Day 34

Today was amazing!  We took down two of the 'adventure dives' needed to fulfill the PADI Advanced Open Water certification.  At 9am we started off the day with the deep dive to 100 feet.  (Right now we're only certified to go to 60 feet.)  The dive was on a shipwreck called the Hilma Hooker.  On the way down some of the other students saw two dolphins!  (Sadly, I missed them.)

The story of the Hilma Hooker is apparently a bit of a local legend.  The ship came to Bonaire in the early 1980's, but when it got to port all the crewmembers were acting suspiciously.  The port authorities searched the boat and found 25,000 pounds of marijuana.  They wanted to sink the ship to create a shipwreck diving site, but the Dutch government wanted the ship as evidence, so for a few months it sat untouched and rusting.  Then--and this is where the story shifts from fact to legend--one night a tiny boat was seen speeding up to the ship and quickly speeding away, followed shortly by several explosions and the inevitable sinking of the Hilma Hooker.  Rumor has it that Captain Don, the man who reputedly began the tourist diving business here in Bonaire, had some dynamite lying around, got sick of the eyesore, and decided to take matters into his own hands.  (Captain Don has a great white beard and a peg leg, if that tells you anything about him.)  The wreck landed perfectly between two reefs and starts at 40 feet deep, making it accessible to all divers.

The Hilma Hooker was my first wreck dive and my first deep dive, so I thought it was pretty darn great.  There were tons of sponges and corals growing on the wreck, and so many fish everywhere.  We couldn't go inside (because we're not certified for overhead environments, plus it is super scary to go inside things underwater) but we were able to go under the sides and in a tiny bit.  I actually got a little scared once I was 'in' the ship, but I want to do wreck diving in Michigan so I guess I'll have to get over it.

We also had our night dive tonight.  It was my first night dive and it was awesome!  I saw tons of sea stars, a sea cucumber, a big orange anemone, and coral polyps!  I had no idea coral was so cool at night.  During the day they're pretty and all, but at night they let loose their polyps, which are wavy and awesome!

I didn't take any pictures, but here's what I was able to find on the internet:

Brittle Star, from Wikipedia.  (The ones I found were pink!)

Brain Coral polyps, by Scubaben @ Flickr.
They are so cute and wavy!
They let the polyps out to catch food; this is how they eat!

Sea Cucumber, by NOAA.
They feel exactly how they look like they'd feel: weird.

Tomorrow is another field trip!  I wish all school was like this.  :)