Hotel Restaurant Rochaline Kralendijk

Our last day of snorkeling, and we saw an octopus! How cool. It wasn't hiding in a hole, either. We watched it launch itself from a rock, glide a few feet, and stick to the next one, over and over.

Reflecting on our favorites..... Last Bite Bakery, Gary, Linda's dive instructor at Carib Inn, pumpkin ravioli at Capriccios, diving ...

... tried to call them, but that didn't work, so we hopped in the car and asked a bunch of people until we found the place.

Turns out we got there in time. Rusty joined us in the morning for a refresher and then went out on a boat dive in the afternoon. Two sweet girls were in my class with me. Claire and Haley, the oldest of 5 kids, were 12 and 14 years old. They had been snorkeling ...

Efter en helt igennem skøn uge her på Bonaire, hvor vi blot har hygget, svømmet, nydt og fundet os selv igen, går turen til DK i morgen formiddag. I løbet af de sidste to dage har vi haft et godt dyk på Buddy's Reef, hvor vi sa mange fine fisk, og desuden har vi haft et natdyk ved pillerne under øens Salt Pier, hvilket var en rigtig stor oplevelse. Det er noget helt andet at dykke, når mørket har sænket sig, og vi så fx. en eagle ray, spine ...

Today is our last day in Bonaire.  It is also Paul's birthday.

We had a leisurely morning and then headed off to the northern end of the island. We started out on the western coast, checking out the rough entrances for the dive sites along there.  At one site, Karpata, I angered an iguana by getting too close to it (I hadn’t noticed he was there) and he chased us all back to our truck.  It must have been quite a site to see a moderate-sized ...

... year-old mask has been leaking  pretty regularly.  At the shop, Emily found a cat…she’s still disappointed that our condo doesn’t have cats like the one in Cayman did, so this made her day.

Now we’re all cleaned up, fed, and relaxing.

Can’t forget the Dutch word of the day: drempels.  Apparently this is speedbump.  They have these wide, brick speedbumps through town.

... with white spines), a trumpetfish, and a school of more than 20 tang.  All of this was within 10-12 feet of the surface and right along the shoreline…amazing!

We have now had dinner, prepared by Dutch instructions (FYI: the Dutch word for instructions is gebruiksaanwijzing.  This is our first official Stanton trip Dutch word of the day.), and are relaxing on our beachside deck.  I’m sure we’ll all be sound asleep soon.

... All participants are given life jackets. You leave your shoes at the shore and head out on sea kayaks on a guided tour. Most Kayaks seat 2 people. It's amazing to manuever through the intricate web of roots and branches. The kayak portion can be considered moderate to easy exercise. You take a break halfway through and then get back into the kayaks for the ...

Dear Blog,

Today is BONAIRE day. The ship made its way into the port at 7:00am. We were up and ready by that time and looking from our balcony the island welcoming us.

Bon Bini, as you will hear from the friendly locals say, means welcome to the island of Bonaire. It is located off the coast of Venezuela and has for years been known as a world class diving and snorkeling destination ...

... of pictures we took, a few of them turned out very well. Thank goodness this is a digital camera and we're not using film and flashbulbs for all these photos! We were happy with the results of our first attempt. Hope you enjoy them, too. I've uploaded LOTS of photos for your viewing pleasure - though not nearly as many as we took. :-) Night diving is quite a unique experience. The colors look very different at night, as your light illuminates a lot ...

... pods were used to tan animal hides), and goats. There are no good fresh water sources on the island; they primarily use desalination to produce drinking water. The biggest export over the years has been salt. There are large, shallow saltpans that flood and then evaporate, leaving behind salt. Originally they used slaves to work the saltpans and load the salt onto ships. They still "mine" salt, and you can see huge mountains of it. They ...