WHY I LOVE FLYING
Thursday, Christmas Day
Our schedule was leave Waycross at 4AM for our Jacksonville...Miami...San Juan...Bonaire route. In Miami the plane broke. First the door wouldn’t seal. After 15 minutes we de-planed and they fixed the door (Airbus 300 – 153 people on board). Back on and ready again we push back from the gate. At this point we can still make the San Juan – Bonaire connection with maybe 45 minutes to spare. Engine number 1 won’t start so it’s back to the gate we go. Fuel pump won’t respond so mechanics try to reset the pump at the cockpit electrical bus....15 minutes later it’s still no go. Under the plane now at the main bus....15 minutes later it’s still no go. Off to the engine itself, off comes the cowling....15 minutes later it’s still no go and I’m not to thrilled about flying on that plane anyway....fuel pumps are important parts of making engines go vroom.

So they move us to a new plane 1 gate over which has to have the security check, be refueled, etc. At least we can look out the window and watch them move our luggage over. We land in San Juan at 8:45PM...3 minutes after our connection lands in Bonaire.

100 people grab their luggage, go through customs and storm customer service. At 10:30 we make it to the front of the line. Friday to Bonaire is already overbooked. We end up with tickets for Bonaire on Saturday and tickets for Curacao and Aruba on Fiday, but no connection information from either of those on to Bonaire. Call it quits at 1:30AM and head to the Marriott. They gave us vouchers for 2 taxis, 3 meals and the hotel.

Friday at 7AM was when I made the yelp help on BT as no one could give me Bonaire Excel’s Aruba phone number. Three different KLM 800 service people couldn’t help...never heard of Excel they said??? Thought that was weird but the first flight out was Aruba at noon so we just went with it. Ran into Becky and Tom and Mark (resident of Bon) at the airport and they encouraged us to take that route. So off we go and Bing...Landed in Aruba at 2:15,...Bang...walked over to Excel, bought tickets and ....Boom...we are on Bonaire at 5:15. Only took 38 hours but we are finally here...and with little sleep over 2 days our little head colds have got a bit bigger. Time to soak our heads in saltwater.

We arrive to Fridays sunset



and Saturday morning from our window in Eden Beach looking at Bongos



Eden Beach has finished the dock



We hit the water and immediately spot the rare Homer Simpson sponge



DU-OHHH

I enjoyed playing with our new Oly C5050 camera (no strobe) and a new fish ID book. If I have fish names wrong please jump right in.

My favorite fish , a French Angel Fish



A Banded Butterfly Fish



A nice Blue Angel Fish



A little Blue Chromis....a little blurry. The little booger wouldn’t be still....as Bob from WannaDive reminded me; now that I have a UW camera, not only can I aggravate people on land but now I can annoy the fishes as well.



A Blue Parrot Fish in the Initial Phase (Conical Head)

Hey, glad you finally made it to paradise! It's such a hassle for us to get there (even without your particular extra adventures) but always worth it. Enjoy and keep us mainlanders updated.

A couple Blue Tangs....I think the grayer ones are older males





I think these are Brown Chromis juveniles hanging around a Spiny Urchin....or just pond minnows



Another French Angel



and yet another French Angel in the staghorn coral of Old Blue

Love the pics.....especially the Homer Simpson sponge...gee I wonder if that's in my ID book??!! :-)

A little French Grunt peeking out



A small Golden Tail Moray Eel



Ocean Surgeonfish



Peacock Flounder



and a cute little Princess Parrotfish

Wally, what a nightmare! Last July I suffered through 2 broken AA planes and it only took me 26 hours to get to Bon...I think your story beats all though!

Great pics, I love the homer sponge as well...I think that needs to go in the reef critter gallery! LOL! Have a great rest of your trip!

More Purple Tube sponges...not apparently the Simpson variety.



A Sabo Cano



a Scrawled Filefish (I think)



Mikeil’s finger pointing at some sort of cleaner shrimp....the little guy crawled right up to the knuckle and went to cleaning and clipping at his finger. Didn’t realize there was a symbiotic relationship between wet Dutchmen and Blue Shrimp

A Smooth Trunkfish....what big eyes



I spotted a Spotted Moray Eel



and stopped for a Stop Light Parrotfish in Intermediate Phase



Not sure what this is...maybe some sort of Tilefish....anybody know?

I think this is a juvenile Threespot Damselfish



and 3 pictures of Trumpetfish

I Think this is a White Spotted Filefish







and for the last of the fish pics a school of Yellow Tailed Snappers



and a Yellow Stripped Snappy Diva

forgot the red banded slick head biped

Wally, great pics! I think that last filefish is an orange spotted...kelly and I saw loads of them this last summer Oh, and the diva fish is beautiful! What a pose!

Saturday Eva has a pretty good head cold so we do a little shopping for groceries etc. first thing. Found the Warehouse Grocery which is a well stocked store. And we find Lovers Ice Cream and a good little grocery next to it and Micheal's Chat and Browse. We showed up with his Folgers coffee right when Josie pulls up with the Walkers cookies. Good day of goody scoring for Michael. Here is his pic

I difer to your identification cynde and am changing the file name now. Do you know what the spotted filefish looking thing is?

Hi Wally,

I think I recognise the background on the picture where you do such a gracefull pose. Is it Eden's rubble?

Peter

Saturday afternoon I took off on a boat dive on Maneo's boat. He worked at WannaDive when we were there last year and at Buddy's before that I think. Has a pretty cool Venezuelan style open skiff with a big Honda outboard. Overall I found it to be a well built traditional style boat that works great for diving Klein. Can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the boat. I mean you would think. I did do a good bottom inspection of the keel and lower drive unit at the end of the dive.
Here is a pic of our somber steely eyed captain unwinding from a hard day at sea at the Bongos New Years Eve Party.

Hi Peter...you are correct, that is the rubble field about 20 meters north of Edens property line. We spent an hour looking around the heavy line that goes down to the wreck for a still elusive yellow horsefish.

I love your report and pics!! I saw many of the fish on our trip and I want to go on holidays again. The homer sponge is funny!

Sunday Eva still feels bad, but it is the day we go to the party at Lac Cai so we take the snorkle gear and head over to Sorobon. I am still kicking my own butt for not taking the camera. We have never been in the waters of the bay before. It is a great fish nursery and the place is thick with the little guys. The juvenile French Angelfish were incredible iridescent. And the one fish I could never get to be still in the big water where everywhere, the juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish which in this stage is dark blue and covered in brilliant blue dots. Next year we will snorkel the bay with the camera. Ate some good fish at Lac Cai and followed some new Dutch friends over to a new Sunday party place called Jos. The only directions I can give are when you leave Lac Cai follow the purple rocks all over every dirt track on that side until you come to it. Cool bar, great BBQ and a giant bonfire. I think Jos (a Dutchmen) came over about a year ago with his wife and just built a house and a little farm. Attached to the house is a cool shelter with a rock bar and on Sunday’s the throw a party. Very good food and a lot of fun.

Monday morning Eva is feeling a bit better but opts to skip the morning dive so I head of with Mikiel (who I met last year, Dutchmen in the music recording business) and his crew of newly certified divers (Konnie and Jos) and we grab Rob to have another experienced diver along. Mikiel has lived on Bonaire off and on through the years and can spot small animals well. We dive Old Blue which is a super easy entry.



I don’t see how Mikiel can spot little fish so well without a mask. This is the dive where the finger cleaning shrimp was found.



and Konnie on her about her 4th dive doing the hand jive

Wally, I was wrong, you were right...all 3 are white spotted filefish As to the unidentified fish (you ask about a tilefish). Looking through my book, what about a graysby? a type of grouper. You can't see the dorsal fin in full, or caudal, but the markings look like a graysby...anybody else?

Monday afternoon Eva and I head of to do Angel City. The pink bus happens to be there but I have carried no money for ice cream. Drats!!! The surf was up a bit and the vis wasn’t so hot, but still better then about anywhere. Exit was a bit fun and Eva banged a knee (slightly).

Tuesday we are up at 7AM to do Old Blue and Karpata. Visibility was better up here and entry and exits were easier. Last year was the opposite....south side was extra ultra super clear. Never dove Karpata before...reminds me of Cayman. Everybody we talked to at Karpata saw turtles except your truly. The staghorn coral fields at Old Blue are really cool. Can’t image what they were like before Lenny.

And of course Mikiel and his crew are at Old Blue on Wednesday and see a 10 meter WHALE SHARK. Just the luck Konnie and Jos are on their 8th dive and see that.

After a two fisted game of scrabble where accusations of cheating where bandied about it’s off to Gibi’s. There were lots of folks at the dinner and I only took a few pictures.

Here is Count de Money



And other BTers

Wally,

We all were happy to read Jake's post saying that you and Eva had arrived.

Great report! Thanks so much.

Wednesday and it’s off to Hilma Hooker early.
We spotted what I think where the Bonarian Banditos, 5 youths cruising slow and doing the check out. I was walking their way with my biker doo-rag on (burnt head) and killer shades so I put on my bearded bad a@@ed ugly face. After that I peed on the 4 truck tires. Boz in the dive hood, jeez.
Again southside viz wasn’t up to it’s usual but a real nice dive. We descended straight down to the bow and Eva hit her deepest depth yet at 93ft.

And here she is at the forward mast

Wednesday and it’s off to Hilma Hooker early.
Again southside viz wasn’t up to it’s usual but a real nice dive. We descended straight down to the bow and Eva hit her deepest depth yet at 93ft.

And here she is at the forward mast

Oops double posting

Wow! I am enjoying your pics and report!

After Hooker we went back to Eden to find a pesky horsefish....looked and looked but no horsefish.
After that it’s over to Bongos for a New Years Eve party. Big turnout, DJ and a dance floor.

Bartender crew working all 4 corners

Wally, have they finished the top part of Eden Beach property yet? I cant believe it took that long! We were there in Oct and they were working on it then.

Next day we packed up the gear before heading over to Jake & Linda's great party. It was a great turn out and with lots of fantastic food.
Thanks guys.

Happy to report the top floor is finished and looks good. The front walls are set back with a baluster rail on a small terrace. Has a nice look.

Looks like the crew at WannaDive put on a fresh coat of paint. Check out Bob's cool painting shades.

Excellent report, Wally! On the fish ID: the blue angelfish is actually a queen angelfish. The cleaner shrimp is a pederson cleaning shrimp, with a d not a t. That is in fact a scrawled filefish, you are correct, ain't they grand looking? Mary loves them. I have to look up the Sabo Cano, it's a little late and my brain is clouded with show tunes. Is that Eva next to your captain at the party? I would NOT want to get that look from her!
Mikiel doesn't really dive w/o a mask, yer just funnin' with us, ain'tcha?

Wally, great pics! Oh, and that first pic of the BT'ers at Gibis is Kathy McPeak, some guy she has her arm around and Jim McPeak! Glad they made it!

Still no comment about the possible Graysby?

Seb..Your are right on the queen angel (first fish titled Blue Angel). I had my file labeled correctly, that's what I get for fast posting.
I was wondering if that was a Pederson shrimp, couldn't find an ID in my fish book so I just left it as dang little cleaner shrimp.
That's not Eva with Maneo...I have met her several times around WannaDive but can't remeber her name. The look may be the reaction to the antics of the previous photo (which will remain unposted )
And lastly, Mikiel does indeed dive with a mask but off it comes as soon as he sees the camera turn his way. He is a great guy and fun to dive with.
Cynde...that is Kathy and James McPeak with their son who was certified this trip. I think he said he was 22.

Another Mikiel photo op

Here's a revised copy of our handy dandy packing list - version 3, in Excel.

list \WBNOTE\NoteDocs\Wally's Work\Vacation\upload list.xls (28.7 k)

Wally, I forgot Jim and Kathi were taking their son! Glad he got certified! We hung out with Jim and Kathi a bit last July...did a couple of dives with them and dinner a couple of times...and then they were at the BBQ Great folks

Hey Wally Great report!!! Just one question???? in your Wally's work sheet it says that you did NOT wear any underwear on the plane...is this true??? LOL

Oops...1 on plane down and 1 on the way back and beach shorts (free style) the rest of the time. I knew somebody would pick up on this

Hank (Bongos owner and Wally) Getting ready for New Years party.

By the way, I have to give a hats off to a few folks. We had rented cars from other folks before (with no problems whatsoever)but switched over to Everts for this trip. The reason was Ilka, who runs Everts, accomodated our kids when we sent them over for June 03. They are both under 24 and so renting in their name raised a few eyebrows. We called her to make sure they arrived and she filled us in like she was their Aunt.
For this trip we reserved a Suzuki van but really wanted a truck. Since our flight was delayed one day, Ilka found us a truck and only charged for the days used (and at the van rate), not the days reserved. And, I think she borrowed the truck from another company so she probably didn't make much money off of the deal.
In my book that's going above and beyond what I expected so IMHO Everts and Ilka is the way to go.

The cheesanator thanks you from the bottom of his cheddar for your packing checklist. We're off to Bonaire a week from Wednesday and I had pondered doing the same list for my own (frightfully forgetful) self. You definitely saved me a lot of work (i do, though, kinda like a few more pair of underwear than you). Sounds like you had a great trip.

One question, I've seen a couple of posts referring to a plague of mosquitos, did you have any problems with em.

Thanks

cheeeeeesyyyyyyyyyyy joe

Another hats off to the folks at Eden beach. Same rate as last year but with TV and telephone. Used the TV about once and the phone twice but it was nice to have. What impressed me was the water heater smoked a fuse on New Years Eve. They scrambled around and found somebody to fix it. Try pulling that off in an American city,
at the last minute,
in the afternoon,
on a holiday.
That's called extra effort in my book. They also were understanding about our flight delays and worked with us.
Wish that little studio apartment was our home about 4 months a year. Life would be grand.
Oh, and all the outlets are now US Standard plug ins....and I just bought an adapter. Anybody want one cheap?

We carried no bug spray and needed none....I think the bugs prefer to eat dutch.

Joe, I would pack some anyway, as they will probably be attracted to all the cheese...My september trip a couple of years ago yielded no bites...this last July, I got eaten alive, and went through 3 bottles of deet!

Great report Wally! Glad you made it as easily as you did after such a crumy start...GREAT PICS!!

Wally, how did you guys get away without any mosquito bites? I'd hate to think we hogged all the mosquitoes and you didn't get any! My legs and arms are disaster areas from all the bites, and that's with our hosing ourselves down with bug spray liberally -every- night after the first one...

Faith

Wally, great pics!! Thanks for the photo of Kathi, Tim, and of course, lobster man, me!!

I am really enjoying your great trip report and all the beautiful pictures!!!! I think the spotted fish you are trying to ID is either a Rock Hind or Red Hind. My vote is the Rock Hind. I see lots of them in Bonaire.
I relate to all your travel woes on the way down. I had a days delay because of weather in Boston on December 6th and then on the way home I had about a 6 hour delay! I was flying Air Jamaica so I guess the bottom line is traveling is a crap shoot! You just never know what you are in for on any airline, but I think Bonaire is worth it!

Darlene, I had thought the rock hind at first, but it has "stripes" on it's back (according to my book) and this didn't look like it did. I'd like a good fish ID on it, as I see a lot of them as well...where's our experts on this? We know you're out there lurking

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/1022/1022.html?1073324895

Time to end this thread and start anew

Hi Wally,

On BT you are pretty active. Read your private mail to once in a while and respond to it if you can, like or want.
I still remember the promises you made !!!