By Patricia Wuest

All island visitors who dive Bonaire's marine park purchase a $10 marine park tag. The funds help support the park staff and maintain the park.|

| Day-by-day Festival coverage on Capt. Don's Habitat web site| The 8th annual Bonaire Dive Festival kicked off on June 5, 2004, and, as in years past, the event continued its focus on the world's coral reefs and marine ecosystems and educating divers about the role they can play in conservation efforts. The Dive Festival also celebrated two important milestones: 2004 marks the 35th anniversary of the Washington-Slagbaai Park, the first nature sanctuary established in the Netherlands Antilles, and the 25th anniversary of the Bonaire Marine Park, which is today the shining model on which conservationists all around the world hope to emulate in creating marine sanctuaries.

Each year the Dive Festival highlights Bonaire's beautiful coral reefs, its lovely landscape, its varied flora and fauna, its friendly people--and last but not least, its commitment to protecting and preserving the island's environment.

On June 5th, Dive Festival participants began registering at the offices of the Tourism Corporation Bonaire, one of the sponsors of the event. Other sponsors of the Dive Festival included Air Jamaica, Bonaire Hospitality Group, BONHATA, Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), EarthEcho International, Scuba Diving magazine, and STINAPA. The first 100 participants to register the first week received Dive Festival T-shirts and the first 100 participants to register at the start of the second week also got T-shirts. At last count, more than 400 participants had registered! {mospagebreak}

Students of Jong Bonaire's cooking school show off their piece de resistance for Taste of Bonaire! Jong Bonaire is a nonprofit organization offering a host of programs for local high school students.

Bon Apetit, Bonaire-Style!

One of the most popular events at the Bonaire Dive Festival is the Taste of Bonaire held during the opening ceremony at Wilhelmina Park in Kralendijk. Taste of Bonaire is an evening where visiting divers and locals share wonderful food, local crafts and art, live music and dancing.

The local restaurants offering signature dishes during Taste of Bonaire were Chez Lucille, De Tuin, Garden Cafe, The Last Bite Bakery, Chez Nous, Donna & Giorgio, Mai Mai, and Gibi's Terrace.

Chez Lucille restaurant served "poisson du jour Chez Lucille," the catch of the day in a white wine and leek sauce.| The food was spicy and delicious at the booth of the De Tuin restaurant.| More yummy offerings from The Last Bite booth.|

Local children were a big part of this year's artistic presentations at Taste of Bonaire. Using marine life ID photos as a guide and working with a local artist, this group of kids painted two lifelike underwater scenes.

Another group of students, under the direction of local artist Janice Huckaby, made and painted this colorful collection of driftwood sea creatures. The kids assembled and hung the pieces to resemble the inside of an aquarium tank.

The first of two murals done by local children| Assembling the driftwood aquarium installation|

Made from objects found along Bonaire's shoreline, schoolkids made the "Finding Nemo" piece, a fascinating study in blue. Hidden on the "canvas" was a Nemo look-alike.

Playing music with a definite Caribbean beat, a local band entertained Taste of Bonaire attendees.| Capt. Don was honored on his birthday for 30 years of untiring dedication to establishing and preserving Bonaire's marine park.| {mospagebreak}

Philippe Cousteau explains the history of and work being done by EarthEcho International.

Philippe Cousteau Delivers Keynote Address

On Monday, June 7th, at Capt. Don's Habitat, Philippe Cousteau, a longtime visitor to Bonaire, gave the Dive Festival's keynote address and presented a slide show on EarthEcho International, the nonprofit he has started along with his sister, Alexandra, and mother, Jan.

"Every diver takes on a responsibility every time he puts his head under water," Cousteau told the overflow audience, urging them to become active in the efforts worldwide to protect marine resources. Elsmarie Beukenboom, director of STINAPA, the organization that oversees both the Bonaire Marine Park and Washington-Slagbaai Park, introduced Philippe Cousteau to Festival attendees. Beukenboom, an active, lifelong conservationist on Bonaire, also announced the naming of a new dive site in the marine park, Carel's Vision, located on the north end between Oil Slick Leap and BOPEC. The site is named after Carel Steensma, a principal mover on the island in helping to initiate and fund the marine park in its early years. {mospagebreak}

Philippe Cousteau's dive group from one of the dives he led during the first week of the Dive Festival.

Daily Guided Dives

Phillipe Cousteau Each day throughout the Festival, two guided dives were offered, including dives led by Philippe Cousteau, co-founder of EarthEcho International and grandson of the legendary Jacques Cousteau, local naturalists and boat dives to Klein Bonaire and other popular sites.

On one of the dives he led, Philippe Cousteau took divers on a guided tour of La Machaca, the house reef at Capt. Don's Habitat. On a small wreck on the reef, Cousteau pointed out male sergeant majors aggressively defending their eggs.

Every diver also participates in a dive briefing before making a checkout dive. Here, Michael La Fortune of Bonaire Dive & Adventure gives a briefing before leading a guided dive on Bari Reef, the house reef at Sand Dollar Condominium Resort.|

Divers suit up on the deck just prior to a guided naturalist's dive.

Throughout their time on Bonaire, divers explored the house reefs of the participating resorts and operators: Capt. Don's Habitat, Sand Dollar, Buddy Dive Resort, Divi Flamingo, Toucan Diving at Plaza Resort Bonaire, Harbour Village Resort, Belmar Apartments, Dive Inn Dive Shop, Photo Tours Divers, Scuba Vision, Wannadive at Eden Beach Resort and at City Cafe and Accommodations. {mospagebreak}

Honoring a Conservation Pioneer

Since the 1960s, Capt. Don Stewart has been fighting passionately to establish and strengthen the Bonaire Marine Park. To honor and celebrate his 30th year of pioneering conservation, a museum in his honor was opened at Capt. Don's Habitat during the Dive Festival.

A film documenting his efforts, "Island Adrift" (also the name of his new book) was filmed by Hendrik Wuyts and shown to Festival participants in Habitat's conference room, along with myriad photos and artifacts giving testimony to his many achievements.

Capt. Don was hailed by many as the "founder of the dive industry on Bonaire and an ardent conservationist." Said George Buckley, professor of marine biology at Harvard, "He helped give the island an identity. He helped give it a vision."

Capt. Don is also credited with finding and naming more than 50 dive sites, and personally placed mooring buoys at many of them.