CHET AND JEAN WOOD TRIP REPORT: FEB 24 – MAR 14, 2008
Written by Jean, photos by Chet

We swapped air miles with our son, so we were able to fly business class on the O’Hare-San Juan leg of the flight. Such a difference a few inches makes!
And the food was edible.

This is our 11th trip in 11 years. All at Sand Dollar and it was our 8th stay the Zale’s condo. alan@alanzale.com I highly recommend renting from Zale’s rather than renting through Sand Dollar because of the improvements they have made to their unit. My favorite is the tightly screened balcony facing the sea and Klein Bonaire. This year they added a stainless steel sink and new windows in the 2nd bedroom, and kitchen.

We did all our dives at Bari Reef , the house reef at Sand Dollar. We enjoy keeping a record of each species we ID each year. We added 10 new species this year with a total of 124 species IDed. Our lifetime total is up to 186. We ran across a Cubera Snapper that posed patiently for us. We did an ‘advanced dive’ with Jerry Ligon. I like that he shows you how and where to find a particular species, so you can find them on your own. He pointed out the kind and type of coral mound where Viper Morays & Chestnut Morays like to hang out. And he showed us a very tiny Harlequin Pipefish, as well as some gobies and blennies.

I captured a video of a Midnight Parrotfish. It was swimming past Chet and headed toward me. The funny part was that Chet didn’t see him. Had to show him on the video. Tit for tat, on a later dive he saw a Southern Stingray and I wasn’t looking that way and missed it. We also had a nice encounter with an octopus and on a later dive with a turtle . Going through the video just this week we noticed a Bluespotted Cornetfish that I had thought was a Trumpetfish. Unfortunately you can’t see very well looking at the video screen while diving. But the video is great for fish ID after the dive.

Besides taking fish photos, Chet likes to take Iguana shots. One meandered right up to the camera lens for a close-up shot of his nose. One day driving back from windsurfing we stopped to look at some goats and an old scraggly one put his head up to the window for a close-up shot of his nose!

There were a few days of light wind, perfect for me to go windsurfing. I love windsurfing, but with my Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome, I can only handle a light jaunt. It is so beautiful at Lac Bay, the water color is amazing!

I took an art class with JanArt. The hardest part of painting for me is setting up the picture and getting started. Taking the class gets my momentum going, and then between dives I can sit on the balcony and play with my paints.

It was great to see old friends and meet new ones, as always. We met Mary & Pat Murphy and Tom & Darlene Ellis at Gibi’s. We had a nice visit with Diver Debbie and Adam Wetzel who also stayed at Sand Dollar. Debbie is a painter and they know the owner of the condo they rent. This year he asked Debbie to paint a mural
on the back blank wall of his corner condo. The beautiful mural repeats the view from the condo of the ocean. The Wetzels have a website where they sell hand made and hand painted wood objects. www.woodzels.com

Thank you to Michael Gaynor for his ongoing advice, directions and help. Chet spent some time sitting at the tables there emailing to his company. Yes, he had to work while there! But sitting in the warm breeze sipping Guinness, instead of being in subzero Illinois! It was bring the computer or don’t go. That was an easy decision.

I may try to do some re-formating to get that posted better tomorrow

(Message edited by chetwood on April 14, 2008)

Try two:
CHET AND JEAN WOOD TRIP REPORT: FEB 24 – MAR 14, 2008
Written by Jean, photos by Chet

We swapped air miles with our son, so we were able to fly business class on the O’Hare-San Juan leg of the flight. Such a difference a few inches makes!
And the food was edible.

This is our 11th trip in 11 years. All at Sand Dollar and it was our 8th stay the Zale’s condo. alan@alanzale.com I highly recommend renting from Zale’s rather than renting through Sand Dollar because of the improvements they have made to their unit. My favorite is the tightly screened balcony facing the sea and Klein Bonaire. This year they added a stainless steel sink and new windows in the 2nd bedroom, and kitchen.

We did all our dives at Bari Reef

, the house reef at Sand Dollar.
We enjoy keeping a record of each species we ID each year. We added 10 new species this year with a total of 124 species IDed. Our lifetime total is up to 186. We ran across a Cubera Snapper
that posed patiently for us. We did an ‘advanced dive’ with Jerry Ligon. I like that he shows you how and where to find a particular species, so you can find them on your own. He pointed out the kind and type of coral mound where Viper Morays & Chestnut Morays like to hang out. And he showed us a very tiny Harlequin Pipefish, as well as some gobies and blennies.

I captured a video of a Midnight Parrotfish. It was swimming past Chet and headed toward me. The funny part was that Chet didn’t see him. Had to show him on the video. Tit for tat, on a later dive he saw a Southern Stingray and I wasn’t looking that way and missed it. We also had a nice encounter with an octopus and on a later dive with a turtle.

Going through the video just this week we noticed a Bluespotted Cornetfish that I had thought was a Trumpetfish. Unfortunately you can’t see very well looking at the video screen while diving. But the video is great for fish ID after the dive.

Besides taking fish photos, Chet likes to take Iguana

shots. One meandered right up to the camera lens for a close-up shot of his nose.

One day driving back from windsurfing we stopped to look at some goats and an old scraggly one put his head up to the window for a close-up shot of his nose!


There were a few days of light wind, perfect for me to go windsurfing.

I love windsurfing, but with my Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome, I can only handle a light jaunt. It is so beautiful at Lac Bay, the water color is amazing!

I took an art class with JanArt. The hardest part of painting for me is setting up the picture and getting started. Taking the class gets my momentum going, and then between dives I can sit on the balcony and play with my paints.

It was great to see old friends and meet new ones, as always. We met Mary & Pat Murphy and Tom & Darlene Ellis at Gibi’s. We had a nice visit with Diver Debbie and Adam Wetzel who also stayed at Sand Dollar. Debbie is a painter and they know the owner of the condo they rent. This year he asked Debbie to paint a mural
on the back blank wall of his corner condo. The beautiful mural repeats the view from the condo of the ocean. The Wetzels have a website where they sell hand made and hand painted wood objects. www.woodzels.com

Thank you to Michael Gaynor for his ongoing advice, directions and help. Chet spent some time sitting at the tables there emailing to his company. Yes, he had to work while there! But sitting in the warm breeze sipping Guinness, instead of being in subzero Illinois! It was bring the computer or don’t go. That was an easy decision.

Great report and pictures.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Jean, great report and pictures

YES! I was waiting for your report. Thank you so much for the excellent photos! I just love it when critters pose to have photos taken of their nose!!! Ok...waiting patiently for some more photos.

Thanks for sharing!

Glad you had another great trip! Pics are fun!

just had a chance to read your trip report...thanks for including me in your view of the island..we do all love Bonaire so, and always looking forward to seeing everyone on the dock ...hope all is well and not working too hard back home...thanks again for the BT buttons