Delayed Trip Report 3, Feb to 17, Feb.

Yep, the geezer notched up another year when he was there. But if you're gonna grow old, (and once you consider the alternative, it's what you're gonna do) Bonaire is the place to do it.

When I returned home it became apparent that, I've angered the gods of the internet. Arrived on the 18th at 1:00 AM, found only one message on the telephone recorder, the phone line was dead. Tuesday 16:00 phone service was restored. By late Wednesday MSN, my ISP, was having major problems. Spent two and a half days, most of it on hold, with the help desk. Finally got back on-line on Saturday afternoon.

We had gone back to Bonaire for some diving and relaxation, we found both. We also met a bunch of BTers at the three BT functions we attended and had an absolute ball.

Dove with Photo Tours again, these people always go out of their way to accomodate you. My knees don't allow me to do much shore diving so we are limited pretty much to boat dives. We prefer afternoon boat dives, and Photo Tours is gracious enough to schedule two tank afternoon boat dives. The two exceptions to our boat dives were Angel City, where the beauty of the outer reef made up for the very undignified tail over teakettle exit, and the Small Wall on Turducken Day. Won't go into too much detail on the dives, those of you who know Bonaire can visualize the reefs and what I call the standard assortment of Bonaire fish and corals. Those of you who haven't seen the reefs first hand, can read the trip reports of some people who are far better writers than I am and then go to some of the photo websites posted by BTers. Dive high points were spotting: a Queen Triggerfish, a large green moray on the hunt (it swam parallel to us and our paths crossed several times), turtles, a Midnight Parrotfish, and a Spotted Eagle Ray.

Arrived Sunday the third. Went to 2 Kaya Amsterdam on Monday morning. Can't sneak anything past Rusty. Not only was I recognized and the time of my last trip noted, she also went into her archives and found "Geezer Power" from November. The next appearance was on the reef cam on the 8th @ 13:58. We dove the Small Wall (boat dive) and I'm coming up after my safety stop. 14:00 is a great shot of my right fin just after I cleaned the lens.

The one thing that made this trip different from all the other trips to Bon, was meeting so many people from the BT board. The first gathering was on the 9th at China Nobo where Michael Gaynor and Dana arranged the New Year's party. The unbeatable combination of good food and nice people made for a great evening. Party #2 was a gathering at Gibi's with dinner consisting of a delicous sampling of stewed chicken, stewed goat and "piska hoska" or fried fish. This was accompanied by platters of rice, french fries, and both boiled and fried funchi. Our last party was on the eve of our departure, at Jake & Linda's. A great pot luck BBQ. The centerpiece was a turducken that Kay Powers brought in from Louisiana. This is a boned chicken stuffed with a crayfish/sausage stuffing, that is then stuffed into a boned duck, which is then stuffed into a boned turkey. If you don't believe it, do a google on turducken. It was fantastic! The fat from the duck bastes the chicken and the turkey, sort of a cajun Butterball. If you check the cam postings for the 16th, the one at 17:44 is Kay. She is a little bit of a thing, who can't weigh over 4 1/2 pounds (2 Kg.) more than the turducken she brought. There were all sorts of other good things available along with plenty of cold Heinekens, 'cause after all, this is a Dutch Island. For the third time during the trip the combination of good food and nice people, worked its magic. The next afternoon we were in line at AJ getting ready to return home. It's a good thing that nice memories don't require a lot of room in your luggage, otherwise it would have been impossible to pack for the trip home.

Bob

Thanks for posting the great trip report and I am so glad that you gave a good description of what the turducken is. It sound delicious! As yourself, I am enjoying meeting all the Bonaire Talk friends and it is all thanks to Jake and Linda!
Where did you see the Queen Triggerfish? I went nuts when I saw one at Andrea in January. They sure are beautiful!

Bob,

What a great trip report! Brought back great memories. I hope to have mine posted this week. I have been non-stop since I came home on the 18th. Whew....I need a vacation!

Kay

Darlene,
Saw the queen trigger at Jefferson Davis. Chris Armacost was divemaster/captain on that dive. He was sorry that he didn't see it. He said that he's only seen a few since he's been there. When we were off gassing in the shallows, Chris came over and led us back to the mooring block. There we saw a small black seahorse plainly visible in the middle of a small sandy patch. It was barely holding on to a small bit of growth. I'm sure it didn't stay there too long, because it was under attack by an equally small but determined damsel.
Bob

Bob, Thanks for telling me where you saw the Queen Trigger. Renee, the owner of the Woodwind has been on island for a little over ten years and she has only seen a couple as well.You know what is really weird is that we also saw a black sea horse last trip and that is extremely rare for a snorkeler!!!

Hi Kay,
Thanks again for bringing the turducken. I had been wondering what it was like ever since I heard about your Thanksgiving at Divi. You're so right about all the good memories from this trip. By the way just where do you think you might go, for that vacation you need??!
Bob