Orientation Dive & Equipment Check. SPG bursts with steady stream of air coming out of it. Replace rig and restart the dive. Saw a huge barracuda approximately 4ft in length. Barry followed us for a few minutes. Katrina (my dive buddy) had issues with her integrated weights; the weights kept falling out. My dad fixes it, turns out that the weights didn't clip in properly. I buddy with my mom for the first half the dive so that my dad can keep an eye on Katrina. I go back to buddying with Katrina.

Surface swim to the dive buoy. Recreational dive with my mom, dad and Katrina (dive buddy). Got to try out a camera (Canon G11) with dive housing, borrowed from a colleague who is also a recreational diver. Dive started with a descent to the wall at a depth of approximately 12m, and then headed in a northerly direction against a light current. At approximately 80 bar we turned back on ourselves heading south, drifting with the slight current back to the buoy. We concluded the dive by using the slight gradient heading back to shore.

Surface swim to dive buoy. A recreational dive with family and camera. Descended to the wall and continued in a northerly direction against the current. Spotted two rock cods watching intensely, it appears they were looking at what at first i thought was a sea snake. It turns out that it was just a sharptail eel. I caused my buddy (Katrina) to panic when i quickly became positively buoyant. My dive buddy couldn't spot me as I was approximately 2m directly above her. I could see her panicking. (All she had to do was look up...) I quickly descended beside her where I was welcomed back with her flipping me off. During the dive I had spotted a tarpon, barracuda, french angelfish, blue tang, stoplight parrotfish. (My mothers swears she saw a nurse shark; I am certain that she needs a prescription for her mask)

A somewhat tricky entry. A shore entry over some rocks, had to time it with the small waves and surge to make sure that the right footing was found and that it was urchin free. Urchins shouldn't have been too much of an issue since I was wearing boots, but don't want to hurt the sea life either way. Our descent started after our surface swim with to the buoy. We then descended to the reef and continued north against a slight current. During the dive we passed some divers who were part of a boat dive tour. During the dive we were followed by a large tarpon. Other species of fish we had encountered include 2 honeycomb cowfish, french angelfish, smooth skin cowfish, porcupine fish, bearded fireworm and a longspine squirrelfish.

Buddy's Reef dive starts off with an easy step entry. As we enter the water, Katrina immediately has an issue with her buoyancy. Katrina exits the water to remove 4lbs from her integrated weight system. Father was annoyed as he just wanted to get on with the dive and possibly not waste air waiting in the hot sun. Quickly reminded my dad that Katrina and I are both still new to this and we will only start our dive when we feel comfortable, he seemed to understand and we continued with our dive. The descent was immediate so that we could follow the shot-line to the reef. Headed north with the current, and the reason for this was to make our way to a small wreck that sits on the precipice of the reef. The stern was at approximately 15m and the bow at approximately 10m. There was an abundance of marine life in and around the wreck. A few of the species that we had spotted include tarpin, blackbar soldier fish. We headed back towards the shot-line when we came across a caribbean rock lobster hiding in a nook at a depth of 17m. Found out that the rock lobster is quite a rare sight.

Tricky entry over some slippery rocks with small waves and surge. family, Katrina and I surface swim to the buoy, and descend to the reef. We swim north against the slight current. The site has a double reef "valley". We continued north through the "valley" until we saw the shadow of the Hilma Hooker in the distance. Hilma Hooker being a large ship which was sunk not too far off the coast of Bonaire which has become a very well know spot for dive enthusiasts. We headed back to the buoy line and saw pretty much the same marine life that we have seen on our previous dive sites within Bonaire, with the only exception being a beautiful Black Durgon (Black Surgeon).

Our second dive at Sarah's Smile. A very easy entry using the pier steps. Once in the water, we descended immediately and followed the line to the buoy / reef. Decided to go about this dive differently by going left along the reef wall with the current. We returned heading north and swam a fairly tough swim against the current. A few of the species of fish I spotted include four very large pompano and a porcupine fish which swam a few meters ahead of us in the same direction. As we caught up to the porcupine fish, it descended and swam under us in a perpendicular direction to us. At the turning point of our dive we had spotted our second carribean rock lobster.

Tricky shore entry over rocks with some waves / surge. Once we were all in the water, we did a surface swim to the shallow mooring. We all gave our OKs and descended. Once we had descended, we headed to the north mooring. Heading toward the wreck in a perpendicular direction to the reef, I was met with a very large ominous shadow. After a quick internal panic, I soon realised it was the Hilma Hooker wreck. The closer we got, the clearer wreck appeared. The 72m wreck sits on its side on the sand between the double reef. The bottom of the ship sits at approximately 30m. There were a lot more divers at this site compared to the previous sites, clearly a favourite among the tourists. There was plenty of life in and around the ship. A few large tarpon hanging around the deck of the ship. Spotted a few cowfish, surgeon fish and triggerfish.

Shore entry at the north beach of the salt pier. We had noticed several snorkelers in one spot quite obviously looking at something interesting. As we headed into the water with our dive gear, we surfaced swam in the direction of the snorkelers and noticed that they were looking at several juvenile green sea turtles feeding on algae on the ocean floor. After swimming round the turtles, we continued our surface swim to the first set of piers. We descended at continued along the reef wall going from one set of piers to the next. Its quite evident why salt pier is one of the favourite dive spots for divers all over the world. Each set of piers along the reef is house to a wide variety different species of fish and the looming structures act like a sanctuary over the reef. I became positively buoyant very quickly while trying to take a few pictures of a large Tarpon. The positive buoyancy is attributed to me holding my breath to stay still while taking the pictures. From this I learned to rely on trying to perfect my neutral buoyancy to stay still while taking photos. Some of the species on this dive trip include a pair of banded butterfly fish taking refuge in some coral. Surgeon fish, rock cod, big eye blackbar soldier fish, cow fish, barracuda, and on the way back closer to shore we saw quite easily over 10 different turtles.

The cliff dive site had a fairly easy shore entry. Descended as soon as we got into the water and followed a pipeline to the reef. Headed south with no real current. We swam along the reef and was met with the usual marine life you find in most dive spots around the island with a wide mix of hard and soft coral. The big take-away from this dive was that the reef wall that we dived along formed in to some stunning cliffs of varying heights.

This is the third dive at Sarah's Smile. We decided to dive this site as we had spotted a large bait ball from our apartments balcony. We put our gear on and head into the water from the pier steps. We surface swam in the direction of the bait ball which is comprised of big eye scad. Once we got to the bait ball we descended. Out from the school burst through a very large barracuda (approx. 4-5ft). Barry was acting territorial and started charging at us when ever we got close to the bait ball. Barry was quite obviously pissed off with us hanging about and nothing has scared me more than when he charged directly at me with his very large and very visible teeth. We decided to continue the rest of the dive by heading towards the reef wall. Towards the end of the dive we followed the line back to the pier when we spotted 6 caribbean reef squid. The squid were all swimming slowly in a line, side-by-side. They were a red/black colour with large silvery reflective eyes, almost alien like.

Our second dive at Salt Pier this holiday. We entered the water and did a surface swim to the first set of piers just like in our previous dive at this site. As we descended I got tangled in the cord that fastens my camera to my BCD. I decide to undo the cord and continue the dive with camera in hand. I found out quickly that this was very helpful for keeping my hands steadier while taking pics. During this dive I had spotted two flounders with blue spot and ring patterns. We ended our dive heading back to shore where we spotted plenty of green sea turtles. The turtles were being hassled by several blue tangs, cowfish and palometa's who were eating the algae that the turtles had ripped up.

This was my first dive from a boat, the same for my dive buddy Katrina. The dive company we grouped with was Buddy Dive (15 divers). We left from Buddy's Reef early in the morning and headed to our dive site Bon Bini Na Kas, which means "Welcome Home". Shore entry is not an option unless you are willing to jump off a cliff with all your dive gear. We were briefed by the dive leader and made aware of the dive plan for this site. Did a stride off the back of the boat, got the rest of my gear ready and descended with the group to approximately 8m. The first half the dive went against the current and was the deepest. On our return we ascended to the ridge of the reef wall drifting with the current. We spotted a juvenile drum fish.

The second part of the "2 tank" boat dive. We headed back to Buddy's Reef for a small surface interval where we dropped off part of the group and picked up a few new people. The second boat dive was at Klein Bonaire, South Bay. The boat dive at South Bay started the same as the one at Bon Bini Na Kas, but with a different dive leader. Did the stride off the back of the boat, signalled ok, descended to approximately 6m and headed north. Once again, starting the dive deep along the reef wall. The reef wall changed between slopes and cliffs. On the way back we headed up to the "shoulder" of the reef wall, drifting back towards the boat with the current. We spotted a large moray eel hiding in a hole of some rocks. Spotted some black durgons & white spotted philefish.

The last dive of the Bonaire holiday. Easy shore entry on a sand bank with little to no waves and no surge. We did a surface swim to the dive buoy. Once we were all ready, we descended. My mom descends with her tank heading straight for my dad's head. Had to nudge my mom to make sure that a collision was avoided. The dive started when we arrived at a reef "entrance", a sand path dividing the two reefs. After swimming through the "entrance", the dive was like all the others, heading north along the reef against a weak current. Katrina signaled for us to descend from 30ft to +-45 feet. As we descended I had to stop when I had problems equalising and had needle like pains in my inner ears. Katrina did not realise that I had stopped and she had panicked when she couldn't see me. Any attempt to signal Katrina of my position was futile as she was about 2m directly below me. We eventually found each other and the panic was over. I still had an issue with equalising which meant that for the rest of the dive I kept my depth at approx. 40ft. max. On our return to the reef "entrance", I followed the sand bank that split the reef into two. As we ascended up the reef, I started to black out. I assume this was something to do with me forgetting to breath regularly. I managed to avoid blacking out entirely and focused pretty much only on my breathing for the rest of the dive. As we were about to surface, we were completely engulfed by big eye scad. They came out of nowhere and dissipated as quickly as they had arrived. Overall the dive was very eventful, and personally posed quite a challenge, but was definitely one of the best dives of the holiday.