Bonaire, day 5

What a day.  Everything went really well, but still whipped.  Let's see... up at 6, ate, on the boat by 8.  Shore dove the Hooker again with some new divers.  It's an impressive sight as the hulk looms out of the gloom.

Then "Red Slave".  The site is situated where the old slave shacks are.  These are red... thus the name.  The ones up the road are whitewashed.  Guess what site is called...  Anyway, the huts are about 5 feet tall, maybe 6 feet long and 4 feet wide.  The door is all of 3 feet tall.  This used to house 4 slaves!

Then the boat dives.  "Sout Bay" no, not SOUTH, Sout.  Lots of fish, but I think I had seen them all before.  Then on to "Mi Dutchi", which means, "Sweetheart".  In town, the female clerks and waitresses call me, "Duchi" and I thought they were calling me a bad name...

Then race back to the dock to get tanks and head to the "Salt Pier" for a great night dive under the salt docks. 

No major issues in the surf, didn't loose anyone.  Sigh..... another one down.

Bonaire, day 4

Ahhhh, another glorious tropical morning. The sun is up, the birds are up, I’m up… sort of…
We have an 8:30 boat dive, so I’m up at 6. Breakfast at 7, with no big upsets or drama. Nice. Bacon, fried potatoes, fresh fruit and hot croissants. Topped off with bitter black Bonarian coffee. Heaven.

This morning we take the boat to Kline Bonaire to dive the “divi Tree” and “Bonaventure”. Our boat crew has us laughing and joining in our jokes. I don‘t know if it’s our group or the fact that we are Americans, but we are by far the most raucous and irreverent group at the resort. Most everyone else here is from Germany or Holland and we have decided that they are all agents of the KGB and hate us. The women are all beautiful and not afraid to show skin, the men are all ripped and tanned. Bastards!

Our boat has an engine out, so the captain is having trouble lining up with the dive buoy. Add a freashing wind and three foot swells, and guess who starts turning green? I know that once I actually get into the water and drop down I’ll be fine, so I put my gear together and get in fast. Nausea clears right up and we’re off…literally.

Americans don’t know how to slow down and just look at things. Our first three divers take off like a shot and swim along the reef like rabbits. The newbies linger in the back and the cowboys range out all over. Now, bear in mind that you’re not supposed to get ahead of the dive master. This poor guy is lost. I’m trying to pull everyone together and it’s like herding puppies. Finally, out in front, I write a note on my slate that says, “SLOW DOWN! STAY BEHIND ME”. This works pretty well but it’s too late. Some have reached the turn around pressure in their tanks due to swimming like marlin, so I call turn-around and star t heading them back. On the way back, we meet the dive master with a resigned look on his face. As the first divers swim by him going the other way, he looks at me and just shakes his head.

Back at the mooring, I notice that we are spread out over 300 yards of reef and I start to direct people to the boat. The first two groups make it up the ladder and I notice that the boat is not above me anymore. I know that I haven’t moved and I’m disoriented. Seeing the boat a good 50 yards away from where I think it should be (and at the outside of my visibility), I start to wonder if there isn’t another dive boat on our site and now I’m worried that I sent people to the wrong boat. Not a big deal, but embarrassing. Then I see the second wave of divers swimming like hell to reach the boat… as it streaks out of sight. I realize that the mooring line has snapped and the boat is drifting out of control with a third of my divers chasing it in vain.

So, I’m whirling like a dervish, trying to figure out if I should chase them or stay with the stragglers. Finally I spot our dive master who is spinning around, looking for the boat. I pantomime what happened and we decide to just stay where we are. He pops a float and we all take a safety stop. On the surface we are being pummeled by the swell and waves while we watch the boat pick up our second group of stranded divers. Theresa tells jokes and stories while I try to not drown. I drink a bunch of sea water and notice that I’m going up and down and side to side, and realize that the boat is at least 15 minutes away from getting us. “I will not hurl, I will not hurl” I tell myself.

Finally, the boat comes by and throws out a trail line. We grab on and pull ourselves hand over hand along to the boat. I’m whipped and the boat is doing the roller coaster. I think I’m going to be fine. Sit down, snap tank into holder and it hits me. I frantically wrestle with my straps and knock all and sundry aside as I run to the stern. Grabbing on to cleat for dear life, I succumb at last. Toss cookies, hurl, feed the fishes, chum the waters. Exhausted, I stagger to a bench on the top deck and, amidst snickers and outright slander, take a nap.

Refreshed back at shore, a nice light lunch in my belly, We load up and take off for the dive I’ve been waiting for…. The Hilma Hooker. A huge cargo ship that was confiscated during a drug raid and subsequently sunk in 90 feet of water under mysterious circumstances.

The Dive was great, the wreck lies on its port side. Lots of monster tarpon and eels make their home there. The exit was a bit rough and I got knocked down by a wave just short of shore. Was laughing uncontrollably and was pummeled by the surf for a good two minutes. Bloody shins, mask askue, I still couldn’t help but grin as we hopped in the truck and took off towards town for a soda and needed decompression.

Later, we did “Alice in Wonderland”, the prettiest dive yet, with an amazing amount of fish of all types. A must do for anyone visiting.

Cruise ships are in port, so downtown was transformed from sleepy little villa to bustling port city. Bought some souvenirs and headed back to the condo for a much needed shower and bit to eat.

Tomorrow: the “Hooker” again and more epic adventure…..

Bonaire, day 3

Awesome day! Spent an hour trying to find the first dive site. Tip: NEVER let a dyslexic man with A.D.D. navigate! How the hell does “dive site 42” sound like, “Dive site 34”? Anyway, we found it. Amazing dive (called the The Lake).

And what’s the deal with all the goats and donkey’s just wandering around? Dear God! We were warned that hitting a goat will bring a dozen owners out to cry and lament the loss of his “best prize winning” goat. the fact there is no speed limit and only 4 cops on the whole island doesn’t help. Oh, and all the street signs are in a pigeon mixture of Dutch and Spanish. I haven’t seen a vowel in days! At least they are tolerant. I swear that I never saw that “one way only” sign…

Shopped at a Danish owned Chinese market today. Think I slipped a little closer to psychosis….

Night dives at “Oil Slick”. Again, beautiful dives. The full moon sent dappled shafts of light across the bottom of the sandy shelf just above the reef. Saw, octopus, several moray eels, star fish and urchins. Plus, my new favorite, cowfish. like little semi truck tractors with little tiny fins that furiously flutter to move them on their lumbering way.

Dinner was spaghetti at the condo. Weird spaghetti noodles. Like long thin macaroni. good though.

Off to bed, boat dove to the Hilma Hooker wreck in the morning.

Bonaire, day 2

WOW, crystal clear, warm water. Did several boat dives and had fun with the dive crew. The girls laid out on the bow… sigh… what a great time.

Drove around Bonaire looking at the sights and trying to find a Pepsi. They have a KFC here! LOL Can’t read ANYTHING!

Dove “Karpatta” today. The entry and exit were daunting. Pretty rough surge that throws you up onto a big slab of concrete covered with about a million crabs. Somehow, they managed to get out of the way.

The reef falls off into the abyss here. Very freaky. We say a ton of amazing fish. Lots of trumpet fish and a turtle. Managed to keep up with him for a while, till he got irritated and then, zoom, he took off. Managed to smash my knee, shin and rip a big gash in my leg trying to get back out of the water. tell you one thing about Bonaire, there are no easy entries and exits. Think I’ve been spoiled.
Beer and dinner at the “Lion’s Den” Yummy curried chicken. Odd thing… they put pesto any Mayo on EVERYTHING here.

Night….

Bonaire, day 1

So we made it. In spite of everything, we managed to actually touch down in Bonare. Aside from a brief scare in Salt Lake, where the plane was delayed 2 1/2 hours, putting us in Huston just in time to watch our plane leave. Thankfully, whatever problem they had, got fixed in due order and we were back on time.

The last hour of the flight was almost unbearable. i had been up for over 36 hours and it felt like my skin was going to simply crawl off

Finally, Bonaire… The first wave of warm moist Bonairrian air was like a soothing balm. Scented with salt and plumeria blossoms, I could actually feel my muscles relax.

And then…. they lost my luggage. Laugh, cry, cry, laugh…. I was so freaking tired, I just hung my head and got a seat on the bus.

Buddy dive resort is nice. Beautiful tile work and the locals are very friendly. Checkout dive done. The boat captain and dive masters were cheerful and funny. The resort is full of buff, blonde, tanned Swedes… I hate ‘em.

Sigh….. I hope tomorrow is better…….

Off to a rough start...

So I'm planning to keep a journal here of some of the things that happen on my Bonaire trip (we'll see how long it lasts...).

Things were going swimmingly until about 8pm the night before we leave.  Got a call that United had canceled our flight out of Gillette.  Odd, because the official reason was "weather" in Denver.  Hmmm, then how come they sent the first two flights out on the same day?  Do they employee a psychic that tells them that things will get rough a full 24 hours from now... never mind that it's 50 degrees there currently, or did someone just call in sick at United?

So the phone calls start.  Rerouted my flight out of Casper, no problem.  We'll just drive over in the morning.  Spirits high, still having fun.  Then another call.  The rest of us (including my ride to Casper) have been rerouted to Rapid City, South Dakota.  Uhhhh, okay, I'll drive.  Getting nervous now.

Then they tell me that I will still have to fly back into Gillette coming home.  Uhhhh, but my car will be in Casper.  "Sorry sir, but I cannot change your return flight because IT hasn't been canceled."

Whilst pondering that... another call.  Thank God I have unlimited minutes.  Some of us found a flight leaving GILLETTE at the same time as our original flight. SWEET!  I call United back.

"Sorry Sir, you already changed your flight once.  We cannot change it again."  The first tears of fear and frustration began to form.

Call 20 or 30:  "I talked to a woman named Mary.  Call this number and they'll get you changed to Delta out of Gillette."  It's now 1am.

Fifty-eight minutes later, a very nice lady from UNITED has contacted CONTINENTAL and exchanged my ticket for one on DELTA.  Tears of joy... I think she could hear them in my voice.

Grab 3 hours of restless sleep.

8am on departure day... I'm in the shower....

"Hey, you'd better get to the airport and check to be sure that you are really on the flight today.  There seems to be some problem..."

The headache now reaches to my navel...

Skid to a stop at airport.  Park in non-parking zone.  No one at ticket counter.  Someone from United... the ORIGIANAL airline... the one that canceled in the first place... asks, "Hey, are you with the group going to Bonaire?" 

I reply a hesitant, "yes...."

"I have room on the 9am flight.... do you want me to put you on it."

Room begins to real........ "What 9 am flight?  We were told that there were no other flights out today...."

"They must have forgotten to tell you.  That happens sometimes..................."

I didn't quite cry....