Final Bonaire wrap-up and Continental first class

Well I think I will write this one as I can…especially since its 5am and I am sitting in the Bonaire airport waiting for the plane to load.

Toured around the island yesterday a bit and had a pretty good time. It was overcast (and rained in some areas) all day but I skirted the bad weather by pure luck. I would have to say Bonaire has some of the worst selection of souvenirs of anywhere I have gone yet. I always get a magnet from wherever I visit and the selection here sucked. Small thing to quibble about, but come on Bonaire, get some cool swag!

I took the advice of Kenny on where to eat 2 nights ago, yesterday lunch and last night. They were all good. That’s a good GTJTTOTD: ask the locals where they like to eat. 2 nights ago I went to Bobbajen’s BBQ joint and got the special. It consisted of ribs, chicken (both really grilled rather than BBQ’ed) and some chicken sate with fries and slaw. YUMMY. For lunch yesterday I went to Kontiki where I had the kibbling (fish chunks beer battered and fried) with fries and a salad (it came with the kibbling…its not like I ordered a salad for goodness sakes!) It had a sweet chili sauce for dipping and was GOOD. That’s right, I ordered fish and liked it! Finally, last night I went to…crap I forget the name…it was something like El Fagon Latino where Kenny recommended the shrimp in garlic sauce. Also on the menu was conch in garlic sauce and since I have been seeing conch on menus since he Caymans and had yet to try any, I took the plunge. Not having had conch before, I think the cook maybe over cooked it cause it was pretty rubbery. But the flavors were awesome. It came with fries and a salad too. If you haven’t seen the theme yet, pretty much everything here comes with fries. The Dutch dig fries (with mayonnaise…although they have ketchup if you ask). So Bonaire has some good eatin’.

Drove around the south end of the island and came across some remnants or recreations of the slave huts they used to have. Bonaire has salt flats where they let seawater in and then evaporate off to sell the salt. They used to use slaves for this and to carry out the salt. Check out how freaking small these huts are! I saw some dudes pulling one on wheels during Rincon Day and thought it was a scale model…I was wrong. They still do salt production too…had giant mounds of it waiting for ships to come and carry it off. Also around the island, about every 300 feet, there is a dive site where you can go in from the shore. They are marked with yellow painted stones with the names on them. I think when/if I come back here, I want it to be with someone who dives (gotta dive with a buddy) and do nothing but shore dives. They have 61 different locations around the island. Plenty!

The western side of Bonaire is pretty choppy and rocky. Timed this one pretty well I think.
All along the western coast, there were these creations made out of junk that had drifted onto shore.
Another creation.
I am squatting in the door of a slave hut. All hail the 10s timer on the camera. Can you believe how small that is?
Huge hills of salt.
I am now in one of the 2 or 3 presidents clubs (continental’s lounge) here in Newark sipping on some XX (Dos Equis, the other choices are bud light, heiniken, and some amber bock that I might be working on a little later…all free…oh and I guess well drinks are too…and they have premium drinks for some $$$ and REALLY nice wine for $$$ too…I might try some in a bit). Getting in turned out to be a bigger trick than I thought. Apparently domestic first class (I handed them my boarding pass for the Portland leg initially) doesn’t get access to the clubs, but international does (thank goodness I still had the boarding stub from Bonaire!!) Since I executed to my plan of rolling out of bed, throwing some clothes on and then planning on showering here, it was pretty vital that I get in…cause I was feeling funky and I am sure smelling that way. But get in I did. Shower I did. Clean I am. Why I am talking like Yoda, no idea have I.

The flight up wasn’t bad. Leather seats in first class so that was nice. They served breakfast too (semi rubbery cheese omelet, sausage patty, scalloped potato wedge) and I had a Kahlua and coffee as a little morning refresher. The movie they showed was Marley and Me…about the dog…with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston. I didn’t listen to it but glanced at it from time to time. Even without sound it looked stupid.

Here in the lounge, they also have a nice selection of crackers, Tillamook cheese (how about that….from Oregon to Newark to my belly…yummy) as well as apples and chips and stuff. I am sort of considering just hanging here and doing cheese and apples and chips as my “lunch”, but I am not sure I can hold out. With the crap I got trying to get in, I might not be able to return if I leave. I am telling you, if you don’t do international first class (the baseline to get in for “free”, you either need to buy an annual membership (F that) or have a platinum American Express card….wonder how hard those are to get? I have a Costco American Express…wonder if they would upgrade that.

So this could be the last update and then again, I might post some more stuff once I get back to Portland and start exploring (hiking, biking…all great plans that I hope I don’t blow off for relaxation purposes). If I do continue to post, I will send out mails to let people know…if you want off the list, let me know…and if you want on, same deal. 7 more weeks before I have to go back to work (assuming I don’t win the lottery before then) so there is plenty of time for me to get into other adventrures! Cause it’s our time, the People’s time!

Before I sign off, I thought you would want to know Fritos and XX go together well.

Last day of diving on Bonaire - picture blitz!

Hey all!

Well yesterday was my last day of diving here in Bonaire (and for the trip too). I dove 30 times in the past 3 weeks and one of the purposes of the trip was to see if I would get tired of it. The answer is: no. I wish I was going out today for more fun and excitement, but since I am flying out tomorrow, I need to make sure all the nitrogen is out of my body so I don't get the bends when the plane flies (you learn about all this when you get your open water certification from PADI...the whole class is basically what to do if things go wrong but you obviously need to know them).

Anyway, yesterday's dives were all good for one reason or another. On some of the dives I thought I wasn't going to get to see anything interesting and bam, out of the blue there would be something super cool. All of the dives here we would go down to 60 feet and cruise along the reef wall and then when your tank was half empty, go up to 20-30 feet and cruise back along the reef. The deeper you are the quicker you go through your air so going up to 20-30 feet will ensure that half a tank is plenty to get you back to the boat. While I saw some neat things at 60 feet (turtles, a seahorse, some eels) there was usually much more life on the upper side of the reef. I originally started out this whole trip with an attitude of wanting to see tons of awesome things on every dive but now I am enjoying just being able to be in the water checking things out and the occasional awesome things are just bonus. I think I might be getting zen! Help!

Sophia asked which place was the best and I would have to say the Caymans slightly edged out Bonaire, but to be fair, there is a LOT of shore diving that I wasn't able to do on Bonaire that might have made up for it. Plus Bonaire is technically out of the hurricane zone (although there was one that came through like 4 years ago) which makes it desirable. Finally while the Caymans are cheaper to get to as far as flights go (Bonaire is crazy expenive for airfare, imo), staying on the island (lodging, food, car rental, etc) is cheaper on Bonaire. Either way, I want to come back to both and dive some more!!! Oh, Curacao was a not too distant 3rd while DR was 4th....there might be better places to dive in the DR so lets just go with: don't go to Punta Cana if your purpose is diving...the beaches are awesome, though.

And now, here are the last of the dive pictures for you. I think they are pretty cool and like I said, yesterdays dives capped off the diving nicely! Once again, click on the picture to embiggen and see the details.

This is a little cleaner shrimp sitting in the rock. Supposedly, if you stick your finger out it will come out and clean it. I sat there for a bit with my finger in its feelers and it felt around a bit, but didn't come out. I either didn't wait long enough or I was clean enough.

Some anemones. I like these things. Drifting in the water. Always fun to look at
No this is not some giant fish turd...although it looks like one....brown with oranage spots. Yummy! Actually it's a sea cucumber.
Giant puffer fish giving me the stare down. I had been trying to get good pictures of one of these for a while and most scurry off all scared. This one just turned to me...stared and then wandered off all nonchalant.

Side view of that puffer. Those two fins at the back are what he uses for propulsion. They swish back and forth and he moves...looks funny.

Spotted eagle ray! Before a lot of the dives here and in Curacao they said to keep an eye out cause we might see one. This was actually on the last dive yesterday. How perfect is that timing? Really cool looking. I took a lot of pictures and you are about to see some of them.

Look at how long the tail is. Its like 6-8 feet long.

Crusing along with his box fish posse.

The rays feed on stuff in the sand and their motions stir up some goodies the box fish then scavenge on.

Red banded rock shrimp just for Tam since he complained about the number of pictures I had of them. I could do more...don't tempt me!

Some iguanas sunning on the deck of the pool at the place I am staying. The little one eventually fell in and swam around for a little while.

Got to see another seahorse!! And, if I do say so myself, I think this picture came out fairly well. The seahorse looks all fuzzy dirty on purpose since it helps it hide better during the day time.

A sponge of some kind. I just thought it looked cool.

A flounder cruising along. One of the other divers scared it from where it had been laying so I followed it a bit and snapped some photos.

I know this looks like its just sand, but this is where the flounder went to ground. I watched it settle down, wiggle around for a bit to dig in and get some sand on top and then it just sat there. If you click on it to make it bigger, you can see some of the spots showing through.

The obligatory eel shot. A golden moray I think. He was actually pretty small and I was using macro and zoom and flash and it all came together nicely to get a good clean shot.

Some more anemone...with purple tips!
A puffer of some sort. I like the spots on it and the fact that is is showing a little spikey action. By no means was this at full puff.
Pretty funky looking, huh? Like out of dinosaur times or something. This strange looking thing is called a slipper lobster. You are looking at the front of it too. I had never heard of one before much less seen one. Like I said, had some good dives yesterday.
And last but not least, a young turtle. I assume this because it wasn't very big and seemed to be uncoordinated. Swimming around munching on the coral. Pretty good shot, huh?

Well there you go. I am going to be cruising around the island checking things out today. Kenny (he and his wife Margaret are awesome. If you come to Bonaire, stay at Coral Paradise Resort..its affordable and nice and they are a wealth of info about the island) has told me of a cool beach to visit where I could even learn how to windsurf...for $50 an hour. The place has a large sandy bottom that is only 2-3 feet deep and goes out 25 feet so if you fall off, you can just step right back up on the board. I don't know if I want to spend that kind of money this late in the trip but we will see.

I will do at least one more entry when I hit Newark tomorrow to at least give updates on Continental's first class and their lounge there. My plane leaves at 6 am and everyone here says I should get to the (super small) airport 2 hours before it leaves so we are talking before the butt crack of dawn here. My plan is to roll out of bed, throw some clothes on and hit the road. The Jersey first class lounge has showers so I can clean up there. What a plan! :-)

Man this trip has been a great time...but it should have been....cause it's our time, the People's time!

Cya!

Nother day in Bonaire

I know I just updated yesterday, but I had a good day today so thought I would do a quick hit for those of you jonesing for another installment….and I expect that, of course, is all of you.

I dove 2 times today and then took the afternoon off for Rincon Day (also the Queens Birthday). All the shops are closed down and everyone goes out to Rincon (one of the towns on the island) for this huge street party with food, drinks, and music. There was even a small parade consisting of a trailer with a band on it followed by dancers dressed in traditional (as in back in the slave days) island garb. Beer was cheap-ish ($1.50 per bottle…an 8.5oz bottle that is) and you could buy beer and wander around town. The food looked interesting, but it was all in Dutch…or the local language so I am not entirely sure what was being offered, but I think it was chicken and ribs and stuff like that based off what I saw. I had lunch before I went (I am stupid cause it smelled GOOD there) so I was just sucking down Amstels (2,50 gilders please...which brings us to a GTJTTOTD: Dutch people and their territories use a comma for a decimel point and the period for a comma so $1,000.00 in the US would instead look like 1.000,00 here. This could be all of Europe for all I know, but for sure its the Dutch…just be aware).

Couple of observations on my traveling so far. First, as a Maker’s Mark ambassador, I am saddened by the lack of Maker’s Mark availability on these islands. Granted there might have been some bars on the Caymans that had it, but I didn’t see it anywhere except for the airport in Jamaica and I was there at 9 in the morning so it was a little early for a Maker’s Mark and coke (actually diet coke, but you get the idea). For some reason both here and in Curacao (pronounced cure-a-sow, btw), its all about Dewars…meh. Second, the cigarette packs here don’t mess around with the warnings. It’s none of that “might cause cancer” or “could cause birth defects” crap. Every pack says: Smoking will kill you. Bam. Oh and I was wrong about the Americanization of Bonaire. There is a Subway here and I saw there is a KFC listed on the Bonaire info website…so there is some Americanization creepage, but still not too bad. I could see living or retiring here. Super relaxed and awesome weather. Of course I am only here for 6 days so maybe I am still in the honeymoon phase….I could also see the Cayman Islands for that matter…if I could afford it, of course.

Anyway, here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

Self picture...getting some nice sun

What is quite possibly the most awesome hairdo ever! look at that! Half-dome and then the remainder is braided! My dad could work that now and I might be able to pull that off soon (if the top keeps drifting away)
Hmmm...I can't decide...do I want the Spiribs or the Porchops? They both sound awesome (and all kidding aside, the meat on the grill smelled great!)
The lone "float" in the parade. Had a band on it cranking out local tunes. It was led by a police car...to keep the traffic away I guess (streets were blocked so the police car was actually sort of funny)
Dancers following the band float dressed in traditional garb. Dude in the center knows how to do a parade: he is drinking a beer while being a part of it and dancing...so is the guy behind him.

And now some dive photos:
They're everywhere! Fish galore....

One more time:

Cowfish (see the "horns" over the eyes...)

Nother spotted eel looking out

I am sort of proud of this photo of the red banded shrimp...looks good, don't it?

A flounder hanging out on a rock...pretty cool looking, no? I think it's a peacock flounder...had to chase the little bugger down to 100 feet before he stopped on the ledge

An underwater self portrait. As you can tell from this and the other picture, I haven't shaved since Punta Cana. The beard is (I think) messing with my mask a little bit. I have some water leakage...or at least more than normal...that I am constantly getting rid of (which isn't hard...breath in through mouth and out through nose and it forces the water out of the mask...its just annoying)

Seahorse!!! I am saddened its not focused as well as it should be (I think the rocks in the background are focused) but I wanted to share with everyone anyway. Again, I wish there was some perspective I could show on this cause the thing was easily 3 feet long...kidding! It was maybe 3 inches long...really cool looking

So there you go. Another fun day and some good diving! I have 3 dives tomorrow and then on Saturday I am going to drive around the island and visit the national park that is suppsed to be interesting in a desert sort of way.

I am having a fun time but why wouldn't I? It's our time, the People's time.

Cya

Bon Bini from Bonaire!

I am sitting on the back porch of my “unit” (aka apartment) in Bonaire drinking a Polar Beer (a pilsner beer made in Venezuela…that’s right!...me and Chavez are tight like that….and for those who want to know, its not bad and its cheap to boot…only 8oz per bottle tho) and eating an apple. Weird combo that is actually going together fairly well. Weather.com says its 87 right now, but it doesn’t really feel like it. I guess the breeze helps out a bit…and the shade.

I dove 3 times today so there will be pictures coming round the bend. I actually got a little cold on that last dive which is weird considering the water is like 81 degrees, but I guess too much exposure to that temp cools a body down. The awesome crazy thing is I have been the last person on the boat each dive. This is from Mr. “blows through air”…so I guess my work is paying off. For those of you who wish to know, the following things have helped: lighten the amount of weight I put on until its just enough to keep me down, breath in and out slowly (Crowley had a good suggestion: breath in for 5 seconds and then out for 5 seconds…and rather than gasp in, suck the air in slowly…it all helps), and just cruise along nice and slowly.

Part of the “Cruise along nice and slowly” involves not paddling a lot. I was doing that in DR (2 weeks ago…you all remember…the start of the trip) and one of my dive buddies said something. I hadn’t realized I was doing it until he mentioned it. Since then I have been working on doing just about one kick per breath. In the mean time I have been looking at fellow divers and you can almost tell who is new and who has done a lot of diving by the fin action. The new people are flip, flip, flip while the experienced are more flip…………flip……..flip….you get the idea…and if not, oh well.

Oh I was asked what the difference between Amstel and Amstel Bright is….come on…that one was easy: its brighter! Hey oh! Ba dum dum (my rim shot). Nah, I would say it’s like Bud vs. Bud Ice or something like that.

Let’s back up a bit cause leaving Curacao was a bit of an adventure. The cab right to and from the airport was supposed to be $40 (is that reasonable? I don't do cabs and the ride was around 30 minutes....seemed like a lot anyway...). I had to be picked up at 5:30 to make it to the airport by 6 for the 7am flight. On the way to the airport, the cab driver said “since I had to get up so early, the price is $50, they told you that, right?” and I said “no”, but I was already in the cab on the way and didn’t really fight it. Then, when I finally checked in, Dutch Antilles Express (DAE) has a 20 kilogram limit for the trip from Curacao to Bonaire and I doubled that with my baggage. Its 3 gilders per kilo for overage so I had to pay 60 gilders (about $36) extra to get my boarding pass and my luggage on the plane. In the mean time, there was this gaggle of older ladies who all had gigantic pieces of luggage. They all ganged on one helper and I KNOW she didn’t check their shizzle. Finally, to leave Curacao I had to fork over another $8 airport fees (which is funny cause if I was going to the US instead it would have been like $30…same airport…higher fees….though don’t waive the flag of victory yet, I have to pay an exit fee when I leave Bonaire and I think its $40).

Death plane from Curacao. Not sure if I was supposed to be able to take the picture since we were on the tarmac, but I snuck shot it. It held 48 people and had NO leg room:

So I made it to Bonaire and the place I am staying, Coral Paradise Resort, is pretty nice. It was the only place I saw on trip advisor that had nothing but 5 star ratings...I mean everywhere else had at least 1 douche that gave it 1 star because the clerk sneezed at the wrong time or something, but this place was nothing but good reviews (and I can see why). The room has 2 queen sized beds and a kitchenette and runs $140 a night up to 4 people so it’s not a bad deal at all. Of course, you need to look at the airfare (HIGH) and see if it is really worth it. Hopefully airfare will drop coming here sometime, cause already I think I would like to come back. Anyway, CP is owned/operated by Kenny Treadway and his wife and Kenny is a good ole boy from New Orleans, LA that retired from T-shirt making bidness (said he supplied about 75% of all T-shirts sold in the French Quarter) after 25 years, cashed out his 401K (pre collapse) and built this place to retire to. He is quite the character. His place is right next to Captain Don’s Habitat and I dive through them. It’s all good.

From what I can tell (and have been told) the ABCs (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao) go pretty much like this: Aruba is the most Americanized and other than the hotels, there isn’t much to do, but apparently they have Taco Bell. Curacao is more Dutch and the natives aren’t as friendly as Aruba (I don’t know…they seemed relatively nice to me) and while there are McDonalds and KFC’s there, that’s about it for the chains. Bonaire is less Americanized than either. I don’t think I have seen anything food chain here and that’s all good. Its much more laid back…not as populated...and pretty serene. I will know more (I hope) after I drive around the island on Saturday. They do have a warehouse food store like a poor man’s Costco here. I got groceries for he week (breakfast and lunch) and hit 3 different supermarkets checking stuff out. The selection isn’t too bad….

Again, did 3 different dives today. The first was at a place called Rappel cause they used to have to rappel down to get to the site from land (we did a boat instead…much easier). The second and third sites were out at Bonaire Klein (a small island just off shore) and had some cool things to offer. The reefs here are incredible for the topography. So far the sea life isn’t completely overpowering me with its abundance, but for sure some if the fish you do see are HUGE. I had to do a checkout dive yesterday (just to make sure my gear was all working properly) and dove the shallows in front of the resort. In about 10 feet of water I see what I thought was a shark it was so big. Had to easily be 4-5 feet long. It was actually a tarpon that was ginormous and it had friends about as big. It was interesting to just float there and watch them swim around.

And without further ado, here are your pictures (click on to embiggen):

Like a tay in tha winnnnnn (Nell reference)
A flounder of some sort buried in the sand. You can see the spots...I think this might be a peacock flounder, but what do I know. Still prety cool lookin'!
Where is riki tiki tavi when I need him?

For all my Jewish friends, a spong menorah!

Huge puffer fish (unpuffed, of course). Easily was a foot long if not longer.

No idea what this is, but I like the neon blue colorings on it. Cool looking dude

I think they called this a tiger grouper. Not real sure, but it was about 3 feet long nose to tail. I wish there were people in the photos to give perspective.

Turtle!

So I was swimming along looking for cool things to look at when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was a see through something like jellyfish (and maybe it is one) with a long tail (tenticle). I don't know my camera that well yet so what I did was put my hand out about where the thing was to set the focus and then snapped the picture. If you blow it up you can see it fairly well...not as well as I would like, but it is one of the cooler things I saw today and it was small compared to all the big stuff.

I dunno...some kind of sea fern of some sort. Thought it looked pretty cool

I believe this is a blue grouper of some sort. Again, perspective is everything cause this thing was BIG. The trumpet fish on top of it was easily 2 and a half feet long.

A lizard fish (I think)...looks like a lizard, anyway....if it was a fish:

It's the queen's birthday tomorrow (the Netherland's queen...Beatrix I think is her name) and is a national holiday. Supposed to be some celebrating going on or something. I need to check with Kenny to get the scoop. For sure more diving is coming cause I have 5 more boat dives to do in the next 2 days. Woo hoo!

Hope everone is doing well and taking the time to enjoy life because its our time, the People's time!