For Christmas in 2008 I said to Mark "Your gift is a trip to Bonaire, the #2 scuba site in the world, I used your credit card to buy the tix."
After flying all night we arrived on the 14th of March and were picked up by Paulette and her new/old boyfriend Robert at the Bonaire Flamingo airport. What a great guy. It turns out that he and she went on a Caribbean cruise 17 years ago and they both really liked each other but had issues to resolve. So they were all in love and he sang the song he'd written for her. She gave me an awesome hand jeweled watch for my B-day. It was really fun to hang out with her. She is such a naturalist and gets very excited about earthy things. She's sees a weaver bird's nest and screams "Stop the car! I gotta have that nest." Or she would scream in her snorkle "Askdebn;;welkj;gklj" which translated means, 'I see an octupus!!!'
On Sunday the 15 we found the Bonaire Branch of the Church. What a lovely cultural experience. Twenty beautiful brown-skinned Bonarians sitting around on metal folding chairs, the "organist" sat at a table and pressed the buttons on a CD player when it was time to sing. The language was which was a Papiamento a a Portuguese creole, with vocabulary influences from African languages, Spanish, Dutch, English and Arawak languages. So we were given translator devices and the Elder from Kaysville Utah spoke into a mike so the 3 of us who were English speakers could understand. They were very loving and friendly and their first Convert of Dutch Ancestry who had been baptised the day before bore his testimony. There was a couple from Alaska serving there on a mission and I thought, "I can see us to serving in a beautiful humble place like this."
We rented scuba gear from a really friendly dutch place called Dive Friends Bonaire. We had been warned not to leave anything valuable in our rented truck. We put on our gear and tried to get in the water off the dock at a hotel, they wanted 15 bucks. So we walked back to the truck to drive up the road and everything was gone! Some really smelly shorts Robert had left, and Mark's glasses and our clothes all our sunblock. We were so upset. While the others were going into the hotel to call the police, I realized that everyone rented the same white Mazda truck and we went up 2 more trucks in the parking lot and there was all our stuff. We did our first two shoredives, the cliff and 1000 steps. The waves knocking me around while I was tryng to get on my flippers in all that heavy gear were difficult. I was all bloody and scratched. I should have attracted a shark, instead, I attracted this cool Moray eel.
Bobby Jeans
Monday the 15th Read Romancy Novel, Mark did Helma Hooker a wreck dive and the invinsibles.
Tuesday the 16th Paulette and I went shopping. Guy at Mimbusu dressed me. We ate at the Lions Den. Mark saved my fin at the Oil slick leap.
Wednesday the 17th we did a tour of the North Island 1500 years ago Astonomy center Pizza at captain Don's with the Sunset.
Thurs the 18th Mark went over to the Island to scuba. Paulette and I bought a bonita Tuna and we fried it up with Potatoes and ate Frozen grapes for dessert.
Friday the 19th saw the South side. These tiny buildings were used by the Colonial Dutch to house their slaves that worked in the Salt. This is the day i had most fun snorkeling.
The ocean right by our hotel was a lovely aquarium teeming with fish and coral. I loved to just lay on top of the water and watch the parrot fish and trumpet fish.
