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.

Posted in Bonaire | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in Bonaire | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

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.

Posted in Bonaire, Planning and Packing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

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!

Posted in Bonaire, Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in Bhutan and India, Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

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.

Posted in Bonaire, Planning and Packing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

First Pack for Bonaire

Posted on June 24, 2011 by debbie

We have a busy weekend coming up, so last night we got out the packing list and went through the “diving”, “clothing” and “other stuff” lists and pulled out the items we had not gotten yet. We highlighted in yellow the items on the list as we found them. Then we packed our bags to see how everything was fitting.

I find packing my bag difficult due to my fins.  They go in the bottom of the bag crossed, one on top of the other, with the heels at the one end and the toes at the other.  I stuff clothes and small stuff in all the nooks and crannies and then tuck soft stuff around the edges, making sure I protect the fragile stuff (camera and housing and dive mask).  Then the wetsuit goes on top for padding.

This is what my bag looks like so far. The wetsuit got covered up by my hat, dive log, snorkel and sarong.  I keep the sarong close to the top as I use it as warmth on the plane. In the back of the picture is a day pack and cloth bag. We are trying to decide which to take.

 

Here are my airplane clothes and purse items.  Today I will tidy this pile up, add a few things (pens, kleenex) to the purse and iron my pants.

 

Mur is much better at packing than I am.  His suitcase always looks neater than mine.  Why is that?

 

The pile in the back is Murray’s airplane clothes and courier bag contents. His suitcase looks pretty full, with just a few last items to go in.

 

 

 

We weighed the bags and Mur’s is 18 lbs and mine is 20 lbs.  We still have our toiletries and some miscellaneous stuff to go.  We will be pushing the Air Canada weight limit of 22 lbs. If we are told that a bag is too heavy, we will just take something out and slip it into our purse.  A dive light, with the batteries in it, weighs about 2 pounds.

Last night we also did some other stuff too – sewing a rip in my hat, purchasing ebooks to read, cancelling the newspaper. We decided to take 2 kinds of laundry detergent – the new leaf kind from Sea to Summit and a small amount of powder Tide.  We are piling the liquids in the bathroom to pack in the 1 litre ziplocs.  That pile is getting large – we may have to cul. I’ll take a look at that in the next couple of days. I like to leave lots of time to pack and check that everything fits.  Better decisions are made when I am not rushed.

Posted in Bonaire, Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Before Leaving List

Posted on June 22, 2011 by debbie

We have made it to the last list!  The Before Leaving list page is now under the Packing List menu item.

I think the list is pretty self explanatory.  I am going to tell just a few stories.

It is always a good idea to phone your credit card issuers and let them know where you will be and the dates, especially if you are traveling to a far off country.  Since we do not use my credit cards on trips except in emergencies, I have never done this.  Murray does contact them if we will be using his credit card. Last year I decided to phone Mastercard and let them know I would be in China.  The woman’s comment was “If a charge gets declined, just phone us and we will approve it”.  And I thought to myself “I don’t carry a cell phone on holidays and what Chinese vendor is going to let me use their phone?”  I thought the comment was rather useless.

We are leaving the copies of important documents with Murray’s parents and my son.  Two people in case we can’t get a hold of one of them.

Most house insurance policies state that if a house is empty, it needs to be checked every 72 hours (3 days).  It is best to arrange to have someone come in and do a walk around to make sure there is nothing wrong.

Last winter, our nephew was told by his mother (who was in Hawaii) to turn down the thermostat when he went to the mountains skiing.  He turned it down alright.  Unfortunately, he turned it down too low to keep the water in the pipes in a liquid state.  There were several frozen and broken pipes in the house when he got home.  What a mess.  The moral of the story is to turn down the thermostat but still keep the house warm enough to keep the water from freezing!

We are now working away at clearing some of the items off this list.  Most of the list needs to be done just before we walk out the door to catch our flight.

Posted in Planning and Packing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Panic

Posted on June 19, 2011 by debbie

Last night we had a burgers on the barbeque get together with the folks that will be going diving with us in two weeks. We were all connected in one way or another but we had not all met everyone else. It was a good evening and we should all enjoy our time together.

J and A own a ski shop and they have been very busy up until the close of the shop for the summer, that happened 2 weeks ago. So, last night J says, “Can you email me the info on the car rental place? We haven’t got around to that yet.” They are leaving on Friday, a week before the rest of us so they can get in a some kite boarding. It’s time to get things together I guess.

This morning I am going through my emails trying to find confirmation from the truck rental place to pass along to J. It wasn’t in my Bonaire folder. Debbie’s email was the next likely place. Her folder had all sorts of emails to and from the rental establishment but no confirmation.

One of the emails told us two trucks had been reserved, go on line, fill out the registration form and things would be good to go. We could not remember specifically doing that so we thought we would go to the web site and see if we could recall filling out that particular form.

PANIC!!!! The domain name and web site had expired. We figured maybe the company had expired along with the web site. Indicating, of course, that we did not have the vehicles reserved as we thought we had.

OK, breathe deep. We’ll just phone and find out what’s up. Debbie dials the number and the answer on the other end is ‘hello’. Not your standard business address. Angst not alleviated. After a couple of pertinent questions Debbie finds that the proprietor has the number forwarded to his mobile. So, Voyager Events Car Rentals still exists. John could not check the records because he was perched on the side of the pool celebrating father’s day. He seemed to recall my name, the name under which we reserved the trucks. He assured us that there would be someone at the airport to meet us and that we would have vehicles to use for the duration of our stay.

As for the missing website, it all came down to some Caribbean stuff. ‘Oh yeah we are getting a new web site so we let that one lapse’, said John. The lady that is doing it is now Canada, it will get done; sometime. (like it’s not happening now but soon, or maybe later or maybe it will or maybe it won’t). We are so anal in North America.

Panic is part of travel. A trip that flowed evenly from start to finish would not only be boring but frankly is an unrealistic goal. Glitches will arise and the solving of the problems that do arise is all about learning, leaving one’s comfort zone, and keeping you sharp.

 

 

Posted in Bonaire, Planning and Packing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Murray’s Bonaire Clothing

Posted on June 19, 2011 by debbie

Murray’s Airplane Clothes

  • Golf Shirt
  • Shorts with belt
  • Underwear
  • Sport sandals
  • Warm layer of some sort

These are my ‘respectable’ clothes. I’ll use them as my evening clothes.  When they need cleaning I will wash them at night and let them dry while we are diving. If need be I’ll buy new ones. On a trip to Singapore the night had arrived to go in search of the famous ‘Chili Crab’. The red sauce stains very badly. I had to purchase a pair of pants to complete the trip.

Murray’s Evening Clothes

  • Golf shirt or T shirt

I will alternate between this shirt and the one I wear on the plane and wash when need be.

Murray’s Day Time Clothes

  • Old pair of shorts to wear to shore dive sites
  • Old pair of sandals to wear to shore dive sites
  • Old T shirt for snorkeling and to wear to shore dive sites
  • T shirt for land trips

I will wear the old shorts, old sandals and old T shirt to wear to the shore dive sites. If they get pinched I won’t be heart broken. The T shirt (with a pair of evening shorts) is for any daytime land excursions like a trip to the market, a visit to the salt place or maybe to see the flamingos.

Murray’s Other Clothes

  • Sun hat (a Tilley Hat)
  • Swimsuit
  • Underwear 1 extra pr.
  • 1pr. cycling socks

Most of the day I will be wearing a swimsuit so I do not expect to need too many pairs of underwear. Again, they can dry during the day and if they are a little damp they will dry from body heat very quickly. I do not think I will need socks at all but if I have to wear socks in sandals I prefer the shorter variety.

Posted in Bonaire, Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment