Bonaire

Well, the adventure has begun.
First stop - Bonaire, diver´s paradise and starkly beautiful desert island in the Netherlands Antilles (just north of Venezuela).

Above water the island looked like an informal merger between the western US, Florida and the moon. Stringy cactus towered above the trees and fenced in yards of white coral. Rocky deserts stretched for miles and abruptly dropped off into crystal clear blue water. Fresh water lakes dotted with bright pink flamingos hung peacefully between mountains and jagged cliffs. It was very beautiful in its own unusual way.

Below the water a completely different and equally impressive world began. Every dive began with a short swim through the shallows that quickly dropped off into a crystal clear abyss, the edge of it meticulously decorated by an incredible coral garden. It was like diving through the most incredibly crafted aquarium or the most breathtaking scene of a Blue Planet video - only better! The reefs were healthy and huge and looked like something Dr. Seuss would have drawn or Tom Robbins would have described. Drip-castle corals drooling down the wall. Giant fungus shaped corals elegantly reaching towards the deep. Spheres of brain coral proudly contrasting the drooping reef with their perfect symmetry. Soft gorgonians, standing tall and thin among the hard corals, gently swaying their hips with the current.

With the blatant arrogance of a holy cow in India, the fish paraded themselves in front of us, seemingly aware of their protected and worshiped state. Turtles so close we could touch them. Eels on every dive (one tried to bite the camera while Zach was taking its picture). Porcupine fish (commonly known as puffer fish) swimming out in the open, tasting the water with their fleshy lips and closely watching everything with their strange alien eyes. White spotted file fish drunkenly swimming sideways. Schools of Horse-Eyed Jacks, Spanish Mackrel, Needle Fish, Black Durgeons, a rare Sharp-Nosed Eel, even a Manta Ray (well, Zach saw it anyway) all set against a back drop of huge, beautiful coral and water that brazenly excedded the universally accepted standards of the World Wide Levels of Water Clarity Act of 1829.

All in all, it was a great week in a gorgeous place.