Kelcey Chandler-Yates and Jim Yates present...

UnderSeaPhotoVideo.com

August 4, 2001
Beautiful diving today on the windward side of Sarqui, one of the beautiful sand spits of the group called Los Roques.  The fans were a swaying and the Spanish mackerels were in full force with up to six of them checking me out as I snapped their shiny little faces with my camera!  Yes, I finally brought it out of hiding.  It is time to get to work.  The boat is "fixed" up enough that Jim has time to tinker with processing the film and I have some spare time to try my luck at being a bit creative while under the sea.  It was so much fun.  Poor Jim had to follow and wait, follow and wait and wait and wait.  Can't say I'm much fun to dive with when the ole camera is around but he was a good sport and "herded" three rather large barracudas into the frame as well as finding an incredibly beautiful queen trigger fish who dragged me through throngs of sea bottom without letting me have even one frame.  He was gorgeous though!  I loved it so much that when we returned to the boat I grabbed the kids and we went snorkeling.  My goal was to glimpse the pelicans diving underwater.  Well, the only thing we glimpsed of them today was them pooping in the water and then sitting on a rock right in front of us preening themselves!  Guess we got there at the end of the digestive cycle.  We are going to have to go earlier next time!  Chris found a huge spotted sea hare.  No not a rabbit.  He was really handsome.  It's a type of mollusk that does not have a shell - kind of like a large shell-less, beautifully painted snail.  He was so cute we carried him back to the boat to see Jim.  He was not too impressed especially with the prologue from Nick telling him how we are getting an aquarium to keep him in on the boat!  That went over like a lead anchor until we told him we were just pulling his leg!

I think he was relieved however, when Chris took him back where he found him.  Supposedly, they let off purple ink when they are in distress.  This one did not but munching away on algae has to be better than an old rubber dive glove!  We all had to say good-bye as he was as personable a slug as you could imagine, but perhaps you had to be there!  Tomorrow it is off to Las Aves - another island chain where as the name depicts there are a tremendous amount of birds. Our friends will leave a few hours before us as they travel quite a bit slower due to their jury-rigged sail.  This way if trouble occurs we will be able to help.  Our first anchorage will be Aves De Barlovento at the Isla Sur under the lighthouse.  Here there is a huge rookery where we can tuck in the mangroves and listen to the birds by day and night where they roost.

August 5, 2001
Last night was spectacular!  If only I could have photographed it, but I will have to try with words.  The full moon rising with its sparse clouds brightly lit creating an eerily romantic setting over the mangroves.  Some of these were just huge dead tangled sticks with silhouetted birds of all sizes and shapes.  Others, a thick black mass of backlit leaves.  All with the moonlight shimmering on the water in the foreground.  Above, stars twinkled - every constellation sharply visible.  Behind, the lighthouse beckoned.  We all stood in awe at its beauty.

August 6, 2001
Yesterday Jim and I explored different potential dive sites.  We found several but one in particular was awesome.  Jim and the boys dove it last eve before dinner.  It had a sloping wall with terraced corals and sponges to 120 feet with complexity and diversity unmatched so far in the Caribbean.  Then out to sea -- huge tuna, jacks, permits and a five foot green moray eel.  All while Moo Shu Chicken (with the pancakes) was cooking in the galley by the galley wench.  I'm diving this morning, so they can eat Mac and cheese!  I did however scoot off in the dinghy after dinner to scout photo sites to shoot the booby rookery.  As I snuck into the mirror-coated waters of the mangrove, I was able to get within 3 feet of a roosting site without a stir.  They sat there looking at me while I reveled in their uniqueness.  An amazing site - imagine having a dopey looking face painted with pastel blue and diluted orange, your beak pointing straight out between eyes set forward so you can peer down this beak almost cross eyed at your subject du jour.  Soft brown feathers that any gentle breeze fluff and huge bright red feet!  Then as I left, those that had previously taken to the air fly with no bonds tying them.  Aerodynamics beyond belief.  Swooping within millimeters of white capping waves scooping fingerlings for lunch with piercing beaks.  They circle within inches of my face, we make eye contact and with all their dopiness while roosting, there is a quiet peaceful intelligence only found in one who is completely confident with himself.  Where did someone come up with the common name of "booby"?

August 8, 2001
Well, yesterday we spent diving that beautiful sloping wall.  Wow was it gorgeous.  Corals of all different types: fire coral of all shapes and sizes, lace coral in beautiful pinks and purples, gorgonians from sea fans to sea rods to sea plumes all in their largest forms and in pristine condition!  And as if that was not enough, we enjoyed sea whips extending out from stony corals including brain coral the size of small boats and plate corals creating a terracing effect only found in dreams.  Then there was the elk horn coral a foot in diameter and 12 foot tall with branches extending out as its name implies.  This was as good if not better diving than anything I have ever seen in all my travels.  With 100 foot visibility, it is a photographic dream!  As with anything, there is a down side - no large fish, and a conch population which has been decimated close to extinction.  In the shallows, we found mounds of huge conch shells.  Thousands of them, all with the tell tale slit in the end proving human destruction.

August 9th,2001
Today I learned a valuable lesson - one I already knew but now will ALWAYS do in the future.  There were high waves 7 foot or so but Jim and I decided to dive the outer reef.  The trip out was uneventful.  We skipped over the breakers and made it out to the outer shelf where the depth went from 28 to 80 foot.  As it was a bit too rolly out there to leave the dinghy, we brought it in toward the reef some.  Unfortunately more "some" than we needed!  We did our dive - equally as spectacular as yesterdays dive only with 20 30-foot high mounds of plate, brain and great star coral among others.  The formations gave a feeling of a gingerbread houses with large mushrooms surrounding them.  On top of that, all the coral was spawning so there were little microscopic particles representing fairy dust scattered through out this wonderland.  After a long dive and now out of film I was ready to head back to the boat.  I headed to the shallows, did my safety stop and surfaced as I normally do.  Which way is the boat?  Here I was on the surface over the flat with no orientation to the waves.  I could not see the dinghy - or anything else for that matter!  While there it began to rain - not just any rain, but a torrential downpour.  I became disoriented as I watched the droplets on the surface of the water.  To add to things the current was moving me along the shelf so that while I was on the surface I was being pulled further from the dinghy.  Still couldn't see the shore due to the 7 foot seas I was floating in, and the storm obscured the sun so.......well .....I was scared!!!  Nothing but blue water ALL around me and gray skies.

Now, all I needed to do was look at my compass.  I knew the boat was west and that it was on the other side of the reef but I was obviously loosing it!!  On went the safety horn, which I have attached to my dive jacket and up went the huge orange sausage that I inflated with the compressed air in my tank.  Still I could not see anything nor make sense out of the wave sets.  After ten minuets of panic, my life flashing in front of me (I definitely DO NOT want to get lost out to sea!!)  I see Jim standing off in the distance on the dinghy, but he is facing the wrong direction!!!  In addition, he is far away!  I honk and I scream and I wave that blasted orange sausage but I can only see him every fifth wave or so.  Naturally I am swimming towards him as fast as my legs can move but it still looks like he is moving in the opposite direction.  Panic continues until I calm enough to notice the wave sets rolling toward shore.  If worst comes to worst I will swim toward the fringing reef separating me from the big boat.  Next wave shows Jim coming toward me!! AHHHHH, I am soooo happy!  Come to me BABY!!!!  Later I find out that the dinghy anchor was stuck and that was why he was facing the wrong direction!  Next time I will be sure to set my compass heading!!!  What an idiot!  What a valuable lesson - another place and it could have been ....

August 10, 2001
Well we have been to sea for a while - nothing but birds, sand, water, lobster, fresh fish, rice and bread and flies from our garbage.  We're out of flour and eggs now but we have long life milk and pudding.  Tonight was the night for chocolate pudding!  Here we were stirring like crazy - nothing happening.  Then I notice that the stove is out...  The propane tank ran dry!  The spare tank is up where our garbage is and we did not want to deal with our pet flies but we were drooling for something sweet.

Chris gets a great idea and pulls out the propane torch.  We held up the pan and cooked her until thick!  Chris and I are jazzed but next thing we see is ....... Jim running around the boat waving the propane torch!  "Jim, what the heck are you doing." ---- "Cooking flies!" ...... Chris and I look at each other.  I think it is time to get back to civilization!

By the way, our friends on Voyager limped over to Bonaire a couple of days ago.  We didn't hear from them but sent Nick over with warm pancakes with lots of syrup to send them on their journey.  The fuel pump pumps but leaks and Jim reinforced the forestay with some heavy duty webbing so they should be just fine in light winds.  Nice folks - we will miss them!

August 13th
For the past 3 days we have been hanging on the island of Barlovento anchored to a little spot with great fishing and another boat with kids on board!  These people were from Canada but were French Canadians so there was a bit of a language barrier in the beginning for the kids.  But once into computer games and playing war on the beach they got over it!  These people have been traveling for the past year with their children on a mono hull named Marapat which is a sister ship to the one in the movie "Captain Ron".  They are on a VERY tight budget so she had canned many vegetables and fruits before they left Canada.  I shared my clam marinara sauce with them as well as several different spices I have acquired and she gave us some apple compote and home made spaghetti sauce.  Their little girl, Catherine, and I really hit it off when I gave her and her mother pairs of earrings.  She insisted that I take her three little beaded blue bracelets.  Things like that will be favorite items for years to come. They go perfectly with the bracelet Michele gave me when I left home last month.  Once again it was hard to leave our new acquaintances.  Hopefully we will see them when they come to Bonaire at the end of the month.

August 14, 2001--am
Back to civilization!!  We arrived in Bonaire after an uneventful down wind ten hour sail.  Jim and Chris checked us in with customs yesterday and returned with eggs, cucumbers, potatoes (soft) and chips, Pepsi, corn nuts and ice cream!  The cucumbers and potatoes are still in the cupboard but all else is devoured!!  Guess they were having a craving!!  They haven't seen a decent grocery store (defined as one with junk food) since Martinique.

August 14, 2001- eve
Great day as usual, but even more spectacular after diving in the anchorage.  Yes, the anchorage!  It was a great wall dive with diverse coral and fish in every shape and color.  Even the mooring blocks were interesting with huge blue patches of sergeant major eggs!  This afternoon after polishing stainless for the third day in a row, Jim and I went to town while the kids switched cabins, dropped off the laundry and arranged for a slip in the marina for a few days from now when Jim's cousin Barb comes to town.  I have another lead for earring sales and we scoped out all the restaurants and dive shops.  Not much here except a nice quaint community - the type of civilization I love!

August 15, 2001
Two more great dives.  Jim, Nick and I did Monte's Divi over on Klein Bonaire, the little arid island to the west of our anchorage here in Kralendijk, the main town of Bonaire.  We saw lots of huge black coral on the flats along with plate, star and brain coral along the beautifully sloping wall to 127 feet.  With 200+ foot visibility we watched large jacks come from the distance to the right only to effortlessly glide past us and disappear as specs to our left.  Nothing to distract us except the thousands of blue and brown chromis dancing in schools above the reef.  The parrot fish kept us company while grinding their morning meal from the reef.  Next came three huge porcupine fish to entertain us with their gymnastics, rubbing and pecking at each other six feet from our noisy bubbles.  Then an ocean trigger fish clumsily swim past in deep water just outside camera range with his upper and lower fins moving like me at my first aerobics class!  I've only seen them before while nesting where they would just as soon bite a hole in your fin as look at you!  Back at the reef a golden-tail moray swam past and then while surfacing we were escorted back to the boat by two French angelfish!  Not too shabby!  Off to town for groceries and back in the water by the boat for a dusk/night dive with the boys.  Now this was a really good dive - while checking our buoyancy we see a hole with one gold spotted eel out stretched and two heads peering out at us at the base of a beautiful purple tube sponge!  Next, Spotted morays everywhere - too many to count, and arrow crabs, huge banded coral shrimp crusty brittle stars, cryptic teardrop crabs etc. etc. etc.  I could go on but to tell you the truth, I'm tired.  Night!  Oh that reminds me - we also saw over 8 different types of parrot fish sleeping in their little grottos oblivious to our bright obtrusive lights.  Next time the camera goes down with me!!  All this in the anchorage!  The boys were thrilled.

August 16, 2001
Yep, you're right - another cruddy dive in paradise.  Jim wanted a buddy so I went.  I decided to descend to the sand flats at 160 feet.  Usually the same ole same ole once you hit a hundred.  Not today.  There, looking at me, were 3 HUGE green moreys as large as my waist but longer than I am tall!!  Jackpot!!!  As I looked at my computer I had 3 min to enjoy them so I motioned Jim who had his video camera with him.  I was being lazy as usual these days - or should I say FREE of camera baggage!  We took a bit of video of me kissing the big boys and ascended.  For you non-divers, the deeper you go the less bottom time you have.  What a great time.

August 17th, 2001--Barb and Jimmie
Well, in all my busyness, I didn't even write about Jim's cousin and her fiancé and his children!  An oversight I graciously ask for forgiveness for!!

Barb and Jimmy are our most generous Sherpa.  Barb has hunted parts for us high and low and Jimmy has toted them cross country and seas!  I owe a huge apology.  They arrived via KLM in the eve with the will to explore new underwater dimensions but no luggage and no knowledge of when or where it might be coming in.  It was off shopping for them.  I don't think Barb and Sierra minded much as new clothes were on the agenda anyhow!  Jimmy and James just moved through the problem as guys have a way of doing.  At any rate they needed a day of rest before our diving began.  Or two!  But Jim was able to drag Jimmy, who I might add just became certified, to the mongo eels the second day they were here while Barb and I discussed what to feed 4 hungry teens and four equally as hungry adults each day for 10 days out of my little galley.  Pasta became a mainstay and I'm sure a new recipe was made for hairy noodles (pasta with tuna in a basil sauce, or any other spice of the hour! - sounds awefull but it is actually quite good.)  Each day we went diving Barbs eyes were less startled in their sockets, buoyancy became stealth and new creatures were noticed and looked up in the reef books.  We found wonderful restaurants which Barb and Jimmie graciously treated us to and enjoyed "hanging" as only good friends can do.  The sunsets were memorable as were the memories.

August 25, 2001
Company for the last 10 days - lots of diving cooking and enjoyin!!!  Till next month!!!