Charlie

I often ask myself why do I put myself through the aggravation, expense and stress of traveling?

Dive buddy Bill L agrees with me.

It is that moment when you stick your regulator in your mouth, your feet hits the water and you see all those beautiful colorful fish through your scuba mask.

Yeah, baby.

That is why we put up with all the shit.

I've been to alot of different dive destinations but we keep going back to Bonaire.

My husband and I tried a new place this year, "diver's paradise" (black durgon)

It was similar to the condo we usually stay at called"happy Holiday homes' . It is spartan tile floor apartment equipped with a mini kitchen. I like to cook my own food rather than be at the mercy of a (non-vegetarian)restaurant.

What I especially liked about this place is that it was walking distance from the apartment to a easy entrance shore dive site called 'small wall".

"Small wall" was definitely one of the best shore dive sites on the island.

Since we were having problems with the rental truck it was a good excuse to do most of our dives at this spot. We were prefectly happy banging out 95% of our 18 dives here.

Of course, we had to go to one of our all time favorite dive sites 'windsock' where we knew we would find a trio of friendly squids to greet us under the pilings. We almost always see a turtle or two (or three) as well. I like "windsock" because I know the UW topography pretty well so I don't get lost. There is this huge brain coral at 30 feet that looks like a giant bum sticking out of the sand near the mooring marker.

Another favorite site is "the front porch". At 100 feet lies a intact little tug boat.

A few years ago at this site, I found a good sized seahorse hanging on a rope but I haven't seen one since. Under the hull was a very large resident green moray. I remember seeing this guy for the last ten visits I been to Bonaire.

Let me tell you this moray has grown.

He is a monster.

His head is bigger than a human's head.

This visit was the first time I spotted (two) lion fish under the hull hiding.

We also found an octopus inside a discarded PVC tube.

We didn't bother going to other dive sites such as the Hilma Hooker or Oil Slick leap because of the truck situation. I was afraid the truck might not start and also the emergency brake did not work. A few times the truck rolled with the brake supposedly on..

This could've been a BIG problem parked on the some of the cliffs. It was best to avoid a potentially dangerous situation.

I was perfectly happy diving at the 'small wall". We saw turtles on every time. As well as all kinds of small morays, squids, a small lionfish and one HUGE colorful octopus free swimming! That was quite a sight!

Since we were walking distance from our apartment to the dive site we did a couple of night dives. We usually like to start a dive night at dusk so we can at least get a bearing of where we are and see the "changing of the guard" (different fish move in and move out at night).

We did one night dive fairly late at night after getting back from visiting the parrot rehab and rescue place.

It was pitch freakin' dark.

It was a little scary but it was cool seeing all the bioluminescence when you shut your lights off.

I shined my light around the reef and out of nowhere I saw a very large tarpon swim out.

He was a good 5-6 feet in length.

I continued my dive and again, the tarpon swam by.

Only this time he started to swim more frantically and looked like he was "flashing"

*"flashing" is when a fish swims fast up to something and rubs itself on that object. They usually do it to dislodge parasites.

I continued to keep an eye on him.

He continued to follows us and swim frantically.

In the pitch dark I would feel something bump into me.

It was that crazy tarpon.

I signaled to my husband that this dive was now over.

My husband said he thought this fish was named "Charlie" from a story he heard at the restaurant "Richards" a few years ago about the "too -friendly -kind -of -spooky -tarpon."

The next day, during day-light hours. we did a dive on this site again.

As I was looking under ledge watching an arrowhead crab I got this eerie feeling someone was staring at me.

I slowly turned to look and there was "Charlie" only a foot away from my face!

I hadn't heard from other divers at "divers paradise" that they had any encounters with "Charlie".

I think "Charlie" just liked us.

I think.