Mustang Beach Fly In

Off the ground bright and early this morning headed to Port A for a fly in at Mustang Beach Airport.  Clear skies, cold temps, and no wind made for an easy, smooth flight....landing a little after 9 am. We were meeting friends we hadn't seen in a long time....that had flown down yesterday.  Lots of planes arrived and it was good to see lots of old friends.  Lunch was a spicy Cajun shrimp boil......with some darn good music. The flight home was bumpy and we had to climb to avoid the thermals....landing at VCT
about 4 pm.

Bonaire Bound!

Dale and I caught the United, red-eye to Bonaire, leaving at midnight and arriving at 5 am.....a killer of a flight!  Whisked away to our resort and given the keys to #8, our condo....we crashed!  After picking up the truck later we went to the new, very nice grocery store to shop.  It was early to bed as we had booked an all day snorkel trip on The Woodwind, bright and early the next morning down at the Divi.  It was a great day out on the water, met folks from Holland and Germany .......and enjoyed a yummy lunch.  On Monday we relaxed, swam in the pool, and enjoyed dinner on the porch while watching a brilliant sunset.  Tuesday I had a 2 tank boat dive with the boat picking me up at the dock of the resort.  With one dive master and four divers on board we headed over to Klein Bonaire to enjoy the beautiful reefs and marine life.  Dale and I enjoyed a late afternoon swim and then relaxing in loungers on the deck over the water. Wednesday I booked a 2 tank shore dive with Alejandro, my private dive master for the morning.  We loaded our gear in his truck and headed South, hoping to see the Manta Ray that had been spotted in the area.  No Manta, but two nice dives with a very nice young man.  After lunch Dale and I headed North to explore the Washington-Slagbaai National Park......a long, long 2 1/2 hour drive on a rough, bumpy road.  We saw playas, bocas, blow holes, salt ponds, and a natural spring that was disgusting!

The most interesting part of the park was an old light house on the North end of the island.  Dale and I were up early Thursday because I had a 2 tank boat dive at Buddy Dive.  Hubb, from Holland rode over with us and was my dive buddy. Dale enjoyed a buffet breakfast while I was diving. Lunch and then off to explore the South end of the island....the slave huts, the Cargill salt operation, pink flamingos and Lac Bay, where the windsurfers gather.  Thursday night we enjoyed dinner at Mi Banana, a place the locals like, the food was good.  Dessert was a scoop of Lover's Ice Cream....I had rum raisin, Dale had chocolate.  Friday we chilled out, swam in the pool and read in the shade.......later we packed for our early flight home on Saturday.  The taxi picked us up at 5:15 am for the short trip to the airport, check-in was slow, we boarded the plane and 4 hours later we landed in Houston.  This was our first trip since Dale was hurt in October of  last year......sure felt blessed to share another adventure!!!

Rain, Cold, Clouds!

Rain, clouds and cool weather in the forecast....but off Karen and I went to the Warrenton/Round Top Antique Extravaganza!  We arrived to find most of the booths still closed....but we checked out the few that were open.  Our major purchase was some delish homemade pasta from a lady from Austin!  Chilled to the bone we managed to find a cup of hot chocolate to warm us up at Rather's, but no one told us to stir!  As more booths opened we looked around, but didn't really find anything we couldn't live without.  Oh, Karen did ...but get an awesome bag ...that I plan to rent on occasion.  Time for lunch we headed to Carmine and JW's Steakhouse....hoping to get warm and find some soup.  After lunch we made a few more stops...the rains came and we called it quits! 
We had fun....but the weather was YUCK!