Between dives, there are always Iggy, Ziggy and the other professional beggars looking for handouts. The little guys are everywhere, and they love melon and watermelon!
More to come as the adventure continues!
Showing posts with label Bonaire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bonaire. Show all posts
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Dancing down memory lane...
Yesterday my son Paul, his lady Sarah and my webmaster Patty drove Bonaire's northern road. We found the overlook to which I used to drive the Hotel Volkswagen (my camper van) after finishing the day's dives and putting the divers into the hotel. When I used to wake up in the mornings (1969-72) I would be surrounded by foraging goats, who watched attentively as I made my coffee. Here's the view:
After the drive, I went with them and Leslie Leaney of the Historical Diving Society to the cemetery. Leslie had tracked down the resting place of one of Hans Hass's divers:
The grave was untended, so Leslie cleaned it up as best he good and we took another picture:
Today he is going out to the small island of Klein Bonaire, looking for the camp site Hass used in 1939.
Between dives, there are always Iggy, Ziggy and the other professional beggars looking for handouts. The little guys are everywhere, and they love melon and watermelon!
I have to go South and see the sea-salt evaporation ponds with their flamingos, to see if they have changed at all. I suspect not. There is a quarter-million tons of salt down there in huge hills, gleaming in the sun. I may go home and dig out the photos from the old days for comparison.
More to come as the adventure continues!
Between dives, there are always Iggy, Ziggy and the other professional beggars looking for handouts. The little guys are everywhere, and they love melon and watermelon!
More to come as the adventure continues!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
After 40 years, I return to Bonaire..
Updated 8/22/2011
!n 1969-72 I lived in Curacao and brought diving groups there and to pristine Bonaire. Forty years later, the government of Bonaire is honoring me with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
My son Paul and his girl friend Sarah, My webmaster Patricia Shannahan and my friend Leslie Leaney of the Historical Diving Society are here for the week of festivities. I wish my daughter Kira, who was a mere eight years old when we moved here, could be with us. She is finishing work on a major movie, and her schedule was in direct conflict. We miss her!
It is hardship duty, as you can see.
We are being hosted by Captain Don's Habitat, an impressive resort right on the water. Captain
Don Stewart was a colleague way back when, and it a pleasure and honor to be back where our adventures began. These views are from the walkway of our luxurious villa.
Stephanie Wirth of the Adams Public Relations agency of New York is our guide (they represent both Bonaire and DEMA Diving Equipment and Marketing Association), and a group of journalists who coincidentally are all avid divers has joined us.
The view below is North toward thee site of the famous Windjammer Wreck. a favorite deep dive in the old days. I was shocked to see that an oil trans-shipment terminal now sits on the shore precisely above the fabulous wreck, and the site is closed to diving..
It's a shame in one way--I loved diving that wreck!
Looking forward to a fabulous week!! More reports and pictures when I have any time! It's a full dance card!
!n 1969-72 I lived in Curacao and brought diving groups there and to pristine Bonaire. Forty years later, the government of Bonaire is honoring me with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
My son Paul and his girl friend Sarah, My webmaster Patricia Shannahan and my friend Leslie Leaney of the Historical Diving Society are here for the week of festivities. I wish my daughter Kira, who was a mere eight years old when we moved here, could be with us. She is finishing work on a major movie, and her schedule was in direct conflict. We miss her!
It is hardship duty, as you can see.
Don Stewart was a colleague way back when, and it a pleasure and honor to be back where our adventures began. These views are from the walkway of our luxurious villa.
Stephanie Wirth of the Adams Public Relations agency of New York is our guide (they represent both Bonaire and DEMA Diving Equipment and Marketing Association), and a group of journalists who coincidentally are all avid divers has joined us.
The view below is North toward thee site of the famous Windjammer Wreck. a favorite deep dive in the old days. I was shocked to see that an oil trans-shipment terminal now sits on the shore precisely above the fabulous wreck, and the site is closed to diving..
It's a shame in one way--I loved diving that wreck!
Looking forward to a fabulous week!! More reports and pictures when I have any time! It's a full dance card!
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