Bonaire Day ?;Can’t remember what day it is

Posted on July 7, 2011 by murray

The date, the day of the week and the number of days we’ve been here are all a blur. That’s cool though. We don’t really have to know. Our tasks are about the same every day, get up, dive, eat. I don’t think I would like to work here. The routine would wreck the schedule.

Debbie and I have to do some town stuff so it a 2 dive day. I could use the rest. On the boat at 8:30am and to Klien Bonaire and Rockpile. One of our diving companions finds a seahorse. I have no idea how a seahorse is discovered. I was shown where it was, I was within a foot of it and I could not see it until the divemaster pointed within an inch. Finally I was able to see what the excitement was about. My big accomplishment was to dive for 1hr. 15 mins. the longest dive I have ever done. Small things amuse me, so I am happy most of the time.

Dive 2, Bachelor’s Beach, really nice dive. Easy entry/exit and loads of interesting wildlife. Debbie found a leopard flat worm, maneuvering along the sand. It was a super find as they are quite rare and even the dive shop folks thought it was interesting. We also saw a couple of sharp tail eels, one was fishing and caught a small squid, I guess that is the way of the ocean.

Toured the downtown in search of a fish for our touring wall at home. Small place this Kralendijk, it took 1/2 hr. end to end and that was stopping in 1/2 of the shops on the main street. Managed to avoid the ice cream shops, so our waistlines did not suffer.

We came here to dive and dive is what we have been doing. The diving is great. I know there are as many likes and dislikes of certain aspects of diving as there are divers. Jack, the dive master at SubSea in Edmonton lives to see big fish, but Debbie and I are still enamored with the small colourful fish and coral. If you, like us still enjoy the small stuff Bonaire is fantastic. The biggest problem is there is so much stuff it is hard to find things, the unusual. There are so many hiding places for eels and lobsters it makes them hard to locate. Even still some unique things are found and the abundance of the usual is unusual in itself. We have been here less than a week and we are already lost in time.

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Shore dive all around

Posted on July 7, 2011 by murray

The new crew didn’t want of venture too far outside their comfort zone so Debbie and I chose to forgo our morning boat dive and start out on the shore.

J and S had trouble clearing there ears and decided to chill a day. They spent their time terrorizing Kralendijk with A. The three of them managed to keep themselves occupied by traipsing in and out of downtown stores.

J and A came from the other side of the island, R, B, Debbie and I were up for a day of diving. First off the Hilma Hooker. We drove to the site and there was 3 dive boats and 6 or 8 cars – everybody was diving. We drove on and did the Salt Pier. First time for most of the folks and second time for Debbie and me. As before, the fish were plentiful and the dive was relatively easy. Everybody thought it was great. We may have to go again as J and S are now interested.

Dive 2 Hilma Hooker, we returned after getting our tanks filled and the boats were gone and the last car was just leaving. Our two vehicles were the last two in the lot. Dive was OK. It is a much talked about dive but I personally do not see the attraction to wrecks. The boats, usually big ones, that are underwater look much the same as if they were still afloat. Big deal???????? I guess you can go inside them, but I am not interested. There are some resident animals, but there are resident animals everywhere on the reef they are just a little harder to find.

Third site, The Cliff. The Cliff part is underwater and we by found it solely because of the way the current was going. Strong current at this site. First time we have had to deal with that on Bonaire. Swam south along the cliff, it was a hard swim into the current. At turnaround time we ‘flew’ back, felt like the turtle in ‘Finding Nemo’. Still managed to navigate back to the shore within 10 ft. of where we wanted to end up.

So far Bonaire has been hot. At least by the numbers, 91 F. every day, but it is amazingly habitable. There is a breeze and it tempers the effect of the sun just enough so that even us northerners do not find it unbearable. When you come out of the ocean into the direct sunlight dressed in a black wetsuit it can get quite warm but doff the wetsuit and roll down the windows in the truck, (no airco), and it is quite pleasant.

I’m liking this place. Debbie has already poo-pooed the idea of moving here, but I only suggested it 1/2 in gest. There is no snow here, therefore the chances of skiing are severely hampered.

More diving tomorrow. I’m still not bored, I wonder how long it would take. I guess by living a long distance away from diving it keeps it unique and maybe that is reason in itself not to move here.

Note from Debbie, the proofer.  Sorry, but no more underwater pictures.  The camera got toasted, or should I say marinated, yesterday.  We are not sure what happened, but water got into the housing and the camera is now dead dead dead.

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New Certified Divers

Posted on July 6, 2011 by murray

R, J, B, and S graduated today. A big moment. The apprehension is still there, but they do feel that they can dive with us. They do not understand that we can dive together and each of us can enjoy the dive in our own little world and as long as each of us pays attention to our gauges and communicates, we will all do fine. It is still a foreign environment and we have to be careful, but we should be OK.

Debbie and I headed out on the boat this morn and again went to a dive not accessible from the shore. It was a good dive and our dive time was over and hour. I thought that was pretty good. The other 8 divers boarded the boat after us and one of the ladies bottom time was 1 hour 20 minutes. To me that is amazing. I was talking to her husband later and he told me that the pivotal moment in going to a 1 hour 20 min. dive was the quintuple by-pass that he had 4 years ago. I thought that was a radical procedure just to extend his dive time, but he explained that the dive time was a nice side effect; he had to have the surgery for survival.

Next dive Windsock. Located at the end of the airport runway. Where do they come up with these names anyway? Good dive. First turtle of the trip, loads of fish, and some interesting coral. The turtle was just hanging on the coral crunching away having lunch and even hung long enough to get his picture taken.

We came back to the hotel to 4 new certified divers. They all had their open water cards and proudly displayed them when we arrived. They had resolved not to join us on the late afternoon dive as we had talked. Debbie opened up negotiations and was not to be denied. They were going to come with us and that was all there was to it.

To Margate Bay we go. It took a bit to find it, we just missed the yellow rock, but we got there and suited up. It was obvious that the rookies had been going through the paces, even though J, A, Debbie and I had set up our gear several times this week the four newbies were standing there ready to go waiting for us four. I went over a loose dive plan and gave everybody some lea way as to max. depth and when and how high above the reef they wanted to be. We all floated out to the drop off and descended. Rounded everyone up and headed down and then south. The group assumed a loose formation and “ascubaing” we went.

We toured the reef then headed back north to our entry landmark and hovered there for a short while then headed back to the shore. Everyone did really well and really enjoyed their first dive that was not under the scrutiny of the scuba teacher. At this point their learning curve is quite steep and every time out their skills will improve a vast amount. Now they just have to keep it up.

Bonaire seems to be a place of celebration. Sunday it is B’s birthday, yesterday my birthday, today is graduation day. We headed to the Argentinian Steak House for the celebratory dinner. Could have guessed by the name that it was slightly outside our budget but it is a celebration and it needs to be someplace special. The meal was great so we cannot complain and we’ll try to compensate over the next few days.

Did run into a few more nice folks, the waitress at the Julian Restaurant on the waterfront is a super nice person and the food is good. We have been there twice and will go back for lunch again. The people at the steak house were also great very polite, super accommodating and very professional. Not the same as the stereotypical North American waiter, this lady served us, then left us alone to eat and talk and did not barrage us with a list of stupid prescripted questions. The percentage of great Bonaire folks is still very high. It is looking more and more like a place to come back to.

I know it’s Italian but Ciao anyways.

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Happy Birthday to me!

Posted on July 5, 2011 by murray

Happy Birthday to me! Day 3. The day starts with a boat dive. Surprise , surprise! Debbie and I got up and ate, gear to the dock and into the boat. We have decided to do one boat dive a day and that being the first one in the morning.  I asked if, when we are on the boat, we could do sites that are not accessible by the shore and Karen, the dive master, was quite amenable to the suggestion. No one else had any specific requests so we headed to a place called Country Gardens. Good dive, thought we might see a seahorse but it had moved on and Karen was not able to relocate it.

J and A decided to windsurf today so they stayed on the east coast, R, B, S and J continued on with their diving lessons and are now within ½ day of being certified and A hung out by the pool and did a stint of snorkelling off the dock at the hotel.

Boat dive complete we head out on the first shore dive of the day. Salt Pier, easy to find, there is a huge pier that transports salt from the evaporation ponds to the cargo ships. It is impossible to miss and the dive is right below it. You would have to be quite distracted to drive by this particular site. The dive was great. The pier has been there a long time and the reef has built up around it and is encroaching on the supports. There are fish everywhere and the entry/exit and navigation is very easy.

Lunch at the Boudoir. Bedroom? Doesn’t make sense to me either but that is the name and that is where we ate. Good lunch considering I guess we had it served to us in bed???

It takes time to do 3 dives a day so it is now 2 or 2:30pm and we are just heading north to do the third dive, 1000 steps.  This dive is one of the well know dives on Bonaire. I guess it is a ‘must do’. The 1000 steps are really 50 or 60 and it has one of the best entry/exit points that we have been to yet, including the steps. They are not that hard to negotiate, up or down, and the dive is very good. Not as many fish as some of the other dives but the coral structure is unbelievable.

As I said earlier, it is my birthday. I get to choose the restaurant. First one I pick is closed. It doesn’t say closed, in fact it says today’s special is ribs, but it is closed. At try number 2 we ran into the first pain in the ass person on Bonaire. This woman is a totally unaccommodating restaurant owner that said she could not seat a party of 9. We had no reservations and she only had 2 wait staff and 2 kitchen staff. I don’t think she will be in business long if that is her attitude. I cannot imagine running a business and turning down potential customers that are standing at your door wanting to come in. I did not get how a table of nine which she refused to take, would differ from a table of 4, a table of 3 and a table of 2, all of which she had already accommodated because they were sitting eating. This particular lady was also under the misunderstanding that we would not be able to get served anywhere in town without a reservation. A feat which we have been able to accomplish 3 days in a row, in fact Richard, the owner of Richard’s, was absolutely thrilled to have us. Anyway try number 3, Cactus Blue, was a go. I don’t think it took them long to figure out that they could almost double there nightly business at one table. And we might even tip, being as we are from North America. There is that place again, the place where everybody that lives there is so uptight we cannot understand that it makes sense to alienate potential customers, but you can bet we will not go back to nor recommend  that lady’s restaurant. I guess it is a loss of revenue she can afford.

Bonaire still only has one strike against it and many hits for in the people category. If that continues, it may be a place to return to and Debbie and I do not really like to return to places as there are so many places to see and so few days left in our lives to see them. (We aren’t really old but life is finite and there is one heck of a lot of places to visit on this earth).

CIAO for now.

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Bonaire B’s Birthday Day

Posted on July 4, 2011 by debbie

It’s a special day today as it’s B’s birthday.  B, J, S, and R are off to start their open water certification at Tropical Divers.  J&A, Murray and I are off on a morning boat dive and A has tagged along with the students for a while.  As our boat pulls away from the dock, J, B and S come down to say bye and the divers on the boat, most of who do not even know B, end up singing Happy Birthday to B as we leave.  It was a great way to start the celebration of B’s birthday.

Gary is the dive master on the boat dive over to Klein Bonaire and he is great.  Informative, friendly, loves diving. Tons of fish on the dive.  We love diving.  Debbie has the camera today and is getting used to taking pictures again.  Quite a few over exposed pics, so the strobe has to be turned down abit and watch the bounce back from the corals. It is brighter down there than we thought it would be.

Klein Bonaire, a small uninhabited island 5 mins by boat from Bonaire itself has some really good dive sites. More than ½ of the divers that come to Bonaire just shore dive so the sites at Klein don’t see too much action and the fish seem to realize that they will not be bothered over there so make their home near the small island. Sort of like humans wanting exclusivity.  The dive master here is not quite the full service guy we are used to. On this dive boat one must assemble one’s own gear and you have the option of following the dive master or not. The only requirement is that if you do not follow the group, you must get back to the boat or it is a long swim home.

Next on the itinerary is a shore dive at Tori’s Reef. J and A join us. The learning curve is steep. Don’t set up in the sand. The tailgate of the truck is a good place. Plan your entry point before you head to the water. There can be 10,000 sea urchins between you and the open seas.  The hardest part is entering and exiting the water. Once you’re in it, diving is diving and it is quite familiar just as if you fell in off the boat, but maintaining your balance on slippery uneven footing with a 60 lb. pack on your back and 10 or 14 lbs. of lead attached to your waist is quite a feat.

It is such a different world underwater. It is quiet and serene. I am not totally relaxed yet, that should come the next couple of days, and I spend most of the time monitoring my vitals. Yes, my heart is still beating, yes, I am still breathing albeit, too deep and too fast. In the next couple of days I expect to reach Zen and be able to concentrate on looking for unusual undersea creatures. It would be good to find a seahorse or to spot an eagle ray for the group.

Lunch comes next. Are you kidding! You want to eat, it is Sunday, you don’t expect to find anywhere open do you? It is another one of those up tight North American things again. We have no right to expect that just because we are hungry that there should be a restaurant or café open on a Sunday. AND there is not much open. Eventually we do find a small café on the waterfront open and we eat.

Dive 3, Andrea 1, it takes a bit of driving around but we find it and into the water we go. We learned, we used the tailgate to don our gear, but we still need work on the where to enter and exit part. This dive was much more thought out and we started into the current. Debbie found a good brain coral at 30 ft. that we used as a marker and we ended the dive exactly in front of the car. This would be a good lesson for us to build on as I would love to do that each time all week long.

We arrive home at 5:45pm, just in time to turn around and leave for the Soroban to celebrate B’s  b’day.  J and A have made the appropriate arrangements and there is a table for 9 already set. The restaurant is not too crowded and the food was quite quick and very good. Everyone enjoyed their food. A few folks pass B cards and gifts and the restaurant owner springs for a piece of cake and ice cream.  A good time is had by all.

The road back to the Carib Inn is unlit so we stop the trucks on the side of the road, turn out the lights, and stare at the sky. The stars are amazing. The Milky Way is quite visible. None of us present know enough about the terrestrial bodies to impress the others so we all ooh and aah for a few minutes, climb back in the trucks and dive home. Make only rough plans for tomorrow. Dinner between 6 and 6:30.

Bonaire is still on the huge plus side. I think you would have to be a diver, snorkeler or be happy just sitting pool side to come here but if any one of those pursuits turns your crank this is the place.

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Bonaire Day 1

Posted on July 3, 2011 by murray

It’s the Caribbean. Everything takes time here. We thought we could do so much today and everything ended up being a rush.

Arrive 5am just as planned. J&A are supposed to show up at the Carib Inn at 9am, we are going to do our buoyancy check dive and cruise through the rest of the day. We all have a look around the premises and lay down to chill for a while. Short naps were the thing of the moment.

Place looks good both the island and the digs. Reef is just off shore, all the literature said that – funny that it actually is. Hotel is kept up and the rooms are perfect for divers – not too extravagant yet clean and maintained.

J&A get here and we all realize we need breakfast. It is not just the lack of sleep that is making us feel this way. We opt for the restaurant next door at the Divi Flamingo. We know it is there and it is really close. $15.00 each for a buffet breakfast. A bit much but none of us is going to argue. Food is good for all of us. Good thing too as it will be the last our stomach gets for a while.

Back to the hotel dive shop to get the low down on the local diving and get outfitted with gear for the week. Again the process takes a bit of time. Not quite to Caribbean standards but even though the folks are from the USA you will notice that they have lived in the islands for a long time and the temperature and humidity make things move slower. Both Bruce and Gary are extremely helpful and very pleasant to deal with. The impression of Bonaire being a good place grows.

Next, even though we were suppose to stop by the car rental place in the morning and fill out all of the papers for the cars that have been left in our possession, it is time to do our buoyancy check dive, a requirement before you dive any of Bonaire’s reef. The four certified divers head to the beach and into the water. J has weight problems and we get the picture as to why these dives are necessary.

First shore dive is awesome. The reef is good, there are quite a few fish, everything goes as planned. Everyone got their buoyancy close, swam to the roll over at the top of the wall, descend to 60ft., swim south till one of us reaches 1500 psi, turn about and slowly ascend to about 20 ft. and we see the bottom of the boat we had just left follow the compass bearing towards the shore and voila! we are at the dock. Simple navigation technique but effective.

Now it is time to go see the truck rental guy. No one can tell us where the office that we are suppose to go to is. And we are trying to get to the Rincon market before it closes at 4pm. Doesn’t look good as we circle the block again an again not making headway to the whereabouts of the mysterious Voyager Events Rental. Finally, after one of the merchants phoned for us we located the place and were able to complete the transactions necessary. John is an exceptionally nice fellow, Bonaire notches up another plus.

It is now 3:15pm, the Rincon market closes at 4pm. On the map it doesn’t look far and we know the island is small but boy it takes a long time travel a short distance on the map.

We’re there and with a few minutes to spare. Stop quick Debbie hops out and ask where the market is, don’t want to waste any time. We get direction to the supermarket. As far as the folks of Rincon know there is no market. I have just now realized it must be a marketing ploy. Why would anyone head to Rincon, a nice enough place mind you, unless every Bonaire internet site mentioned the, once a month, on the first Saturday of every month ‘Marshe de Rinicon’. We probably would have never gone there if it had not been for info we had collected off the internet. A bogus adventure, but an adventure none the less and why the hell else do we do things but for the adventure.

We stop at Bonaire’s answer to Costco and do our shopping. Its Saturday and Bonaire is an island. Everyone and their dog goes shopping on Saturday, most things arrive in Bonaire by ship in limited quantities and the people that shop on Saturday buy it all. So the pickings are slim, but we find enough to put together some sort of breakfast and a few snacks.

Now, 9 independently thinking adults must become of one mind a agree on a place to eat dinner. This again is the Caribbean and unlike the restaurants in North America (even the fanciest one), they do not prep everything in advance and throw it in a microwave so that you can eat in a short enough time that each table can be set twice a night, they actually cook the stuff here and it takes one long time. Are you starting to recognize a pattern here.

Amazingly enough without even being in the same hotel while Debbie and I were discussing dinner with J&A, A&R, S, B and J were deciding on exactly the same restaurant. Sometimes life is a suprise. So off to Chibi Chibi we go. Unfortunately, none of us had remembered that it closed at 3pm on Saturdays and they held a barbeque at the buffet. So we slide over to the buffet only to be told that there was no more room and we would not get seating for 9 for quite some time. The kind folks there suggested Richard’s down the street. One of the fellows offered to call ahead and see if there was seating for 9. Another check mark in the plus column for the friendly people of Bonaire. Bingo we are in.

Richard’s is a nice place with the deck out over the lapping waves. The boss is busy setting up a table for 9 as we arrive. It was a whole 5 minute walk from the Divi Flamingo. Richard spends time with our group and explains the menu. Tells us his USA base is Whitefish Montana and that he has spent a good deal of time travelling western Canada. Really amiable fellow, and one more tick in the plus column for Bonaire. At the end of the meal he served the entire table with complimentary ice cream and man, was it good ice cream.

So although we are going to have to adjust some of our goals about how much we are going to get done on this holiday, due to Caribbean time, Bonaire has made a first impression way beyond expectations . As with most places it is the people that will make or break the place, Bonaire will live by the reputation of the folks that make this place their home and on the first day here Bonaire’s folks are exceptional.

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Trip Expectations

Posted on June 30, 2011 by debbie

Murray always cautions me not to get too excited before we leave on a trip and not to raise the expectations of a trip too high.  Why? If expectations are raised too high, and we have preconceived notions on how things will pan out, how will we feel if things don’t go quite as planned?  Will we be unhappy? Maybe. If we tell ourselves this is just another dive trip, then it will be easy to exceed expectations. We will relax about how things unroll on the trip and will not try too hard to make the trip perfect.

So, although I am excited about this trip, especially since we are going with friends (who are excited), I am trying to be realistic and take things as they come and just enjoy the experience.  Don’t get me wrong, sometimes this is very hard to do!

We have a saying that we tell each other once we get to the airport and we loose some control over how things play out. It is “travel mode”.  It means that we will take things as they come and deal with everything we have to in a calm, logical, friendly manner.  When a flight is delayed, no point in getting upset……”travel mode”.  When dealing with language barriers………..”travel mode”.  When dealing with missed flights, huge airports, security, hotel staff, cab drivers………….”travel mode”.

See you on the other side of the Caribbean.

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Dive Navigation Tune Up

Posted on June 29, 2011 by debbie

Our Dive Navigation booklet was sitting on the coffee table, so I picked it up and started to read.  Glad I did!

We will be shore diving on Bonaire, which means diving on our own with no local dive master to guide us. Scary thought!  But reading the booklet has given me confidence.  I also took down some notes to review before we do our first shore dive.

From what we have read, Bonaire has very well laid out shore diving.  Dive sites are labeled with a number on shore, and a buoy in the water has the same number. Before we go for our first one, I am sure we will ask the folks at the Carib Inn a zillion questions. There are also a number of free and for purchase books on Bonaire all about shore diving.

Murray also read the booklet and we discussed doing shore dives.  We determined that we should have a compass, which we do, and something to write on underwater.  Fortunately, our compass has a small tablet that can be written on with a golf pencil. This tablet is to make notes of buoy numbers, depth, natural landmarks etc. We thought this note taking was a good idea if doing multiple shore dives, as they all start to run together after a few days.

We also talked about how important it is to make a dive plan for each dive, and to make sure everyone in the group knows the plan and all the hand signals. When with a group, Murray is going to take on the role of leader and do the pre dive briefing.

I read on a website to make sure we take it slow as we enter and exit the water.  We don’t want to exhaust ourselves just getting in the water and be too tired to dive.  I think once we do a couple of shore dives, we will get used to the entry (like how to get our fins on in shallow water with equipment on) and it will become easier.

I think we are ready for this adventure into shore diving!

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Shampoo Review

Posted on June 28, 2011 by murray

Debbie had mentioned that I am bald and shampoo may not be the biggest item of worry on the list of things we may have to eliminate from our l litre ziploc so we can board a plane in Kolkata with carry on bags, but being a dutiful husband I have been trying the various products. Debbie has also been trading the use of her ‘salon’ bought shampoo for the more pedestrian and boring ‘natural’ brands of hair cleaner.

First we tried the Soap Works Shampoo and Conditioner bar. It worked good for me. It cleaned my hair and my scalp, and since I do not usually use conditioner it left my hair noticeably soft. The soft part is not something I strive for but I did notice the difference. Debbie didn’t like the fact that the ‘lather’ wasn’t bubbly.   She thought the smell of the lather was quite strong. Even without the bubbles it cleaned well enough but did not leave her hair as soft as her other conditioner.

Next I tried the Sea to Summit Shampoo and Conditioner Pocket. I had been out road riding and it was a particularly dusty day. It took 3 flakes to get what felt like enough soap to wash my head. There was absolutely no lather what so ever. It did an OK job but as I has just remove all but a very small amount of my hair I could not tell if it left it any softer or not.

Of the alternatives that we had purchases the last to try was the Soap Works Tea Tree Oil bar. As far as lather was concerned it was similar to the Shampoo and Conditioner bar but maybe not as ‘creamy’.  It cleaned good, but again I could not tell if it left my hair soft. Debbie preferred this bar to the other two alternatives.

I do have a sensitivity to some soaps and if I do have a reaction I generally end up scratching my skin raw. I did not have any sensitivity to these products.

We will continue to use the product before we head to India and see how they work over the long term, but I think we have found one that will fulfill our needs. We will most likely add the Soap Works Tea Tree bar to our toiletries list.

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Travel Budgets

Posted on June 27, 2011 by debbie

The budget template that we use is now a page under the Packing Lists menu item.  This budget helps us determine how much money (cash, travelers cheques etc) we will need once we leave home.  It usually does not include the cost of airfare or anything we have paid up front.  It is strictly how much “money we will need in our pockets”.  It also helps keep us on track so we do not overspend while we are away.  Remember, we do carry credit cards just in case!

To do the estimates, we gather hotel room, dive, meal and transport charges from websites and travel books.  For example, we use a ball park figure for each meal and just multiply it by the number of days away. It may seem excessive to count days and meals, but over a 5 or 6 week trip, these can add up and we don’t want to take more money than we actually need.

This is what our budget looks like for Bonaire:

Hotel – $109 x 8 nights less $250 deposit, plus taxes                     710

Diving

  • Diving – $350 x 2 people, plus taxes                                              838
  • Equipment – ($8 + $8) x 2 people x 8 days, plus taxes              256
  • Tips – $20 x 7 days                                                                             140

Vehicle Rental

  • Rental  (our portion)                                                                         200
  • Gas                                                                                                         100

Meals

  • Breakfast – $10 x 2 people x 9 days                                                180
  • Lunch – $15 x 2 people x 8 days                                                      240
  • Supper – $25 x 2 people x 8 days                                                    400
  • Snacks/Drinks – $5 x 2 people x 9 days                                           90

Entertainment/Fees – ($25 + $35) x 2 people                               120

Spending/Shopping Money – $100                                                100

To/Fro Flying – $20 x 2 people x 2 meals                                          80

Sub Total                                                                                        3,454

Add 10%                                                                                              345

GRAND TOTAL                                                                            3,799

The hotel cost is set already as we have reservations at the Carib Inn. We have estimated the diving cost based on one of the Carib Inn’s Dive Packages that is close to what we think we will be doing. We rent BCDs and regulators, so the cost for equipment is for these two pieces.  We have estimated a tip amount for the dive crew members.

The vehicles are being shared by the 7 of us going to Bonaire.  The amount is our portion of the rental and the gas.

We have estimated $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $25 for supper. I expect breakfast to be less as we may buy groceries and eat in. We do not need to eat at fancy restaurants, so the supper amount reflects that.  We do not drink alcohol, so the Snacks/Drinks amount is lower than if we did.

The only fee that we think we will need on Bonaire is the $25 Marine Park fee.  We added another $35 in case we rent kayaks or bikes.

We do not do much shopping, so our Spending Money is only $100, which will cover a few trinkets and an ornamental fish to hang on our wall.

Airport food is costly, so we estimated $20 per meal. We thought we may need to eat three airport meals. Since doing the budget, we have eliminated one airport meal.  We are going to take wraps/bagels with us from home as we do not think we will have time to grab food in Calgary as we change flights.  We have adjusted the budget for this change – excel is a wonderful tool!

Once we have the total, we add 10%.  This is a safety valve in case we have totally forgotten something or just plain screwed up. Our “money in the pocket” budget for Bonaire is $3,800.

Last week, Murray and I reviewed the budget to make sure it was still sound. We think the Snacks/Drinks amount may be light and the diving amount may be heavy. Overall, we think that the budget is still good.  Once we are home, we will do a quick calculation to see exactly how much we spent.

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