yodelhawk
Contributor
Trip was a surprise gift to me from my wife who, I suspect, was feeling just a little guilty about blowing a ton of money on a solo photo safari to Tanzania. ;) Thanks Babe!
Travel to Bonaire from Montana took just over 24 hours with a long layover in Newark, NJ. Upon the urging of my dive buddy, we gritted our teeth and bought a $50.00 day pass to the United Club at the airport. I must say, it was money well spent and from now on, I will do this every time I have more than 4 hours to kill in an airport. Comfy chairs, good wifi signal, outlets, tons of snacks (we loaded up on them to stock our fridge in Bonaire), open bar and a hot shower before our last leg of the trip.
After landing in Bonaire and picking up our rental truck from AB rentals it was on to our resort just a short distance down the road. We stayed at Divi Flamingo and thought it was great! We knew our room was not going to be ready, since we arrived at he place at 0530. Dropping our bags with the front desk we went exploring around the resort and found ourselves on the dive dock as it was getting to be daylight. The breakfast buffet was not going to be open for another hour, so we decided to just go for a snorkel before chow. We found out later that we were not supposed to do this without getting our $25.00 conservation tag first. Thank goodness the scuba police did not catch us!
Dive orientation briefing along with the long awaited conservation tag and then the first real splash off the house dock at Divi (Calabas). All I can say is WOW! Like swimming in an aquarium. Vis well above 80 feet and a very healthy reef!
We came to dive and dive we did! 26 dives in 6 days including 3 night dives. I could bore you with every detail, but then nobody would read this, so here are just a few highlights:
 The Tarpon that were hunting in our light beams during night dives
 Hilma Hooker, get there early before all the crowds show up and kick up all the sand
 Frogfish and Rockfish, 1 each, need I say more???
 1 very majestic Spotted Eagle Ray
 The entry at Oil Slick. The dive site was not that impressive, but jumping in over and over again like a bunch of kids was well worth it! We were not the only ones!
 The kleptomaniac octopus that was just hanging out on the sandbar in the middle of the day
 My introduction to phospholuminescence during my first night dive
 The friendly looking Porcupine Fish that look at you as if the want to say: Welcome to my world, would you like a beer?
 Eels, eels, eels!
 Swimming into an under water Brine river that was, unbeknown to us, being drained off of one of the salt basins just south of Salt Pier. Vis went from 40 feet to 2 feet and the current ran right down the reef so fast that little fish were struggling to swim into it and Sea Fans were bent over.
 Doing all but 2 dives from shore. Dont think the boat dives were worth the extra money. Much better time from shore and you are not held to someone elses schedule
Some other good things about our trip:
 Divi Very nice place, make sure you get a room with a kitchen, although we did hear good things about Buddy Dive during this trip.
 Running into our new pals Michelle and Deb. You gals are a blast!
 Getting out neighbor Skip drunk and into hot water with his wife without knowing it was happening. (Sorry Bud!)
 Not having A B Car rental make a big stink about the fact that some SOB stole our spare tire and us not realizing it till turn in. (Big + to you guys! You have a customer for life!)
 Finding out what supermarket had the good bakery. (its located kitty corner across from the warehouse supermarket and has a Dutch name, so please dont ask me to name it.)
 That the mixed grill platter at same supermarket can feed a couple of corn fed Montana boys and several guests for 2 days in a row.
Must give a couple of big Thank Yous to some folks:
First to my lovely wife Kimmie, who thought this trip up, planned it, conspired with my buddy Jeff, booked it and THEN told me about it. To anybody who does not know, she is not a diver and did not go on this trip. Thank you again babe!!! You are one of a kind!
Second to my dive instructor Wes for giving me the basic knowledge without which this trip would not have been possible. Oh, and for breaking your hump to make sure I was able to dive Nitrox!
Last but not least to my great friend Jeffy. Thank you for being patient and sharing your knowledge about the underwater world with a novice like me and helping me boost my confidence. This trip would not have been possible without you Just sayin!!!
Travel to Bonaire from Montana took just over 24 hours with a long layover in Newark, NJ. Upon the urging of my dive buddy, we gritted our teeth and bought a $50.00 day pass to the United Club at the airport. I must say, it was money well spent and from now on, I will do this every time I have more than 4 hours to kill in an airport. Comfy chairs, good wifi signal, outlets, tons of snacks (we loaded up on them to stock our fridge in Bonaire), open bar and a hot shower before our last leg of the trip.
After landing in Bonaire and picking up our rental truck from AB rentals it was on to our resort just a short distance down the road. We stayed at Divi Flamingo and thought it was great! We knew our room was not going to be ready, since we arrived at he place at 0530. Dropping our bags with the front desk we went exploring around the resort and found ourselves on the dive dock as it was getting to be daylight. The breakfast buffet was not going to be open for another hour, so we decided to just go for a snorkel before chow. We found out later that we were not supposed to do this without getting our $25.00 conservation tag first. Thank goodness the scuba police did not catch us!
Dive orientation briefing along with the long awaited conservation tag and then the first real splash off the house dock at Divi (Calabas). All I can say is WOW! Like swimming in an aquarium. Vis well above 80 feet and a very healthy reef!
We came to dive and dive we did! 26 dives in 6 days including 3 night dives. I could bore you with every detail, but then nobody would read this, so here are just a few highlights:
 The Tarpon that were hunting in our light beams during night dives
 Hilma Hooker, get there early before all the crowds show up and kick up all the sand
 Frogfish and Rockfish, 1 each, need I say more???
 1 very majestic Spotted Eagle Ray
 The entry at Oil Slick. The dive site was not that impressive, but jumping in over and over again like a bunch of kids was well worth it! We were not the only ones!
 The kleptomaniac octopus that was just hanging out on the sandbar in the middle of the day
 My introduction to phospholuminescence during my first night dive
 The friendly looking Porcupine Fish that look at you as if the want to say: Welcome to my world, would you like a beer?
 Eels, eels, eels!
 Swimming into an under water Brine river that was, unbeknown to us, being drained off of one of the salt basins just south of Salt Pier. Vis went from 40 feet to 2 feet and the current ran right down the reef so fast that little fish were struggling to swim into it and Sea Fans were bent over.
 Doing all but 2 dives from shore. Dont think the boat dives were worth the extra money. Much better time from shore and you are not held to someone elses schedule
Some other good things about our trip:
 Divi Very nice place, make sure you get a room with a kitchen, although we did hear good things about Buddy Dive during this trip.
 Running into our new pals Michelle and Deb. You gals are a blast!
 Getting out neighbor Skip drunk and into hot water with his wife without knowing it was happening. (Sorry Bud!)
 Not having A B Car rental make a big stink about the fact that some SOB stole our spare tire and us not realizing it till turn in. (Big + to you guys! You have a customer for life!)
 Finding out what supermarket had the good bakery. (its located kitty corner across from the warehouse supermarket and has a Dutch name, so please dont ask me to name it.)
 That the mixed grill platter at same supermarket can feed a couple of corn fed Montana boys and several guests for 2 days in a row.
Must give a couple of big Thank Yous to some folks:
First to my lovely wife Kimmie, who thought this trip up, planned it, conspired with my buddy Jeff, booked it and THEN told me about it. To anybody who does not know, she is not a diver and did not go on this trip. Thank you again babe!!! You are one of a kind!
Second to my dive instructor Wes for giving me the basic knowledge without which this trip would not have been possible. Oh, and for breaking your hump to make sure I was able to dive Nitrox!
Last but not least to my great friend Jeffy. Thank you for being patient and sharing your knowledge about the underwater world with a novice like me and helping me boost my confidence. This trip would not have been possible without you Just sayin!!!
