Biba Dushi in Bonaire

Bon día, or good morning from Bonaire.  We made it to the island without event and are settling in nicely to our new adventure.  What adventure is that??  We are living in beautiful Bonaire for the next two and a half months while David does his Dive Master internship.  He completed his coursework back home and now it’s time for his practicals. He started on Monday and will be working from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday.  Please enjoy his ‘first day of school’ pics!!  Like any student returning home after the first day of school, he was tuckered out!  He ate, took a shower and was in bed around 8:15 pm!  He’s been adjusting well the past few days and is doing good with his skills tests.  He’s even started stating awake until 9:15 pm ish!   

So what am I doing all day?  So far I’ve been pretty busy.  I did an aquafit class that was an absolute blast!  Imagine being in a pool with pool noodles and floating dumbbells.  There was lots of jumping, working with the noodles, jumping jacks while being 70% underwater, twisting, leg work, moves while holding the dumbbells underwater (which creates a surprising amount of resistance) and intentional splashing!  I can’t wait to go back!  I’ve also swam and/or snorkeled 2-3 times a day.  It’s the dry season here and it’s HOT!  The daily high temps are around 89-91 and humidity adds about 10 degrees to get the “feels like”  temperature.  I hear that it's even warmer in September so here’s hoping the acclimatization sets in soon.  Actually, I’m already tolerating the heat better than the first couple of days but it’s still a consistent heat the likes of which I haven’t experienced in a while.

I’ve also reached out to an organization about doing some volunteer conservation work.  I hope to report more on that next week.  Another goal I have is visiting all 35 snorkel sites on the island as well as the 22 on Klein Bonaire.  Klein Bonaire, which translates to ‘Small Bonaire’, is a tiny, uninhabited island about half a mile off the west coast of mainland  Bonaire.  It is protected from development as it is part of the Bonaire National Marine Park.  The diving and snorkeling at Klein is said to be fantastic.  You travel there by water taxi/boat (or swim if you’re into that type of distance swim) and take anything you might need such as towels, water, snacks, dive or snorkel gear, etc.  The island is completely natural and is teeming with wildlife both above and below the water.  

On one of my snorkel trips, I saw a black spotted moray eel! A first for me! He was hanging out under a huge piece of brain coral!   On the same outing, I also saw a white and gray sea snake type creature.  I was under the impression there were very few, if any, sea snakes around these parts.  Seeing it was both exciting and a bit unnerving.  I gave him a wide berth and quickly swam away.    

I’m also spending time each day trying to learn a little Dutch and Papiamentu.  Papiamentu is a Creole language based on Portuguese and Spanish and is the most widely spoken language on the ABC (Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao) islands.  

In closing, I’ll end this post as I started by saying, Biba Dushi “Live the Good Life” wherever you are!  Hugs!

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