We started our trip off by heading over to Beneath the Sea at the Meadowlands. What better way to start a dive vacation than to look at new dive toys. We didn't buy any dive toys, but Deborah and I both got necklaces with hatchlings (baby turtles). We met some friends from my job there who also dive. They had never been and had a blast looking at all the booths.
We then headed to Newark to check our bags and get boarding passes. We were very early, so after we had gotten the boarding passes, we drove around a bit and then got some dinner. Arrived back at Newark and headed to the gate to wait for a couple of hours. We met up with a BT family that was heading down as well. There was a near-miss of the flight, as they changed the gate, but never said anything over the loud-speaker. Tim (the father) headed over to look at the board and saw that our plane was boarding at a gate around the corner. We all gathered our bags quickly and headed over to the correct gate! We did make it and had an uneventful flight and no problems getting through customs/baggage. While we were standing in line waiting for customs, a woman came up to me and asked if I was Ruth. I told her I was, and she said she was a lurker on BT. She was from Oklahoma and I did not get her name!
AB was there to pick us up and we were through their line quickly and off to our condo for naps within a very short time of landing. Ken and I got up around 10 and visited Michael with his bagels, flagels and jewish rye bread. What a love he is! Always a smile and a big hug  Then off to Wannadive for our dive tags, Cultimara for groceries and back to the condo to wake three sleeping teens so we could do our check-out dive. We met Carl and Jan at Eden Beach and did a check-out dive that was interesting to say the least and we'll leave it at that. The rest of our dives throughout the week were much better than this one!
Mini-meet at Bobbejans! What a blast! We enjoyed putting faces and voices to those that we have met on BT Let me tell you, these people are AWESOME!!! I loved meeting Elaine and chatting with her. Nancy, from Texas, asked us all to talk rrrreeeeaaaalllll sssslllllooooowww  Jake and his kids chatted up video games with my kids. Diver Debbi and her crew were just fantastic and full of smiles! Of course Pat, Mary, Sandy, Carl and Jan all were there as well and I'm pretty sure they had a grand time! Trevor stopped in for a quick hello too. The buttons were a hit...thank you so much Chet!
So let's see, the rest of the week was spent, diving, eating, drinking and shopping We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Carl and Jan. After so many phone conversations, emails and texts, it was great to finally meet them! It felt like we have been friends forever! Can't wait to see them again!
Dive sites included Tori's Reef (eagle ray!!!), Bari, Front Porch North (twice...never did find that pesky frog fish, but had an eagle ray our second time! Carl was doing a super happy dance underwater ), The Lake, Invisibles, LaDania's Leap (first ever boat dive), Something Special (twice), Yellow Sub (first night dive that Carl led. Pretty cool...) and Lighthouse Beach. The kids did well with their diving and Ken and I can't wait to get back down in August to continue our diving! I was happy seeing my favorite queen angels on almost every dive as well as eels. Many more eels this trip than last August. Did not see any turtles, but we didn't make it to Klein, where we heard there were some. Lots of juvenile fishies and more Drums than I've seen before! Each dive was beautiful. Ken will get pictures posted soon. Not sure if the teens will be back with us in the future. Deborah graduates this June and next spring we might need to make trips to colleges for Nathaniel as he graduates next year. We'll see what the future holds for more trips with the kids. I know they do enjoy diving so I don't want to say we won't be back with them! Jared is already asking to bring his girlfriend down with him if they are still together his senior year I just love him to death! He wants to share all this with someone else! There is not a mean bone in that kid's body!
Dinners included Bobbejans (already mentioned above); Casablanca, which we found to be just as good this year as last year - mixed grill being just fantastic!; Pasa Bon - once take-out and once eat-in with Carl, Jan, Pat, Mary, Julia and Bob on Friday for a mini-mini meet ; Paradise Moon for all you can eat fajitas; and the all you can eat BBQ at Calabas at Divi. Carl and Jan hosted a potluck dinner at Debbie and Gregg's place. That was a wonderfully relaxed evening! Thank you to Carl and Jan for being wonderful hosts We also had breakfast on Saturday morning at Sense with Carl and Jan before we said good-bye, since they were heading out that afternoon. I love their Dutch pancakes! Oh...and brunch at Eli Deli across from Michael's (just Ken, Deborah and myself...the boys were lazing around that morning) and lunch at City Cafe...I will definitely go to both again! Reasonable prices and good food! I don't think we have had a bad meal on island for any of our visits!
Friday we had our final dive at Something Special and it was SOMETHING SPECIAL! We met at Julia and Bob's and spent time with them prior to diving off their dock and then had a wonderful snack with them before heading off to get ready for dinner with them. I was so happy to meet them as well. Unfortunately they couldn't join us on our last dive as their dive gear had not all arrived. I certainly hope by now that they have received it!
Saturday was spent in the park as has become our custom. We stopped at the street fair in Rincon on our way to the park and I got 2 pair of earrings, made by local women, both pair beautiful! I truly love going through the park each time and seeing how different it is from the rest of the island! Standing at Suplado is just an awesome reminder of the power of nature. Across from Suplado is Seru Grande where you can see the different levels of rock on this beautiful terrace. We love snorkeling at Wayaka II and having a nice relaxed time in the water before we head home to pack. As always, we stopped at Boka Slagbaai and had refreshments. The flamingos were waiting in the salina and posing for us across the way from Boka Slagbaai. Such beautiful creatures. We made our way out of the park and headed back south, enjoying the views all the way.
Sunday morning came way to early  It was a wonderful week, spent with great friends. Meeting so many BTer's on this trip was a fantastic bonus. The week flew by too quickly, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable time. I did well with the diving, which I was concerned about since surgery had been 10 weeks prior. No aches/pains and I was able to hoist my tanks and gear with no difficulties. Ken's knee held for the week as well.
Flying home was uneventful, although there was more turbulence than we had experienced prior. We stopped at a buffet on our way home and had Easter lunch with the kids and then made a quick stop in Hampton Bays to drop some goodies to a dear friend
Our pillows were happy to have our heads back on them that evening, dreaming of our next trip... |
By "Barbie"Ruth******Ken's forever love (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3960) on Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 5:42 am: 
