With 29 ski club members, this year’s trip to Bonaire was our largest scuba trip ever. Based on our 1998 trip to Bonaire, we chose Plaza Resort Bonaire and Toucan Diving as our destination resort. The services we received were of the highest quality and confirmed our choices. Our group was joined in Bonaire by several members from the Delta (Airlines) Dive Club and FCDA (Fairfield County Diving Association), swelling our ranks to 36.
The diving was spectacular with clear water and abundant marine life on every dive. As indicated on the Internet, (Hurricane) Lenny did indeed cause an “explosion” in the number and variety of fishes around Bonaire. We observed fish from less than 1/4 inch long, to tarpon and eels exceeding 5 feet in length, and exotics such as free swimming Sharp Tail Eel, a squadron of Nautilus, seahorses and Spotted Drums. We swam with turtles, and Dean and Serge even had an encounter with a beached whale. Ask them about it! We watched Peacock Flounder and octopus, Southern Stingrays and shark. Well okay! So the shark was the videographer’s hand puppet. We dove into the wreck of the “Hilma Hooker” and on the double reef system between “Punt Vierkant” and “Angel City,” around the island of Klein Bonaire and way up north at “Karpata.” Yes, we lounged at the pool and in the sun, did some gift shopping and wandered the island as well.
Our new divers, Carolyn Olofsson, Sue Stevens, Peter Van Houten and Gregg Reinhart, joined by Amy Provencal from FCDA, experienced the very best of what diving has to offer. The underwater visibility was typically 100 feet or more, and the water temperature varied between 82 and 84 degrees. All have now experienced night dives, deep dives, boat diving, shore diving, wreck diving and much more and have 25, or so, of their logbook pages completed.
Welcome to Carole Katz, Dorian Rehfield, Susan Stevens, Serge Allain, Will Holding and Joe Kubish, who joined the club to come on the trip, and welcome back to John Simpson who rejoined the club after a hiatus.
Congratulations to Lynda Buscis and Carolyn Gagnon upon the completion of the PADI Underwater Photographer specialty and to Joe Kubish for completing the Boat Diver specialty.
With a group this large, we commanded three boats, Green Flash, Purple Rain and Blue Moon. Each boat was captained by an experienced member of our group, George, Ed Z and Carolyn Gagnon respectively, and each boat was represented by a flag, of sorts. Our ‘capture the flag’ games got a little out of hand and a truce had to be called. Bar none, the most creative flag was flown by the Blue Moon crew, made up of ladies’ undergarments and sundry other risqué items. It was flown for several days and nights. So, I wonder, what were they wearing at dinner????
While not diving, trip participants went to the flamingo sanctuary, the donkey refuge, the salt works, the nude beach, the slave huts, the pyramids, kayaked in the mangroves, sail-boarding and, I’m sure, a few choice things that I don’t know about. There were people from our group who went diving at midnight and others content to watch the full moon rise over the beach. The group’s favorite haunt for happy-hour was the Coconut Crash beach-bar, watching for the illusive green flash as the sun pours itself into the water each evening.
Our Halloween costume party at the Tipsy Seagull was catered with a Bonairean Buffet dinner. Attending were Zena the warrior princess, pirates, those just out of the shower, pretty witches, “Has” and “Has-Been” and other sorted characters. Thanks to everyone that joined us in costume. Prizes were donated by DAN (Divers Alert Network), Toucan Diving and Rex Dive Center of Norwalk. Rex also donated funds for acquisition of a first aid kit, and Home Depot in Danbury donated work gloves for the conservation project. Thanks to all for your support.
Bonaire is surrounded by a marine park and, in order to be permitted to dive in the park, divers must attend an orientation, acknowledge the rules of the park, confirm buoyancy control skills and purchase an annual park tag. We were permitted, by special arrangement, to perform much of the orientation at our pre-trip briefing. Thanks to Toucan Diving for helping us with the arrangements and to Pan Aqua in Brookfield for allowing us to use their shop for our meeting, and the pool at the Danbury YMCA, under their rental contract, for the pre-trip skills refresher. Thanks to Pan Aqua as well for the special discount program they offered to trip participants.
We organized an on-island Conservation Project to clean up a section of the shoreline on the windward side of the island. For the project, we coordinated with a local youth organization, Jong Bonaire, and partnered with STCB (Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire) and CMC (the Center for Marine Conservation) in Washington, DC. The majority of our group actively supported this project. Thanks to everyone that helped out. See separate report(s) for details.
Thanks to John Esteban for coordinating an Indonesian dinner for the group. Great job, John. Thanks to Assistant Trip Leader, Carolyn Gagnon for accepting responsibility for the Blue Moon’s divers and to Ed Zeilenholfer for keeping an eye on the Purple Rain crew. Thanks to Dean Powell and Jerry Ryan for offering to help with the Halloween party. Thanks to EVERYONE for your part in making this trip a giant success. After all, in the end, it’s the participants that make any trip a success. |
By George Krampetz on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 1:46 pm: 
