Welcome to the Friday edition of Traveling with Emily!!
So far this weeks travels have included watching her begin her adventures with kitesurfing, tearing it up on quads in the desert, snorkeling and today had us scuba diving.
I do want to give a shout out to the Neutrogena sunscreen sticks. They are the best I’ve used and so far neither of us have gotten a vacation ruining sunburn 11 degrees south of the equator.
Today we did the Discover Scuba Diving or DSD class at the Toucan Diving shop located on the resort grounds. I have to say night and day difference from our experience in the Rosario Islands off the coast of Colombia. We ended up with an instructor and an instructor’s instructor. Our instructor was finishing his dives with students, he still had one more to do after us before getting his DSD instructor certificate. We should have gotten a deal for being test subjects.
Our dive was 55 minutes with one tank. It was a relaxing swim under water for the most part. Our skills training was pretty quick since it was just the two of us and we just did them last summer. They figured I probably had 25 pounds on my belt last summer and they took me down to 12. Emily had 9. We did have a issue with my first vest but they got me another and things went well for me. Emily’s mouth piece had a piece of rubber missing so you may notice her holding it, she didn’t realize what was actually off until we were already diving or she would have gotten a different mouthpiece. You don’t use your arms to swim with (unless you’re sinking like a rock) when scuba diving so it was okay.
We got to see some different corals and some eels. Our guides did an excellent job and I do like how they run the DSD program here.
Emily thinks she would like to focus more on learning kitesurfing than scuba. I’m not sure there is enough reasons to spend a lot of time on scuba but doing more DSD classes and maybe get a certification to go with a guide may not be bad for when the opportunity presents itself but snorkeling is pretty comparable and way less investment.
I’m still happy with my Cressi gear. It worked well with both our snorkeling and today’s scuba dive. Emily has had a fogging issue but otherwise seems happy with her’s. She did upgrade to some Cressi gear as well. She may not have gotten the film off the inside well enough so we are trying a diver’s trick of cleaning it with toothpaste.
This afternoon we took the scooter into town and hit a few more shops that were open today. One has some really cool metal artwork. Emily got a turtle and is thinking about another piece.
We are signed up for a snorkeling trip tomorrow to Kline Bonaire and Kayaking with snorkeling in the mangroves on Sunday. We have decided we will go into town early on Monday and check out a museum or two and have breakfast.
As far as Van Der Valk Plaza Beach & Dive Resort Bonaire goes, I would probably stay again if I make it to Bonaire again. The facilities are good and are going to be better after the construction is done. We have the ability to get everything we need without much trouble. There is a couple options for tours, the dive shop and a casino. We did check out the casino on Christmas, it wasn’t very big or fancy. Hopefully their new one will be better. We got $5 each at the door and we donated an extra $6. Neither of us are into gambling. The food is good and there are multiple choices.
Tonight they had a BBQ, it wasn’t bad. Brisket, ribs, grilled chicken on a stick, corn on the cob, beans, coleslaw and what not. The meat wasn’t actually smoked, they cooked it and then finished it on a hot grill. Not bad though. They set up everything outside so it was more BBQ like, I think they could have still served the same way and it would have been fine.
Enjoy your weekend!!
Traveling with Emily! 