Feb 16, 2013 - Leaving Vacation Land

We have packed and awaiting our flight to Houston then we continue on to Las Vegas arriving 5:00 PM, Western time. So we will be traveling about 16 hours total if the airlines keeps us on schedule. We had near perfect weather, with occasional rain showers and temps in the 70's & 80's most days. We did a combination of over 25 dives in some great waters, never saw any sharks, darn it but experienced the relaxation of being in another world with all of the underwater friends. There were 32 of our old dive buddies, and/or newly found friends....

Feb 9, 2013 - Paradise in Bonaire Dive- Dive- Dive

Cindy and me fly out Friday to Bonaire, one of the ABC Islands of The Netherlands Antille, the other island Bring Aruba & Curacao and that gives you the ABC islands. we have been to Curacao several years ago and hadareally great time and excellent diving. We return To Vegas Next Saturday the 16th to continue or vacation, or is that part of our retirement. I get conflicted with those two words. We'll open up the blog upon or return.

Jan 25, 2013 - Kralenddijk, Bonaire

Yesterday we docked at Kralendijk (coral reef) on the beautiful island of Bonaire The third Island of the ABC Netherlands Antilles Islands. Bonaire is 50 miles north of Venezuela, a tiny arid island with a population of 18,000. It is as the license says “Diver’s Paradise”. We were going to take a short ferry ride to Klein Bonaire – a small island with beautiful beaches but we were told there was no shade there. Instead we took a taxi with another couple to Sorobon Beach, a lovely area with very shallow water and a plethora (our travel...

Jan 29, 2011 - Leaving Paradise . . our trip back to Calgary

Got up early today - at 5 am to get ready to return our vehicle and catch our flight home. David had just filled up the truck the night before, however when we got to the airport, the gauge did not register the fill and they charged us another $19 for gas! Oh well. Got our boarding passes, paid our departure taxes and waited for the plane to load. The plan was 1/2 hour early, so after a "pat down", we boarded the plane and departed at about 8:00 a.m. Bonaire time. Arrived in Houston, had to go through customs and then security again (there...

Jan 28, 2011 - Day of R & R and Dean's departure . . .

Today we awoke to another beautiful day on the island of Bonaire. We are going to have a relaxing day today before we catch our flight home on Saturday. Went down to the harbour this morning to venture through the many markets in town. The cruise ship was docked today, so it was very busy. Did some last minute shopping and then stopped and had some drinks. Wanted to stop by for some coconut ice cream, but the store was closed and didn't open until 2:00. Dean flies out today at 2:30, so we need to be at the airport about noon. David went...

Jan 27, 2011 - To Dive My Last Dive...

Dove the Hilma Hooker again, as my last dive on the island. The bad thing is that our video camera quite working on the way down to the wreck. We went into the air pocket to try and fix it but we could not get the case open as we are under 59 feet of pressure. So we continued the dive with out the camera. Went to the bridge of the ship and Brad and Kyle went inside to take a look while David and were the support team. Had some problems with me ear so David and I cut our dive short. I made pasta for lunch today to try and use up some of our...

Jan 27, 2011 - Hilma Hooker - Peak Performance - Best Pizza in Town & Cinnamon Ice Cream

The sun is shining once again in Bonaire. The guys headed off bright and early again this morning, to explore the ship wreck of Hilma Hooker. This will be the last dive for Dean as he will be flying out tomorrow (Friday). We could all stay at least another week or two or three . . . . As Brad saw the dive: Today at Hilma, it was very murky and low visibility. On our snorkel ride out to the marker of the Hilma Hooker, we saw an octopus hiding in the rocks. When we got down to depth, we found the first air pocket and discovered our camera...

Jan 26, 2011 - The Hilma Hooker Dive Team enters their own air pocket . .and UV NITE DIVE

The boys were all up at 7 this morning and gone for their dive by 8:00 to explore the Hilma Hooker again. The go pro footage is amazing! The guys all went up into the air pocket that is in the ship and took out their regulators - and their computers said they were at 60 feet deep! They were in the pocket for about 3 1/2 minutes - they got some awesome group pictures. On the way down, Bradley was stung by what they call pica pica -apparently like a jelly fish that comes out in the morning and the evening. They also saw a huge green moray eel...

Jan 26, 2011 - Visit to the Hooker Again

We got up early 7:00 am, to dive the Hilma Hooker before anybody else dove the wreck today. We went down to the 100 foot mark and headed to the air pocket that we found earlier in the week. ( See video Here ) We stuck around the house today, Played Crib with David, Donna and Brad. David and I won both games. Went to the V.I.P dive shop to do UV Night Dive. Very Very Cool. You have to use a UV flashlight and you need to put a UV filter over you mask. It is amazing what the reef looks like with a UV light compared to an normal flashlight....

Jan 25, 2011 - Hilma Hooker Air Pocket

We set out today to dive the Hilma Hooker again. This ship is in about 102 feet of water and is Brad, Kyle and David's third time and my second. We were told that there were two air pockets inside the wreck that you can go to to talk. So our plan was to find the air pockets. We did find them but we had little bottom time left so we are going back on Wednesday. (See video here) Me and the boys went into town for lunch and a little bit of shopping today. We ate at this cool restaurant that is set out in the water. Good food and fun people....

Jan 25, 2011 - Kyle's Birthday! Hilma Hooker Dive

Today is Kyle's birthday - he is 23!! Happy Birthday Kyle. What better place to spend your birthday - than in bonaire! Brad writes about the dive: We descended upon the wreck Hilma Hooker and after a brief stop headed into the ship to find the hidden air pockets. The first one we found inside the main cargo hold which Kyle and Bradley went into. Here they went up into the air pocket and both took out their regulators and were talking in the air pocket - breathing at 85 feet. After a brief visit to the first air pocket, we set out to find...

Jan 24, 2011 - Karpata Diving and Snorkeling

Went to Karpata Dive today - The entry/exit to the dive is a bit of a challenge. Bradley ended up entering in backwards - you will have to see the video. The underwater terrain has rolling ridges. Sea fans are huge and parrot fish are everywhere. The boys saw a large anchor at 35 feet and had a chance to take pictures. Lots of color and steep walls and lionfish. Donna went snorkeling today - it was very different to see all of the different fish coral and fans everywhere. Took a drive down to the south end of Bonaire to show Dean the salt...