Category Archives: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao

The ABC islands

Wreck Dive: Hilma Hooker

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Wreck diving. Typically I am not a fan of wreck dives as they make me really sad to think of the overall loss of life, cargo, and ship. But then I learned the history of the Hilma Hooker wreck and I decided to make an exception.

Hilma Hooker image courtesy: Bonaire Pro Dive Guide

How the Hilma Hooker sunk according to Wikipedia: In the summer of 1984, the Hilma Hooker had engine problems at sea and was towed to the port of Kralendijk, Bonaire. It was already under surveillance by drug enforcement agencies. Docked at the Town Pier, local authorities boarded the ship for an inspection when her captain was unable to produce any of the requisite registration papers. A false bulkhead was discovered, and held within was 25,000 lb (11,000 kg) of marijuana.  The Hilma Hooker and her crew were subsequently detained while the local authorities on Bonaire searched for the vessel’s owners, who were never found.

The ship languished under detention as evidence for many months and through general neglect of her hull she began to take on considerable amounts of water. It was feared that she would sink at the main dock on the island and disrupt maritime traffic. After many months of being tied to the pier and pumped of water, on September 7, 1984 the Hooker was towed to an anchorage. As the days passed, a slight list became noticeable. The list was even more obvious one morning.

Image courtesy of Bonaire Pros.

The owner was still not coming forward to claim the ship and maintain it so the many leaks added up until on the morning of September 12, 1984 the Hilma Hooker began taking in water through her lower portholes. At 9:08 am she rolled over on her starboard side and, in the next two minutes, disappeared.

Hilma Hooker image courtesy of DailyScubaDiver

The Hilma Hooker came to rest on a sand flat between two coral systems in an area known to divers as Angel City. The wreck has subsequently become a prime attraction for scuba divers. It lies in approximately 100 feet (30 m) of water and at 240 feet in length provides ample scope for exploration.

However, rumor on the island was that the local government did not want to sink the boat, but locals did.  The locals believed this would make an excellent dive site.  So, at the dark of night, several locals brought the listing boat in between two reefs and “assisted with the sinking process” with the hope that she would sink straight down on her bottom.  Unfortunately, she was listing so bad that she sunk sideways and landed on her side hitting part of the first reef.

Hilma Hooker is 72 meters (236′) long and 11 meters (36′) wide.  Her stern is about 21 meters (69′) below the surface, the bow is 26 meters (85′) below and the mast is 30 meters (100′) below.  Her original name which can still be seen on her transom is “Williams Express” from Panama.  There are two large open holds, but you are required to be certified wreck diver to swim in and around the interior of the wreck.

Diagram courtesy of ArtToMedia.com

Being so far down, 29 meters (95′), I was content hanging out around the exterior of the wreck.  Remarkably, I found some of the most interesting aspects to be on her bottom (where coral and sea life hung precariously to the bottom of the ship (upside down).  It is also where we saw a giant green moray eel and several trunk fish.  Many sponges and hard coral grow on the bridge and lots of little sea cities can be found all around the ship.

Hilma Hooker image courtesy Zeal.net

Since this was such a deep dive we did not bring the GoPro to take photos, so the images provided were taken by other photographers, credit give on each photo.

Ostracods Sexy Dance

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Ostracods in Bonaire – a sexy dance while diving.  A few days after the full moon an astounding phenomena happens underwater in Bonaire that is akin to an underwater firework display by tiny creatures called Ostracods!

Our friends on Ad Astra had been talking about this amazing display for weeks and so after the full moon they decided to plan another day out on their big boat, Ad Astra.  Our friends from Element joined us for a total of 10 people (7 divers).  We headed over to Klein Bonaire to a site called Sharon’s Serenity.  The plan was to dive the site during day light hours, then go back and do a second dive at night to try to witness the mating of the Ostracods.

The first dive was pretty amazing.  Matt and I headed out first and explored 23 meters below the surface to find a wide array of sea life.  We saw a small school of Hawaiian Black Triggerfish also called Black Durgon which are actually dark blue with a tad bit of green if you get up close and personal (which they wouldn’t let us).  The white strip is actually silver, but it appears to glow as they swim by.

Image courtesy of Google Images. Not our own

As we were waiting for the other divers, we explored a huge coral that had a large cave or protected area (perfect for lion fish and/or lobsters) so I peered in and to my surprise there were 4 HUGE lion fish – probably 15-18″ in length hovering upside down!  I was so darn impressed and in awe of these stunning creatures that I almost forgot they are destroying the reefs.  I showed Matt and a few of the others the find and eventually swam back to the boat.  Matt and I had a good long dive, over 60 minutes at this site.

We got back on Ad Astra and enjoyed some light snacks and shared stories of what we saw below.  Just after sunset, we put our gear on again and jumped back in the water.  Since the current had picked up a bit, we decided to head to the bow of the boat toward the mooring.  A few of us were armed with flash lights so as we waited for full darkness as we explored the shallows and found several eels and lots of fire worms which are pretty spectacular at night but hurt immensely if you touch them.

Source: http://bit.ly/1rnwnD7 Photographer: Phillipe Guillaume

We had a strong current and in an effort to minimize our movement and use less air, we decided to hold on to the mooring line to wait for the Ostracod show to begin.  We had already turned off our lamps and were truly just hanging out in 6.5 meters of water in the darkness.  We did have the moonlight and once your eyes adjusted you could see so it wasn’t total blackness.

The Ostracods (or Seed Shrimp), are tiny creatures (only a few millimeters long) live in shallow water for mating.  They belong to the Crustacea family (shrimp, lobsters, and crabs) and produce a blue glow to attract a partner.

There are many creatures that can glow, especially marine life at greater depths.  This phenomena is called bioluminescence. The glow is produced to attract a partner for mating or for signaling alarm to others. Other sea life that glow underwater are (specific types of) octopus, jellyfish, worms, plankton and deep sea fish.

Cypridinid ostracods are one of the type of Ostracods that can be found around Bonaire, the ones that produce the magnificent bioluminescence show around full moon. On land male fireflies attract mates by producing light patterns with bioluminescence, the same goes for Cypridinid ostracods underwater.

The magical mating show happens two to five days after the full moon. The glow and glitter explosion will take place 45 minutes after the sun has set and before the moon fully rises – and if and only if the Ostracods have NOT been disturbed by any light (dive torch, street light, lights from buildings, etc).

While we were waiting for the Ostracods to start mating we experienced a pretty cool display of bioluminescence ourselves.  We started to wave and clap our hands underwater and were gifted with a dramatic display of something that looks like green fairy dust from Tinkerbell. This came from much smaller (microscopic) animals, a type of plankton, called Dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates are found around the whole world and mostly seen around the new moon phase.

After the Dinoflagellates showed up,  we slowly saw more and more tiny dots lighting up in the reef, for just a split second. After a few more minutes the dots became strings. The single Ostracods were swimming in a vertical line towards the surface while flashing and signaling the females. The line of bioluminescence was about 50 cm long sometimes and stayed visible for a few seconds. Nature can be just astounding!  The closer we got to the soft coral, the more we saw, surrounding us – it was truly magical and a bit romantic.  Maybe because Matt was holding my hand, but also because we knew we were enjoying a once in a lifetime experience.

We did not bring the GoPro down as we don’t have the proper equipment to shoot at night below the water, but thanks to Google you can find plenty of images online (see below).  Famed photographer Elliot Lowndes who filmef this National Geographic documentary, you can see a different species lighting up the nighttime Caribbean.  This is ont the same species who were in Bonaire, but it gives you an idea of what it is like during this mating ritual.  Check out this video, especially :30-:53 for highlights

Image courtesy of “Sail Away – a travel blog by Curly”

Image courtesy of Scientific American Blog

Above the water, you get a beautiful show as well – we did NOT see anything this spectacular, but we did see vibrant green ostracods floating on the surface of the sea.

Aruba or Bust

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Even though Harvey and Irma both threatened to change our friend’s travel plans, Matt and I were determined to head toward Aruba.  After our massive provisioning run we were ready to head to Santa Cruz Bay which is the closest bay to Aruba.  This will shave 25 miles off our trip to Aruba.  Our thoughts were to sail to Santa Cruz Bay and then get up early the next day and sail to Aruba (which is about 50 miles).  We said “good-bye” to our Curacao friends, pulled up anchor and headed out.  It was a beautiful day providing a nice trade wind – perfect for a spinnaker sail.  Matt pulled out Betty, our smaller spinnaker sail and off we went.  We enjoyed an absolutely spectacular sail day – which we had not had since we arrived to Curacao almost 3 months ago!


We arrived at Santa Cruz Bay a little over 3 hours later and there were no other boats around nice.  This is where Captain Good Life has his shop and rents out canoes and kayaks to those who want to visit the Blue Room and Mushroom Forrest.  He also provides guided tours on his boat if you are interested.  It took us a few times to hook the anchor as the ground is very hard with patches of coral.  Once we hooked, we jumped in checked the holding, and snorkeled a bit.

As we were making dinner, I started texting with Sharon, our friend who was to meet us in a few days in Aruba.  Their original flight was out of Houston which was rerouted a week ago to Orlando due to Hurricane Harvey.  Then on Friday (4 days prior to their trip), the airline cancelled their flight.   They were able to reschedule their trip to Aruba for October.  So, we had a decision to make.  Do we stay in Curacao (where we have already spent 2 months), head to Aruba (where it tends to be pricey), or go back to Bonaire?  It did not take long to decide as we both wanted to go back to Bonaire.  The beautiful water, upcoming regatta, and idea of more dive adventures was too alluring for us.  So, instead of getting up early to head to Aruba, we got up early to head to Bonaire which is a beat into the wind and waves.


The alarm went off at 445am, anchor was up by 5am, and we were out of the bay by 515am.  Good start!  We were actually able to raise the sails to one reef with the thought we could shake it out if the winds behaved.  We managed to hold our course, with the sails for about the first 4 hours.  However, several rain storms had a different idea – they kept pushing us off course, further and further North.  When we were -7 VMG and wet from the rain, we decided to drop the sails and motor to course – directly into the wind and waves.  It was not our best day, but also not the worst.  We encountered several more storms that kept the boat wet, rocky and rolly.

Pretty purple sky as we left in the wee hours of the morning

Since we just provisioned, our fridge and freezer are full, and I mean FULL!  But Matt could not resist putting the fishing lines out.  He justified it by not putting out the teasers – (don’t worry that logic did not make sense to me either).  After about 8 hours (2 hours to go), of nothing, we noticed a huge flock of birds circling around movement in the water.  Fish!  We headed in that direction and low and behold, one line went “zing” and then nothing – no pulling or bending of the pole.  Hmmm, As Matt reeled it in, we realized we did have fish on, but it was a little fish.  Even though it was a Mahi, Matt’s favorite, we set her free to grow up big and strong.

Too tiny to keep so we let her go

We got one more bit on the hook, but it was not meant to be.  As we were pulling up to the mooring field, where we were hopeful to find a mooring, we were greeted with a fabulous welcome party.  Manuel, Nadja (and a new friend Sean) from Manado were in their dinghy to help us secure to a mooring, then Thea (from Kattimi) came over in her kayak, Cindy (from tranquility) came by in her SUP, and Susan (from Nomad) swam by while doing her laps.  Of course some of these peeps were just out enjoying a nice calm afternoon – but they ended up swinging by to welcome us back – good to be Sugar Shack!

We tried to clear in to customs and immigration, but they closed early (it was Saturday after all), so we stopped by Illy Coffee for a treat and wifi.  I have to admit that it was really tasty ice cream, but I am partial to Gio’s.  Afterward, we stopped by Karel’s for happy hour (and more wifi) and then headed back.  Before the sun set, we had been invited to a birthday party the next day, another day out on Ad Astra and drinks with friends.

It’s hard to call “Bonaire” a “Bust” especially since we are so happy to be able to return to this beautiful island.