In my last post I recapped the events that was did on the first 3 days of our trip. So this post will include our activities in the last 4 days of our adventure. Just to point something out, at this point in the week on our fourth day everyone is starting to get really tired. We usually got up around 6 in the morning and depending on whether or not you participated in a night dive, we would get to bed around 11 or 12 at night. In case you guys aren't familiar with the physical toll diving has on your body I will tell you a little bit about it. Your air supply has 0% humidity, so the air you are breathing in is the driest of dry. Your body of course is not used to this, as we all know the humidity in East Tennessee is our natural habitat. So as you would assume it is VERY easy to become extremely dehydrated at a rate of 2-4, sometimes 5 dives a day. Everywhere we would go, whether it be out to town, the store, and our meetings we had our water bottles with us. HYDRATE OR DIE. I would drink 3-4 bottles of my 750ml Camelbak a day and I would still wake up in the morning with dehydration headaches.
Anyway, as we continue the recap of our trip I will start on our fourth day (5/15). As a mentioned previously we were all starting to become very tired, even tired when we woke up. So today was a "semi-dry" day, with only two morning boat dives. Our first dive was at the Washington Slaagbai National Park and our second dive at a site called "Carl's vision". After a quick lunch and meeting half of the group went on a caving/ cave snorkeling tour, while the other half of us went into town four 3 hours to do some souvenir shopping. I was a part of the group that went into town, we had a really great time. It was nice getting to explore the town area in Kralendijk, there were a lot of touristy stores, and clothing and supply stores for the locals. My favorite store was called "Bonaire Affair", the store contained body scrubs and products made from local ingredients. The shop also sold prints of watercolor paintings from a local artist. I bought a print of 3 Caribbean Reef Squids, I wish I would've had the time to go back and buy more. Almost all of the shops sold Bonaire salt, but Bonaire Affair sold seasoning Bonaire salt, which I bought as well. It smells heavenly and would be great on any meat.
On the fifth day of the trip (5/16), we ventured on the most dangerous and exciting dive yet. We were diving the Hilma Hooker. This dive site is special because it is a wreck dive from a drug ship that goes down to 100ft. We had a meeting the night before describing the logistics of the dive, but saved the most important details for right before we entered the water. I will admit Dr. Unger and Enz scared me a little bit and I was feeling pretty nervous. As we entered the water we did not immediately descend, we snorkeled out the the marker and then descended. We did this to conserve air for the dive. During our other dives we usually stay above 60ft, as you go deeper the air in your tank and your lungs compresses. So the deeper you go, you will have less time and air. At this point it is very important to remember one of the most important tenants of diving, "plan your dive and dive your plan". Once we got down to the highest part of the ship, we descended in single file for a photo op. Then Hannah and I stayed at the rotor while everyone else entered the wreck, we stayed for conservation of air purposes. We were only down in the wreck for around 15 minutes and then began to ascend. This process is especially slow because we to turn all of the gas nitrogen in our blood back to liquid or else we will get decompression sickness. In order to do this, we zig-zagged our way back up the reef and then stayed at 15 feet until everyone was almost at 500 pounds of air, just to be extra careful. The pictures below are of our group leaving the Helma Hooker in our single file line, and our circle at 15ft of Dr. Unger telling us thank you after the dive. The dive went flawlessly, and even our dive master Dr. Unger admitted it.
After the Helma Hooker dive we explored the south end of the island. We visited the slave huts (darker history I know), the light house, and took the scenic route back to Buddy's.
The sixth day of our trip (5/17) we had three dives, one at Buddy's, and two off the shore of Klein Bonaire. After going to the water treatment plant early in the morning to go birding. At 2pm the rest of the group that didn't get to go cave diving was picked up. Upon arrival of the first cave, we were notified that it was a dry cave, so the cave that we were snorkeling in was the second cave of the day. The first cave was extremely hot and humid because there was hardly any ventilation and so it traps the heat. The second cave was really amazing because contained inside of it was a fresh water system. The only animals that lived down there were cleaner shrimp and a small fish that has yet to be identified. It was amazing that these creatures have adapted to live in freshwater along with water that was highly saturated with calcium.
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| Pictured: Saffron Finches |
The last and final day of the trip (5/18), we woke up bright and early to go to Slagbaii National Park to continue birding and also climb the highest mountain of Bonaire. Mountain Brandaris is 784ft tall, it took us around an hour to climb to the top. It was my first actual mountain peak hike where we were climbing on actual cliff faces. I was really intimidated while doing it but I'm really glad that I didn't give up. Later that night we went out to dinner as a group for our "family dinner". The restaurant offered a little bit of everything on the menu, but I opted for a steak and shrimp fajita. All in all it was one of my favorite days on the trip because of spending time with everyone at dinner as we talked about everything that happened the days prior.
I hope you enjoyed reading my final blog of the trip. This experience was more than I could have ever hoped for. I made so many great memories with my peers and professors. Thanks for reading, if you have any questions about the trip or want to see more photos, feel free to email me at
laurel.woodward@my.maryvillecollege.edu
Danki!