Bonaire 2014​

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In October 2014 fourteen club members were lucky enough to spend two fantastic weeks of diving, snorkeling, eating, drinking and other ‘tourist’ activities in the divers’ paradise that is Bonaire.

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Bonaire is located in the Caribbean, just north of Venezuela, and is part of the group of islands referred to as both the Dutch Caribbean Islands, and the ABC Islands; Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. You can find out more about Bonaire at Tourism Bonaire.

 

The main attraction of Bonaire for scuba divers is the fact that the vast majority of diving is unguided shore diving, something that is quite rare for vacation diving abroad. I am pleased to say that the diving did not disappoint! The quantity and variety of sea life is huge, with many of us seeing some species for the first time in the open sea.

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The Elusive Bonaire Seahorses

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Up until the final day’s diving, however, one particular creature had remained elusive – the seahorse. We had all searched around the areas where they could reputedly be found, but to no avail. Fortunately, a number of coincidences came together on that final day.

 

Firstly, I had met a couple of divers in a dive centre close to where we were staying, at the Blachi Koko apartments in Kralendijk, who came from the UK. I asked them where I could find seahorses, and after some armtwisting they revealed that two had been seen near a boat mooring on Klein Bonaire, the small island close to Bonaire. They also informed me that one of the guides from our dive centre had found them.

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Secondly, our dive package included a boat dive, which we had postponed until the last day of diving.

Thirdly, the guide on the boat was the one who had found the seahorses, and he led us straight to them. A truly memorable end to a fabulous holiday!

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Please enjoy the photographs.

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Mick Lockton