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Sometimes cruise ship arrival and departure times don’t make scuba diving easy, but the docking times for the Carnival Spirit on 18/1/23 were perfect for two private afternoon and one night dive. Heaven for a diver on a day stop in Bonaire!
Through a FaceBook referral, I learned of Xprodiver Bonaire. Sigrid was quick to respond to my request and set up a fantastic afternoon for me with Maarten! Even though I had all my gear except fins, weights and air, I appreciated the cautionary request to set everything up in the shop before leaving. Clear dive plans, including shore entry and exit, were discussed before hefting our gear out thru the rocky entrances at the dive sites. Safety was a priority throughout!
We dove Angel City and Red Slave in the afternoon. Visibility wasn’t pristine due to recent surge, but we had a good 30’-40’. This allowed us to see each other easily and still be able to individually search the nooks and crannies of the reef. Fish were plentiful, including Drum (mature and immature), Lion , Parrot (of many varieties), Peacock Flounder, Trumpet, Angel (French and Queen), Goat, schools of Blue Cromis and the list goes on and on! Also the largest Blue Parrotfish I’ve ever seen, chomping away on the coral. We were treated to a family of large porcupine fish with their sad eyes, a lettuce sea slug, and shrimp galore: coral banded, spotted cleaner and waving Pedersen’s! Green and Hawksbill turtles as well. What an afternoon! Both dives were 1hr 10+ minutes with plenty of air (but not time) to spare!
After a quick stop at Xprodiver Bonaire’s shop, where we were provided ham and gouda sandwiches, we headed off for our night dive.
We entered Salt Pier just as the last vestiges of sun were leaving the horizon. Initially in just 7’ of water (we eventually saw 34’) the afternoon’s amazing dives were immediately outdone when an eagle ray soared above us, tarpon became our companions and green and spotted moray eels were out on the hunt! Sleeping fish, barracuda, southern sting ray, slipper lobster and those beautiful copper eyes of all the shrimp were among our finds. The best however, for me, was a Berthellina Quadridens sea slug. A beautiful orange blob with antennas? I had no idea what it was…and almost missed the octopus wrapped in the rocks beside it! After an hour we were escorted back to the shore by adorable Caribbean reef squid.
I don’t think the smile has left my face for this perfect day of diving with Xprodiver Bonaire! So blessed to see Bonaire on a beautiful day!
FYI…Xprodiver Bonaire is an easy five minute walk from the cruise terminal! - via 