Day 30

The past few days have been exhausting!  (In a good way.)  On Thursday we spent the day at the Bonaire National Park, which is very large and very bumpy.  We drove in the open-air Dive Mobile, and miraculously managed to not lose anyone.  We started out with a hike around some ancient coral, and ruined some shoes by stepping on cacti.  We played around the 'blowhole,' a hole in a rock where water shoots up and sprays you.  We then drove around for over an hour looking for Slagbaai Lagoon, which was sandy but had nothing to see but waves--plus it was so rough that some people lost their snorkel gear on the way out!

The blowhole!

Getting splashed by the blowhole.

Pretty... but I don't want to swim in it.

Still pretty!

Ground cactus.

A mini-lake close to the ocean.

That's me, way out there!

The Dive Mobile made it all day with no problems--which is pretty amazing considering the condition of the roads here--but she finally died a few miles from home.  The engine overheated, and the car was steaming and making some weird noises.  Fortunately we had chips and a mini radio, so we ate and practiced for karaoke night while we waited for the rescue van.

"Hmm, what seems to be the problem here?"  My guess is the smoke.

Karaoke time! 

On Friday we had another field trip, this time to the Mangazine di Rei, the King's Museum.  I learned how to make a cactus fence and a maraca.  They even gave me my very own cactus fruit to make a maraca with!  I'm very excited.  We also played traditional Bonairean instruments.  That night was Leah's 21st birthday celebration, so we stayed out pretty late and slept in on Saturday.  Saturday was a wasted day of working on our research proposals. 

Hummingbird!

This is how you make a cactus fence.

Playing traditional instruments.  (We sucked.)

On Sunday we went on a boat dive on Klein Bonaire!  (That's the little island.)  I saw an eagle ray and a FREAKING HUGE green moray eel.  The eel was at least 10 feet long, and it's head was as big around as a basketball.  Seriously, it could have eaten one of us.  Maybe even two of us.  HUGE.  I didn't feel very good afterwards, though.  

On the boat!

Ready to go!

Today we went on a not-very-exciting dive to collect water samples.  It was kind of a dumpy site.  But I saw a rusty old fancy fork and it made me think of The Little Mermaid.  :)