Bonaire

I just got back from a week's diving in Bonaire: 17 dives, one of them a night dive.

Dontcha sometimes just wish that you could snap your fingers and get to a destination without all the hassle of travelling? Bring on the transporter. Scotty! Beam me to Bonaire and back. Energize!

I had to get up at 4:45 AM to make sure I got to the airport with enough time to get through security for my 8:40 flight. I always take MARTA when I travel in my wheelchair. I travel light enough that I can carry my dive bag and a duffle on my lap.

At that early hour, the MARTA train on the North Line does not go all the way to the airport. I had to change trains at the Lindbergh station. Bummer!

I still got to the airport at 7:00, and since I can get to the front of the security line by virtue of being a cripple I still had plenty of time.

Graham, one of the divers extraordinaire, was awaiting me at the airport MARTA station with a cart for my luggage and we boogied on down to the Air Jamaica (Motto: No Problem, Mon!)ticket counter where we found out that our flight to Montego Bay was gonna be late due to mechanical problems (No Problem, Mon!), which would make us miss our connection to Bonaire. Big problem.

Good news! They thought they could get us on a Delta flight, so we headed out to the International Concourse.

First, we had to go through security. I had planned accordingly. Since I need to carry antibacterial soap and hand cleaner with me, I had three little four ounce bottles of each. I put one of each in my backpack (in case I had to pee on the way), and the rest in my checked luggage. We had been told that our hand cleaner, soap, and KY Jelly would be OK. In Atlanta, it was. We got through security in plenty of time.

At the International Concourse I got to meet up with the rest of the cast of characters:

Able bodied.

(Obiwan) Bert - Owner of Divers@Sea in Atlanta. He took the picture of me in the upper left sidebar of my site when we were at Bonair in 2003. He also took this picture when we went to Roatan in 2002. I'm the one on the left. No smart remarks!

Graham - Bert's faithful sidekick who goes on all the crip trips. Bert and Graham are both HSA Dive Buddy certified.

Risa - Working towards her Dive Master rating and also close to HSA Dive Buddy certification. She also gets to dive at the Atlanta Aquariam.

Dean - A Brit. He's also going for Dive Master and is close to HSA Dive Buddy.

Laura - Shepherd Center Therapeutic Recreational Specialist who gets to go on these trips to take care of the crips. She is also close to being HSA Dive Buddy ceritified.

Richard - Father of Ray, one of the crips.

Crips.

Ray - Son of Richard. Suffered a head injury as a sky diver.

Jerry - T3 paraplegic as a result of a car accident.

Pernell - AKA The Big Guy. T10 Paraplegic. Auto accident. He was a world class weight lifter in the Paralympics. Won the Bronze in Atlanta in 1996. Won the Gold in Sydney in 2000.

GOC - Y'all know me.

Air Jamaica (Motto: No Problem, Mon!) did get us on Delta. What's more, the crips, all four of us, got to sit in First Class. How neat is that?

In Montego Bay, they held the Air Jamaica (Motto: No Problem, Mon!) flight going to Bonaire for us. There was just one problem. Jerry needed to pee and they were taking our gate checked wheelchairs straight from the Delta plane to the Air Jamaica (Motto: No Problem, Mon!). They were planning on using the aisle chairs to take Jerry and Pernell from one plane to the other, but had to make a detour to the men's room for Jerry. Ray can walk. I walked off the plane and transfered to a regular wheelchair to get to the other plane.

After that, everything went OK. Cleared customs in Bonaire with no hassle. Got to the resort, the Divi Flamingo, OK. I even got the same room I had back in 2003.

I forgot just how much I like diving Bonaire. You don't have to go deep to see the neat stuff. Most of the dives are 50 feet or less and the boat is usually anchored at 15 to 20 feet. That means long dives (most of mine were at least an hour) and no hanging three minute safety stops at 15 feet. You can make your safety stop swimming along the bottom underneath the boat. My air consumption has gone down so my dive buddy and I were usually the first ones off the boat and the last ones back on.

I dove once with Bert as a buddy. The only other time I had Bert as a buddy was at Roatan when I went too deep and got a finger wagged in my face. This time I was on my best behavior.

I dove once with Graham. The rest of the dives were with either Laura or Risa. The dirty old man got to swim with the babes!

The last night of our Bonaire trips we always eat at Capriccios, an excellent Italian restaurant owned by a sweet Italian lady from somewhere around Venice. She has a nice stock of grappa. The food is awesome! I had the four course special. Only $40. I bought a nice bottle of Barbaresco which I shared with Graham.

Pernell insisted that the guy at a table behind us was the guy who played Vinnie in the Sopranos. Don't think so but no one went up to him and asked. Pernell got some pictures.

As we were finishing our meal, an old gent at another table began singing. We found out that he owned an 80 foot sloop rigged sailboat, and the young folks at the table were the skipper (a guy), the steward (a babe), and the cook (a babe). He offered to buy us drinks, so I had another grappa. I also sang with him an old song from the 60's, When I Fall In Love. He didn't know all the words. I did. I got laid to that song.

Now we get to the return trip.

On the only morning I could sleep in, I awoke at 5:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. You would think that after more than half a bottle of wine and two grappas I would have slept until noon. No such luck. Gave up trying to sleep and went to breakfast at 7:15.

I was all packed and ready to go by noon. We headed to the airport at 1:00 for our 3:00 flight. Paid our departure tax and got in line to check in for our Air Jamaica (Motto: No Problem, Mon!) flight to Montego Bay. Air Jamaica's (Motto: No Problem, Mon!) computer was down so it took forever. Didn't matter. The flight was late.

I guess the lady at the ticket counter started assigning seats from the back of the plane. My seat was 29A. That meant that I would have to walk the entire length of the plane. The guys using the aisle chairs would have to roll the crips down the aisle to the back of the plane. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

When I got on the plane, one of the flight attendants told me to hang out in the front until everyone boarded to see if any seats in front were open. I did and managed to get a window bulkhead seat.

Since we were late getting to Montego Bay, they held the Atlanta plane for us. We had to have our carryons checked. They confiscated my soap and hand cleaner. They took Jerry's KY jelly. He argued. I didn't.

We got into Atlanta at around 10:00 PM. By the time I made it through customs and security and to the MARTA station it was 11:00. Since it was late, I had to change trains at Lindbergh again. I didn't get home until after midnight.

Hurry up and invent that transporter!

Posted by denny at September 25, 2006 01:05 PM