For those of you who did not read my last trip report, Steve and I were in Bonaire this past
August/September. It was our second trip. On the first trip in 1999, I came down with a cold the night before we left, and we missed several days of diving. For our first trip this year, (over Labor Day), we had ten days of coughing, bronchitis, and ear infections, and hardly any diving. We were happy to be on vacation, but very upset to be sick, and unable to dive. So, we decided on a Bonaire Vacation Do-Over.
The third time is the charm! Here is our happy diving story...
Day 1 - Wednesday.
We woke up well before the crack of dawn in order to make it to O'Hare airport by 4:00 AM. (It's amazing how much easier it is to get up for vacation than it is to get up for work!)
We arrived bleary-eyed at O’Hare on time and sailed through the check in process. Our flight was on time and we were off! We sat by a couple from Milwaukee who were going to Bonaire to Wind Surf. I forget that there are other things to do there besides dive. Silly me!
The layover in Montego Bay was long enough to change into shorts, grab a rum-cake at one of the shops, and go to Air Margaritaville for a Red Stripe. Perfect! I like the hanging chairs they have there (it doesn't take much to amuse me!).
We arrived in Bonaire on time and sailed through immigration. Karen from Buddy Dive was waiting for us. She remembered us from our last trip, and we felt very welcome! We rode to Buddy with Don & Gary from Atlanta. It was their first trip to Bonaire, so it was fun for us to tell them about all of our favorite dive sites, Restaurants, where to get groceries, etc.
We checked in without a problem. Our room at was fantastic. We had a great view from our balcony.
Once we got settled in, we went down to the pool bar for an icy cold Polar. T.C. (the Bartender) recognized us from our previous trip (we spent a lot of time with her on that trip, drowning
our sorrows). Not only did she recognize us, but we got a big hug too! Alex the divemaster extrordinaire came to the bar later, and we all had a big reunion. It was loads of fun!
Wednesday night is Mexican Buffet night at Buddy's, and we didn't want to risk upset stomachs that would keep us from diving, so we opted for dinner at Lion's Den. I had the Conch, it was delicious! Steve had the Chicken and Chips which is fried chicken and french fries. He said it was very good too.
After dinner we went back to our room for some much needed rest, it was a long day, and we wanted to be fresh for our first day of diving.
Day 2 - Thursday (Thanksgiving).
It's hard to believe that we could sleep in, but sleep in we did - until about 8:30.
We got ready and went down for the breakfast buffet. Buddy Dive has great breakfasts, and
it's so nice to start your diving day with a good meal!
The last time we were there, we were having problems with our MX-10 not re-winding. The guy at Habitat's photo shop (sorry I've forgotten his name) said we needed a part which he didn't have at the time. We never did get it fixed, and now it would not wind the film either, so, after breakfast, we took a stroll down to the Habitat photo shop to see if they had the parts this time. There was a different person there this time and he said there was more damage than we thought, and that it needs to go to Sea and Sea
for repair. We were bummed, but luckily, we have two cameras - the MX-10 and an Olympus 3000Z with a housing.
We went back to the dive shop at Buddy's to check in, and make our arrangements. Since we were
in Bonaire recently, we didn't have to go through the orientation process - just do our first dive off of Buddy's pier in order to check our buoyancy.
This was my first dive with my new Sea & Sea YS90DX strobe. I had the Olympus 3000 and PT-010 housing already, but after seeing all of my blue pictures, decided on splurging for a strobe. I'm glad I did, but boy, do I have a lot to learn! I had been using the auto setting on the camera, but with the strobe I needed to learn about f-stops and shutter speeds. I'm so glad that digital gives instant feedback! It's so much easier to learn when you can see your mistakes, and correct them right there! For any of you thinking about going digital, I highly recommend it. Thanks to Jeff Farris for the great information on your website and the advice.
Many pictures didn't turn out too well, since I was still getting the hang of the new strobe, and F-stops and Shutter speeds, but here
are a few that I'm not ashamed of...
Steve was getting chilled already. He declined to pack his shorty, which he often wears over his 1.5 mil wetsuit. It was $10 a day to rent one, but the dive shop gave him a discount because it was latein the day so he paid 1/2 price $5. It was going to cost $50 for the week, so we decided we should look into buying one on the island.
We were signed up for the 2:15 boat trip. We went to Rappel with Ken and Alex.
The water was a little rough over there, and I was more than little green on the boat, but the dive was amazing. Alex found us our first Seahorse! Yay! We hadn't seen any in our previous trips, so this was the first one. It's a good thing Alex was with us, because we never would have found him/her on our own! Unfortunately, the pictures of him didn't fare too well. He was at an odd angle, and
I still am getting the hang of the camera.
The entire reef was beautiful, lots of fish life and corals and anemones.
Here are some anemones which are much more cooperative subjects for beginner photographers
After we came back and got cleaned up, we went to the pool bar for Happy Hour. I was still feeling a bit green, but after a few cold Polars, and solid footing, I felt much better! We decided to stay for the Thanksgiving Buffet at Dock of the Bay. It was surprisingly good! The potato leek soup was delicious, they also had turkey, ham, smashed potatoes and other sides. The stuffing was good but a little funky - lots of fruit - but no one's stuffing is as good as the secret family recipe 
After dinner, we strolled down to the dock to look for night divers & to see what we could see.
Then wewent back to the room to rest up for another day of diving.
To be continued.... |
By Renee Bayes on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 3:39 pm: 
