With over 87 dive sites on Bonaire it is really tough to hit each and every one of them during our short stay – so we are trying to focus on the places that other people feel are the best of the islands.  Our friend, Erik on Ad Astra, introduced us to Captain David Gunn from Sea Donkey Bespoke Diving Services.  David and his wife Tracey started this new business in Bonaire which takes divers on a three tank dive expeditions at their own pace all over Bonaire.  On David’s afternoon off, he offered to take us diving on the southern tip of Bonaire to his favorite dive site, Vista Blue.  We loaded all of our gear into Sweet N Low and met Ad Astra (Erik, Kyle, and Max) at the marina where we were to unload our gear from the dinghies and load them into David’s truck.  Luckily, there is a bag for everything and lots of men around.

After a short drive through town, we headed along the coast, past the salt flats and to a pretty but rocky shore line.  David backed his truck up to the boulder where we could assemble our gear and then we walked to the shoreline. This will be my first shore dive and I was not 100% sure I would like it as I have a really difficult time balancing, walking and handling my gear outside of the water.  Matt was nice enough to carry my weights as I lumbered to the shore line with my mask and fins in hand and my BC/tank on my back.  The shore was supposed to be sandy, but what I did not know was that it has lots of ridges, so one foot could be 1-1.5 meters lower than the other which made it really hard to walk into the waves. I was knocked down several times and made a great show of being uncomfortable and unable to walk.  After some pretty embarrassing face plants, I was able to get my mask and fins on and then Matt loaded me up with my weights.  I could not wait to be swimming and away from the crashing waves and uneven surface.  It was a quick descent and immediately we were hit with the most beautiful topography I have ever seen.  There were tons of sea grass, sea fans, and soft corals all dancing  under water. It was mesmerizing and I just wanted to stop and stare – but our group was moving ahead.

There was a pretty strong current, so we headed into it which proved to be a bit challenging and tiring  The lower we got the easier it was, but it was slow going for me at first.  Matt has the camera and has been sucking down air pretty fast so we would turn around at his half tank mark.  David and the Ad Astra crew are really experienced divers and consume very little air.  As a woman, I tend to consume very little air as well so that leaves Matt as the air hog – but then again he is doing all sorts of acrobats underwater to capture the cool video footage.

Being that David is an under water tour guide and this is his favorite spot he was able to point some amazing fish and corals.  As we were coming around a pretty large coral he casually points underneath it where a large green moray eel was spitting mad as the intrusion of his home.  We hovered, admired, and took video of this magnificent creature before moving on.

After about 30-35 minutes, Matt indicated that he was at half tank so I alerted David and the others and we turned back. What we did not take into account was the current and how fast it would return us back to our starting place.  We probably could have stayed out another 10-15 minutes as the current rushed us back in about half the time it took us to get there.

Getting out of the water was another $hit show for me.  Everyone else made it look easy and almost elegant, but I could not get my feet up and under me.  Matt had to literally take my hand and hold me up to get me out of the water.  I’d show you video but I’d hate for you to pee your pants from laughing so hard.

All I all one of my favorite dive spots- if we could only get here by boat!