July 2, 2011
We made it to Bonaire a few minutes early at just after 5 a.m., which is 2 a.m. Arizona time. We made it through customs fairly quickly and then grabbed our luggage and headed to pick up our rental car. We got a really nice Suzuki minivan that has plenty of room for the three of us and all of our dive gear.
Then we made the short trip down the road to the Bellafonte. We unloaded all our luggage from the car and headed to our room. We got a really nice two bedroom two bath grand suite. None of us got much sleep on the flight so we all crashed in bed for about three hours. Eric said he got some sleep then, but Tim and I didn't get much.
After our "nap" we headed downtown to get some lunch. We went to El Mundo (the place that used to have my favorite chicken salad sandwich). Unfortunately they no longer have that on the menu so I ended up having a crab salad sandwich and Tim and Eric both had Dutch pancakes.
After lunch we headed to the grocery store, which by the way is a madhouse on the weekend. We got a few things and got the heck out of there. We headed back to the hotel and put our groceries away and then headed down to the dive shop to do our "checkout dive" and get our marine park tags (which are mandatory to dive here). We got our tags at the dive shop close to Bellafonte but we had to drive downtown to Yellow Submarine to do our check dive.
After our checkout dive we loaded all our wet stuff in the car and headed back to the hotel to do our first official dive here in Bonaire off the pier in front of the hotel. We did our usual entry of inflating our BCDs and throwing them in and then putting them on. Tim got int the water first and Eric tossed in his BCD and he put it on. Then I got in and Eric tossed in my BCD. Unfortunately, mine didn't float and instead went straight to the bottom of the ocean. Fortunately, the bottom of the ocean was only about seven feet down at that point.
So after we retrieved my equipment and we were all set, we started our dive. Tim did great on his first ocean dive. He was amazed at how clear the water was and how much there was to see. Unfortunately, he must have gotten sunscreen in his eyes and they were very uncomfortable and burning the whole dive. Before we ended our dive we were lucky enough to see our first turtle of this trip, a baby hawksbill. I managed to get some good video of the turtle.
After our dive we all got cleaned up and then went to look for some dinner. We ended up going to Buddy Dive and eating at the beach bar. The weather was beautiful all day yesterday, but it was especially nice in the evening with a wonderful almost cool breeze. Eric and Tim both had pasta and I had a giant chicken quesadilla and of course we all had to have dessert. (Just to let Dick know, the key lime pie was fabulous.)
By the time we made it back to the hotel we were pretty much all ready to crash, which we did shortly after watching the video I had taken of the turtle and Tim.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Anilao, Day 7 & 8
Friday and Saturday, April 22-23, 2011
We decided just to do one morning dive instead of two on Friday as we wanted our dive gear to be able to dry out some before we packed it up for the trip to Manila. We were going to dive at Kerby's rock, but the current was too strong so we ended up going to Darylaut again.
After our dive we came back to the resort and got busy packing up our stuff. We went ahead and stayed and had lunch and said goodbye to the other guests. After taking our camera gear apart and packing it up, our driver picked us up about 3 p.m. and drove us to Manila to stay with friends, Bob and Riet.
It took us about two hours to get from Anilao to Manila. This time we made the trip during daylight hours so we got to see what the scenery looked like. We had dinner with Bob and Riet and they showed us around their beautiful home and we had a nice time visiting with them.
Saturday morning Bob drove us all around Manila and took us to see the house where Eric lived with his parents for two years in the 1980s. Things have changed just a bit since then. Bob also took us to see the Megamall, one of 15 malls in and around Manila. I have never seen such a giant size mall--it was over a half mile long and was about five stories tall.
Early tomorrow morning we head to the airport to make the long trip back home. This was a very nice trip. We really enjoyed the diving and we would highly recommend Club Ocellaris for diving, especially if you are into underwater photography. We met a lot of really nice people their and the staff and our guide were wonderful.
Eric was very glad he got to see Anilao again and also Manila. We really appreciate Bob and Riet's gracious hospitality and letting us stay with them in their beautiful home.
We decided just to do one morning dive instead of two on Friday as we wanted our dive gear to be able to dry out some before we packed it up for the trip to Manila. We were going to dive at Kerby's rock, but the current was too strong so we ended up going to Darylaut again.
After our dive we came back to the resort and got busy packing up our stuff. We went ahead and stayed and had lunch and said goodbye to the other guests. After taking our camera gear apart and packing it up, our driver picked us up about 3 p.m. and drove us to Manila to stay with friends, Bob and Riet.
It took us about two hours to get from Anilao to Manila. This time we made the trip during daylight hours so we got to see what the scenery looked like. We had dinner with Bob and Riet and they showed us around their beautiful home and we had a nice time visiting with them.
Saturday morning Bob drove us all around Manila and took us to see the house where Eric lived with his parents for two years in the 1980s. Things have changed just a bit since then. Bob also took us to see the Megamall, one of 15 malls in and around Manila. I have never seen such a giant size mall--it was over a half mile long and was about five stories tall.
Early tomorrow morning we head to the airport to make the long trip back home. This was a very nice trip. We really enjoyed the diving and we would highly recommend Club Ocellaris for diving, especially if you are into underwater photography. We met a lot of really nice people their and the staff and our guide were wonderful.
Eric was very glad he got to see Anilao again and also Manila. We really appreciate Bob and Riet's gracious hospitality and letting us stay with them in their beautiful home.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Anilao, Day 6
Thursday, April 21, 2011
We had a good night dive last night. We saw several octopus hiding in bottles, crabs, squid, clownfish, and many other interesting critters.
Today we did three dives. The first dive we went back to Mato. Eric wanted to get some more photos of the shrimp there.
The second dive we went down to the other end of the island. On this dive we finally got to see some harlequin shrimp. We also saw an octopus, a whole bunch of banded coral shrimp, and of course tons of other stuff.
On our afternoon dive we went back to Twin Rocks. We got some really good video of the jacks that hang out there, but we had to fight a pretty good current to do it. I think I may have actually worked off the three mangos I had for breakfast.
At dinner tonight we got to experience our first Philippine brown out. Right in the middle of dinner everything went pitch black. Luckily the staff all carry flashlights and they quickly started up the generator to get all the lights back on until the power came back.
We had a good night dive last night. We saw several octopus hiding in bottles, crabs, squid, clownfish, and many other interesting critters.
Today we did three dives. The first dive we went back to Mato. Eric wanted to get some more photos of the shrimp there.
The second dive we went down to the other end of the island. On this dive we finally got to see some harlequin shrimp. We also saw an octopus, a whole bunch of banded coral shrimp, and of course tons of other stuff.
On our afternoon dive we went back to Twin Rocks. We got some really good video of the jacks that hang out there, but we had to fight a pretty good current to do it. I think I may have actually worked off the three mangos I had for breakfast.
At dinner tonight we got to experience our first Philippine brown out. Right in the middle of dinner everything went pitch black. Luckily the staff all carry flashlights and they quickly started up the generator to get all the lights back on until the power came back.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Anilao, Day 5
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Another day of good weather, good food, and good diving. The weather so far has been clear and sunny every day. The temperatures are probably in the 80's with humidity but as long as you can get a breeze off the water it isn't too bad.
The "dining room" is on the patio down by the water and is usually not bad temperature wise. Our room is 70 steep steps up the hill from the patio area, so we are getting somewhat of a workout going up and down to our room. We splurged and got a room with AC, which is probably a good thing as our room does not get much of a breeze.
Today we had a really yummy breakfast, fresh mangos, mango pancakes, and scrambled eggs. What more could you ask for?
We have done two dives so far today and plan on going out to do a night dive at the pier this evening at 6:00. This morning we went to Dary Laut and Kerby's rock. At Dary Laut we dove the wreck of a what used to be a floating restaurant. It has been there for about 20 years so it has a lot of coral on it and tons of fish living there. I saw two free swimming eels and a school of batfish.
At Kerby's rock we saw a huge white and brown frogfish, Ocellaris clownfish, eels, nudibranchs, a bunch of fish eating some other fishes eggs, and also some nudibranch eggs that look like a rose. There were tons of other fish everywhere we looked and the colors of corals, soft and hard, were unbelievable. I think we probably saw every color imaginable.
Another day of good weather, good food, and good diving. The weather so far has been clear and sunny every day. The temperatures are probably in the 80's with humidity but as long as you can get a breeze off the water it isn't too bad.
The "dining room" is on the patio down by the water and is usually not bad temperature wise. Our room is 70 steep steps up the hill from the patio area, so we are getting somewhat of a workout going up and down to our room. We splurged and got a room with AC, which is probably a good thing as our room does not get much of a breeze.
Today we had a really yummy breakfast, fresh mangos, mango pancakes, and scrambled eggs. What more could you ask for?
We have done two dives so far today and plan on going out to do a night dive at the pier this evening at 6:00. This morning we went to Dary Laut and Kerby's rock. At Dary Laut we dove the wreck of a what used to be a floating restaurant. It has been there for about 20 years so it has a lot of coral on it and tons of fish living there. I saw two free swimming eels and a school of batfish.
At Kerby's rock we saw a huge white and brown frogfish, Ocellaris clownfish, eels, nudibranchs, a bunch of fish eating some other fishes eggs, and also some nudibranch eggs that look like a rose. There were tons of other fish everywhere we looked and the colors of corals, soft and hard, were unbelievable. I think we probably saw every color imaginable.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Anilao, Day 4
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
We did just two dives today. We decided to take the afternoon off and relax. Our first dive this morning was at Dead Palm. I managed to get some pretty good video of a good size mantis shrimp (which I had been wanting to see), a school of young yellow barracuda, some crinoids swimming, and another Ocellaris clownfish.
Our second dive was at Mainit, which was more of a muck dive, but we saw lots of interesting stuff that we had not seen yet. We saw a cuttlefish, a couple flounder, devils scorpionfish, nudibranchs mating and laying eggs, and some different type of shrimp that I cannot remember the name of.
We did just two dives today. We decided to take the afternoon off and relax. Our first dive this morning was at Dead Palm. I managed to get some pretty good video of a good size mantis shrimp (which I had been wanting to see), a school of young yellow barracuda, some crinoids swimming, and another Ocellaris clownfish.
Our second dive was at Mainit, which was more of a muck dive, but we saw lots of interesting stuff that we had not seen yet. We saw a cuttlefish, a couple flounder, devils scorpionfish, nudibranchs mating and laying eggs, and some different type of shrimp that I cannot remember the name of.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Anilao, Day 3
Monday, April 18, 2011
We did another three dives today, two in the morning and one after lunch. We went to twin rocks, Mural reef, and we were going to do cathedral again but the current was too strong so we did Dive 7000 instead.
Twin rocks was very pretty with lots of coral and fish and of course nudibranchs. At Mural reef there was lots of soft coral and of course nudibranchs, but I also saw my first Ocellaris clownfish (the real Nemo). At Dive 7000 our dive guide found a really big green turtle that I got some good video of.
The food today was all awesome, again. I especially enjoyed breakfast as we had mangos (one of my favorite fruits--but only if ripe)
We did another three dives today, two in the morning and one after lunch. We went to twin rocks, Mural reef, and we were going to do cathedral again but the current was too strong so we did Dive 7000 instead.
Twin rocks was very pretty with lots of coral and fish and of course nudibranchs. At Mural reef there was lots of soft coral and of course nudibranchs, but I also saw my first Ocellaris clownfish (the real Nemo). At Dive 7000 our dive guide found a really big green turtle that I got some good video of.
The food today was all awesome, again. I especially enjoyed breakfast as we had mangos (one of my favorite fruits--but only if ripe)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Anilao Day 2
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Well let me start by saying that lunch and dinner yesterday were great. So far every meal has been fabulous--which could be a problem. Will definitely have to start a diet when I get back home.
Today we did three dives. We left about 8:30 a.m. and did the first two dives. The first dive was at Aphol Rock. We saw a big frogfish, nudibranchs, and blue starfish everywhere we looked, along with tons of other stuff. Our second dive we went back to Mato again. We saw shrimp, nudibranchs, clownfish, ornate pipefish, and all kinds of other small critters.
We then came back to Club Ocellaris and had lunch--chicken satay, vegetables in a cream sauce that were to die for, and of course rice. With just about every meal we have some type of fresh fruit too. So far we have had cantaloupe, pineapple, papaya, and bananas--not like we have back home either--this stuff is ripe and delicious. Can you tell I enjoy eating?
After lunch we went out and did another dive at cathedral rock. Eric saw some giant trevally, a very fast mantis shrimp, and of course there were several different types of nudibranchs--we are in the nudibranch capital, so it is pretty much expected on each dive.
I did not have any issues with clearing my ears today, so it was an awesome day of diving. I am still having to wear two 3 mm wetsuits, but it is working out well so far. I am able to stay warm for most of the dives. Only problem is I have rubbed the skin of the knuckles on both hands trying to get my wetsuits on. Afterwards I feel like a sausage in a really tight casing.
Well, it is about time for dinner, so will have to end this for today...
Well let me start by saying that lunch and dinner yesterday were great. So far every meal has been fabulous--which could be a problem. Will definitely have to start a diet when I get back home.
Today we did three dives. We left about 8:30 a.m. and did the first two dives. The first dive was at Aphol Rock. We saw a big frogfish, nudibranchs, and blue starfish everywhere we looked, along with tons of other stuff. Our second dive we went back to Mato again. We saw shrimp, nudibranchs, clownfish, ornate pipefish, and all kinds of other small critters.
We then came back to Club Ocellaris and had lunch--chicken satay, vegetables in a cream sauce that were to die for, and of course rice. With just about every meal we have some type of fresh fruit too. So far we have had cantaloupe, pineapple, papaya, and bananas--not like we have back home either--this stuff is ripe and delicious. Can you tell I enjoy eating?
After lunch we went out and did another dive at cathedral rock. Eric saw some giant trevally, a very fast mantis shrimp, and of course there were several different types of nudibranchs--we are in the nudibranch capital, so it is pretty much expected on each dive.
I did not have any issues with clearing my ears today, so it was an awesome day of diving. I am still having to wear two 3 mm wetsuits, but it is working out well so far. I am able to stay warm for most of the dives. Only problem is I have rubbed the skin of the knuckles on both hands trying to get my wetsuits on. Afterwards I feel like a sausage in a really tight casing.
Well, it is about time for dinner, so will have to end this for today...
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