At long last.....the video is editted, put on DVD and Youtube is done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0-dsRNJIKs
9 and a half minutes of totally unremarkable, very little natural light, no big fishes, video.

The trip was good, except for the adventure to begin with. We did Houston to Bon. redeye....completely uneventful until we've got flaps and gear down to land at Flamingo and we power on and pull up. Pilot announces that "it's raining too hard and we're gonna detour to Caracas". 30 minutes or so to Caracas, we refuel and set on the runway for around 3 hours and get to Bonaire just under 4 hours late. Our "detour" took about the same time as our flight took, but at least I wasn't sitting in the Bonaire Airport waiting and watching my connecting flights go away. I actually think the copilot woke the pilot up to land in BON and waited too long to wake him or maybe the jetfuel was cheaper for fillups in Caracas so we went there. No big....we were there.

Poppie (telerin car rental) was on the spot with the keys, rental house guy was right outside with the keys, maybe took us 25 minutes to be on the road to Playa Lechi 30.
We rented a little blue house (Topana Cottage) which would be straight over toward the water from Pasa Bon Pizza. Very very nice, very quiet, right across the street from the water. Was a second house on the lot but it was unoccupied while we were there so we had the whole thing to ourselves.

Lunch at It Rains Fishes....yummmmy beer battered shrimps.

Quick checkin with Yellow Submarine, quick trip to cultimara from "bright thangs" and sodas and was in the water by 2.

Oh by the way, this whole time, it was RAINING.and it RAINED....then it RAINED...after a while it would RAIN....and then sumtimes water would fall from the sky before the RAIN started. It rained at least part days (some days, like Wednesday, it RAINED HARD, other days it just RAINED) every day until Friday when it barely RAINED.

Got in 19 dives, the viz was kinda poor because of no natural light. Didn't see any big stuff, one turtle with zoom screwed up so no videos. You can certainly see the results of Omar, especially above 35 feet, from damaged coral and lots of sand everywhere. I'd still do it again...even in the same conditions. Just walking across the street or driving somewhere in the truck and gearing up and getting in...THAT CAN"T BE BEAT. Undoubtedly the most relaxing dives anywhere I've ever been. Did the reef across from the house most...just very easy and I solo dove it all so I didn't have to drive, couple of trips south to the Rock, Lake, Alice, up to Karpata, the Andreas, and some others. North was better viz, but there was very little current anywhere. Best of all, it rarely rains underwater.

We ate...a lot....every day....in the RAIN (ok sometimes I exaggerate). Rains Fishes, Pasa Bon, Donna and Georgios, Papaya Moon (our new fave breakfast place), City Cafe (our old and still active fave breakfast place), Mona Lisa, Salsa, Bobbejeans (most favorite place of all) Casablanca, Cactus Blue and some other places. We only had one meal that wasn't absolutely awesome, and that was the beach barbecue, up north, and it rained hard, they had to move the grills inside and the steak was....shall I say a "dental exercise program".

Did a little shoppping (when the PODS were away), Mommy needed jewelry (now there's a shocker) from Jewel of Bonaire. We hadn't been in that shop in 6 years and the guy remembered what Mary bought last time. He may be staying well off the cruise shippers, but that kind of memory by a storekeeper dug fairly deeply in my wallet. It's all good. Also stopped at the Sail and Sewing (i'm old and don't remember stuff) up toward Pasa Bon and got some nice fabrics and shirts for Xmas gifts for those that can't....or won't....travel.

Saw muchos flamingos...even in the rain, but the weird thing was the donkees. We didn't see ANY until friday. I thought they'd all been rounded up for the sanctuary or something but they finally came out after the rain...and warted the hell out of us.

Didn't go to the park, roads too muddy (same for Sanctuary), but we covered the south end of the island. Lac was without people (it RAINED), stopped for Ice Cream in Rincon at the newer place on the road back to Kralendijk and the guy tole us a billion stories.

Gotta get ready for that "work thang" now, but I did remember a little. If anybody got questions...drop a PM. We're planning a non-diving trip (ok maybe a little) to Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica for January, so the travel bug hasn't let go.


Was it rainy....yes. Has it changed....yes More expensive....yes. More crowded...yes.

Would I go back at the first opportunity...HELL YES.

cheezeit

momphrough elvis juniorh

Joe:
Thanks for the video...I was expecting a lot more damage...so I was pleasantly surprised!! 45 days, but who's counting

Thanks for the great video. As Chris said, th damage is not what I expected. This makes me much more focused on developing video skills.

Cheezy...I knew I liked your wife...I love JOB...I end up buying something every trip

Did it rain?

You are a half glass full my friend...half glass full

I'll have to watch the vid later...gotta go make the donuts...

Joe, great vid

Joe, we were on the same flight. I got a hoot out of the stream of updates from the cockpit...."our representative has a fax in hand and is going up the stairs to the control tower"... Oh yea, it rained!

We were waiting on the ground, ready (ha!) to leave Bonaire when your plane buzzed the airport and didn't bother landing. You know, a week of diving Bonaire in the rain is better than.... just about anything else stateside. Thanks for the video!!!

My sailboat is half buried under a snowdrift.

"Dental exercise program" LMAO!!!! Joe, the video is too cool. Thanks for shooting.

If I had a house across from Pasa Bon while there, you can bet that I would have Pasa Bon every day! LOL! I loved your video. Have fun in Costa Rica.