Much has gone on since I last wrote over two months ago and now I have a little bit of time to sit and catch you, dear reader, up to speed on the latest travels and progress on becoming a scuba instructor.
My time in Bonaire finished up in mid-March and overall I have to give the experience high marks. Bonaire was fabulous for what it was: a step in my professional diving development as well as a great opportunity to see yet another place in this great world of ours. I completed my divemaster rank on Febuary 23rd and then became an Assistant Instructor exactly a month later. At one point on Bonaire, I had given much thought to staying on the island and working. I'm not sure whether it would have worked out at Dive Friends Bonaire where I had been working. While I enjoyed working there, there was quite a power vacuum left when the manager was fired, and the management that took over has struggled quite a bit. Long term, I think I would have been unhappy in the stagnant and scattered work environment that it seemed to be. And I don't really quite know if they would have been happy with me working for them either. I don't know what I did, if anything, and perhaps it was my being American- or rather, not being Dutch- but it seemed overall as if I was always just considered a temp, someone not really to invest much in. But, c'est la vie as the French say. Overall, Bonaire was great, for these reasons...
- I got great work experience in the dive industry- and REALLY enjoyed it. Sure, there were times when I could grow frustrated with the "island work pace" or having to deal with cruise shippers (worth another discussion all together), but being able to be actively engaged with customers and running through many different facets of the dive industry was incredibly rewarding for me. On any particular day, I would deal with customer service, equipment repair, guided dives, slave work like tank filling and errands, and various other challenges.
- I became a much better diver while on Bonaire. I think I added somewhere around 60 dives to my log book and really became comfortable with being underwater. And what better a place to do it? Warm water, little current, great vis. Much different than a lot of my other diving. All in all, a fantastic place to dive. (Although sadly I didn't see any sharks...)
- Living on a Caribbean island is a very interesting experience. It was certainly an eye opener for me to realize how fortunate I've been living where I have in my life, areas of higher culture and options for escape. While no doubt sunsets and tropical breezes are wonderful things, after a while, you realize that living on an island can be a very trapped existence, often leaving "Happy Hour" as the default activity for time-occupation once 5 o'clock rolls around. Acquiring good food is near impossible on the island, and I realized how fortunate I was to really get in to cooking and my own personal diet when I was in California, a land of fresh and delicious produce year round. And the attitude of most islanders is that of a very lazy existence. The slow-pace is tremendously nice and a needed break from the hectic rate of the "real" world, but sometimes you wish for a little bit more initiative from people. But all cannot be perfect in a location, at least I haven't found that place yet or rather I haven't evolved into that place yet.
- I got to work with great people (for the most part). Those who know me and have worked with me know I can be quite hard-headed at times. At times this got the better for me with some of the other staff, but they had their issues as well. But, 95% of the people I worked with were amazing and became close friends with during my time there. To be able to work with a predominantly Dutch workforce was great as I got to know a bit of their culture and ways. Many of my closest friends on Bonaire I worked with every day, and that made work incredibly rewarding in and of itself.
- Our clientele at Dive Friends Bonaire were amazing. We had quite a few repeat customers from the Hoffmans who were always cheery (and who brought me back new Rainbows when my pair washed away in the second week!) to the Johnsons who were quite charming in their Southern ways. We had tons of other repeat customers who were all quite lovely and welcoming. It was common for me to ask someone if they needed help to have them respond with something like, "Oh, I'm just in for a tank fill, but welcome to Bonaire, you're new here aren't you? How you like it? My name is Sue" etc. and so on. Funny thing about Bonaire is it is so very much a community of people, those living on the island and those who come to visit year after year. And that's a very good thing.
- In addition to the people I'd see at work everyday, I met a ton of other transients like myself on Bonaire. One of my closest friends, Nick, I met on the plane flight in. He was Dutch and off to explore his youth much like me. He worked at a local restaurant/bar and had the very convenient habit of always putting me as a separate tab in which a few of my beers seemingly disappeared from the bill. Of course, I reciprocated with tip in the form of beers during our nights of shenanigans. The rest of the staff at City Cafe where Nick worked also became cohorts of mine, all in all wonderful people down to share a beer and discuss our wide range of experiences. Also to note was the American study abroad group, CIEE, who were all amazing people and I came to share many good times with. I hope to meet up with them, especially Andrew and Zach, my bro-partners in crime when they get back to the states in May.
- Deserving a separate note was an absolutely wonderful Swedish girl I met, Olivia, several weeks into my stay there. She was taking the Open Water course I was assisting on and after the course one night out for drinks we got to talking and well just clicked. Not sure how well it would have worked in the real world, but for an "island girlfriend" she was underbar as they say in Sweden. Incredibly nice and beautiful to boot. One of the amazing things about traveling is the romances you make as you go, although quite a kick in the gut to realize that they very much exist in their own little time and space with an expiration date and many butterflies left over.
Overall rating for Bonaire, 7/10. For a short stay, it was great and while I didn't fall in love with it, I made many friends that I hope to stay in touch with for many years to come.
I'm now in Florida at my Instructor Development Course (IDC) and will write more on that in a few days. I PROMISE! I'll be better about updating.
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