Great Folks and Awesome Diving...Eels on Wheels 2014

Dale dropped me off at the airport in Houston where I joined other members of the Eels on Wheels group for a dive trip to Bonaire.  We arrived.....my roommate, Patsy and I checked into our room, unpacked, and headed to dinner.  Up the next morning we had orientation after breakfast and had the option to do a checkout dive on the house reef.  I was on the Sea Queen with a great group of folks, definitely the best group and best boat!  Our divemasters Max and Luis were both great, and put up with our craziness for the whole week.  This year we had only 5 folks in chairs on the trip....seems most that didn't make it had some type of conflict going on...hope to see them next year.
I logged 16 dives during the week and enjoyed some great diving.  We got to dive the Salt Pier twice, which is an awesome dive site with lots to see.  Several dives were made on Klein Bonaire during the week.  We saw octopus, turtles, seahorses, eels, squid, and lots more!  The water was about 81* most of the week with pretty calm seas, no current, and pretty decent visibility.  We got in about one hour of bottom time on each dive.

We did three dives a day....so it was check in at 7:45 am with the boat leaving at 8:00 am for two dives.  Returning around noon, we enjoyed lunch and relaxed before it was time to check in at 1:45 pm with the boat leaving at 2:00 pm for one afternoon dive.  Then it was pool time before cleaning up for dinner at the resort.
Town was a short walk, Patsy and I did some shopping and stopped to enjoy some delicious gelato.  Our final night we all walked to a wonderful restaurant for some great food and lots of laughs.  Pick up for the airport was at 5:15 am with the flight home at 7:00 am....making for a long day.
We had a great time....got in some AWESOME diving.....invented the famous Ponche Cuba Crema Chupacabra drink, spotted the illusive White Moon Fish, and took a poll to see if the Speedo made Joe's butt look big!  There was never a dull moment!  I laughed so hard I cried....what a fun group!

Limited Out!

Limited out! Put the boat in the water about 7:30 am and had SIX nice reds in the ice chest by 12:38 pm....now that is a great day of fishing! We even had time for our picnic lunch out on the water! Back at the dock, we had a visitor at the fish cleaning stand looking for some fresh sushi! Home now, boat washed, and fish in the ice box!

Five on Ice!

Up early, we were off to POC to replenish our fish supply that was getting low! Cloudy skies, a howling wind, and a chill in the air when running across the bay....almost seemed like a bad omen for fishing! With no luck at our first spot, we ran the shoreline in hopes of spotting some fish....nothing! Heading to a new spot, Dale spotted 3 Whooping Cranes along the shoreline, we stopped to watch and I tried to get some photos. They are highly protected by the government, so we stayed far enough away as not to disturb them. Two flew over our heads as they crossed the bay......big birds!!! Finally we managed to land a nice red and had him on ice, but fishing was slow! We fished and fished, with no luck.....stopping for a break to enjoy our picnic lunch. Back at it, Dale and I soon both had really nice fish on, and after a fight, we had them in the ice chest! Yahoo! Drifting back across the bay we landed two more fish and were celebrating our good luck, after such a slow start! We tried to catch one more, but had to settle for 5 nice Reds! The legal limit is 6! I also got to use my Hot Pink Fish Lip Grippers that Dale gave me for my birthday......Wow they work great! What started as a really slow fishing day, turned out great! Fish cleaned, back home, boat washed and fresh red fish filets in the freezer.

Green Shorts Quest!

Tamara and Dennis invited me to come down to Grand Cayman and stay with them at their condo to get in some diving in the quest for my Green Shorts!  Tamara picked me up at the airport and I was soon settled in and unpacked, looking forward to 10 days of diving.  Dinner the first night was at Eagle Rays across the street....very good food with other divers.
We were scheduled to dive on Ocean Hawk and it was good to see the dive masters and staff of Ocean Frontiers.  It was ten days of unusual weather and diving conditions...making it difficult to get in the dive sites that I needed.  I had never done much drift diving in Grand Cayman, but this trip we did several times.  In fact, we had quite an exciting drift dive with a rip, roaring current one day.  Kevin, the dive master said we traveled over a mile underwater and covered seven dive sites.  Not the greatest conditions for underwater photography, but it was like flying underwater.  The week held some really rough boat rides, lots of surface current, and one day we ended our final dive in a squall with the boat pitching heavily up and down....making getting back on-board difficult!!
Chef Dennis prepared some wonderful meals for us....he sure does love to cook and entertain....really spoiled me!  Tamara and I held down the pool after a day of diving....sleeping, reading, and relaxing!
We did attend the Diver's Night Buffet at Eagle Rays with the gang...great food!   A lunch at Kurt's Korner one day for some great local food.
Dennis left a few days before Tamara and I....had to go back to work!  I ended up with a total of 24 dives, getting 6 marked off my Green Shorts Challenge List!   Leaving only 5 dives sites to go!  Great fun, good diving, with good friends!