with us, how to be a citizen scientist. 

The Bonaire Turtle Conservancy allows the public to come along for their turtle monitoring. This was a great experience, because I joined the conservancy volunteers and 6 grad students who were doing different research studies. It wasn't a tour, they were actually collecting important data. One PHD student was collecting DNA from the hatch eggs as well as eggs that didn't produce turtles. The team leader found a nest that some of the hatchlings had made it out, but he kept digging and there were several baby turtles that were trapped under a couple of large pieces of coral. They would have died in the nest if he hadn't dug them out. I had the special privilege of seeing 10 of these babies make it to sea.

I started to play Mexican Dominos with Juno & Full Circle III. It's a great way to spend an Sunday afternoon. Apparently cruisers get together on Sunday afternoons at 13:00 all over the world for this game. Every country as slighly different rules. 

The last couple of weeks continued with daily snorkling, and basic boat chores. The temperatures started to get hot. October is generally the hotest month in the Caribbean. It's the middle of hurricane season. It got so hot even Blair got in to cool off. 

As our month on Bonaire wound down I thought we'd had a full month of experiences, but apparently the best was saved for last. On the last weeked we were hanging out on our boat. We called to help Nikki on Momentum with some watermaker issues they were having. She said she really couldn't talk because they were hanging out watch dolphins. I looked off the back of the boat, and not 300 yards from our boat I could see their dinghy and the dolphins. I grabed my mask/snorkle and gopro and we headed out. There were probably about 30 dolphins playing around. I stuck my gopro in the water, but it was hard to see if I was getting any good video. After about 20 minutes almost everyone left, so I decided to see if I could get some better shots. I slipped into the water and Blair let our dinghy drift away. I could see the dolphins playing and having a great time. Then a wonderful suprise... 1st one dolphin came up to me, then a 2nd and finally a 3rd. They came up to me and circled me, as I was just floating on the surface to check me out. I could hear their clicks as they ecolocated . All told there were 7 dolphins and I spend 5 minutes in the water with them. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Here is the short version of the video I was able to take. 

I thought the day couldn't get anymore magical, but mother nature had another suprise. Before we left our boat to go into town for a food festival the island was having. Mother Nature put on this light show. This was a great way to end our fabulous time on Bonaire. Truely a magical island.