Bonaire Baby

Last night I met up with about 15 other divers coming to Bonaire. I knew Mike, Tiffany, and Beth from Belize, and we made friends with the rest very quickly. Pappadeaux at IAH was hospitable and we all had some beers and food. The flight to Bonaire went fine, but it was near impossible to sleep. Everyone arrived a bit tired this morning. By the time we got our baggage (very slow!) and made it to Divi, our leader informed us that the Marine Park orientation was scheduled for 9:15 sharp. We had breakfast (a buffet is included with the stay) and then went to do the dives.

We had a brief rundown by Alvin from the resort. It's set up well for diving, with lockers right on the pier and a giant stride away from the house reef, Calabras Reef. It's a steady 10-15 feet to the edge of the dropoff, where it quickly turns into a wall...transitioning from soft corals to sponges to harder corals, with fish all over. I went with Beth and Jim, and Beth bailed early because she was scheduled to go diving with Larry's Wild Side on the other side of the island. Jim and I worked through his issues (leg cramps, mask clearing, leaky reg) and mine (leaky reg) as we did a few descents and ascents, and even a little navigation back to the dock. I rinsed and purged my reg and it seems to be OK now; no leaks.

Afterwards I walked into town. It's kind of pretty, with very colorful buildings and Dutch-style 'colonial' architecture. But it seems very barren, almost empty. There aren't many people and lots of stores and restaurants are closed. Still, I was able to find a little market (turns out it's just a little way outside the entrance to the resort) and got some bananas for later. It's about 3:40 now and happy hour starts in a couple hours. Hoping to get to bed early tonight and up tomorrow to make the 8:30 boat for the morning dives.