You are welcome. Sites: Salt Pier, Something Special, Pink Beach, Buddy Dive, Cliff dive site.

Thank you Ann Margaret

You are welcome. I also got Google to add Papiamento to their list of languages supported in their captions. One of our videos supports Papiamento subtitles. I would do more but I need to get someone to create them from the English ones.

@@ADiversLife just a few papiamento words in the videos is already wonderful.!! Thx so much, and for the beautiful videos we all like to watch. Benny Robles, Nikiboko.

@@bennyrobles9194 you are most welcome

Het is echt

Hey is echt

Yep!

Thank you Sara!

Thank you very much!

You are most welcome. The small crabs are tough to shoot. This is one of the best places to film them.

Thank you Ellie!

Thank you Rhonda. Comments like this make my day.

They will likely never allow general access here.

The wide angle shots were pre SCTLD. The macro shots are post SCTLD

I do. Most of the Elkhorn did fine. They are quite resilient, A good number of Lettuce coral, especially toward Willemstorem lighthouse did not survive.

@@ADiversLife , glad to hear that the Elkhorn Coral by and large survived and thank you for that information. It is my dream to very respectfully and very carefully see these Sun Worshiper Elkhorns that you show in your video, though I fully understand that this area of Bonaire's coral reefs is not easily accessible and perhaps can only be visited during certain late summer to early fall months. Too bad about the Lettuce Coral. Are the Star and Boulder Corals in good shape after the El Niño even of 2023? Thanks again for sharing your expertise on Bonaire's corals.

@@Juscz the star corals have mostly survived the bleaching. However the Great Star corals have been hit hard by SCTLD. These are the ones with the larger polyps that look like nipples. The good thing is that some of the best resident divers on Bonaire have been selected to apply antibiotics to these corals. Doreen and I have adopted Playa Benge in the national park and are treating these and other SCTLD affected corals. Other volunteers are applying antibiotics at other sites. We have already treated over 60 coral at Playa Benge. We only wish we were allowed to start sooner. We are being supervised by Stinapa for the first 2 months and then we should be good to go on our own. This is a pilot program. If it does well more volunteers will be trained. It is good Stinapa is mobilizing the resident diving community. Also Reef Renewal is setting up more and more coral tree nurseries, for resilient species of brain coral, etc. to be able to outplant more resilient coral.

@@ADiversLife , thank you for your reply and your assistance , both through your videos and SCTLD overseen antibiotic treatments, in helping the corals of Bonaire so that others may enjoy them.

@@Jusczyou are most welcome

Yes. I had to to get the shots. The juveniles are very shy.

Thank you very much!

Definitely. And there were a lot of Barracuda too

Yikes! You got closer to the lion fish than I ever would!

@@sonjakoons125 they are beautiful

Well guys, that will take a bit but I will try to summarize. - find a good financial planner early - I worked in the tec industry. Take on challenges others shy away from. Work hard, take some risk, and be willing to change jobs when needed and consider moving if needed. - pay credit card debt off every month - save the max you can - live below your means - learn to do a lot of home and car maintenance yourself. This helps in retirement. - figure out what your passion is and have a plan to do it. No matter what happens during work, know that every day you are going to get closer to what you want to do and that you won’t need them down the road. - as soon as you are able to live your dream do it. Your body won’t do it physically forever. - as far as value to the island, the island needs a lot of things. I think it is safe to say that our KZbin channel brings more tourism to the island than Bonaire tourism. This brings dollars to the island. Video creation is a lot of work and it also brings a lot of joy to people. Once you have made your money you get to do things that are more fulfilling. One of our videos was actually instrumental in saving a major reef from destruction. - between my wife and I we treat viral for SCTLD, we do reef and beach cleanups, captain the sea turtle conservation boat, clean corals, help with the junior rangers program, and so on. Planting corals is only one thing one can do. I used my contacts in the tec industry to get Google to add Papiamento subtitle support to KZbin. Local people need education on how to get ahead. I think how you can bring value to the island depends on your life experiences in work, etc. Congrats on being able to retire early! Your question is a great one. As I said, once you made enough ask how you can give back. Donations is one way but as you can see there are other ways.

@@ADiversLife words of wisdom! So many people end up with money but with a lost passion for anything else but work since it took all their time and they forgot the main purpose of being financially free. Here is an endless rat race, hostility, road rage and stress in Chicago, so many old folks just “living “ with outrage… I’ll bring my son and daughter to the island to introduce to scuba this summer - they’re in the teens and so excited watching your videos. I’ll meet as many people as possible the ones that make a. Impact to the island like you guys and educate myself about good and bad and where value can be added. Thank you for taking time in your post- perfect material for my kids to read and raise a better humans. Looking forward for more of your amazing content.

@@matbob7249 glad to help. So one of the things that has made Bonaire so special is the people. Unlike the US post Covid people talk to each other. They are kind. They help each other. When you hear people beep their horn it is usually to say hi to someone they know. We have no traffic lights and almost no stop signs. If people see you stuck at an intersection they stop to let you out. In other words it is more like the US when we were young. More children should visit the island and be exposed to that and how much happier we all are because of these simple things. We experienced the same rat race in Texas. Californians moved there from their big race and everything changed. It used to be if you left your wallet at the register and you went back it would still be there. Covid took things to another level where people communicated without a face and they could behave poorly without repercussions. I don’t know if the US will ever get back to what it use to be.

@@ADiversLife people can only be humans if they’re not crowded and robbed off their space, also under no constant stress. Majority are enslaved into routine of financial stress and become hostile. US will not be the same. Took me 40 years to understand the money game as being a student of successful people like you, I have a trucking business and unloading all income to real estate- bought 7 properties in last 3 years generating 7k of tax free cash flow, I’ll acquire 7 more, stabilize to manage remotely and I’m outta here as there’s no impact one can make being as small as me. I’m in superior health and shape- I can serve for many years contributing to nature. I hope people will read this conversation, will compare their own path with yours as how choices have consequences in terms of purposeful and thriving life can be arranged. My kids already understand it, 15 yo has a side hustle putting money into CD’s lol. We’re looking to visit in August, I’ll reach out to see if we can serve a dinner and if there’s anything you need from the mainland

Dank u wel!

Thank you so much Dave.

It was!

@@ADiversLife yes I absolutely agree

Thank you

Cool

Excellent!

Thank you Heidi!

Thank you

Thank you! Yes. I have to look back at this older video but I don’t think I delivered voice overs in stereo at this time. We now have a Shure SM7B and I now convert it to stereo but I need to invest in more audio gear. But, first we are in the process of ordering new engines so that we can expand our reach. I will look into how I can adapt stereo input at the source t increase the quality. I encourage subscribers to give excellent input like this. It helps with channel planning. Thank you so much for watching and providing feedback. It only helps to make us better.

Thank you

Thank you! This is the full length version: What Lies Beneath The Mangroves ep. 45 kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3iznXiqqd15f6c

Glad you liked it!

Thank you!

Thank you! It really does need our protection. I did not mention this but the rainbow parrotfish only get their start is in mangroves. They would not survive otherwise.

Glad you liked it!

Thank you very much!

Thank you so much!

Thank you!

Haha. Well, glad you liked it Scott!

Thank you Fred! Definitely, the most challenging to make but when I get comments like that I am ready to get at it again. The mangroves were indeed inspiring.

Thank you!

You are most welcome. Thanks for tuning in.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you. Casper was great to help out.

Yes. It is a nursery for the reef. I was looking for a shark but no luck. We at least got the tarpons. They were hidden way back in the canopy away from the normal kayak spots.

You are most welcome