Weekend switcheroo

February 21, 2015 Maurice 1 Comment

Today we switched residences, from the Divi Resort to a private residence, in Belnem, on the southern part of the island. It has a dock right out to the ocean and our living room has a thirty foot sliding glass wall to give us the most spectacular view of the Caribbean ocean! We will get a few pics of the place up later.

Here is a little movie of some guys sharing the front yard with us.

We picked Mike up at the airport – his flight was slightly late – and we swung home for a quick dip in the ocean. We saw some cool stuff – a biggish moray who was very active was one neat thing.

And we saw this fish called a soap fish – a most shy fish, who takes off quickly when we approach. But here he is checking out what the moray is doing.

We also saw our first lionfish! BOOO!

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that cruise ships have descended on us several times. Here is a picture of two ships in the harbor at the same time. The Celebrity ship in the foreground is much larger than the ship in the back.

Now let me ask you a question: would you use this dock?

Bonaire, Vacations

Another lazy day

February 20, 2015 Maurice Leave a comment

We spent most of the morning on our lanai, enjoying the coffee, the view, the heat and the sun. That’s pretty much our morning, most days. Then we get moving for a leisurely swim. We drove around the coast and noticed how low the tide was! It made certain beaches more treacherous to enter so we headed back into downtown and jumped in around the main dock.

We’ve not really been in the water here, and while it was really cool, there was too much sandy beach! haha But wow, the stuff we saw! I’ve uploaded this movie of a scrawled filefish. This is usually a very shy fish and moves away when you come close. But as you can see from the movie, this guy wanted an up close and personal interview!

And then – we saw something that I didn’t even think was possible. We have seen MANY and I mean MANY moray eels. The purple-spotted morays we’ve seen have all been around two feet, some less, some slightly larger. Well today we saw one that was bigger than the biggest green moray we’ve ever seen! Just never knew they could grow that big – and our fish book says they can’t! So there….

For dinner, we decided to eat at a place called Donna Giorgio’s Trattoria. Well, put it on your list! Terrific little restaurant, done in a jazz-influenced way, with a tip of the fedora to the Bossa Nova. The menu is constantly changing, and is kept on a chalkboard. We split a Caesar’s salad ($13.50) which was a smart idea since the salad was very large and very tasty. For the main I had the Tagliatelle Pollo Cream ($18.50) which was absolutely delightful. Pam had the Roast Lamb with Risotto ($23.50) and she said it was so delicious she’d order it again! For desert we split a tiramisu ($9.50) and again – it would serve 3 easily. So just enough for us! I am not much on taking pictures of food, but look at the size of this tiramisu! Dinner with a twenty percent tip was $100 even and worth every penny!

Bonaire, Vacations

Caribbean cool

February 19, 2015 Maurice Leave a comment

We’ve got our engines down to Caribbean speed (slow and easy and relaxed) and we’re really enjoying the sunny weather. There have been lots and lots of cruise ships in the harbour, but we’ve not really noticed terrible crowds or anything, which is strange, considering how small the communities are here.

Anyway – we’ve been visiting beaches we’ve not been to yet – I think the official word is that Bonaire has thirty nine beaches, and nearly double the number of dive sites, so we’ve got a few to go, even though this is our third trip here. Today we went to a popular site right near the airport. In a lot of ways, it’s reminiscent of Arashi Beach in Aruba, with a nice wide sandy beach, and lots of coral just off shore.

Naturally, there were tons of fish, but also lots of really interesting and different things to see. One of the coolest things we’ve seen in the ocean was this “fish opera” in Aruba (coincidentally on Arashi Beach too) and we saw something similar, but on a much smaller scale. The fish is called a mullet, and they are about two feet in size and in the size of the school they were in, it was a little intimidating! Check out the movie, but give it a few seconds to stabilize – the camera has a tough time picking out completely silver fish.

I don’t know if you can see this picture all that clearly, since the colors make the little shrimp (or crab?) blend in with the coral, but it was tricky getting this shot. It was under a rock, and every time I dove down and got too close, this little damselfish kept biting! The first time he got me i was so surprised I laughed out loud, and trust me that’s not the thing to be doing in 10 feet of water! haha And here is a picture that Pam took of me contorting around trying to get this picture!

While driving around the island, you must beware of goats and donkeys. There are a LOT of goats around, and they dart into the traffic a lot, so you really need to be aware. Today we saw them having lunch – look closely at the picture here – there are TWO goats in that bush having a snack!

Bonaire, Vacations

Bonding with Bonaire

February 17, 2015 Maurice 1 Comment

Pam and I have felt an affinity with Bonaire since the minute we stepped off the plane a couple of years ago. Today while getting ready to dive in at Captain Don’s we met a couple from Malta. He reminded me so much of a friend of ours, a bon vivant named Jorge. He and his wife felt about Bonaire exactly as we did!

It’s just a wonderfully laid back place, with a very small population, in a rugged landscape, with amazing oceans teeming with fish. And fish we saw today, of course. Captain Don’s is a great place to snorkel, with an easy entrance and a sort of “dual reef” to the place.

You swim out to the drop off – not far, perhaps 150 meters – and watch all the action as the fish cavort on the edge of the wall. Huge schools of margates, bonefish, surgeonfish, chubbs, and others cruise slowly along. Then suddenly the hyper-active barjacks come looking for lunch and the little fish scatter.

This trip we’ve noticed some fish being kinda frisky – who knows? Maybe the release of Fifty Shades of Gray has got them worked up too, We saw a couple of porcupine fish seeming engaging in kissing and frisky behaviour, then Pam captured this movie of filefish doing the mating dance. (Well, it looks like they are doing the same mating dance that the gouramies we used to breed did.)

This picture of the face of a queen angel was tough to get. She hid down about twenty feet under a shelf of rocks. I dove down a couple times to get her, but they came out dark, so I turned on the forced flash. I think it turned out kinda cool. (and it was a LOT of work getting this sucker!)

One other thing we saw today that was unique. There were some jellyfish in the water, not a lot, but noticeable. While watching a scrawled filefish move effortlessly along, he suddenly started chowing down on one of them! Remarkable!

No restaurant reviews since we’ve eaten in every night so far. Food seems a bit pricier than I remember, but then food is more expensive at home too.

Bonaire, Vacations

South for the winter

February 15, 2015 Maurice 2 Comments

Pam and I have taken off for Bonaire for a quick two week visit. In the first week we are staying in the Divi Resort, the place we’ve stayed on Bonaire twice previously. In week two, Mike is showing up and we’re going to rent a house right on the ocean.

But today Pam and I were able to experience Carnaval! It’s very much like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, except on much more modest scale, befitting a population of only 14,000 people. The streets are closed to traffic, and they come alive! People are everywhere. Costumes are the order of the day. We see people dressed up, dressed down, dressed crazy!

We see people dressed as angels, pirates, princesses, frogs, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, gypsies, – everything you can think of, and a whole bunch you can’t! One of the floats was called ZeleoGlamour which seemed to be outfits inspired with zebra, tiger and other animal prints.

There were magnificent dancers and singers galore. Bands played music L O U D and people danced and laughed and jumped into the parade, walking with the groups. Then you grab a costumed participant to take photos!

Here’s a movie where Pam jumps into the parade and gets her photo taken with one of the magnificently costumed dancers. Frankly, this is a dance party, on a BIG scale!

It was tons of fun! Here Pam jumps into the parade (once again!) and gets her picture taken with the Queen of the Carnival!

About Bailey

Bailey out and about

February 11, 2015 Maurice Leave a comment

It’s been tough for Bailey with us cooped up in the house for weeks, so the other day we took her to Central Park. It’s a wonderful oasis in the center of Burnaby, a city right beside Vancouver. And when I say right beside, I mean one side of the street is Vancouver and the other side is Burnaby – why they need two mayors, two councils, two bureaucracies is beyond me.

Anyway – right on the edge of the park, there is a war memorial for those who died in the Korean War. Entitled “Ambassador Of Peace” the tall bronze with outstretched, embracing arms is an attractive statue, well made, and nicely placed. The names of the dead are set in a ring around the statue.

We wandered into the center of the park and found a duck pond to drive Bailey to distraction. She stopped to make a few friends along the way (and by a few I mean forty or fifty).

Bailey is not a camera hog like Buck, and to some extent Max. In fact, she will often look away when you point the camera at her. One way we’ve discovered is lag a little and she’ll turn around wondering what’s keeping you!

Holidays

Merry Christmas!

February 7, 2015 Maurice 1 Comment

Well….

I realize it’s a little late but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Pam and I have been very sick with a mean version of the flu, that has left us still suffering since getting it before New Year’s. Not been a fun six weeks.

Anyway – we’re slowly getting both feet back in the puddles around here in the Lower Rainland, so I thought I’d put up a little post here to show you our Christmas yard.

It was Pam’s great idea to make a “hockey rink” and have the “Penguins” play against our Santa ref and players! It was tons of fun. We’ve already started plotting how to make it better for next year!

Here’s a little movie that Pam took.