Bonaire: Invisibles

On March 6^th – 12^th, 2010, we went with our scuba instructor Marcos and our dive club Parrot Island Divers to Bonaire, a small island about 50 miles north of Venezuela. We stayed at Eden Beach hotel in a studio room with an ocean-view balcony. The hotel was a beachfront number with its own cabana and dive shop. It was perfect except for the wooden-hard beds. We rented gear from Wannadive Bonaire, an outfit with great prices, fun staff, and unlimited tank rentals (which for us was important as we averaged 4-5 dives per day).



It was paradise.

Our first dive was at the Invisibles dive site. We checked our buoyancy and found dive buddies, then went under. My brand-new mask kept flooding and pouring sunscreen-tinged salt water in my eyes. I fixed it after that dive and had no more gear malfunctions the rest of the trip.

Within two minutes, we saw a spotted eagle ray in the distance. She was searching the sandy shallows for snacks and blithely ignoring our presence. After snapping my first-ever marine photos (of a ray—how cool is that?), we dove to a depth of about 75 feet and enjoyed the view.

The reef waved gently as if in a summer breeze. Parrot fish and trumpetfish danced around us in a friendly sort of way, while large French angelfish hovered just out of reach.

The Invisibles being our first dive, we consumed much more air than we would later, and we ended the dive after a mere 36 minutes. We were to make two more dives that day.

Central KY Celtic Fest and Highland Games

   

On September 18^th and 19^th, we went to the Central Kentucky Celtic Fest and Highland Games. It was a very small affair held at their Renaissance Festival grounds and rather poorly attended. However, we had a great time anyway.

When we arrived midmorning, we were greeted with the sound of a pipes and drum band. That put me in the spirit right away! Afterward, we checked out some of the excellently priced vendors and had some Queen’s Tea (mead and cider mix) at the pub.

We enjoyed some of the heavy athletics, including the caber toss, the weight toss, and the sheaf toss.

We had lunch and enjoyed an encounter with a horseman who rode his two horses by standing on their backs.  

We also met several people in full Renaissance Fair regalia, even though this was not a Renaissance-themed event.

We schmoozed some of the musicians who would perform later in the day; the festival was so small I had three separate people ask me later if I was with the band. We watched an impromptu performance of highland dancers on a small stage. 

We closed the evening by listening to great Celtic rockers Mother Grove, followed by one of my favorite bands of all time, The Killdares. They put on an amazing show, though it was a disappointingly small crowd.

  

The next day was a repeat of the first – pub, athletics, music. It was a surprisingly small event; if not for The Killdares I might not have ever gone, or return. Still, it was a stellar weekend and a great chance to get intimate with highly talented people.