We've got some wild stories to share...
July 2, 2018
Hey there!
Sorry we disappeared this last week. We wrapped up our stay in Bonaire and have a couple of interesting stories to share!
As our time on this beautiful island drew to a close, we decided to make the most of it. During our last full weekend, we made it a point to dive as much as possible. We finally found what we think was our favorite diving site – Karpata. It has the most pristine reefs and we saw dozens of turtles and a massive eagle ray. It was an insane experience!!
Right after our dive, we found an iguana that straight-up mugged us for our potato chips, hahaha. It seems these guys really have a taste for our snacks, and we were shocked to come up from the water and find him pilfering through our bags. Who knew iguanas had such a taste for chips? 😂
But our adventures didn’t stop there. We scoot-scooted on our scooter and headed to the south side of the island. There we found the salt flats, known for having PINK water. PINK! It was definitely something we had not experienced before. It was almost confusing, our brains couldn’t quite comprehend bright pink water, hahaha.
There, we went on another dive at the island’s famous “Salt Pier” location. While snorkeling, we found a group of squid and an octopus that was certainly not shy. I am always a bit nervous in the ocean… but I got pretty scared as I found myself being closely watched by a school of massive barracuda. Feeling like prey, I decided it was time to hop out from that spot!
It was really cool to explore these sites, but as free divers, we highly prefer the northern locations. They had healthier reefs, less turbulent water, and fewer predatory animals.
Unfortunately, during our last week on the island, Alan got a sinus infection. (We thought he literally popped his brain when he came up after a free dive, and neon-yellow fluid started pouring out of his nose!) He is OK, but the doctor instructed him not to dive for a few days!
So, we canceled our planned night scuba dive, took it easy, enjoyed the company of the wild donkeys, and relaxed in our Airbnb host’s yard – which conveniently had a huge hammock and cute cats that loved to sit in our laps!
On our last day in Bonaire, we decided to go on one final snorkel. After completing the dive, as we were heading home, we made a turn that we must have hit *just* wrong… we hit a pothole that sent us FLYING off of our scooter! I went down and vividly remember hitting my head SO hard. It’s really all I can recall from the crash… and then getting up in a panic and taking in what happened. Thank goodness we were wearing helmets! A passerby stopped and looked as though he had seen a ghost!
Fortunately, it was a very minor incident. Just a bit of road rash and soreness. We managed to get up on our own and walked away with nothing more than a bit of road rash and some bruising. If that’s the worst that happens on this trip, I’m okay with it! 😛
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