Fifth Annual Fish ID Challenge to Take Place in Bonaire Next Month

Bonaire Diving and Adventure will be presenting the Fifth Annual Fish ID Challenge Programme next month and they are inviting people to join them and learn more about the thousands of species of fish living in Caribbean waters.

Diving enthusiasts are being invited to join in the activities and take special scuba diving holidays in the Caribbean to attend the week-long event which has been organised in association with Fish ID Experts, Scott and Patti Chandler.

The Chandlers are well known within the scuba diving and marine industry for their work in identifying and documenting marine species. Over the past 21 years, the couple have identified and studied thousands of fish species and their behaviour.

The Annual Fish ID Challenge Programme will take place from 28th July to 4th August, 2012 and during the event, the Chandlers and Bonaire Dive & Adventure naturalist Jerry Ligon, will lead guided dives to the Bari Reef.

Divers can obtain a custom printed Fish ID Guide at the Bonaire Dive & Adventure dive shop which is specific to Bonaire and shows photographs of the top 100 fish that can be found in the region's ocean waters. The guide also gives ID terms and Bonaire dive site codes so divers will have a better chance of identifying them during their scuba diving adventures.

Several films will be screened in the evenings throughout the week where Scott and Patti will show uncut footage of the dives and Scott's HI-Def macro skills will be highlighted through his videos of fish and marine species that are too small to be visible to the naked eye.

Divers will also have the chance to participate in roving surveys that will contribute towards the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Information gathered from the surveys will be added to REEF's public database and will made available to marine researchers, divers on scuba diving holidays, and others who are interested in Bonaire's marine life.

At the end of the week, prizes will be given to the guests who collect the most amount of points for daily sightings of fish species.

Situated in the southern Caribbean 30 miles from Curacao, Bonaire is famous for its role in preserving the marine environment and it has become one of the world's leading scuba diving destinations. The island is surrounded by a coral reef which provides plenty of diving sites for diving and snorkelling enthusiasts and the entire coastline has been declared as a marine sanctuary to preserve the abundance of marine species.

While scuba diving in Bonaire, divers can enjoy crystal clear, warm ocean waters and the chance to explore 86 diving sites including 1,000 Steps and La Dania' Leap.