December 31 – locals go nuts with fireworks.

Today started out slow, and we didn’t get going until later in the morning. We started with some shopping for food, and then had lunch back at our unit. I then managed to fall asleep in the chair on our balcony. In the later afternoon we did a dive at Angel City. This is a dive on the south end of the island; it has easy entry and is part of the double reef. We entered and descended to the edge of the first reef; we were surrounded by a school of squid; this was Trudy’s first experience with squid. I followed them around trying to get some close photos, which would have been nice except none of my photos from the dive were in focus. DAMN!

We then went out for supper with Erin, Scott, Natalie, Pat, Phil, and Philemina at a new Mexican restaurant that we had heard good things about on the Bonaire Talks web site. The food was OK, but most of us would not get the same dish again; however the two-for-one happy hour was a huge hit. After dinner we all returned to our unit to watch the fireworks. This not the same as any fireworks display you would see in Ottawa. People started letting firework off at about dusk, and it continues unit the wee hours of the morning. We went to bed at 1:00 pm and they were still going strong. So imagine hundreds of locals with fireworks letting them off all over the island. At 11:00 pm we were looking out over the horizon from our third floor balcony and it looked like a war zone; everywhere you looked there were fireworks being shot off, and the downtown core was covered in smoke from these fireworks. I have never seen anything like it.

December 30 – Two dive day

Today Erin and Scott have their Discover Scuba dive at Yellow Submarine, and we want to dive with them on that dive, so I decided that we would do two dives today. The first dive was the reef right in front of our unit, and considering that it is in town, it turned out to be a nice dive. At the very end of the dive as were returning we saw a large Spotted Eagle Ray. I got a picture, but by the time I snapped it he was moving quickly away.

The second dive was at the Yellow Submarine house reef. By the time we got to Yellow Submarine, Erin and Scott were just getting ready to go for their dive. By the time we got to the water, they were doing there skills testing in the shallow water. I took a few shots and then Trudy and I headed out to deeper water to wait. We waited quite a while and apparently one of the other people doing the Discover Scuba was having some difficulty, so it was taking a long time to start the dive. I decided that we should start our dive, so we headed out on to the reef for a nice short dive.

To view all of the photos from the day visit the web site and follow the links

December 29 – Tennis

The morning started early for both of us, so we decided to get a little tennis in. Trudy had no problems playing after her recovery period from her operation. This day was a veg-out day.

December 28 – Second Dive @ Tori’s Reef

Spent the majority of the morning getting Erin and Scott’s car rental. Bencho car rental was suppose to deliver the car at 9:oo am, but they didn’t show. After a phone call, we agreed that we would pick up the car at their location at 10:00 am, island time. We are quickly remembering that island time is anywhere from one to two hours after the agreed time. Once we got the car we had lunch at Wanaburger, which will not be a repeat location.

In the afternoon we all headed out to Tori’s reef for our second dive. It was a long swim out to the reef, which Trudy complained about. I think the swim was worth it, as the reef was very nice and it was an excellent dive. I was however struggling with my mask the entire time.

To view the all of the pictures follow this link to the pictures

December 27 – South end of Island tour

I woke up this morning with a bad case of “swimmers ear”; I couldn’t hear out of the right ear, and every so often I had a sharp pain. As a result I had no burning desire to get in the water today. In the morning we did some shopping; first for a replacement wireless card for my computer, and then for groceries at the Warehouse. After lunch back at our unit we headed out to the south end of the island for some snorkeling and sight seeing.

Our first stop was at a site called Angel City, where Trudy, Erin, and Scott went for a snorkel. Trudy returned after about 30 minutes, and Erin and Scott returned about an hour later. We moved a little further south to a location called The Invisibles. This time I said I wanted to go for a short snorkel, mostly to get cooled off, but also to see how my ear would react. By this time it was almost cleared, but still not perfect. I went in and did a shallow dive; I was able to equalize my ears, so I was very happy. After this snorkel we continued to travel south, doing a big loop around the bottom of the island, and ending up at Lac Bay. Along the way we passed both sets of slave huts, and saw a very large flock of flamingos. After getting cleaned up Trudy and I went out for dinner at “It Rains Fishes” and of course I had a steak, which was excellent, while Trudy enjoyed the catch of the day being “Wahoo”. Erin and Scott enjoyed leftovers. After dinner Trudy and I went to the Internet Café and got my new wireless card working. A few emails were sent, but no web updates were done.



To view the all of the pictures follow this link to the pictures

December 26 – Orientation dive

Today Trudy and I did our orientation dive at the Yellow Submarine House Reef. We first went and got our Nitrox dive tanks, and we enjoyed a 40+ minute dive. I went down to 50ft, and Trudy hit 43ft. The highlight was to see two large Tarpon cruising along just below us looking for a meal. Erin and Scott managed to get in two snorkels, one in front of our unit, and one at Yellow Submarine, while we did our dive. We had spaghetti dinner at the unit and went for a walk after to hunt for some ice cream.



To view the all of the pictures follow this link to the pictures

December 25 – Christmas in Paradise

The day started with Erin making pancakes for breakfast which were very good. We then drove to Lac Bay for some snorkeling. This location is usually an excellent spot, and one of my favorites. What I didn’t realize is that we have been enjoying especially high winds lately, and this causes a fairly strong current to flow into the bay. This made it impossible to actually swim to the better parts of the reef. This a little disappointing for me, as the first two snorkel locations for Erin and Scott turned out to be not the best the island has to offer. The evening ended with a huge meal at Casablanca restaurant.



To view the all of the pictures follow this link to the pictures

December 24 – First day on Island

The car rental agent showed up with our truck, which was a good thing, as we didn’t have any way to contact them. We also wanted to get an extra set of keys for the rental unit, including the safe key which was missing. Our unit had a cell phone, so we called the rental agent to get the required keys. On the way to breakfast we stopped at the office and she had everything we needed. We had breakfast at the new Lost Penguin, and will not be returning. We acquired some food supplies at the local Cultamara grocery store. We then did our first snorkel at Ol’ Blue, which was OK, but not a great introduction for Erin and Scott. The highlight of the day for me was dinner at Bobbiejans, the best “Take-away” food ever. As it was Christmas Eve and the place was not busy we actually ate in the back court yard.

To view the all ofthe pictures follow this link to the pictures

December 23 – Travel Day

It was Scott’s first time on a plane! Everyone did some sleeping on the first leg of the journey, which took us from Montreal to Miami. The Miami flight departure was delayed by about 20 minutes due to mechanical problems; the generator died just before they started the engines. The flight from San Juan was delayed a number of times, but we did get off eventually. We arrived in Bonaire at about 11 pm--2 hours late. One piece of luggage did not arrive. Our truck rental was missing in action, but the rental agent was there. We took a cab to our residence, and got settled in.

December 22 – Pack and drive to Montreal

Today I was off; I needed the time to pack all of my toys. I actually managed to get all of the camera equipment into my carry-on bag; which is now very heavy. As it was my birthday, Trudy had made reservations at Baton Rouge for 5:30pm; we arrived at around 5:10 pm, and I enjoyed my ribs dinner. We then headed out to Montreal where we were staying for the evening. The trip started at around 6:30 pm. We got about 40 minutes out of Ottawa, and then came to a dead stop. We were experiencing freezing rain on the drive, and a number of cars and trucks were in the ditch. We were stopped for about one and a half hours. The entire trip took over 4.5 hours. We got to sleep at about 12:30 am and had a wakeup call for 3:30 am.

One word: Exhausted!

More Camera Equipment...

The camera has arrived, and I have also purchased an underwater housing it, which also just arrived. This one will serve as my backup camera and housing, and when I want to travel light.

I also managed to get the blue cover for the camera on ebay. This will give it a little more protection. The camera is shock-proof from a 5ft drop and water-proof to 10ft for one hour. The housing will make it water proof to about 100ft.

Trudy has almost finished packing, and I have yet to start.

Pictures from Last Year!

The image below is a quick and dirty collage from the final set of images taken last year.
To see the full set of images from last year follow this link.

More purchases

I have received both of the new binoculars from Olympus, and I am happy with them. They are a higher power than the other ones I purchased. I guess I will need to sell the old ones on ebay to recover some of the costs. I am currently watching another Olympus auction for a new Point and Shoot camera. This one is the 720 SW which is water proof to 10ft, and it would replace the current camera that Trudy is using.

Third Bonaire Vacation

This December we leave for a four week vacation to Bonaire. I am already getting excited about this vacation, as it will be the longest one ever taken down south.

I have purchased a couple of items for the trip and I am still looking for a good carry on bag to hold all my goodies.

I have purchased a new dome port for my underwater housing; this one is smaller than the original one I purchased and will travel better in the carry on bag. I also purchased a couple of new Binoculars from Olympus Auctions on ebay. In addition, I purchased some stick-on bifocal lens that I will stick on the inside of my dive mask; I should now be able to read my dive computer, and my camera.