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Published: November 11th 2013
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Jim's Underwater "Selfie"
First day with his new GoPro, so he started with a picture of himself. What a guy. We made it!!! We arrived in Bonaire, yesterday morning at 6:30 a.m., after a midnight flight out of Houston. This is our fifth trip to this beautiful island known for it's great diving. Our good friends Dave and Donna Rink are with us on this trip, after missing a planned trip back in 2011, so we're really excited to show them all the dive sites on the island.
Yesterday was a tough day, as we flew all night and some of us (like me) didn't sleep at all. To make things worse the villa at Captain Don's Resort where we are staying wasn't ready until 1:00 Saturday afternoon, so we were in our traveling clothes with no sleep all day until we finally talked the maid into letting us in to unload our luggage and get changed into our swim suits and unpack our dive gear for a check out dive. By 7:30 p.m. after an early dinner I was asleep on my feet. I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.
This morning we got started about 7:00 with a cup of coffee on the veranda of our villa that faces the ocean. What a
Pink Beach
Trunk Fish fantastic view! The ocean has eroded much of the rock cliff the villa sits on so you can hear it smash against the rocks half way up the backyard of the property. At first we thought we were hearing thunder, but later as we were walking out to the cliff to look at the water, it smashed into the rocks below and we could both feel and hear the power of the waves. It is amazing! After a great breakfast we headed out to dive the reef in front of the resort for another check out dive. For you non-divers a check out dive allows you to work out any bugs or equipment issues while your still at the resort where you can easily get them fixed. After that dive we loaded 8 tanks in our rental truck and headed to the southern part of the island for our first dive at Pink Beach. Pink Beach is traditionally an easy dive, unfortunately not so easy today. It was windy this afternoon and there was a strong current that we fought all the way out to the reef, and back as well as a strong surf hitting the beach which made
Captain Don's Habitat
The boat dock at Captain Don's. Dive boats pull in here to load with fresh tanks and to load and off load divers. entry and exit tough. Jim and I felt so bad for Dave and Donna as we have been promising them for years that diving Bonaire was "easy" and "hassle free" because you never have to get on a boat. The reef is so close to shore that with an easy kick your at the reef in no time, and can enjoy an beautiful 35-40 minute dive. Well today the kick out to the reef took about 15 minutes and most of our air as we swam against a strong current going out that continually pushed us south. We could only stay on the reef for about 10 minutes and then had to head back to make sure everyone came back up with plenty of air. The kick back wasn't much better, and we all arrived worn out and disappointed. Our first real dive was not the picture we had painted, so we moved back up north where the wind wasn't quite as strong and found an easy entry/exit and had a great dive. I think we have restored their faith in us, so we are looking forward to tomorrow!
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Kris
non-member comment
Hello from Arizona
Let's see if the comment makes it to you this time. As usual, your blog is great. So glad the camera is working after all you've gone through to get it! Tell Dave and Donna your guidance is holding up to par.....now where the heck is that glacier anyway??!! Have fun. Looks marvelous.