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Blogs from Caribbean Netherlands, Central America Caribbean
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Caribbean Cruise - Fifth stop: Bonaire
Published: December 21st 2011Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » Bonaire
March 14th 2011
Bon Bini! Welcome to Bonaire. Today we stopped at the beautiful island of Bonaire. Other than Aruba for example, Bonaire does not have too many tourists (yet?!), but the nature is very impressive. There are way more Dutch than Americans here and we really got the impression that we are in a way more "natural" place, which kept its own charme. From the capital Kralendijk we started all around the island. We saw wild flamingos and goats, passed the huge saltfields and the beautiful coral beaches. Our first stop was at the old slavehuts and we were able to look and also crawl inside, and I really mean crawl. They were very tiny and you could get a real feeling how the slaves had to live back then. After a small stop on a lovely beach, ... read more
DAY EIGHT
Published: March 4th 2011Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » Bonaire » Kralendijk
March 4th 2011
Bonaire The island is much as I remember it. The buildings looked freshly painted and the streets are clean and almost graffiti free. I arrived at the meeting place at the end of the pier early and found I forgot my credit card. I fought my way against the tide up the gangway, rushed back to my room and returned to the meeting spot. It was great morning exercise. But wait there’s more to come. The boat was moored at the Divi Flamingo Hotel so off we went by foot. The hotel is not far, about ¼ mile but we all had our gear so it was a trek. Once on board we immediately headed to Klein Bonaire, a small islet offshore that is located in the middle of the Bonaire Marine Park. We began our ... read more
Bonaire: My first UW Photos
Published: January 10th 2013Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » Bonaire
March 2nd 2011
The best way to get to know your camera is to use it! I went on a photo dive trip by my self with the only purpose connecting with my equipment. My first dive was a night dive. I was excited. It took me all afternoon to check and double check the orings. And that all parts were put toguether right. Lower the camera by my self on a long dock at Black Durgeon and happy I go to take my first photo and first lesson learnt: I forgot to take the lens cap off. I didn't have the balls to get out of the water and take the port off to remove the lens so I continue my dive like that. I only had one strobe and it took me a long time to actually ... read more
Bonaire - "Bon Bini"
Published: June 2nd 2010Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » Bonaire » Kralendijk
May 22nd 2010
May 22nd thru May 29th. When Plan A of vacation fails, there's always Plan B. I was to go to Belize with GAP Adventures in May, but not enough people signed up. I rescheduled for June. That trip also fell through due to lack of interest. I called Crazy Scuba in Richardson, TX and they recommended Bonaire. It's a diver's paradise and well known for shore diving. I checked the airlines and found an incredible deal, actually, a STEAL! I booked the airfare and knew that I wanted to stay at Buddy Dive Resort. The flight down to Bonaire really sucks, it is as tho the airlines know you're excited about "getting there", so they slow down the process. I sat at Houston Intercontinental Airport for 7 hours. Finally, around midnight the flight took off. Arrived ... read more
Living La Vie Das Locals
Published: February 26th 2010Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » Bonaire » Kralendijk
February 26th 2010
Just in case anyone thought I'd settled a little too comfortably into Calgary life, I'm writing to say Bon Dia (Good Day) from Bonaire. Bon - where? You ask. A tiny, laid-back island in the Dutch Antilles, I'd never heard of it either until a chance meeting with Joost, an elementary school teacher, during a visit with Koert in the Netherlands. When Joost revealed he was moving to this strange new place, I already knew it would be my next destination. Finally, after a winter of pining for sun, sand and vitamine D, I am enjoying tropical sounds, a cool breeze and the sight of sun-drenched fuschia flowers outside my window. Joost and his friend, Romy (here living her dream as a horseback tour guide) inducted me into their lives the moment I escaped the long, ... read more
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Week 7: Hard goodbyes
Published: August 2nd 2009Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » Sint Eustatius
June 27th 2009
Side note: I have been writing in my journal weekly but have not been able to get online regularly to update my blog. So, I will now be visiting Intermezzo, my favorite dining spot on Statia, to update my blog. I will first go back and add the weeks I missed and will also write new blogs on Sunday. --------------- Week 7: New Friends, New Garden This was a hard week! Not only did I just get back from St. Martin, the best weekend vacation ever, but we had a lot of work to get done and the first group of volunteers left. I became very close to this group and I really wasn't ready to say goodbye. We were a tight crew and all learned about Statia together as I only arrived on Statia two ... read more
Childrens Garden and my toughness
Published: June 18th 2009Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » Sint Eustatius
June 18th 2009
I can't believe another week has almost gone by. I have been working hard all week trying to get the Children's Garden plots ready for summer club, which starts on July 6th. A typical day begins at 6am for breakfast and picking up Carlton at the office, then starting the manual labor in the garden at 7am, breaking for lunch around 1pm and then working on the planning and research for summer club in the garden. Summer club is 6 weeks long with 30 kids (ages 8-12) coming to the Botanic Garden every Monday looking to learn and have fun. This is what I am spending a lot of time on right now. Outside of work, I am turtle patroling, hiking, snorkeling, running, and thinking of my family and friends that I wish I could share ... read more
Bonaire Day 4--Wreck Diving in Bonaire
Published: February 12th 2010Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » BonaireJune 16th 2009
After some cereal at the hotel, Nick was very excited to do Bonaire's most dived wreck, The Hilma Hooker. No, the ship did not sink because it was overloaded with hookers. It did, however, have 25,000 pounds of marajuana stashed on it. You can read a more detailed history of it here . The ship lies on her starboard side in about 100 feet of seawater. The water temperature was a beautiful 82 degrees. We saw huge tarpon hanging out in the shadows of the ship. The shadow made photography conditions bad...I wish I had underwater housing for my Nikon. This is me at the stern of the Hilma Hooker (with horrible trim). You can see the prop. This is me, again with horr... read more
Bonaire Day 3--We're spending too much time on the surface!
Published: February 12th 2010Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » BonaireJune 15th 2009
First dive of the day is 1000 steps, so-called because you have to go down 50-something steps to get to the beach. Bonaire has amazing coral and tons of sea life. After 1000 steps we headed to our next dive site, Oil Slick. The entry at Oil Slick is one of the coolest ones I have done. You giant stride from the surface into the ocean, which lies about 4-5 feet below you. I forgot to take the lense off the camera for my first 10 pictures of the dive. Nick is definitely the better photographer. When we got ... read more
Bonaire Day 2--So when do we sleep?
Published: July 2nd 2009Central America Caribbean » Caribbean Netherlands » BonaireJune 14th 2009
After almost 24 hours of traveling, Nick and Mary finally arrived in Bonaire! We picked up our rental truck. To our surprise it was a manual, which meant Nick was incharge of driving and Mary the navigator. The speedometers are in kilometers, and so are the speed limits. Mary's favorite street sign: We followed Kaya Grande through downtown Kralendijk and finally arrived at our hotel, Golden Reef Inn. The "room" they put us in was actually more of a house, maybe about three blocks from the actual hotel. We felt pretty isolated, and eventually got it changed on the second or third night. We dropped off our luggage and got out the dive gear--we were very anxious to finally get in the water! img=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2489/3679798545_94... read more
