Omar

Bonaire is a very flat island...very dry...cactus is the most plentiful plant. The coastline on the lee side (west) of the island is made up mostly of dive resorts. As a diver...that is where I stayed. As a part of the resort package we had a truck that we could (and did use) to travel around the island to different dive sites. But truly, one could have just dove off of the resort for the whole week and been happy.

I was up early and watching everyone get ready for the day of diving.The clarity of the water was, well...this is looking straight down into the water...fantastic visibility...

This too is looking straight down from the second story...and the fish were soooo friendly...

Our first few dives were right off of the dock...the first 30 feet sand...then the coral and the depth drop to 120 feet. We then took the truck and two tanks each and went up the island. After the dives we took a short tour as well...

a few flamingos on the north side of the island...

and some cute Burros on the east (usual windward) side . So, after two and a half days FULL of diving...we went for a night dive...at "Oil Slick". We found that while we were under the water some things had changed above. Getting out of the water and up the ladder was a matter of hurrying between waves and also taking plenty of time, trying to minimize the banging of ourselves and our gear on the ladder and rocks. Not an easy task.....later during the night...it rained...and the wind began to howl. This is what we woke up to.

No diving for today....

After watching the weather channel and finding that Bonaire was being ignored in the significance of Omar again and again....we then watched FOX cable news...thank heaven...that at least if we couldn't be diving...we didn't have to listen to "our" corrupt "main stream" news media.

Now and again I would go up and take pictures of the pounding that the normally quiet side of the island was taking.

And a beating the resort area was taking...

We were waiting for it to quiet so we could go diving again....

And we watched the waves destroy the docks and ladders....

All of our dive gear had been taken out of the underneath storage areas and salt water was the main event everywhere.

Out of boredom, we went to the downtown area...

It seemed that all over the island...the wind and waves were taking over.
Even being in the lee of the small island of Klein the waves were taking over.
This young man was not expecting how wet he got with this wave....thankfully Omar left. The damage Omar left to the resort. We didn't go diving on the north side after Omar...we went to the Lighthouse (southern) side for our remaining dives...but we heard from other divers that on the north (west) side coral and tube sponges had been damaged down to 40 feet or so....it happened...I was there...