Bonaire 2003

We were suppposed to leave on Christmas Day but Jamaican Air cancelled the flight and the next one was Saturday am 12/27. On top of that, there is no connection to Atlanta early enough on Saturday. We took a late flight on Friday to Atlanta and stayed at the AmeriSuites. The next morning Susan, Trey, Lori, Ron and I got to the Atlanta airport early and checked in our heavy dive bags. Scuba gear is heavy! We had a great trip to Montego Bay but departed late and worried about our connection at Montego Bay. To our disappointment the flight was oversold and people had to stay overnight and catch the flight on Sunday. Susan really raised heck but there was no avail. Jamaican Air sent Susan, Trey, and I to the Montego Bay Resort at their expense and the accomodations were first class. Lori and Ron flew on to Bonaire and got to go first class. They picked up the rental car, checked in at the resort, unpacked, and had their dive orientations. They did fine and went out for pizza Sat night. The next morning Air Jamaica picked us up and we were off (late departure) nonstop to Bonaire where Lori and Ron met us. All of the heavy dive bags had gone on over on Saturday so they were all unpacked.

We immediately went for our dive orientation with Richard and Andre. The routine at the dive shop at the Sand Dollar had improved. There was a tidal wave in 1999 and Andre lost almost everything and had to start over. The pier was finished just in time for our trip last year. This year the tank fills for Bari Reef and boat dives were done on the pier and the locker arrangements were better and more secure. We also paid our $10 for the reef preservation program. We snorkled on Sunday and started diving on Monday. Bari Reef has more species of marine animals than any dive site in the western hemisphere and it's so very easy to dive it from the Sand Dollar pier. Susan dove more this year than in the past few trips and we enjoyed her company. Ron was very comfortable diving and did more this year too. We each went on 6 boat dives and we did about 9 shore dives. We had great diving! One of our favorite dive sites is Ole Blue which requires a drive in our double cab Mitsubishi pickup. This is a shore dive and has a wall and lots of pinnacles. When you first go in you swim over a large forrest of staghorn and then elkhorn corals. We seem to always be ending dives as the sun goes down but of course most of us like night diving the best. The truck was great for the island although we almost needed four wheel drive a few times. We had some great boat dives on Klein Bonaire. The boats were crowded but quick there and back. Andre is looking for a third boat. I took a few underwater fish pictures but my strobe didn't work

The Sand Dollar Resort is one of our favorite places in the world! We have been able to get nice three bedroom condos the last two years. We have a TV, large porch, kitchen, and two baths. We spent a lot of time on the porch at a large table where we ate, played games, and wrote in our dive logs. There is a big pool, tennis courts, a restaraunt called Mangos, and of course a dive shop. There of course is a beach and ocean. You have a beautiful view toward the small island of Klein Bonaire and beautiful sunsets. This is on the leward side of the island. We had very little trouble with insects or mosquitos this year and are glad that we don't have to lake malaria prophylaxis here like we do in Roatan.

We drove to the north end of the island to explore and possibly go to the national park. The park was closed but we had a great time exploring the eastern shore which is the windward side. The cacti were huge and the roads were rough but it was a great adventure. I looked for caves. We had been told that there were lots of significant caves on the island but we didn't find any to explore. The waves were huge. There were wild donkeys and goats. We especially liked the flamingos at Salina Goto. Another thing we enjoyed was photographing iguanas and lizards.

Years ago we met up with our old friend Dr Dave Wilhelm in Bonaire. He is a marine biologist and was living on a sailboat with his wife at the time. He took the whole family to a mangrove swamp to see where the juvenile feef and palagic fish live as juveniles. We also enjoyed seeing the upside down jellyfish that live in mangrove swamps. We were excited to show Ron what a great place this is for biodiversity. My Nikonos's strobe broke at this time and was not fixable for the rest of the trip which is a disappointment. We saw some great marine life including a stingray. We then stopped by Jibe City to watch windsurfing.

On Susan's birthday we dove and explored. We had a little party at lunch and the chillun baked brownies with candles. That night we went to eat at Crocantino's which is a favorite Italian Reataraunt of ours. Then we went to see the fireworks. What a lovely day. Happy birthday Susan!

Bonaire picture Our Saturday flight was late pm so we went to the Washington Slagbaai National Park. This takes up the northern 1/3 of the island and is magnificent. The little truck proved itself on the rutted and washed dirt roads and rewarded us with beautiful views. The children stood in the bed of the truck and held on for dear life. We found a funny crab. We hope to come to some of these dive sites some day.

After the park we barely had time to eat down town and get to the airport. We got to Atlanta late and missed our connection and Jamaica Air put us up in a nice hotel. The next morning we flew back to Spartanburg and poor Trey soon had to drive back to Washington, DC in the rain. We can't wait for our next family adventure. Where will it lead us? /susan