Dive #16 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log

Looks like Mercedes behind a cloud of Creole wrasses
Photograph by Myron Johnson in Bonaire 1998

Dive Journal: We have no morning boat dives scheduled today, and I particularly enjoy the extra time for sleeping. For breakfast, we secure a most beautiful table at RumRunners inside a small gazebo perched over the water, down off the main restaurant floor. It is a nice breezy place to wake up with coffee, bacon and some kind of crispy fried cheesy thing.

At 10AM, Linda and I decide to go diving off Baby Dock. It is an important event for us since this will be the first "solo" dive the two of us have attempted. My ears are still tender but a bit better as I am careful to clear them very slowly and often. Linda has no trouble with her ears today. As we descend to about 65' we feel a tug from the north today, so we head upcurrent along the reef wall. We observe huge schools of juvenile fishes all over the place in protected reef spaces. Some are fingerlings, many are even smaller and number in the 10,000s. Around 45' we examine a gorgeous goldentail moray eel. In a reef recess, we spot a yellowmouth grouper quietly sculling, and in another a pair of rock beauties (splendid black and yellow angelfish that feast on sponges).

Near the top of the reef, we see large schools of beautiful yellow goatfish with their curious probing whiskers rooting in the sand. As we approach the dock again, we spot a pretty peacock flounder on the sand flats, a sandy beige color but marked with a pretty blue scalloped pattern. A very nice dive, and we are proud of ourselves at completing it on our own. Myron reminds us that any dive is a successful one if you return from it.

Linda and Rich fix lunch, a feast of leftover gumbo chicken and rice, fresh orange slices, and cheese dogs. Again, we dine out on the cabin porch and enjoy the wonderful breezes and feel of the tropics. Myron and Mercedes finally return from their second morning dive off the Habitat docks. Mercedes has again taken hot dogs to attract fish, and she reports no shortage of action. She shows us her index finger, where a big yellowtail snapper has left a nasty scraped imprint of its teeth. For the moment at least, Mercedes vows never to feed the fish again.