We had docked at Bonaire last night – earlier than expected. This morning we were greeted with a heavy rain shower with some strong winds. Since we were scheduled for a snorkeling adventure at 9am this was a concern. But things gradually cleared up and we boarded a unique vessel – the Samur, a sailing junk built in Thailand in the 60’s. Our scheduled snorkeling was at a beach of a nearby island which is also a wildlife sanctuary with nesting grounds for four different types of sea turtles.
I had a great day in the clear water and the reef was full of fish. Saw some really huge parrot fish and some huge schools of an unidentified (by me) type of fish. While we were there some conservation officials were checking on hatchlings of Hawksbill turtles. They found one nest where eggs had hatched and there was still one tiny turtle remaining. They brought it down to the shore and released it. It was fascinating to see it’s efforts to make it to the sea while the waves kept pushing it back on the beach.
After that we wandered some shops in the town and looked for a place for dinner tonight. This is our 33rd anniversary and Jan and I thought we would like to eat alone rather than attending the on-deck barbecue.
Tomorrow we sail to Aruba. We will be interested to see it again as we were there in 1986 and wonder how it has changed.