Cynde & Kelly’s Trip Report – July 3-13th
First, we have to thank Jake and Linda for opening up their home to us, and for Bonaire Talk.
Kelly: It was an amazing experience. Meeting someone I’d never met, and staying with her for 9 days was a little intimidating at first, but when we met at the airport, it was obvious that it was going to be a great trip. Now.. on with the report…
Cynde: Ditto to what Kelly said. After months of instant messaging, emailing, and a few phone conversations we had our fingers crossed that neither one of use would be a psycho! We said if we were, we would tell the board and it would be all over!
Kelly: Air Transportation – American/American Eagle
Columbus/Chicago/San Juan/Bonaire
No major hassles. Plane left Columbus about an hour late, due to storms in Chicago. Got to Chicago late and they were holding the plane to San Juan for 7 of us, and we had to run to get there. Plane leaving San Juan was about a half hour late leaving. All baggage made it to Bonaire.
Cynde: American and AE…Trip was “eventful” but hey, I was heading to Bonaire! 2 planes had mechanical problems, and replacement planes had to be found. It took 26 hours to get there! Jake had a glass of wogga ready for me when I finally arrived (Thanks Jake, boy did I need it!)
We meet
Cynde: Upon getting back to our apartment at Diver’s Paradise (thanks Jake and Linda)…we unpacked and laughed as we shared our “cam toys” and shirts John had made for us. Kelly brought me some great shirts from the bar where she works, police shirts, come candles (for our romantic evenings) and beautiful hand made note cards. I gave her her purple hat, and then she pulls out the “rat.” Boy are we going to have a great time!
Kelly: Diving – I logged 16 dives, most were approximately an hour. Cynde and I are perfect dive buddies, and we figured this out immediately. We are both slow, and conservative. It couldn’t have possibly worked out any better.
We also developed a new hand signal that means, “I am ready to eat. Now.”
Cynde: I logged 17 dives. Kelly and I amazingly had about the same air consumption. Now, remember we had 60 minute plus dives on “girl tanks!” Kelly always seemed to surface with a little more PSI than me, but we were pretty well matched.
We did majority of dives at Small Wall because it was so darn easy, and we didn’t have our big, strong men to carry our gear. Other dives were:
Buddy’s Reef
Capt. Don’s (boat dive)
Bari Reef
Windsock/N. Belnem
Alice in Wonderland (with the Pink Bus)
Kalabas Reef
Kelly: Saw the “regulars”, except that I saw my first ever frogfish at Buddy’s Reef, and my first ever hawksbill turtle at Bari reef. I was so excited! I also saw an abundance of balloon pufferfish at Bari reef on a twilight dive, and a seahorse at Capt. Don’s Reef. Apparently there are several seahorses at Small Wall, but we were not told of their location until after our last dive… then for some reason everyone wanted to tell us where they were!! So in November, we are on the lookout! There is a nice little cave at Small Wall, straight out from the reefcam, and all the way down (maybe 60 feet). There is an overhang and it’s pretty cool. We would make sure the gate was closed, and then head down to the beach. Blijke would jump over the fence, head to the neighbors, and come down to the beach. She would swim out after me, and it was so funny. Note Blijke on the left of Kelly swimming out.
We had Martin from Buddy Dive dive with us and make a video, and it was just awesome. I’ve watched it about 20 times already. Martin is just adorable, as were Alex, Augusto, and Lourdes (the “dive mom”). We really enjoyed doing our diving through Buddy’s, the loading and unloading of the tanks at the drive through is quite civilized and extremely easy. We decided to cancel the remainder of our boat dives after the first one, just because it was so much easier for us to shore dive at our leisure.
Cynde: Checkout at Buddy’s was great. Saw my first frogfish and hawksbill turtle. I was screaming through my regulator when Martin pointed out the turtle. I was the only one there for orientation, so Martin the DM went on my check out dive with me.
Karen and Roger Huff came over that afternoon and we did a dive at small wall. I forgot my American Flag, but Karen had hers. You can’t really see it, but she is waving it!
On Kelly’s checkout dive at Buddy’s, I tried to find the frogfish for her but couldn’t. We knew right away that we were going to be great dive buddies.
We hit small wall that afternoon after we got settled in at the house.
The dive at North Belmen was Ok. Upon exit, I (Cynde) tripped and just decided it would be easier to crawl out. So here I am crawling out, looking like a big dorky pansy, I look up and there is this beautiful woman walking toward me into the water…TOPLESS! Talk about feeling like a klutz! Kelly and I giggled because the boys were going to be disappointed they missed that one (not me looking like a pansy, but the beautiful woman).
We dedicated the dive at Alice in Wonderland to Bob Liguori. We were originally going to do Angel City, but the surf had really picked up due to Claudette, and there wasn’t any easy entry point, so we went to Alice. Plus the Pink Bus was there. I didn’t dive this site last time, and it is a must. The coral heads really do look like the Hobbit Meryl!
Cynde: We hit Bari twice. I wanted to check out the new dock, and it is really nice. This reef is still one of my favorites. There are so many things to see there. We saw a hawksbill turtle (Kelly’s first) on one of our dives there. It was just magical and fantastic!
We had lots of toys with us for the dives, and didn’t use them all…so we are saving them for next time! This is one of my favorite pics of Kelly J
Now, the big event was going to be our purple hats and thongs….we had the hats, put the thongs over our wetsuits. I brought purple gloves but you couldn’t see them…the funny thing was we did our thing in front of the cam, and then stuffed the hats and gloves in our bc….we were heading back down the reef and Kelly was in front of me…doing a frog kick…in her purple thong….I giggled cause it was just funny….then I look up and there is a male diver hovering over us….I think he must have come in at the Black Durgon because there were no boats moored…he was just following us down the reef. I banged my tank to get Kelly’s attention and she came over and I pointed to my purple thong, then at him…we giggled…I wonder if this guy thought he had died and gone to heaven or something!
Thanks to Freddie and Cecil for figuring out what we were doing on the street cam!
 
We did a night dive at Buddy’s our last night. Visibility had decreased dramatically by then due to hurricane Claudette, so there wasn’t a lot to see. Charlie the tarpon showed up just as we hit the reef and stuck VERY close to us through most of the dive. It made the dive VERY worth it because it was fun to have him circling us, going for food, coming back. He took off half way down the reef, but when we hit the same spot coming back he hooked back up with us again…
Food
Casablanca Argentinean Grill – filet mignon with mushroom sauce. Very good, we ate here twice. Very large portions, the food is served on a large platter. We met Inez the owner, she was most amused when Cynde told her it wasn’t enough food. For a second I thought she was going back into the kitchen to get MORE food.
Capriccios – Kelly: filet mignon again…. it was a great meal, and the largest filet I’ve ever had. We were outside, and the motorcycles were so annoying, the only annoyance of our trip. Cynde: I had a pasta with mushroom sauce…it was fabulousJ Oh, the “lady and gentleman” eating by the window were interesting…a very unlikely couple…now that we know that prostitution is legal on Bonaire, it makes sense!
City Café – Kelly: I had pork in – you guessed it – mushroom sauce. My only non-filet mignon of the trip, and it was very good. Amstel Brights were buy one get one free for happy hour. We were happy. Cynde: I had the Chicken Cordon Blue…it wasn’t good at all. Very dry and tough. Everything else there is good, just skip that one!
Kelly before the brights….
Kelly drank ALL of these, she wouldn’t share….(just kidding), we were pretty “Happy” when we left!
We also had a “mystery” vegetable on our plate…neither one of us could manage to get it on the fork…(certainly couldn’t have been the Amstel’s)…we asked the waiter what it was but he didn’t know how to translate…anyone???
Sunset from City Café
Capt. Don’s. Kelly- Filet Mignon. It was good. Watched the tarpon at night, and watched the night divers. Cynde: I had the fajitas…they were very good!
Lion’s Den – Kelly - Surf and Turf, the best shrimp I’ve ever had. Nice romantic table by the water, too. Cynde ordered the special, it was some sort of lobster ravioli that ended up costing an arm and a leg, but I’ll let her tell that story. Yes, I (Cynde) ordered the ravioli lobster special. It was very good. When we got the bill, I about fell out of my chair because my lobster ravioli was 60 NAF!!!!! Make sure you ask how much it is before you order it!
Crocantino’s – Dinner with Dara. Kelly - Very good filet – with mushroom sauce. This place has wonderful ambiance. The salad was great also. Cynde: I had a pasta dish. Food and ambiance was very good. The restaurant has several rooms that have plants and lights….we were sitting outside originally, and then another “downpour” happened. We rushed inside, and I thought “OH NO, I left the truck window down!” I ran out and of course, it was UP….needless to say I looked like I had just gotten out of the shower!
Dara and Kelly…
Chibi Chibi for lunch. Kelly - Nice table with a great view, and I had Caesar salad and fried shrimp. Good meal. Cynde – I had a nice big fat juicy hamburger!
WattaBurger. Kelly - We ate here twice for lunch, because everything else was closed. But I had the bacon cheeseburger and loved it. Once we got it to go and ate it on the tailgate of the truck beside the water. Life is good here…Cynde- If you’re hungry and need food after 3:00, this is the place to go!
The Lost Penguin. Kelly - Our last day, and we had breakfast here. I couldn’t even speak my pancakes were so good. Cynde – I had the eggs benedict per Cecil’s recommendation….very good. Next time we will eat there more often. Good prices and good food.
Dock of the Bay at Buddy’s: Kelly: I had a bacon/mushroom cheeseburger, and it was huge, greasy, and good. Cynde – We had lunch there. I had a big fat juicy hamburger and fries…it was very good!
Airport: Cynde: I had gone to the airport to pick Jake, Linda and the kids up from Curacao, and after waiting over 2 hours (their plane was very late due to a flat tire), I was starving! I ordered a hamburger from the airport restaurant, but it tasted a little funny so I didn’t eat most of it…I would skip that one next time!
Unfortunately we didn’t make it to Mango’s to meet Ruth and have a Salitos. Each time we passed we were either heading out to dive, or going back to the house to rest and then dive again…Next time Ruth!
Our Amusing Last Day
No diving this day, so the plan was to have breakfast at Lost Penguin, then head to the Donkey Sanctuary, the Flamingo Sanctuary, and then drive the long way (to get some pictures) to Sorobon to hang out with Ann Phelan, get some sun, snorkel and watch the windsurfers. Well on the way, it started absolutely POURING rain. The road to the Donkeys was flooded, so we nixed plan A, and went for Plan B. We headed toward the salt flats and it turned into a monsoon. Couldn’t even see the salt hills. The entire end of the island was under a huge downpour. Since we were going that way to take pics, and see the Flamingos…NOT, so on to Plan C, which was to take the short route to Sorobon. Once there, the place was deserted, because it was still raining. No Annie, because she obviously has more sense than we do. Okay, Plan D. Head back toward town, and find funny things to take pictures of along the way, because we are now desperate for entertainment. These included a giant sign that said “JOS”, and a chicken with some babies, Kelly “saw” a giant crab walking on the side of the road…more flamingos but there was no way to get to them to take pictures….
Just to prove that it DOES rain on Bonaire, we stopped by Windsock and took a pic of the north side of the island…
Did our last snorkel at Small Wall and did not want to get out of the water. We had a French angelfish coming right up to our hands while we were snorkeling. It was a great experience.
People
We met some of the most interesting people on this trip. First, I have to say that Dara Walter is absolutely charming. She had dinner with us our last night, and it was leisurely and wonderful. (yes, filet mignon in mushroom sauce). We also got to see her studio, which is so interesting. I highly recommend a stop in to say hi to her, and check out her art work. We also met Michael Gaynor, who owns Chat N Browse. He showcases a lot of local art, including Jake and Linda’s, which is phenomenal. We met Marc and Kitty, who are just as cute as their pictures, and Bas and Melody (“the new girl”), who I didn’t get to talk to nearly enough! Next time, Bas. J
Cynde – I did get to meet Walt III, my tech dive idol…very nice man, and Mary is a sweetheart! Also, my idol Ellen came by with Bennie one night because we just couldn’t get a dive organized during the week. It was so nice to finally meet her in person!
We went to the Art Festival and someone came up to talk to Dara. Dara looked at Cynde and me and said, you know each other right? Well, we didn’t, and it was Ann Phelan! She is such a sweetie, we all squealed with delight. (literally). Lots of hugging and laughing. We met her daughter Maggie, and her friend Jose.
The Party at Jake and Lindas
I was simply amazed at how many people showed up. A big thank you to all who helped out, especially Roger and Karen Huff (see you in September!) and Christine Hughes. Christine made a “smash cake” that was outstanding. The grill smoked so much I think Jake and Linda saw it on Curacao. I can’t even begin to remember everyone we met, but lots of BT’ers. Terri Sterr and her husband, Jack and Sandy Daniels, Jim and Kathi McPeak, Airey and Cheryl Baringer, Christine and Paul Hughes and their girls, Magen and Autumn, Tom and Becky Starkweather (hilarious people). Cynde – Oh, and Bas filled us all in on what conch slime is good for….hee hee hee!
Roger and Karen Huff (thanks again for all your help!)
Kelly’s rat became the “PartAAY Rat!” Be afraid…be very afraid…Why are they laughing????
|
By Cynde (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7736) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 4:24 pm: 
