Vacation Report 4

*sigh*

It's Saturday, which means I'll be returning shortly.

American politics reared its ugly head last night at our going-away dinner. Naturally, I stood up liberality, but even as a did so, I understood there are some people who are so twisted in their thinking, so stolid and stodgy in their viewpoints, that it's useless to try.

But I made the statement because I think we liberals have been put upon and put down way too often, and that other liberals at the table had to hear someone make the case forcefully and cogently.

I'll probably end up writing more on the topic later. For now, let's just say that we may have scared off local diners.

Anyway, have a pretty picture. See you Monday!

*sob*

Vacation Report 3

I've been exhausted. I've barely slept, the weather has been intensely sunny and hot (except early in the mornings when it pours rain) and I've been diving my ass off.

Something feels...off...down there. The effects of the lionfish invasion have had a pretty dramatic impact. Slow moving fish who don't breed prolifically and hang out in the coral heads have been thinning out. Common, but important fish like wrasses. I have noticed an explosion in fishes like triggerfish and filefish. I'm not sure what thats about: they don't seem to have a taste for lionfish.

Anyway, here's some pretty pictures I took.

Vacation Report 2

So how cool has this vacation been?

This cool.

Vacation Report 1

It's Monday and I've been in the Caribbean for a full day.

Saturday's arrival could not have had better weather: high 80s (30C) temperatures and the lowest humidity I've ever experienced on Bonaire. It was almost pleasant standing in the non-air-conditioned baggage claim.

Things progressed smoothly, and the group did its orientation class in time to get a dive in on Saturday evening. The water was calm, the weather beautiful and the fish plentiful.

I had been suffering a stomach upset for a couple of days but nothing too distressful. The stresses of traveling and dealing with the morons of Delta's terminal crew and the TSA couldn't even faze it.

Saturday night into Sunday morning, it rained. That's the beauty of this island: the worst rain happen when no one is doing anything. God blessed Bonaire with good timing.

On Sunday morning, the weather was drab. It was cloudy but not raining and the seas were like glass. A low pressure ridge was east of the island off the coast of Cape Verde and a high pressure ridge was dominating the weather in the north Atlantic.

This created a wind out of the north that is the reverse of the prevailing winds of the region and actually knocked back some of the usual currents.

Sunday was a challenging day for me. First, as I went to put my camera gear together, I realized I did not have an SD card, a memory card to store images. And it's Sunday. AND it's low season. Nothing was open. I might be able to secure one in between dives today but so far, no pictures to share. Sorry.

We did our two morning dives, and were free for the day, so after lunch, I walked to town in the forlorn hope that some general store might have a card to sell. No such luck. I stopped in for some i.e. cream at the local ice cream shoppe, Lovers.

I almost immediately got sick when I got back. My stomach went completely sour and I couldn't stay awake. I napped off the afternoon and was in bed by 8 last night.

It's five AM as a I write this and I'm feeling better. I'm not sure what happened: stress, dehydration, too many beers, the heat of standing around in my wetsuit, the ice cream, local food preparation, a spice or ingredient that didn't agree with me.

I'm still a little off but not enough that I'm going to miss a day of diving. I just hope I don't inadvertently pollute the water...and feed the fishies.