April 30-May 7th dive # 971-987
We stayed at a new place this time searching on www.vacationrentals.com
I found a very nice ocean front ground level studio condo at Sand dollar right next to the dive shop. This was probably the best place I've stayed in Bonaire so far.
Travelling to Bonaire via first class on Delta made the trip much less painful. It cost less money to fly first class the week I travelled in than flying COACH (Crowded-Odoriferous-Awful-Cramped-Hungry)in February!
You are also the first one on and first one off so you are not standing in the blasting sun waiting to go through customs. I am also the first in line to pick up my rental car. Easy peasy.
Seriously, it is the only tolerable way to go.
Dive Friends dive shop was also easy to deal with. They are friendly enough but they also just leave you alone. No long "lectures' or anything. Yeah!
We only went diving at bari reef (right in front of our condo), windsock (our favorite) Salt pier, dive inn (downtown at dive friends main headquarters) and front porch (tug boat wreck dive) over and over again.
We both like easy dives and not having to stumble over rocks and boulders in which many of shore dives can be problematic.
We saw lots of turtles, squid, octopus, a seahorse, tarpon, morays, lots and lots of lionfish, all kinds of colorful fish, sea stars and a slipper lobster!
We had fun using the go-pro camera so once we download the photos I will post the good ones!
One night we did a night dive. It was a bit of disaster starting off because there were no more small tanks available in the tank shed so I was stuck having to use a "Rich Williams" (giant ) tank. I looked like I had a missile strapped to my back.
There also was a current so it made the dive even more awkward. We wanted to film the octopus coming out of his lair.
During the dive, "something" kept bumping into me. It was "Charlie" the tarpon. He made a royal pest of himself and focused his attentions on solely me for some reason. Every time he "bumped me" it made him more ardent and frantic in his endeavours.I seriously think he thought I was a potential "mate" especially after I saw him chase other fish away. It was making me freakin' nervous-especially in the pitch black. Needless to say, I thought to myself-"game over" and I aborted the dive.
The funny thing is that my husband wanted to do another night dive the next day to film "Charlie".
Well that wasn't gonna happen. Nope.
I did see "Charlie" the next day (during the day) while diving the tug boat looking for the giant lionfish at 100 feet. Charlie left me alone. Thank God.
The bird watching at this studio condo was very good. Sam Williams from ECHO Bonaire (parrot rescue and rehab) has done a great job in preserving the parrot population. I saw so many of the brown throated parakeets and yellow shouldered amazons. They would perch themselves on a tree right outside our porch door, squawking and chucking the native fruits down below.
So many people ask me "how is the food?" in Bonaire. The funny part is we don't go to any restaurants there because I like to cook my own food. I will have to say, Bonaire has the best ice cream (similar to Breyers gelato indulence), yummy pastries (appleflaps) and the best granola cereal.
I buy their "local' spinach (spinake) which doesn't taste like spinach but more like collard greens. It is basically weeds but it is green, fresh and inexpensive.Everything taste sooo freakin' delicious no matter what I cook. Diving three dives a day will do that to you. You are so hungry that those weeds are the most delicious things on earth!
I don't mind cooking so long as my husband does the dishes. That's the deal.
On this trip I packed the least amount of clothes with me this time. Both my husband and I shared one single carry on bag for all our clothes (Our check in bags had the essential dive equipment) It worked out fine although I had wished I packed another bathing suit. I couldn't stand putting on the same soggy nasty bathing suit so I ended up buying a bikini at a local shop.
Yup a bikini.HA!
I bought it because it fit perfectly. (American bikinis do not fit me. They are always too big.This was made in Germany)
I probably wouldn't wear it up north (although I do religiously work out but I am over 40 years old)
What happens in Bonaire stays in Bonaire. (wink)
