Mieke Noordanus – Still in the denial phase

A frogfish that hasn’t been paying attention in camouflage class makes a perfect subject for a photo. Dive reporter Mieke Noordanus discovers Bonaire.

Well, hard to admit, but it is what it is. You have to work again. The alarm goes off at a fixed time and when it is still dark, I heat up my car to my appointments and drive back home in the evening when it is dark again. At home I am always confronted with a diving bag, in which a large part of my diving gear can still be found. My regulator had to go to the dive shop for service, so it’s missing. But I refuse to unpack my bag completely. Who knows? Then all I have to do is put in my fancy vending machine, some summer clothes and swimwear. How handy!

Buddy dive resort

But how wonderful it was on Bonaire. Had a super relaxed holiday on this island in November. I want to go back yesterday. Who knows another trip in the spring. We really liked Buddydive Resort and we will definitely do it again. In the morning a delicious breakfast with a view of Klein Bonaire, while life is slowly getting started. I really like the pace on the island. Nobody is in a hurry. You get in your pick-up truck to drive to any dive site. The crowds, which everyone was talking about, was not too bad for me. We were not the only car on the waterfront, but underwater there was little or nothing to notice.

The first dive was a check dive on Buddydive’s house reef. Everything was fine and sufficient lead. This dive is without a camera. For the next dive first through the “drive thru” to load our bottles. What a beautiful system. We had agreed that day with Karin to go diving at the Saltpier. But unfortunately peanut butter, there was a ship. Cold water freediving is the best. So we drove on to the “White Slaves”. There was some current, so decided to swim against the current and then have a nice current. Error, thank you! Pffff, the current was even stronger on the way back! Few or no pictures taken, but still plenty of opportunities.

The next morning the “Hilma Hooker”. Calm water, no current and not crowded. Just set up my camera and the first picture of that day could be taken. Not so! Battery empty. Even if you have hardly or no pictures taken the day before (only 6 pictures), just change your battery and do not assume that it can still take a dive. Luckily this didn’t happen to me for the rest of the holiday.

Spontaneous model

A few days later I was able to dive with Karin at the Saltpier, where she put her own camera on the bottom and spontaneously went modeling. Something I don’t have a lot of experience with yet, but all the more fun. In the evening we had a delicious BBQ on the beach with Karin. We repeated this one more time with even more friends. Because it may be clear that during our holiday on Bonaire we met more friends in 8 days than we usually do at home.

Wonderful dives and plenty of photos. Both with wide angle and with macro. In addition to the 8mm, the 12mm is also widely used. This lens had been unused for a while. The destination for this lens is Costa Rica, the Cocos Islands. But this trip has been postponed from October 2020 to October 2022. A frogish at Bari Beach didn’t pay much attention in class when it came to camouflage, a yellow fish on orange sponge. The secretary blennies remain funny when they emerge from their burrows in the brain coral.

The afternoon before our departure we made a kayak and snorkel trip in the mangroves. Really recommended. The day of our departure (after all, the plane only left at 10 PM) we had a super cool ride through Washington Slagbaai National Park. Beautiful nature, lots of flamingos, birds of prey and lizards in many sizes and shapes. So enough to see. Now only the question: When can I go back to Bonaire? Uhhh, so I’ll leave my bag there for a while.