Bhutan Update

Posted on July 19, 2011 by murray

Just as we were to walk out the door on our way to Bonaire we received an email from Druk Air informing us that the flight to Bhutan has been cancelled. Not even delayed, it has been completely removed from the schedule. Normally a cancelled flight would be OK but since it is the flight that gets us into Bhutan and we can only enter Bhutan on a specific day due to their tourist requirements, the email created a bit of angst. Panic might be more to the point.

Two hours later we had found that we could get from Bagdogra to the Kolkata airport and could catch another flight and still be in Paro, Bhutan on the date required. Instead of letting things sit for 10 days, while we were away, we contacted Druk and booked the alternate flights. After some reflection Debbie and I thought we may be able to overland it to the Bhutan border. We arrived back home, did some research and we think that the overland route is a better option.

No one can travel in Bhutan without a travel guide so we had to contact the tour company to arrange to be picked up at the border and we had to get hold of Druk Air to get a refund on the air tickets. We have done so over the phone and by email and neither of our proposed changes seem to be problematic. That said, neither party has contacted us to confirm the new plans.

This new route should provide us with some interesting scenery that we would not see from the air and my past experience with long distance cab rides in SE Asia is that you can stop when you want and take in the surroundings. In a way, the cancelling of the flight, rather than being a pain, will turn out to be a opportunity to get more out of our trip.

Our habit on past trips has been to book accommodation for the day we arrive after a long plane trip. On this trip we are going to pause 1/2 way to our destination and try to get some rest rather than jet for 24+ hrs. Last night, we researched hotels around the airport in Frankfurt. We booked a room on line in the Ibis Frankfurt Airport Hotel for one night on the trip to Bhutan and one night on the return trip. One of the reasons we picked this hotel is that it has a free shuttle to/from the airport. Hope it all pans out. Over the next short while we will spend time puzzling a few pieces of the trip together.

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Packing List Additions

Posted on July 16, 2011 by debbie

After every trip I add items to the packing lists that I have written on our list as we packed.  It is usually stuff I forgot to add in the first place, or stuff we realize we might need.  Today I have added the following items to the packing lists:

Scuba Diving

  • Eraser (to remove writing on underwater board attached to compass)

First Aid

  • Sleeping Pills (thought I might use these on the flight – didn’t)
  • Basic First Aid Notes

Toiletries

  • Cotton Balls
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Camera Housing Update

Posted on July 15, 2011 by debbie

We have put our investigators’ hats on to figure out what caused the leak in the camera housing. We had determined that the leak was either caused by user error (me) or by an actual leak in the housing.

The seal got very sandy when I got tossed into the water by a wave on an exit of a dive, so one idea is that I had not got all the sand off the seal when I cleaned it and that caused a leak. When we got home, I cleaned the seal, re-greased it and cleaned the opposite side of where the seal sits. I then closed the housing and placed it in a sink full of water.  After a couple of hours, the housing was still dry inside.

When I got tossed into the water, I had hit the housing on the rocks as I fell.  I did not think it impacted that hard. My son suggested we do a pressure test on the housing to check for leaks caused by cracks.  We are lucky that we have a recreation complex that has a 15 foot deep dive tank for platform diving.   I took the housing with me to the pool and sunk it in the dive tank and left it for about 5 minutes.  When I reeled it up, there was water in the nose of the housing.  It was leaking.

Mur and I took the nose of the housing apart and, using a magnifying glass, searched for cracks.  We found what looks like some cracks, but we cannot tell if they actually go right through the plastic. If these are not cracks, maybe the screws, rubber seal etc got jarred when I fell and loosened up. We dried everything off and put it back together.  We discussed taking it to the dive tank to test it again, but we are wondering if we will be able to trust the housing again.

We can buy used Canon PowerShot cameras online for about $60.  So, if we spend the $60, get a new camera, go on holidays and have the housing leak, we are out $60 plus dive pictures.

Or we can just buy a new camera/housing.  We looked at SeaLife’s underwater cameras yesterday, as our strobe flash is a SeaLife.  They have a couple of really nice cameras. mmmm….I like this idea.  I think I am leaning towards this option.

So, the camera and the housing look like they have reached the end of their lives.

 

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Post-mortem Bonaire

Posted on July 13, 2011 by murray

Debbie and I debrief our trips to see if there is anything we can use in the future especially if we return to the area. Here are some of the things we came up with after our return.

The Carib Inn. It was an outstanding place to stay. It is a DIVER’S hotel. It is small, it is on the shore, has a small pool, and an on site dive shop. There is not much to do there except dive. The people there cater to divers. The dive masters expect you to be competent and do not coddle you. They do not expect you follow them like sheep and if you can extend your dive to 1hr. 15 you will not be hassled when you return to the boat.  If you are a novice diver the folks will help out, if you ask, but you may feel more comfortable dealing with a more ‘full’ service operator. If you do not dive at all you may enjoy your holiday more at a resort that offers more creature comforts. Personally, I greatly appreciated the respect Debbie and I were given and would return in a minute.

Food. The island does not have much in the way of agriculture. Therefore, all of the food must be imported. So, be prepared to pay slightly more for your meals. Not much, but a couple of bucks more per person per meal. Debbie and I figure our budgets quite tight and our meal spending was under our budget but we made breakfast in our room each morning and missed a couple of meals. Anyway just be aware.

Restaurants. We went to several. The best overall restaurant was Richard’s. The food was good, the prices were OK and the service was excellent. Next on the list would be the Sunset. The food was OK, the prices OK and the service we got was very good. The Sorobon, across the island from Kralendijk, also had good food, OK prices and good service. The one I would avoid would be Bambu, the owner was not particularly nice to us and in fact turned our business away because we were a group of 9 without a reservation. There was only 10 or 12 people in her establishment at the time. We did not have a reservation at any time during the week and  always managed to find a spot to eat.

Weather. The temperature in Bonaire was a constant 90 F. It should have been hot for us but there was always a breeze and it was a very liveable 90. It is this breeze that makes the windsurfing on the east side of the island so good. We arrived home to rain and 15 C. I am so cold I have to wear long sweats, a hoodie with the hood up and socks in my indoor Birkenstocks. Last night I had to find a touque to wear to bed. We’ll soon be acclimatized and 15 C will seem normal, too bad. (A touque (twok) is a wool hat to all but Canadians, but touque is the proper name and the rest of you folks should catch up with us.)

Tourist sites. For my part the flamingos are overrated. We saw a few, some standing in the water, some flying in formation. They are interesting but only as a sideline to the diving. The donkeys and goats held little interest whatsoever. The salt ponds were OK but again not worth the trip if that is your only interest. The slave accommodation at the south of the island was interesting strictly because of the size of the structures and the fact that those little dwellings were home to the folks that did a lot of work on the island.

Vehicle rental. Voyager Event Rentals did us very well. We rented trucks for the 8 days we were on Bonaire. We were met at the airport at 5am by a shuttle and dropped off at our hotel where our trucks were waiting for us. The shuttle driver had the keys and gave them to Debbie. We found the Voyager office the next day and did all the paper work. John the owner was extremely kind and helpful. We had to depart early as well so we left the trucks in the parking lot at the airport and they were picked up after we left. If you are going to shore dive you will need a truck and I would recommend Voyager to anyone traveling to Bonaire.

Re-entry into reality. We had a strange time at both the American and Canadian customs. The border guards had a personality.

We arrived at George Bush International, Houston and were completely taken back when we discovered an ‘express’ line for those of us with connecting flights.  It is now possible to bypass the long line of people that are making a stop in Houston and stay behind the security wall. This saved us a tremendous amount of time. There were very few people that used that service. The customs agent was the most personable border guard I have ever met. I always assumed that they hired boring people with zero personalities for that job, but not only did this fellow talk he actually made a funny joke. We had a nice conversation albeit short and it gave us a good feeling about visiting the country.

Then to top off the day when we arrived at the Edmonton airport, the border guard that dealt with us was also a happy guy, the conversation we had was again short but was very pleasant. He wanted to know where Bonaire was and was pleased to have us give him a geography lesson. He made us feel like maybe it was good to be home.

Temperature aside it is good to be home. It will not be long until we are off again so a bit of the normal is needed.

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Homeward Bound

Posted on July 11, 2011 by debbie

We wrote the last two blog posts on the flight from Bonaire to Houston, with plans to post them in the Houston airport.  Both the Edmonton and Calgary airports have free WIFI zones, so we made the crazy assumption that other airports will have free WIFI.  Wrong! Couldn’t post in Houston, so now I am at home, sitting in front of my desktop computer.  Here are our thoughts from yesterday.

We are on our way home. Our last day in Bonaire was a busy one. The newbie divers, Mur and I did a boat dive. Went out to Klien Bonaire, to a site called Bonaventure. It was a calm and relaxing dive. Once we got back, the newbies headed out with A to see the flamingos, shop and do some last minute errands.  Mur and I went for a last shore dive to The Invisibles, on the south part of the island.

Met some really nice folks out there.  As we were getting ready to dive, a young man from California was kind enough to explain exactly where to find a frog fish.  Unfortunately, not knowing what a frog fish looked like, we could not find him, although we were probably staring right at him. Our impromptu guide returned to shore just after us and he had found the frog fish so it was still at the designated spot, we just could not see him.

As we were exiting, an older man from Indiana walked out into the surf and offered me his arm.  We then walked into shore together.  He said he always helps his wife out this way. What a gentleman!

We have chatted with a number of folks staying at the Carib Inn and they are all very nice, willing to chat, share dive stories and tell snippets of their lives.

Dive folks are generally super nice people.  I am not sure I have ever met a nasty diver. It sure makes for a nice holiday when the people we meet are all so friendly.

It has been great traveling with our friends.  Murray and I were a little apprehensive about traveling with people we know as we have done the bulk of our traveling by ourselves. It has been a lot of fun listening to J, B, S and R describe their adventures in their open water cert class, hearing all the “pool news” from A and marveling at J and A’s feats of wind surfing and kite boarding. Murray and I both agree that we would travel with this crew anytime.

The nine of us enjoyed a Bonairian farewell supper last night at Richard’s.  We were able to reserve the table out on the dock at the restaurant. Richard even allowed us to bring our own wine. We had a delicious meal and shared stories from the past week – most awesome underwater sight, best thing to do above water, best restaurant and such. It was a wonderful way to say farewell to a great island.

My turn. My turn. If you are looking for a beach holiday or a resort that caters to your every whim and if this part of the world if calling you, go to Aruba. You’ll not find this type of holiday on Bonaire. If you’re one that goes to a place to see the sights, again Bonaire may not be an ideal choice as there are a few sights of significance, but only a day or two’s worth. Bonaire is a great place, if you dive, or from what I can make out, if you windsurf.

The wind surfing (I do not windsurf so I can only go on my impressions of what is said) is good. I think if you are an ‘expert’ you can do well anywhere there is a good wind. On Bonaire the Lac Bay is a shallow, contained bay that is on the windward side of the island and is ideal for beginners and intermediate types to hone their skills in a non-threatening environment.

The diving is easy and very laid back. The sea life is abundant. You are not forced into any schedule but your own, if you choose to do a boat dive then you have to be there when the boats leaves but, if you shore dive, you can leave when you want, dive for as long as the air allows and come back when you want.

Debbie had a word with the fish last night and it seems that they will be awaiting our return so it looks like that choice has been made. It is only a matter of when.

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The Underwater World

Posted on July 8, 2011 by debbie

I am always amazed at the calming effect that diving has.  Once we are into the water, down at depth, I relax and watch.

I love watching the interactions of the fish.  A trumpet fish swimming next to, above, below and around a parrot fish. A squirrel fish seemly guarding a drum fish.  A school of blue tang flowing over the coral, eating.  A small eel poking its head out from under some coral with a fish hanging nearby waiting for leftovers.  Two cleaning shrimp waiting for customers.

The colours are fantastic.  Purple tube sponges. Orange elephant ear sponges.  Bright green sponges. Yellow pencil coral. White and red and yellow and coral christmas tree worms.  Black and white west indian sea eggs. Every colour of the rainbow.

We have seen all sizes, from tiny banded coral shrimp to huge eels and tarpons.

Textures abound underwater.  Smooth, bumpy, razor sharp, wavy.

Your eyes can be fooled.  What looks like a mound of sand, turns into a flounder.  What looks like a tiny string of coral, turns into the feelers of a shrimp.

We have three more dives left and I am already missing the underwater world, all its marvelous creatures and the calming effect they have on me.

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Murray writes a blog post, Debbie falls asleep

Posted on July 7, 2011 by debbie

Our typical day………

  • alarm goes off
  • eat breakfast
  • post last night’s blog post
  • haul dive gear to the boat dock
  • load dive gear onto boat
  • dive
  • unload dive gear from boat
  • haul dive gear to truck load zone
  • wait for tanks to be refilled
  • have a snack
  • record dive in dive log
  • load tanks into truck
  • load dive gear into truck
  • drive to shore dive site
  • gear up
  • walk into shore dive entry point
  • dive
  • exit shore dive
  • take off gear
  • stow in truck
  • drive back to hotel
  • unload gear from truck
  • rinse gear
  • haul gear to pool deck, leave there
  • haul tanks to shop to be refilled
  • throw clothes on over bathing suit
  • go for lunch
  • write up dive in dive log
  • return to hotel
  • haul gear to truck
  • haul tanks to truck
  • drive to shore dive site
  • gear up
  • walk to entry point
  • dive
  • exit shore dive
  • take off gear
  • stow gear and tanks
  • drive to hotel
  • unload gear
  • unload tanks
  • rinse all gear
  • hang gear in storage locker
  • soak delicate gear in kitchen sink
  • brief swim
  • shower
  • dress
  • record dive in dive log
  • go for supper
  • return to hotel
  • Murray writes another blog post
  • Debbie falls asleep
  • repeat
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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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