Ah, hurricane season.........

Rain, what rain?

Kirstin and I have only 10 more days here in Bonaire before the big journey north (we don't talk about it because Kirstin gets misty eyed).............so we are trying to go diving every day. For that reason, we sometimes allow our optimism to cloud our judgement.

Kirstin- "Want to dive this morning?".

Tom- "OK- I'm just a little worried about that black smudge in the sky over there"

Kirstin- "Umm".

Sad, sad puppy dog eyes start to form. I've got to do something or scuba, happy hour, and ultimately dinner would be affected.

Tom- "Let's go, what are the chances it's another squall, right ?"

We dinghy over to our favorite spot (18 palms). There are huge 8 ft. tarpin, sea turtles, spotted rays, manta rays, porcupine puffer fish.........a huge variety of the weirdest sea creatures you've ever seen. And the coral is spectacular. As we're cruising around about half way through our dive, Kirstin points straight up. I look up to witness what a super shit-storm looks like from under the water. The sea is churning, drops are pounding down..........and it's gotten darker under the water.

The darkness is kind of cool. While you can't see fish at a distance, you can sneak up on them more effectively. The problem is that when we're out of air, we will have to ascend and be pounded by the storm. So we go shallow to try to conserve air. We wait, and wait, and wait. No let-up. Finally, I'm running out of air. As we emerge it is raining with biblical intensity.........the rain is cold, and of course the dinghy is half filled with water.

Taking off all your equipment is difficult enough on a sunny, clear day. This was really a pain. We started the outboard and motored slowly back to our boat. Slowly, because we were carrying another  500 lbs of rain water with us. Kirstin is still (smartly) wearing her diving mask. She looks ridiculous (like she's got a Hannibal Lechter restraint or something) but she's happy.

Kirstin- "Did you see that porcupine fish ?"

Tom- dead silence

Kirstin- "And that tarpon was cool"

Tom- still silent (and getting more wet, if that's possible).

The thing is, Kirstin- like most women- can do both sides of any conversation so my participation was optional. I just drove the dinghy back, got out of my wet clothes......and waited for happy hour. A fun dive with a side order of hardship.

Drying out...