Bent on Bonaire , July 1st - July 17th 2007 and Part II - December 22-30th 2007, Part III December 27-January 4, 2009 Photo Gallery by Rick Coleman at pbase.com

Bent on Bonaire , July 1st - July 17th 2007 and Part II - December 22-30th 2007, Part III December 27-January 4, 2009

It's hard to know where to begin as Bonaire holds a special and magical place in our hearts. There is a strong draw that keeps pulling us back and makes us feel at home. This trip was our fourth. We visited Bonaire for 3 consecutive years starting in 2002, then we decided to try some other destinations - Fiji, Palau, and Yap. We had a great time on these other adventures, but we kept missing Bonaire and just had to come back. Once again we had a fantastic time and the trip flew by far too quickly. The title of our gallery is an intentional play on words; We are bent on Bonaire in the sense that we love Bonaire, but this trip also ended with an unexpected trip to the Decompression Chamber. Rick got hit with the Bends on the last day of diving and underwent a 5 hour treatment in the chamber. It wasn't a severe case and our future diving shouldn't be affected. We hope you enjoy perusing our images from the trip.

For pictures Rick uses a Canon 20d in an Aquatica housing with Inon Strobes. Rick used his 60mm macro lens the entire trip until the last day, when he switched to wide angle and the 10-22 lens.

Susie uses an Olympus SP-350 and has inon macro and wide angle lenses that can be attached. We had a problem with the 2 backup drives we used on our trip not being compatible with her new 2GB XD picture card, even though it appeared to be working. Long story short - Susie lost about half of her pictures from the trip, which is obviously a big disappointment for both of us.

Thanks for visiting and letting us share our memories.

Part II - We went back to Bonaire over Christmas 2007 for a week - December 22-30th. Once again we had an awesome time...

Part III - This time we visited over New Years - from December 27th 2008 until Jan. 4th 2009. Enjoy!

- Rick and Susie

Bonaire - Divers Paradise	Sand Dollar Resort	Shore Diving Capital of the World...park, gear up & dive!	Bari Reef is the house reef for the Sand Dollar	waters edge view of the Sand Dollar
My Home is my Castle.	Goldentail Moray	Scary Looking Dude	Purple Stove-Pipe Sponge, Black & White Crinoid and Rick	Bonaire Seascape
Rising Sun	Flamingo Tongue	Unfurling	Lettuce Sea Slug w/uncommonly seen blue tint	Lettuce Sea Slug , another view
Peppermint Shrimp Roll	Arrow Crab	Rising Up	Queen Parrotfish, Initial Phase	Sleeping Parrotfish
Parrotfish being cleaned and damn happy about it	There is nothing quite like getting your eyeball cleaned!	It's lunchtime, I think I'll have a little brain...	Eyes Wide Shut	Grandpa and his Wacky Face
Lurking in the Shadows	Little Puffer	Slender Filefish		Cute one
Swaying with the gorgonian and trying to go unnoticed	The Eyes Have It	Identity Crisis	Free Swimming Fireworm on a Night Dive	Bearded Fireworm
What are you looking at?	Another Visitor?	Cool Chin Rest	Eye's straight foreward, but check out the NEXT picture...	My cool eye trick!
Southern Teardrop Crab & Orange Tube Anenomes	Spotted Trunkfish, AKA Hotlips	Seahorse Portrait	Hanging on	Arrow Crab clinging to the tube sponge
Tube Sponge and Brittle Star	Now That's a Colorful Bedroom	Sleeping Puffer - a little closer view	Little Teardrop Crab	Squeezing out the sponge
Yellow Highway	Snake in the Grass	Mountain Road	Zig Zag	Scorpionfish
Where did those cleaners go?	Hawksbill Turtle, Flippers Up	Green Sea Turtle	Green Sea Turtle Portrait	Susie found this one sleeping, until we woke him up...
Another Hawksbill	Count Dracula	Susie	Self Portrait	Center of attention
Grouper feeling a little green	French Angelfish	Tube Dweller	Little Shrimp (oxymoron?)	Staircase
We Spotted a "Spotted Cleaner Shrimp"	Mirror Mirror on the Wall	Waiting for customers	Another Cleaner	Hang on
Finger Licking Good	Up close and personal	Banded Butterflyfish	Craps anyone?	Double the fun
The Lineup	The Big Purple House	Reaching Out	Stovepipes	Sunrise at Andrea I
Orange Elephant Ear, Schooling Fish, and Rick	Red Dawn	wide angle of Rick	Branching Vase Sponge, Sponge Brittle Stars & Rick	Same Branching Vase Sponge, different pose
Smoke signals	Purple Stove-Pipe Sponge, Black & White Crinoid and Rick	Another Bonaire Reefscape	Group of Azure Vase Sponges & Rick	Caribbean Spiny Lobster
Huge Caribbean Spiny Lobster	Checking out the camera	Electric Blue	The Maze	Cleaning Goby and Brain Coral
Goldspot Goby Snuggled in	Froggy	Frogfish under the Christmas Tree	Froggy Portrait	Mugshot
Longlure Frogfish	Another view of Froggy	Microscopic, lot's of little guys were found on the reef	Feather Duster	Fish Bowl
Green with envy	Scrawled Filefish up close	Anemones, Bridle Cardinalfish and a Two Claw Shrimp	Fish escaping the big white blob	Spotted Spiny Lobster
Azure Vase Sponge, Bicolor Damselfish & Spotted Trunkfish	Caribbean Reef Squid	More reef squid in the shallows at Tori's Reef		Bari Reef Squid
Iridescent Caribbean Reef Squid	Arms Up	Arms Twisted	On the lens	Curious about the camera
Relaxing Pose	Spazed Out	The Court Jester	Close Fly By	A little close and puckered up...
Fancy Squid Hairdo	Susie's favorite encounter on this dive	Daytime Squid	Brainyack	Pederson Cleaner Shrimp?
Juvenile Spotted Drum	Peacock Flounder	Bonaire Mantis Shrimp - rare find	Whitespotted filefish	Sleepy Head
Hanging on the Rim	Any closer and I'm back in the tube	Is the coast clear?	Banded Coral Shrimp	Coral Polyps
Pea in a Pod	Pea in a Pod, the sequel	Night time on the reef, the polyps are out...	Orange Cup Coral	Twisted Sister
Reach for it	Feeling Silver	Peppermint Shrimp	Spotted Moray	A little curious
I Hear You Knocking, But You Can't Come In	Christmas Tree worm	Another Christmas Tree worm	Bonaire Octopus	Azure Vase Sponge & Gorgonians
Auditioning for the Band	Rick and Susie	Azure Vase Sponge, Spotted Moray and a Foureye Butterflyfish	large Porcupinefish	Splash of Lavender
Susie at unmarked site "The Rock"	Susie in B&W	Last dive of the trip was done without water	Not where you want to spend your last dive	Dr. Juan Botero, Harold, and Bent diver Rick
Chamber Gauges	Inside the chamber, nice and cozy	Over/Under at Sand Dollar	Snorkeling Susie	Snorkeling at the Sand Dollar Reef Balls
Large cross @ Seru Largu	Cross @ Seru Largu	Seru Largu summit	White Slave Huts	Kite Surfing by Fish Hut
Salt, Pink Water, and Foam	Bonaire Sea Salt	fishing boats	Iggy at the Sand Dollar
			Parrot on the grounds @ Sand Dollar	Ahh, this is the life...
We found a nice chair to relax on between dives	Susie hogging the chair	Bonaire Pelican	Coming in for a Landing	Sunshine, Sea & Susie
Susie	Brilliant Sunset	View of the Sunset from the Sand Dollar	another view...	View of Buddies from the Sand Dollar
Sand Dollar Dock at Night and Den Laman Apartments	Bonaire Coast and Pelican	More relaxing between dives	Susie kicking back	The Sun Setting on our 4th Bonaire Trip
Bonaire Part II, December 22-30th 2007	Rick	Susie	Rick and Susie Self Portrait	Red Reef Hermit Crab, Paguristes cadenati
Climbing theTube	First Born, Red Reef Hermit crab with hatchlings (Paguristes cadenati)	Trumpet Fish	Juvenile French Angel	Sand Diver
Redlip Blenny	Rose Garden	Going to School	Scorpionfish	Scorpionfish
Peacock Flounder	Peacock Flounder	Tube Anemone	Mr. Curly	A Little Green
A Little Green with a Dab of Brown	Juvenile Spotted Drum	Bonaire Octopus	Susie	Schoolmaster
Feeling Droopy	Head on	Jack Portrait	Blue Tang	Red-Ridged Clinging Crab
Red-Ridged Clinging Crab		Lots of Color	Hermit Crab	Bearded Fireworm
Bearded Fireworm	Bearded Fireworm	Holding On	Mountain Pass	Giant Basket Star
Basket Star with Basket Star Shrimp	Basket Star Shrimp	Red Hind	Parrotfish	Open Wide
Juvenile Trunkfish		File Fish	File Fish	File Fish
File Fish	Puffer	Puffer	Rocky Road
Hermit Crab	Spotted Spiny Lobster	Spotted Spiny Lobster	Shrimp	Yellowtail Snapper
Trumpet Fish	Lettuce Sea Slug	Lettuce Sea Slug	Smooth Trunkfish	Line Up
Jack	Little puffer chillin on the sponge	Running in Circles	Coral Polyps	Batwing Coral Crab
Reaching	Bonaire Scallop	Hide Out	Hogfish and a Brittle Star	Well Rounded
Three Amigos	Peppermint Goby		Puffer	Down the tube
Got Soap? (Soapfish)	Soapfish	Decorator Crab	Highly Decorated Decorator Crab	Another Decorator Crab
Decorator Crab on the tube	Slippery Slope	Decorator with big red gun	Another Decorator	Parrot Fish Eye
I wonder why I wake up every morning with a sore forehead?	Never been kissed	Elusive Bonaire Nudibranch		Halloween
Polyp explosion	Banded Shrimp with cool face	The Road Less Traveled	Sponge Brittle Bob
	Old Man Face (jolthead porgy)	My friends call me blue	Trumpet fish	Reef Crab
Catching some zzz's	Green with Envy	Caribbean Reef Octopus	The Stretch	Sharpnose Puffer
Tubing It		Soldierfish	Purple Highway	Hawksbill Turtle
Early Morning Hawksbill	Hawksbill Turtle Portrait	Queen Angelfish	Spotfin Butterflyfish	French Angelfish
French Angelfish	French Angelfish on the lens	Spotted Moray Eel with Cleaner	That's the spot...	My lips are sealed (Chain Moray)
Chain Moray	Andrea I, Bonaire	Climbing the pole (Teardrop Crab)	Orange Cup Coral	Purple Tube/Rick
Wrapped UP	Tube Anemone	Chin Rest	Purple Tube & Rick	Rick @ Karpata
Honeycomb Cowfish	Orange Elephant Ear/ Rick	Purple Tube & Rick	Please Clean Me...	Fireworm macro
Christmas Tree Worm	Christmas Tree Worm	shrimp macro	Feather Duster Super Macro	Fireworm Macro
Hermit	crab	Bellyfull of eggs	Basket Star	Bearded Fireworm & Blenny
Blenny	Blenny	Blenny	Blenny	Cleaner Shrimp
Eating a worm	Blenny		Purple Tube Anemone	Barracuda
Free Swimming Green Moray	Shrimp macro	Angel City, Bonaire	Rick with the trip winding down	Susie
In Coming....	Red Slave Huts	Red Slave Huts	Which Way?	Bonaire Flamingos
Willemstoren Lighthouse	Willemstoren Lighthouse	Windsurfing @ Sorobon Beach	Windsurfer @ Sorobon Beach	December 27, 2008 - January 4 2009
Yellow Seahorse	Seahorse	Seahorse portrait	Hogfish eating a brittlestar	Rainbow Parrotfish
Blue Tang	Blue Tang School	Spotted Filefish	Cleaning Goby	Sleeping Puffer
Dwarf Blenny	Viper Moray	Shrimp and Sea Cucumber	Flamingo Tongue	Anemone and Cleaner Shrimp
Octopus	Hermit Crab running the tube	Peppermint Shrimp	Decorator Crab	Christmas Tree Worm and coral polyps
Christmas Tree Worm Garden	Wildside Turtle	Turtle on the Wildside	Wildside Tarpon, Blue Hole	Thick
Blue Hole, Wildside		Extended polyps and goby	Wire Coral Shrimp	Hermit Crab
Urchin	Sponge bed	Decorator Crab	Shrimp and Anemone	Sleeping juvenile
Yellowtail Snapper	Tiger Grouper	Tiger Grouper, Karpata	Tiger Grouper	Lettuce Sea Slug
Spotted Drum	Bonaire Urchin	Decorator Crab	Arrow Crab	French Angelfish
Hermit Crab	Hermit Crab	Bari Reef Octopus	On the prowl	Whitespotted Filefish
Whitespotted Filefish	Whitespotted Filefish	Casper	Spotted Scorpionfish	Open Wide, Spotted Scorpionfish
Sand Diver	Old Man Face		Orangespotted Filefish	Susie, sunrise dive at "The Rock"
Goldentail Moray	Soapfish	Scrawled Filefish	Scrawled Filefish	Polyp Hideout
King of the Hill	Spotted Trunkfish	Sleeping Puffer and Brittlestar	Tube anemone	Colorful Tube Amenome
Cleaning Goby	Goatfish	Hemit Tube	Juvenile Damselfish	Jack
Schoolmaster	Caribbean Reef Squid	Lettuce Sea Slug	Lettuce Sea Slug	Lettuce Sea Slug
Christmas Tree Worm	Christmas Tree Worm	Lofty Triplefin	Cleaner Shrimp	Peacock Flounder
Peacock Flounder	Spotted Eagle Rays	Tarpon, Blue Hole Wildside	Rick	Rick
Bucktoothed	French Angelfish	Spinyhead Blenny	A little Tipsy	Talkative
Blenny	Constipated	Scorpionfish	Scorpionfish	Roughhead Triplefin
Donkey near Karpata	Bonaire Wild Donkey	Sunset at Den Laman	Our Coral Wall, at "The Rock"
	Thanks for stopping by...

comment |

Dave		24-Jan-2009 01:06
Great pictures brother ! I hope some day to dive with you in Bonaire. Dave and Survivor Kathy and girls

Mark Revill		11-Jan-2009 20:02
Some wonderful images?

Mark Revill		11-Jan-2009 20:01
Some wonderful images?

Dan Greenberg		10-Jan-2009 20:02
What a fabulous and huge gallery! Perhaps the best overall set of underwater images I have ever seen and the over water ones are great too. It will take me weeks to look at it all, but I am sure it will be well worth it. Makes me want to get under water with my camera more than ever. Gigantic vote on this one.!

J Ponces		08-Jan-2009 20:35
I just love Bonaire! And your Gallery is an outstanding example of very accomplished and ORIGINAL Underwater Photography. My most sincere congratulations!

f.bookelman		05-Sep-2008 06:33
dear fam. coleman, thank you for your stunnig pics. enjoyed it very much. good luck on your next trip. waitinf to see the pics.

Len		07-Jul-2008 16:53
Sniff sniff I have not made it back since 82. Does anyone have any pics of the alice in wonderland area, particularly past the second rise where the giant mushroom stromatolites are? great pics! rffreq@gmail.com

Robert Charity		01-Jan-2008 19:11
great gallery, v

Helene James		10-Sep-2007 03:07
Your mom and I worked together at Nixon. She shared your photos with me. They are fantastic. All are prize winners...

Guest		11-Aug-2007 05:34
Thank you for an incredible adventure! So many very sharp and well composed images. Truly a great collection! Thank you for sharing these.

Eli Finkelstein		11-Aug-2007 02:07
Phenomenal gallery, my compliments. Voted.

POMAH		02-Aug-2007 05:54
This is an amazing collection of colorful creatures. Thanks for sharing. Big vote!

houseofcors		01-Aug-2007 01:55
Love the underwater shots! Wonderful clarity, definition, colors and interest.

Guest		31-Jul-2007 19:02
Amazing pictures Rick, I've rarely seen such sharpness and sucg good exposure in underwater shots. Please keep up the great work!

Doye and Janice		28-Jul-2007 13:25
Great to see you again this year. I agree about Bonaire, when planning next years trip, it's hard to think of a reason not to go back. Great Photos. Makes me want to go "Digital" for good.

Robyn C.		27-Jul-2007 22:04
Amazing shots Rick and Susie--and great titles too!

Steve		26-Jul-2007 17:06
Awesome Pictures. I'm moving from stills to video and hope to bring back some good footage from Bonaire next week. I leave Saturday for a week at the Plaza. Thaks for the preview.

Shea		26-Jul-2007 05:03
Those are amazing. My first dive will be in Bonaire next week and this is getting me very excited

Carole		26-Jul-2007 01:54
Absolutely breathtaking results! Truly professional in quality and what an "eye" you have for your subjects! Marvelous shots. Rick and Susie

Guest		25-Jul-2007 01:51
A truly outstanding gallery - glad everyone made it out of the water safely. My wife and I honeymooned there in August of 1985 - it is a special place for us as well. V

Guest		25-Jul-2007 01:47
Incredible, I've seen a lot of Bonaire images and these are by far the best yet. Thanks for sharing

Guest		24-Jul-2007 16:50
awesome set! sorry about the chamber ride....

Guest		22-Jul-2007 02:06
Stunning images, well done! (V)

click on thumbnails for full image

Type your message and click Add Comment

It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest. Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help	private comment