Sunday on Bonaire

August 11, 2014 Maurice Leave a comment

Bonaire shuts down on Sunday. Only one store on the whole island was open, even though there was a cruise ship in the harbor. So we headed south for a nice drive, searching for parrots, snow and salt!

We searched all over the south of the island and found no parrots. We came back to our hotel and what swoops down and nearly crashes into our windshield? Not one, not two, but three loras! Here’s a kind of “where’s waldo?” picture of a pair of them.

I’m typing this mostly from my Nook Tablet since my computer is officially gonzo. I can only use it for a brief time (ten to fifteen minutes) before it gets too hot and I need to shut it down.

Anyways – we had a nice relaxing day enjoying the sea and sand right outside our door. I’m surprised by how busy the place is, as I expected it to be quieter here in the “off-season.” Lots to see as usual, but again, lots of things we’ve seen in the past, of course. The picture to the right is of a tiny collection of squid, the biggest of which is only three inches!

We saw a puddingwife, nothing unusual about that, except the size! They say that these fish grow to a maximum of eighteen inches, but this sucker had to be two feet AT LEAST!

Here is a decent picture of a parrotfish. Great color on this one, nice and crisp. The water has been brilliantly clear today, and the sun was shining so light was great.

Pam negotiates the pylons under the dock near the Divi, and STILL she has time to wave a friendly hello!

Bonaire, Vacations

First day on Bonaire

August 9, 2014 Maurice Leave a comment

We had a nice flight into Bonaire last evening. We had no one sitting beside us, so we were able to stretch out and grab a nap. We had a bit of trouble finding our single night residence, but found it.

It’s a lovely single family home, right on Bachelor’s Beach, called Renaissance by the Sea. It had a wonderful view out the over the large deck, with a private dock to boot. The room was large and cozy, with a very comfortable bed.

We had a nice first snorkel. It was great to be back in the ocean. Nice and warm and lots of fish to see.

Our photography is not great so I won’t bore you with second rate pictures. We saw some unusual things today. One thing that we’ve seen once in a while is an eel, being shadowed by a fish or two, while the eel is digging in the ground. The lurkers quickly grab anything that might be tasty. Today we saw that scenario at least a dozen times! And most of the eels had a barjack, a schoolmaster and a Spanish hogfish hanging around!

Our movies are not great, but I’ll try to edit a couple together and get it posted. BUT – my computer is in trouble – it seems to have blown the fan, and the computer is running super hot and and is vibrating like crazy. Hopefully it will make it through the trip…

We moved to the Divi Flamingo after our snorkel and had to dodge a bunch of jaywalkers. Man – dangerous! haha

We ran to the grocery store and got stocked up with food and drink, so we’re set for the next seven days! Pretty nice sunset too.

Here is a movie of compiled clips from various little movies we made on day one.

Bonaire, Vacations

Back to Bonaire

August 7, 2014 Maurice 2 Comments

Pam and I are returning to Bonaire, the South Caribbean island just off the coast of Venezuela. We are arriving one day earlier than we normally do, so we have eight days there, rather than the normal seven.

We are in Vancouver International airport right now, using their free wifi. This is really an awful airport. I just can’t stand how they make you walk a kilometer south, then 990 meters back north to get to your gate, rather than open a door, and let you walk six meters to the gate. Just crazy.

Naturally I had to stop and spend a few minutes with my old friends, the Spirit of the Haida Gwaii, the wonderful sculpture by Bill Reid. It’s a great piece of art and I just feel privileged to be able to look at it for free! No museum entrance fee, just great art, in great light.

I’ve got a brief youtube video of it, and I’m uploading it using the free wifi. Enjoy!

Our flight to Houston leaves in about an hour.

Something About Us

Just a short note

July 6, 2014 Maurice 3 Comments

Hope everyone is moving into summer mode, getting lots of outdoor stuff done! I probably owe you an explanation about the paucity of posts, but there really isn’t one. We’ve just been busy, and the blog has kind of taken a bit of a back seat.

The long ordeal with Home Depot is over, and Pam has received her settlement. My dealings with ICBC (our government insurance corporation) over the drunk driver who took me out before Christmas of last year has been settled as well. So we’re lawyer free! It’s a strange feeling – the constant barrage of paper work, the searching through statements, doctor’s orders, attending depositions, getting checked out by opposing physicians – it’s tiring and annoying – but now that we’re through, it’s almost like there is something missing!

Anyway – it’s all good now. We can move forward. The Impala I drove that got hit, just went downhill really fast after it was repaired. So we traded it in for a 2012 Buick Verano. It’s one of those newer cars with Bluetooth, Navigation system, USB and SD card readers, Moonroof, heated seats, cruise control – most everything you need for a car, except the chauffeur.

Bailey is doing very well. She’s managed to explore UNDER the lawn over pretty much the whole backyard! In other words, she loves to dig. She’s also a huge fan of cherries! The cherry tree in our backyard has just tons of cherries, but they are up too high to grab. When they fall to the ground, she’s over there eating ’em up. And then she spits the seeds onto the porch! Too funny.

We’ll try to get posts up a little more consistently.

About Bailey, Surrey Parks

Hemlock Park

March 11, 2014 Maurice 1 Comment

Bailey and I have been out for a couple of long walks through some parks recently. The first we went to was Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest in south Surrey. It’s one of my favorite parks, but man oh man was it in bad shape! The recent snow has created huge puddles that make a lot of the trails virtually impossible to walk. We had to back track several times in order to find a passage.

The trees have been damaged too – there are many trees snapped off in the middle, others have been torn up right at the roots, and branch debris litters a lot of the pathways. It’s kinda sad really. Such a lovely park. Hopefully the crews will get in there and make things better!

One thing really interesting that we saw was this bear! Yep, a bear in Sunnyside! Kinda scary – although I have to admit, having Bailey there to protect me made it easier to deal with.

On Tuesday we headed to a new park called Hemlock Park in north Surrey. It’s a medium sized park, with lots of paths through some very large Western Red cedars, towering Douglas Firs and of course lots of hemlock. The paths were very dry and we were able to navigate the whole park easily.

Nice park if you live in the neighbourhood, but a bit of a drive for us. Other parks in the area are larger, like Green Timbers and Tynehead. Still, was neat to see some of the large stumps leftover from the logging many years ago. This one Bailey is sitting in front of had to be thirty-five feet around, maybe even more!

About Bailey

Crow in the snow

February 24, 2014 Maurice 2 Comments

For all you people in the east who have had a bad winter, here are a couple pictures of the sudden spring snow storm we are enduring here. The snow started falling on Saturday, and hasn’t really stopped since.

We’ve had such a mild winter, this snow has really caught us off guard. Our crocuses have bloomed already, and are now under several inches of snow. I imagine they are toast now!

Bailey loves racing around in the snow. But this picture makes her look so darn sad! You’d think she’d get tired of the ice building up in her paws but she’s quite content to race around like a greyhound.

Aruba, Vacations

A bit more about Aruba

February 22, 2014 Maurice Leave a comment

On our last day in Aruba, we had lunch at the Paddock, a Dutch restaurant right by the cruise ship dock. It’s a favorite of ours, and we go at least once while we’re there. The staff are a really friendly bunch and the food is quite good, with very reasonable prices.

The have a terrific sign on one of their chalkboards and we just had to take a picture! I’m sure lots of other places would like to use it!

When we got home after the long flights, we were walking through Vancouver International Airport and saw an amazing aquarium full of jellyfish! They were HUGE! Sure glad we didn’t run into these guys in the water.