One last full day in Bonaire. Since I’m not allowed to dive within 24 hours of a flight (excess nitrogen and all that), today is all about snorkeling.

Good thing, too, since we’ve been here six days, and Karen hasn’t seen a turtle– an unacceptable situation. We need to log some more time underwater!

Diving Deirdre

We began the day with a sailboat excursion to Klein Bonaire island. Our guide, Deirdre, amazed us by spotting critters in the water below and then free diving to point them out to us: unusual fish, various types of coral, and best of all, an octopus. Karen must have mentioned her desire to see a turtle, because at one point, Deirdre swam over, grabbed Karen by the hand, and quickly dragged her through the water… to see a turtle. It was far below us, almost invisible against a backdrop of coral and plants, but Karen was ecstatic.

Then Deirdre spotted another one for us. And another.

By this time, our fellow snorkelers were getting turtled out- they gave a quick glance and swam on. I never seem to tire of turtlespotting, so I was watching when one made for the surface. I expected it to dive immediately after taking a breath, but instead it lazily floated in the waves. Not wanting to disturb it, I did the same, floating just a few feet away, as you can see in this video.

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/bapkb9gcilw”]

The beauty of Bonaire is that you can snorkel just about anywhere, right off the side of the road. Returning from sailing, we hopped onto our rented scooter and set out for the site known as 1000 Steps.

The staircase down to the beach does not have 1000 steps, but local lore contends that it feels like a thousand when you lug a heavy scuba tank to the top after a dive.

Having seen so many cool creatures while scuba diving and with the success of the morning’s snorkeling, I wasn’t looking for anything in particular as I paddled around. So of course I found another turtle. It was sitting still, hiding under some branches. Here’s a photo. Nice looking specimen, eh?

Whaddya mean, you don’t see it? Click on the thumbnail and see if you can spot a turtle in the larger version of the image. No foolin’… he’s in there somewhere!

(I’m no Deirdre, but I have my moments.)