Bonaire Bound With Friends!

With my dive friends, Dennis and Tamara we headed to Bonaire for a week of diving!  Dale and I flew to Miami and joined them on a flight to Bonaire.  Settled into our studio rooms 702 and 703 we unpacked and turned in early! Travel day is always long.














We were assigned to the boat Pressure Drop, with Orlando and Enrique for the week. Diving was great as usual, with Dennis spotting his first seahorse.  As usual we were lucky enough to see some octopus and frog fish, besides the usual marine creatures.

Probably the highlight of the week was having a pod of dolphins swim thru our group of divers! Tamara was lucky enough to get the photo!



Breakfast was at the resort during our stay and we did enjoy some great dinners at Patagonia, Mona Lisa, and Donna and Giorgio’s. Of course we made a few stops at Gio’s for gelato.






Our last full day we rented a car and did a tour of Bonaire....taking in Lac Bay, The Salt Pier, slave huts, flamingos, and the donkey sanctuary!


Bonaire did not disappoint and Dennis and Tamara enjoyed the diving!

 Donkey looking for another carrot!

One Happy Island!

We headed back to one of our favorite islands in the Caribbean....Aruba!   Checking into Sunset Beach Studios, is almost like going home!  Our first night ritual always includes some finger licking ribs at Smoky Joe’s......delicious as always! Settling in we unpacked and hit Super Foods for groceries!  Most of the other guest were from the North snd escaping the brutal cold weather!  For the first time in all our trips, we had the pleasure of meeting Walt, the spry 86 year old mayor of the resort!  He was a hoot!

Our friends Ken and Georgianne we’re stopping in Aruba for the day on a cruise, so we picked them up and enjoyed showing them around the island.  We hit the hot spots, enjoyed lunch at a local place, Zeerover’s, and showed them around our little piece of heaven!

The following day we had booked a tour with EC Tours.  Ernest picked us up and painted a great picture of the history of Aruba and his life growing up in San Nicholas.  Dale enjoyed discussing the WWII history with him and the tour was very enjoyable!

During our stay two couples came from Michigan and we sure did enjoy meeting them!  We shared our knowledge of Aruba with them and they shared a yummy fresh wahoo dinner with us on our porch!  Late afternoons we spent sitting under the big palapa, enjoying cheese and crackers with a cocktail, discussing the problems of the world!

Off roading with a UTV was perhaps the highlight of our trip!  We saw things we had never seen before on Aruba!  With the Arubiana App we went cross country over boulders, lizards, catcus, rocks, and down dirt roads!  We entered the Arikok National Park and finally made it to the Natural Pool!  Spending all day we went from the California Lighthouse to Baby Beach!  The UTV was awesome and we loved being out off roading on our own!

As always I got in several snorkels!  Eef, the owner of our resort invited me to join her for a morning snorkel out to a reef I’ve never explored.  The visibility wasn’t great, but we did find a beautiful octopus on a coral head.  The reef did have some very healthy stag horn coral.  Eef is quite the swimmer and I had to get in high gear to keep up with her!

Three of our new Michigan friends, Lisa, Gary, and Scott decided to join me on a Seabob Trip at Boca Catalina.  We geared up and headed out with our guide, Leo!  Dale and a Denise decided to watch from shore!  We spotted a couple of nice turtles before heading out to the wreck of the Antilla!  I love riding the Seabob, flying underwater!  The guys from Michigan really enjoyed it and Lisa did amazing for being really worried in the beginning!

As always we enjoyed our time in Aruba!  We saw some new things, met some great folks, shared sunsets on the beach, and had some great meals!  Aruba is One Happy Island!

Mom turns 91!

The kids and I got together to throw Mom a birthday celebration at The Bomb Diggity in Inez.  We ordered dinner and waited for the show to begin.  The Joe Valentino Show was onstage and rocking out with some oldies from the 50’s and 60’s!









Dressed to fit the music they sang and danced for the crowd! I had told them it was Mom’s birthday so they paid special attention to her and serenaded her with Happy Birthday! Even Ethan got up on stage and was part of the act.

Omar had ordered Mom a chocolate birthday cake with chocolate icing, her favorite! It was a fun evening and a perfect birthday celebration for Mom.

Happy 11th Anniversary

In celebration of our 11th wedding anniversary, Dale and I booked a cabin outside of Wimberley. The Ruby cabin, at Stoney Ridge was isolated, but beautiful, with a big stone fireplace, a wrap around deck for sunsets, and a hot tub!

After unloading our stuff our first stop was at Jacob’s Well Park where Dale reminisced about his first scuba diving experience as a young wild guy!  It was a long time ago, but brought back lots of memories.

The first night we went to Linda’s Restaurant for Fat Tuesday and some Cajun food and music. A road trip was on the agenda the following day.....with stops in Driftwood and Dripping Springs.....with lunch at the famous Salt Lick for BBQ.

We also stopped at a beautiful winery and restaurant called Trattoria Lisina. A hot tub soak and a roaring fire while watching the sunset was the perfect end to a great day.  Valentine's Day and our 11th anniversary we enjoyed a late breakfast and coffee at our cabin before heading to the Blue Hole for some hiking.





The Leaning  Pear was the perfect spot for our lunch.....the crab cake was outstanding! Honeycomb gelato was dessert.  A leisurely drive along the Blanco River, before heading back to our place! Tomorrow we head home!

Atchetee Ancestory.Com

After much thought a Atchetee get-together was planned.....and
Rhonda and Harlo agreed to host everyone.  Michael and Whitney drove over from Louisiana for a visit, and a chance to discuss their family history.  Rhonda was the perfect hostess and cooked up some great meals!  The Atchetee boys can be loud, and laughter was heard as they discussed the family tree!  Old pictures and family records were shared to keep their heritage alive for future generations.

Good bye Miss Ice Tea Too

After sixteen years, 1,000 hours in the air,  and taking over 300 folks flying around South Texas Dale decided to sell his airplane, Miss Ice Tea Too!  He was very selective in picking the perfect buyer for her! Scott Elmore of Colorado fit the bill!  After coming down to give her a test spin, arrangements were made to pick her up!





So on January 20 he came down and picked her up.  We watched at she lifted off from VCT for the last time and headed North to Colorado and her new home.

Eel Time!

Back home from Costa Rica for two days, I was off to Bonaire to go diving with Eels on Wheels on their annual trip!  My roommate, Jill and I were in Studio 701 and on the boat named Sea Gypsy for
the week.  Diving was great as usual, good visibility, no current, and lots of marine life! We usually did three dives a day and then hung out at the pool!  Jill and I made a trip to the big grocery store to get the makings for my Basil Margaritas...a big hit with the group!

The highlight of the week was a dive where we found 6 octopus on one dive...don’t know if I will ever top that!  The next day Enrique, the dive master found two frog fish!  Other highlights were seahorses, a big free swimming green moray eel, turtles and some rays.
Having lost a member of our group last year, Bad Bob, we decided to honor his memory with a tree and a thicket with the Reef Restoration project.  Our boat picked up Bridgett from the project and we made the dive and watched as the plaques were placed in his memory. RIP....Bad Bob, you are missed!

Almost every night a pilgrimage was made to Gio’s for some yummy gelato!  Quite the sight to see!

Our final night, which was Jill’s birthday we made dinner reservations at Capriccio’s and enjoyed a great dinner with a special dessert!
It was great to dive with my Eel’s friends again, some of which I only see once a year.