New Year’s Eve 218: Bonaire

Bonaire, Netherlands

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 22:30:00 -0400

Happy New Year’s Eve. Woke up today around 10:30ish, took a shower, and had some breakfast (yogurt with granola) while sitting on the back porch staring out at the Caribbean Sea. Not a bad way to start a day. After some more relaxing and piddling around it was decided that some wanted to go for a walk. This was my chance to explore and get scooters. We walked about half a mile before stopping at a dive shop which prompted the ordering of a taxi to take us “downtown”. When we got there we all stuck together for a couple of minutes, until I wondered off in my own direction to try to find some “real” Bonaire. I ended up walking about 5 miles north of the town to a camera shop. I had already scoured the area within the tourist part for a store that would have a charging cable and phone holder. Even the camera shop had a very limited supply of gear. I was a little shocked at the lack of supplies here. I asked the owner of the store about these items being so hard to find on a tourist driven island. He said that he doesn’t get much business and is barely keeping the store open. He said that there used to be two camera stores but the other guy went under. I am guessing that his struggles have to do with location (5 miles away from the cruise ships) and his lack of accessories. Or maybe I am just one of the few morons on vacation that forgets important pieces of gear necessary for doing what I want to do. On my way out there I took note of some things to try to shoot on the way back. There was an older guy sitting out in front of his house just saying hello to everyone that wandered by. I did talk to him for a little bit about the boat that he was repairing. Apparently it needed new wood and new nails...from Venezuela. That’s all I really got from him. I really wanted a picture of him, he was a very unique looking man. I need to work on the interpersonal skills required to obtain street portraits. I finally made my way back to town and was even able to hunt down the rest of the pack. Once I had gotten a bottle of water and finished in one gulp, I called the scooter company to make sure they had two scooters available for the rest of the week. Not only did they have them but they would come pick us up. Wonderful, since my feet were beginning to get a couple of hot spots on them I really didn’t want to walk any further than I had to. We got to the scooter place signed the papers, paid the money, did the damage check, reviewed how they work, and were off. Ahhh, wind in my face. Amy and I both made it back to the house without incident, good start. We got back in time to have drinks before our group dinner reservation about 15 mins east of here at a place called Foodies. A girl that Karen met on her flight from Aruba to Bonaire, Jill, joined us for dinner. Not really sure we will ever see her again, haha. Foodies had about 5-6 options for dinner; Tuna (fish of the day); Schnitzel; burger; chicken; filet pasta; and some other stuff I can’t remember. I am pretty sure the whole table either ordered the tuna or the schnitzel. It was schnitzel for Amy and I and it was damn good. The music at the restaurant was....interesting. We hung out while we waited for our cab back to the house, took some group pictures and just generally had a good time. Once back the drinking continued. Somehow a game of chocolate scrabble broke out. I tried very hard to bow out of the game but I still got recruited. After that was over and the chocolate was consumed we moved out to the back to watch the fireworks. Sharon, Jeff, and I were out there before anyone else and watched the cruise ship leave port, start to head out, turn around, head back in, and park to watch the fireworks as well. Then.. 5...4...3...2...1...explosions everywhere. The entire coastline erupted with displays. It certainly rivaled, if not exceeded, the Iceland fireworks. And they went on for quite a while, at least an hour with almost the same veracity. As they died down parts of our group headed back inside. Alex, Amy and I stayed out for a little while longer before heading to bed. Good bye 2018 and a fond fuck you! Please let 2019 be exponentially better.

Kralendijk

Group at Foodies

Bonaire, Netherlands

Sun, 30 Dec 2018 22:30:00 -0400

It is the first full day in Bonaire and I spent the whole day in and around the house, along with Jeff, Sharon, and Chris. Amy got up at 8am this morning to go with others to the grocery store, I slept until she woke me up at 1pm. Once I peeled myself out of bed I grabbed a banana and headed out back to the porch. Amy, Alex, and Alex’s dad had gone out so that Alex could get recertified for scuba diving. Apparently they got the same driver that we had last night and almost ended up at the northern end of the island, the dive shop is only 3-4 minute drive from the house. Sharon and Jeff donned their snorkeling equipment and jumped in the water. I walked down to the water just as Jeff was getting out and he was exhausted. He said that fighting the waves to get to the ladder and then holding on for dear life just to climb out was rough. Sharon said that further out into the water it wasn’t bad. I decided I had better play with the camera some and see what lenses I would want to use and what settings would be best for grabbing quick shots here. Played around for a while and some okay shots of different stuff. I did spend way too much of my time looking for a decent travel logging/blogging app. Finally found the one I am currently writing on, Jauntlet. It isn’t horrible like some others I have tried but I am still not impressed. I would like something a little easier to use that would track my travels for the day, then give me the ability to go in and edit the places where we stopped, add pictures to the routes taken and points where we stopped, and write about the places visited and just the day in general. Maybe Chris can come up with something, I would be willing to be the creative director of the project for a 40% share, haha. Amy and group finally made it home around 5 and our final member of the group, Karen, arrived shortly after. Sunset was around 6:30 so I broke out the camera again and snapped some more pictures. It is now dark out and the all of the backyard lights are on and the waves are crashing into the rocky “sea wall”. We are grilling dinner tonight and staying in. There will most likely be drinking and game playing. Good thing that nothing is really planned for tomorrow. I need to run into town and try to find a charging cable for the action camera battery charger and a new phone holder for the, I can’t believe I am saying this, selfie stick. Just to clarify I want to use it while snorkeling so that I don’t have to hold the camera, and maybe take videos with my phone. Then maybe we can rent some scooters for the week, I am very excited to ride anything with 2 wheels again. Until tomorrow...

View from the backyard

Sugar bird feasting

Sharon and Jeff enjoying the view

Sunset through a lantern

Fisheye sunset

Sunset

Bonaire, Netherlands

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 22:30:00 -0400

We arrived in Bonaire around 10-10:30 and walked off of the plane on to the tarmac and into the Flamingo Airport. This time the entire airport was outside, no interior spaces at all. Customs consisted of 2 guys in a booth looking at passports asking a couple of non-official questions and then stamping said passports. Once we collected our bags we walked out to the waiting area. It was well decorated with Christmas lights and decorations and there was even a real Christmas tree that was lighted and decorated. We hung out there until Alex and Chris’s flight arrived. Then the real adventure started. We tried to get a taxi but had some trouble explaining to the drivers that we needed the van and that we were not going to a hotel/resort. A man told a woman to take us in the van, which we loaded our own luggage into. We then proceeded to drive abut 10 miles past the house that we were staying at and ended up almost at the southern tip of the island. We finally got her to stop and turn around, she was very confused. I handed Chris my phone with the map up so that she could follow the directions, that really didn’t help very much. It still took Chris telling her where to turn to get us to the house. Once there though, holy shit! The house is amazing and the view is amazing.

Flamingo Airport, Bonaire

Christmas decorations at airport

Us and a blow up Santa

Found the hammock at the house, almost slept there last night.

Aruba, Aruba

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 13:00:00 -0400

We landed in Aruba around 1-2pm. Even though we had a connecting flight we had to go through customs. When we handed our customs form to the lady she asked where we were staying. I told her that we were not staying in Aruba and she looked shocked, even though you have to go through Aruba to get to Bonaire (unless you are lucky enough to fly directly there). Once you go through customs and collect your checked luggage you get pushed outside. Our flight over to Bonaire was not leaving until 9:40pm so we had some time to kill. We found a “bar” with some food, Amy got a burger and a Ketel One and I got a killer hot dog (it had cheese sauce, bacon, and shoestring potato chips) and a Johnnie Walker Black. Amy went and walked around while I sat with the luggage and tried desperately not to fall asleep. When she got back we ordered a cappuccino and a “French vanilla” - I am pretty sure it was hot chocolate powder in coffee, it was freaking delicious and I will be trying that at home. We found out that Alex and Chris’s flight had been delayed significantly but they had gone out on a tour before we got there. When they were done with their tour they met us at the airport and we hung out until it was time for their flight to leave. Amy had gone to check on our flight and while she was inside a 2 minute hurricane blew through. Alex and I were scrambling to get all of our luggage under the little umbrella, I may have gotten a little wet. We finally got all the flights worked out and around 9pm our plane arrived. It was a double prop plane from the 70’s, the windows were yellowed from the days when you could smoke on a plane, and it had that musty 70’s smell to it. For the first time in 36 hours I took a nap.

Flying over the Caribbean

Aruba airport

Ketel One and Johnnie Walker Black

Best hotdog ever, maybe I was hungry!!

Miami, United States

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 09:00:00 -0500

Amy got up at 4am this morning, I was still awake as I hadn’t slept. Took a taxi to the Birmingham airport and flew to Miami. It was the smallest major commercial plane that I have ever been on. I had to duck down to get on and walk to our seats. When we landed in Miami we were outside, didn’t think a big US interns airport had plane departures outside. Good thing it wasn’t August. That airport was pretty confusing to navigate, and we have been in some “shithole” airports! We weren’t in Miami long maybe an hour or so. Long enough to remember why I left S FL. Ugh, the people. Next stop, Aruba.

Birmingham

Fri, 28 Dec 2018 19:00:00 -0600

Drove in from Atlanta. Missed most of the rain and traffic wasn’t terrible. Couldn’t fall asleep and ended up staying up all night. Someone was smoking weed in the hotel and the smell was quite strong in our room. Guy in the room next to us snored the whole night.

Leaving the apartment

4am!!

Smallest plane ever