So I have been in Bonaire for a week now, and it feels like a month! I guess that's because we've been kept busy since the very beginning and everyong has gotten along so well. We're slowly getting into a routine here and things have been going so great. Every time I go outside by the water I take a moment to really appreciate where I am and who I'm with. I'm so thankful for this opportunity and if this week is any indication of the next three and a half months, I just know they're going to be the best months of my life thus far.
It's late here and everyone's exhausted, either konked out already or zoning out in front of the TV. We stayed out last night pretty late-ish and then did a boat dive this morning and had class in the afternoon (we were a day behind in our schedule because of the travel mishaps last weekend). I'm sitting in one of the really large comfy chairs (pics to come, I promise!) and a movie's playing in the background.
So the boat dive. Lots of people (including myself) were a little seasick on the boat ride out to the dive site, Bonaventura, which was off the coast of Klein Bonaire, the small island off the coast of Bonaire. The water was choppy and the wind was crazy. Once we got in the water, we felt much better. We went down to about 50 feet and just cruised along the reef. Today's dive was my favorite yet because the reef was the most biodiverse I've seen. Tons of various coral, algae, and of course, fish species were present.
One of the things I love most about diving is having multiple dimensions in which to move. On land, you can basically only move laterally, left or right, but in water, you can go left, right, up, down, diagonally, anything. It takes some getting used to, but in the end, is the most amazing experience ever because when you're in the water, you're immersed in the environment WITH the fish. I know it sounds obvious, but you really start to feel like one of the fishies. There were schools of small fish that were just chillin' when we swam by and they were surrounding us, appearing unbothered by our presence. The coolest thing I saw today was an eel! It was about the size of my forearm and was popping its head out of a coral, looking left and right and opening and closing its mouth. So creepy!
In addition to diving today, we were able to go out to dinner because Friday and Saturday nights we aren't provided dinner. Us girls went to a cute little place that overlooked the ocean while the guys went to a place called Waddaburger that was much cheaper and had no waiting time. Boys. Afterwards we just roamed downtown, stopping here and there to check out the places. Two girls and I decided to go night swimming and that was so great! There were tiny bioluminescent dinoflagellates bobbing around the water that would light up when you swished the water around! It was so cool! And, because the sky was so clear, we saw tons of stars. It was like we were surrounded by stars, both in the water, and in the sky.
Tomorrow is our first day of nothing since being here and I'm really excited to sleep in, go food shopping (getting kinda tired of weird milk and cereal), and of course, go swimming and work on ma tan!
Good night, all!
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