Bonaire Day 1

It was up at 4:45AM to get to the airport to catch an 8:40 Air Jamaica (Motto:No problem, Mon!) flight to Montego Bay. One of my dive buddies, Charlie, spent the night, and we drove down to the airport in his car. They slipped me over to the business class line to get our group checked in quickly. Unfortunately, there was a family in front of me who were checking their entire worldly possessions. At lwast it seemed that way. The other agent spent ten minutes with another rocket scientist. I swear. I think IQ's drop by 20 points when people enter an airport. Anyway, Graham and I got our bags checked and headed down to the gate where we met some of the others on our merry crew. Hartsfield has WiFi so I was able to log on and answer some mail. The rest of the people showed up in plenty of time for our flight.

Here are the cast of characters:

Cindy - A young C4/C5 incomplete quad. This is her first dive trip since her accident.
Her mom Darleen, her dad Jerry, and her brother Dallas.
Parnell (AKA the Big Guy) – T6 para and world champion paralympic weight lifter. He won the Gold Medal at the Sydney Olympics. I've been on two dive trips with him.
Ray – brain damaged due to a skydiving accident, and his father, Richard. I've probably been on six trips with them.
Bert Quist – Owner of Divers@Sea. He's an HSA instructor. He's the trip leader.
Graham – HSA Dive Buddy certified. He's been on every dive trip I've taken since my accident. He's an awesome diver.
Resa – She just got her HSA Dive Buddy cert. This is the third trip she's been on with me. She's a truly awesome diver.
Charlie - He's a Master Diver and has taken the HSA Dive Buddy class, but hasn't taken the exam yet for his cert. This is the fourth trip that Charlie and I have been on together. He is another awesome diver.
Paige – She's the Shepherd recreational therapist. This is the first crip trip she's been on.

So we had a one hour layover in Montego Bay and then it was on to Bonaire. We got there around 4:00 PM. After the zoo at passport control and baggage claim, we were on our way to the Divi Flamingo. This is the third time I've been there and this is the third time I'v got the same room, which is OK by me. It'a a nice room. I also found out that the resort has WiFi but only from the lobby. We'll see how that works when I try to post this tonight.

Had a nice dinner and it's off to have a beer with some of the crew.