I'm back! In Bonaire, that is. The tropical island paradise for divers, snorkelers, and windsurfers.
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| A map of Bonaire. I live in Kralendijk, on the west side. Lac Bay, on the east side, is a great spot for windsurfing. |
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| The arrow points to Bonaire, the island outlined in white. Curacao is in the middle, and Aruba is on the left. These three islands were formerly known as the ABC Islands, but as of 2011 that association no longer exists. |
On January 15th, 2011, I arrived in Bonaire for the first time. It was my first study abroad experience, and my first time being in a foreign country without my family. It was my first of several (and hopefully many) stints living abroad. It was also when I started this blog!
My plane from Aruba (there are no direct flights from Detroit, of course) was delayed by several hours, but without a way to contact the program coordinators, I ended up stuck alone at the Bonaire International Airport at midnight. It was well over an hour before anyone came to collect me, and I was having serious doubts about my decision to come here. Fortunately, things got better the very next day, and I got to experience all the culture, history, and nature the island had to offer.
A few good memories from three years ago:
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| I was here for Carnival, the annual celebration. Hopefully I'll be here for it again this year! |
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| Windsurfing at Lac Bay. |
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| Playing traditional instruments, poorly. |
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| Transects! (I really did learn some science-things here. Honest.) |
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| The very first photo I took--or had taken--on the island. (Wow, I don't look any different. I also still have that shirt, bag, and swimsuit. Broke the sunnies, though. Oh well.) |
Three years later--almost to the day--I'm back on the island as a divemaster-in-training. For the nondivers reading, "divemaster" is a level of certification for scuba divers. Diving is fun and rewarding, but it's only safe when divers are well-trained and following their training. To make it safe, the professional diving organizations (PADI, NAUI, and SSI being the major ones) have created different 'levels' of diver certifications, based on training and skill sets.
I'm a PADI-certified diver, which is the largest professional diving association. (PADI stands for "professional association of diving instructors.") PADI has a clear and ladder-like certification system, which goes as follows:
Open Water Diver (the most basic)
Advanced Open Water Diver (includes deeper diving and night diving)
Rescue Diver (able to rescue people while diving, and treat diving-related injuries)
Divemaster (able to work as a dive professional, leading dives and assisting with classes)
Instructor (able to teach new divers)
There are a few more levels for instructors, but this is the basic structure. I got open-water certified in 2008, and AOWD and Rescue Diver certified in 2011 during my study abroad experience in Bonaire. As a divemaster, I'd be able to work in a dive shop and lead certified divers on guided dives. I'd also be eligible to become an instructor, an even more desirable position in the diving industry.
There are two routes on the path to divemaster certification: a paid course and an internship. The paid course runs for two weeks and generally costs in the ballpark of US$2000. The internship is usually two months, and while it's free, you also aren't paid for the work you're doing. It's actually cheaper for me to fly to Bonaire and live here for two months, so that's what I'm doing. (Plus, you know, I get to live on a tropical island for eight weeks. Can't beat that.)
There are several dive shops on Bonaire, but I'm working for the one I'm already familiar with, Dive Friends Bonaire.
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| This is their main shop, Yellow Sub. |
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| This is the boat pier for Yellow Sub. The confined training area is on the other side. |
Dive Friends was formerly affiliated with the CIEE (study abroad) program, which is how I got to know them. My mother and sister were Open Water certified through Dive Friends, as well. They have five locations on the island and several retail shops. Yellow Sub is their main location, but I'll be working at a different location, Dive Inn, about a kilometer south of Yellow Sub. (For those familiar with the island, it's near the Divi Flamingo resort.) I report to work on Tuesday, and I can't wait to get started!
Now that I've bored you with all the technical details for why I'm in a tropical paradise, let's get down to my favorite part of this blog: the photos!
(A note to Mac users: I've recently learned that my photos look a bit strange on Macs, probably because the picture is so vivid. They look good on my computer, and that's the best I can do. Sorry!)
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| The walk along the water is still beautiful. |
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| I'm pretty sure this 'construction' was still going on three years ago. Also, see the Santa? |
A lot of things have changed in the past three years. City Cafe, which used to be a popular restaurant and bar, has closed.
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| Nooooo! Now where will I get my delicious malibu-and-pineapples?! |
There's still a lot of Christmas decorations up around town.
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| Still lots of cruise ships coming in. |
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| Near the tourism office. |
This church has service in English, Dutch, and the local language, Papiamentu.
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| It might look dated, but it's actually a pretty church. |
This plaza has a market on some days, but today was Saturday and it was empty, so I'm not really sure what day the market is on.
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| Sometimes bands play on the little stage, and people dance in the plaza. It's a good time! |
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| There's also a cafe on the plaza, but I've never eaten there. Looks nice though! |
I love walking along the water. It's so beautiful, I never get sick of it. I walked around taking photos, visiting old places, and going to the grocery store several times. (I can only carry so much, you know.) I think I walked up and down this stretch about 15 times today.
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| The water is so clear! You can always see fish, crabs, and urchins in the shallow water. |
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| Urchins! |
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| Lots of birds! They like to eat the fish remains that the fishermen leave behind. Mostly fish heads, yum. |
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| You can get a ferry to Klein Bonaire, the littler island, from this dock. |
There are many restaurants and bars along the water, but my favorite is Karel's. (I think it's pronounced like "Carl," but you can never tell with Dutch names.) It's literally on the water, and the food and drinks aren't half bad!
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| They also have karaoke at night, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. |
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| It's as nice as it looks, trust me. They've also got a pretty good milkshake, as I recall. |
A lot of things have changed. The grocery store I used to frequent, Cultimara, has been bought out, shrunk, and renamed Top. The art gallery on the water is gone, but there's a new playground next to it. There's a few new shops with some cool art and gadgets in town, but a lot of things have been sold or are for sale.
That said, a lot of things are still the same. My favorite gelato shop is still there and still has my favorite flavor, although they've finally translated it from Dutch to English, so I now know that it's lemon cake. (Yum!) Most of the bars are the same, Watta Burger is still the cheap drunken fast-food joint with the space-car kids' ride, and Cultimara still has cool mural-style paintings on the walls.
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| The murals still say Cultimara, even though it's been renamed officially. People still call it Cultimara. |
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| Look how happy she is with her cereal and paper towel! |
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| And a windsurfing dude! I love these paintings. |
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| To be fair, a lot of them were expecting me to be a guy. Can't really blame them. |
My family was a bit worried about my housing situation. I did, after all, agree to live in a room in the house of a guy I found on facebook. But don't worry, he's very nice, and his house is lovely!
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| He's even got a very friendly dog, Angel. She's a sweetie. |
I've got all the workings of modern life, with the exception of hot water and air conditioning. But hey, who needs a hot shower in 85-degree weather? And I certainly didn't come here to use the aircon--I kinda like being hot and a little sweaty.
The next two months will be busy, but I'm really excited about it. Wish me luck, and check back again soon for more updates from paradise!
Cheers,
Ashton
PS: If you weren't around for my last stint in Bonaire, or you just want to look at all the pretty pictures again, click here to go back to the very first post on this blog!
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