Bonaire, 2008, with divers “too”

This picture of a marvelous brain coral was taken by Carl.

Bonaire’s coral formations are awesome, particularly at the northern shore sites and sites off of Klein Bonaire. The formations at Karpata were especially attractive, due to the wall’s steep drop, sand chutes, and box canyons. The guys who did shore diving raved about Angel City’s formations.

I think my favorite corals are giant blue fans and slender blue gorgonians. I also like the plate and sheet corals. I love the tubular clusters of the purple tube sponge. Stinging hydroids make pretty clusters of tiny white “flowers” reminiscent of baby’s breath.

We also saw several sea pearls, unusual shiny globes about an inch in diameter that look like steel ball bearings. Sea pearls are neither fish nor coral. Each one is a single cell of algae. They are among the largest single cell structures in the plant and animal kingdoms.

Bonaire divers are not permitted to wear gloves. That’s an incentive to learn to recognize and avoid the fire coral, tan in color, found mostly in the shallows.

REEF HEALTH
I spoke with George, a Toucan manager, about reef health, because I’d seen brain corals half dead, and many gorgonians partly or completely covered with algae. He said that a major cause is rapid development in Bonaire, which is increasing nitrate runoff into the waters, which stimulates algae growth, and which in turn taxes the corals. They are stressed, but they can recover, he says, unlike Fort Lauderdale’s corals. In addition, of course, there’s the additional stress of slowly rising sea temperatures and acidity.

George said that Bonaire’s government is taking steps to reduce nitrate runoff. But he worries that the actions are too slow. He has hopes that Bonaire will soon come under direct governance of the Dutch government, which might make sufficient funding available.

But George also worries that there are problems that are being addressed too slowly, such as dumping of trash and waste on the island. Since the island is a porous coral structure, residues are sure to leach into the sea, continuing to stress the coral.