Last Dive day :(

Today is our last day that we can dive on this vacation; you can't dive within 24 hours of flying. We did two dives today, and I especially enjoyed the last one. I got a lot of photos on that one.

The full set of photos from our vacation can be found on my Smugmug page.

Another Shopping day, and afternoon dive

The morning saw us doing more shopping. In the late afternoon we drove to the south end of the Island and dove at a site called Margate Bay. This dive turned out to be one of the top three dives on Bonaire.

We saw three different Turtles, and I got some shots of them below.

We also saw our first Scralled Filefish for this year, and I got a few shots of him.

In addition we saw the largest Green Moray Eel swimming in the open. He looked to be at least 6 feet long, if not longer. I was unable to get a good shot of him because as soon as he saw us he took off deeper, very quickly.

The full set of photos can be found on Smugmug.

Another afternoon dive

In the morning we did some more shopping and later in the afternoon we did a dive at Oil Slick. We saw many Rock Beauties, a Cowfish, and a Spotted Drumfish. It was a nice dive.

A little shopping - a shore dive

In the morning we did some shopping for furniture. The unit we are purchasing comes furnished, however it is still missing some pieces we think are necessary. We were just on a pricing and measuring trip this time. Unfortunately the "Super Store" was closed for inventory, so we will need to do some more shopping tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon we did a shore dive at "Something Special", its nice and close, and has an easy entry.

The next two photos show the same fish, changing colours.

Just another boat dive

The morning started early, as Pat and Natalie were leaving on a 7 am flight. Natalie was sick all night, looked like food poisoning. This was the second person in our party to get food poisoning this year, and Natalie got it on a previous trip.

Later in the morning we went on another two tank boat dive. We were not alone on the boat, but almost; there was only four of us in total; Trudy, myself, the Capitan, and a new diver working at Yellow Submarine to become a Dive Master. Both dives were nice, but not as spectacular as yesterdays.

In the afternoon we had a nap. :)

For the full set of photos visit my Smugmug Account.

This is a photo of a Sharpnose Puffer.

This is a photo of a Queen Angelfish, which have all been pretty shy this trip.
This is a shot of a Moray Eel.
This is a close-up shot of the Sharpnose Puffer, these guys are about 2 inches long.

Best two dives on Bonaire - ever!!

Today started early as we went on a two dive boat trip. These two dives turned out to be the best two dives we have ever done. On the first dive we saw a ray swim by. You can see the video below.

We also saw a very large Grouper at a cleaning station and lots a Black Durgon's.

The second dive we saw our second Sea Hourse, our first octupus out swimming, and a school of Jacks. In addition we saw a Puffer, a Drum Fish, and lot of Moray Eels, of all sizes. Some photos and video can been seen below. We enjoyed the dives so much we signed up another boat dive tomorrow, and at the time we booked we were the only ones going, so it might be a private dive.

This is a shot of the largest Baracuda we have ever seen. The photo does not do it justice; I will usually go in prety close for a shot, but this was a little scarry.

Below is a photo, and some video of our first octopus, swimming in the open in the daytime.

This is a video of a Drumfish.

This is a video of a Trumpetfish.

The day started early again, as Trudy and I lay awake in bed thinking about the new unit, and all the things we needed to do and get for it. We went to the “Home Depot” equivalent on the island to purchase a tape measure so we could measure a few things in the unit. They gave us two new ball caps with the purchase of the measuring tape :) We then headed over to the unit and spent about an hour taking more pictures, inspecting, and measuring anything that was nailed down. We had an 11 am appointment with Martijn, the real-estate agent to actually sign the documents, but a power failure on the island knocked out their server with all the information, so we simply have to wait.

In the afternoon we did a dive at Bari Reef, which we have done on other trips and enjoyed. On this one I took some video, which is viewable below. Sorry no photos, just moving pictures.

In this video you will see me bugging a small school of Grunts.

In this video you see a White Spotted Filefish, one of my favorites.

In this video you see a couple of Trumpetfish

In this video you see a Spotted Moray swimming in the open. They are not normally seen in the open in the daytime. This guy was almost 5ft long.

In this one you see the Smooth Trunkfish, with a Rock Beauty swimming by.

In this one of a Peacock Flounder I followed.

Seaside Apartments viewing

The day started fairly early with Trudy and I playing about an hour of tennis at 8 am. We then got some gas for the truck and started looking for some breakfast food. We were unable to locate any place that was open so we headed back to the unit for some breakfast. Before we could have any breakfast Pat and Natalie decided they were heading over to Seaside apartments to take a look at the units. We decided to tag along, as we wanted another look at the unit we are interested in. We spent a couple of hours viewing all four apartment configurations; one bedroom duplex (Unit we are interested in), one bedroom main floor; and the Studio, which Pat and Natalie are interested in. The studio units were actually small one bedroom, however, they were finished inside before the rest of the building was completed and the furnishing's are not as nice. Another problem with these units is that the access is from a long narrow stair case that you enter from outside the main building. Natalie has some reservations and concerns about these units and I don't think they will purchase. We are still very interested in the one bedroom duplex unit.

We headed back to the unit for some lunch and discussion about the apartments we saw. A little later in the afternoon, Trudy and I headed over to the real-estate office to purchase the one bedroom duplex unit. Our sales person, Martijn, actually talked to us for a while about the process and answered a few questions. We didn't have our passports with us so we were unable to actually provide an offer, so we have an appointment tomorrow at 11 am to prepare the offer, but we intend on making the purchase.

That pretty much killed the day for us, and I suspect that most of tomorrow will be consumed with the purchase process.

The morning started relatively early with some web surfing, and blog updates. We also saw this big cruise ship come into port. Pat was sick last night with food poisoning from a new restaurant.


In the afternoon we managed to enjoy another dive at one of our favorite sites, "Karpata". It was a short dive as I was having difficulties with my mask leaking.

The viewing of the Seaside Apartments

These are some shots of the Seaside Apartments. We are interested in a two story, one bedroom unit located at the far end of the building in the shot below.

Additional Photos of the building and other units can be found at: my Smugmug Account.
The official web side of the Apartments.


Below is a shot of the pool, and common area. The pool is very small.

This is a shot of the front entrance of the unit we are looking at, as you can see they are still completing work on the building.


If you walk down the hall you will get to the small bedroom.


Before you get to the bedroom there is the bathroom.


When you go upstairs the main living area is a long room.


These are a couple of shots of the kitchen area. The units come fully equipped and almost ready to rent out.


The following is the view from our main living area on the second floor.



And lastly the units has a basement garage with stalls for each unit, this is a shot of a typical stall.

First real dive... Yahoooo!

In the morning we went to look at the Seaside Apartments and are considering a purchase of a two level one bedroom unit. In the afternoon we did a dive at a location called Something Special, and really enjoyed the spot. The full set of photos can be found at Smugmug.

Another non-diving day

We did not get our dive in today, but we did play about an hour of tennis this morning, first time on this vacation. We did some real estate surfing in the morning, and plan to look at a unit tomorrow, Bonaire Seaside Apartments. In the afternoon we took another snorkel. This time we did a "no-no" and did some feeding of the fish. I had a few leftover pieces of a bun from lunch, so I had Trudy feed them.

Another Lazy day on the beach :)

Trudy is still suffering with a cold, but is improving. We did a snorkel in the morning, and I took a walk in town to take some shots of some of the buildings. Maybe tomorrow we will try a dive.


For the full set of photos visit my GordAlder.smugmug.com account.

Did nothing...I love vacations :)

Trudy was still not feeling well so we had a good day of rest. I managed to assemble a short video with some of the pictures from our first week on the Island.

Sick day :(

The day started out dead calm, which is not good for the windsurfers, but would be excellent for us if we were diving, but I am still not. We essentially hung around the unit for the day, and I managed to do some snorkeling in front of our unit. Natalie also stayed at the unit, and she progressively got sicker and sicker as the day went on. In the end she has lost her voice. My cold seems to be getting better, but now it looks like Trudy is coming down with the same cold; so it might be a while until we can dive :(

The full set of photos from the vacation can be found at: gordalder.smugmug.com

Butterfly Farm Visit and Snorkel

The morning started with the third largest privately owned yacht in world cruising in the bay. See http://www.yachtcrew-cv.com/paulallen.htm for additional details, but the yacht has two helicopters, 7 boats, and a 10 man submarine that can sleep 8 and say under for two weeks. It cost Paul Allen $200 million to purchase, and about $20 million to operate each year.

After breakfast we headed out to the Butterfly Farm and enjoyed a few hours with the butterflies. The photos are both mine and Trudy’s; she grabbed the camera from me and took a bunch of shots. After the farm we headed out to Lac Cai, which is the far side of the bay from the windsurf location. We then headed back to the unit for some lunch. A nap occurred, and we got up after lunch around 3pm.

We headed out for a snorkel at Andrea I. This was followed with a swim in the pool and later dinner on the balcony; we had French Bistro take out.

Below are a few shots from the day:


Below is one of the videos I took on the snorkel:

For complete set of photos visit: http://gordalder.smugmug.com/gallery/4089746#238363943