Best of Mike #440

 

One last  Queen Angelfish.... here to bid us goodbye, as this is the end of our 2019 trip to Bonaire.

It is also, unfortunately, the last pixture that I have in my library.... so no more posts until we can make another dive trip.

We had planned on being in Cozumel MX in May of 2020.... but like so many things in our world and yours, that one got cancelled due to Covid.

I guess the good news is that I am now using social media to post my pixtures and the stories that go with them. 

So, when we get the chance to make our next trip and I begin to post the pixtures from that trip.... you will know.

Best of Mike #439

This is a Spiny Lobster.... and a pretty good sized one at that.

If he were the one that you had picked out for dinner in a restaurant.... he would be a pricey one.

Best of Mike #438

 

A little hard to tell from this pixture but this guy, a Tarpon is one of the bigger fish that we see Bonaire. They are a little standoffish.... so a really sharp pixture is hard to come by.

The first time we saw one of these was in Bonaire on a night dive. “Charlie” was known to be come in, at night, to the lights from resort's dock. And, he was known to be particularly interested in the lights that divers carry at night. Not because he wanted the divers but because those lights lit up some choice morsels for him to feed on.

We were almost all the way back to the resort, on a night dive, when Charlie showed up. He was just on the edge of our lights and he was just a little bit bigger than Lydia. 

I first saw him out of the corner of my eye and spent the next few seconds (but it seemed longer) debating with myself whether he was real or I had just imagined him.... because of his size.

Best of Mike #437

This is a Peppermint Shrimp another one of the tiny creatures that we see.... about 1 3/4in long.

He is surveying or maybe even guarding his domain.... which at least for the moment is the inside of a vase sponge.

Best of Mike #436

This a Roughhead Blenny. 

It's hard to describe just how wee they are.

One year we diving out of Buddy Dive on Bonaire. On the underwater swim that we made from the dock to the reef wall, there was a huge concrete block.... a cube maybe 10ft on each side.  It was one of the moorings for the resort's dive boats. 

We passed that block many times during our trip.... and each time I had an impression that there was something on the block that would duck out of sight each time we went by.

So, one day we stopped and just lay on the bottom to see if they would re-emerge once they felt safe again.

All across this cement block there were holes, like you see here, about 1/3 the diameter of a pencil eraser. And sure enough once we had laid there for a while these little faces began to re-emerge from those holes.