Bonaire: The First
Step Off the Mainland
Brandon Denney
It’s
strange to think that as of today’s writing, my study abroad experience is
already over. In a way, it seems like it never happened at all, almost as if
it’s a brief but wonderful memory. At the same time, it seems like it was the
most wonderful experience of my young life, with the best group of professors
and peers I could possibly imagine.
This trip
served as my first trip outside of the United States, period. When I got word
that I was accepted into the program, I was in disbelief. What would I
experience outside of the United States? What will I feel finally setting foot
on foreign soil? On March 15th, I finally got the answers after
touching down at the beautiful flamingo airport in Kralendijk, Bonaire.
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| It's a shame more airports aren't hot pink. |
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| Our dive team in action. |
After exiting the plane from the
five hour flight, I immediately felt like I was in a different world. The air in Bonaire has a certain thickness to
it as a result from the humidity and heat.
The area surrounding the airport
was mostly cacti and arid land, with the gorgeous mountains of Washington
Slagbaai Park not far in the distance. After loading our bags onto the shuttle, we
headed towards our destination of the Buddy Dive Resort. Someone from our group
requested some Bonairian music on the
radio; our driver enthusiastically agreed, and we were treated to the wonderful
sounds of Beyonce. I don’t know what we were expecting, but regardless, it was
neat to see that even a small Carribean island listens to our pop music.
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| One of my favorite fish! A french angelfish. |
The resort was absolutely gorgeous
– situated on the shore of Kralendijk, we got a perfect view of the entire
shoreline of the island and the uninhabited Klein Bonaire. We essentially just
threw our bags down and ran to the dock to get our dive gear and look out on
the ocean. Looking into the water, we immediately noticed a number of the fish
we studied in class and almost fell into the water with excitement. I was in
disbelief that these incredible creatures that I only knew existed on a
slideshow existed. In their environment, they were more beautiful than I could
have ever imagined.
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| A beautiful female princess parrotfish muching on some coral. |
There’s a tradition on the island
to be on what is known as “island time”, which means that time is approximate
and clock watching is discouraged. In that sense, I fell in love with the place.
The laid back atmosphere reached a peak when we undertook our first dive that
afternoon. Our first dive took place at the resort, and lasted about 35
minutes. Although we had dove before at a local rock quarry in east Tennessee,
nothing could have prepared me for actually being underwater in the reef.
Pictures simply cannot do it justice – it’s as if you’re flying over a city and
observing the inhabitants from afar. Some of the first “inhabitants” of this
particular dive were a spotted moray eel, princess parrotfish, a coney, and a
graysby. What was most interesting about diving was the sense of exploration
you got when looking for creatures. After surfacing from the first dive, we
were practically screaming about what creatures we saw and how giant they were
in comparison to what we were exposed to on the slideshow. Each person had
their own individual stories about something they found, an interaction with a
dive buddy, or the sheer amazement of being underwater for so long. To me, that
was one of the most rewarding parts about the trip.
In total, I went on 14 dives during
my stay in Bonaire. I maxed out at 4 dives in one particular day (it goes
without saying that I got a full 11 hours of sleep that night) and had two days
with no dives in order to balance my nitrogen levels. The dive masters that
went on our boat dives were professional, competent, and really easy to get
along with. Never was there a time where I felt unsafe or nervous about a dive
– I always knew that someone had my back and I was confident in my ability to
troubleshoot other’s problems thanks to the training I had. One of the most
relaxing dives on the entire trip was on the Buddy Dive resort, when my friends
Lauren, David Lee, and I went on a dive by ourselves. Not only did we have
confidence in each other to fix a potential problem, but we got some amazing
shots with the group’s GoPro camera.
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| First dive success! |
We ventured out beyond Buddy Dive
for the next few days, going on a boat dive tour of the entire east side of the
island. Dives such as 1000 steps, Kelli’s Dive, LeDonia’s Dive were all tackled
in one day, and had their own unique sites and creatures to stumbled upon. It
was easy to get excited as to what you were about to dive into! Some were more
tailored to jellyfish sightings, while others had giant green morays lurking in
the deep. Most of the dives on the island were named after Captain Don, an
island resident since the 1950s that has been essential to preserving the
habitat of Bonaire and turning it into a national landmark. Due to his history
as a womanizer, most of the dives are named after women he had affairs with. He
has a long history with the island, and most of the residents know him by name.
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| Some wonderful varieties of coral and sponge. Much use was made of the GoPros and underwater cameras. |
When we weren’t diving, we were
busy helping preserve the natural habitat of the island. In what may be my most
favorite day on the island, we took a break from diving to go birding and work
with the Sea Turtle Conservatory of Bonaire! We picked up an intern from the
organization named Carly, a 21 year old student from the Netherlands that had
the dream job of a lifetime. Our job was to clean the algae from rubber fishing
lines that had accumulated over time. This line protects turtle seagrasses from
being destroyed from tourist activities. Overall, the work was incredibly rewarding and I'm happy to have taken part in it!
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| Enz and Unger working on the turtle line clean up. |
Arriving back on the mainland, I was so thankful for my time spent in Bonaire. I learned so much under Dr. Unger, Dr. Enz, and my fellow classmates. It's one thing to simply look at a picture of the ocean, but it's another to actively be a part of the ocean and see it's wonderful workings firsthand. Nothing can replace the amazing, life-changing experience that this was. Thank you, Maryville College, for helping me get there.
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| Miss you, Bonaire! |