Today is a bittersweet one for Mary and me. We have just completed our last dive of the vacation. We fly out tomorrow, and we now must wait 24 hours before flying as a precaution to avoid decompression sickness. (We have done 24 dives in the last thirteen days, and we were under 30 to 70 feet of water for a total of 16 full hours. It will take our bodies that long to de-gas the nitrogen that has been built up in our systems during that period of time.)

It has been a spectacular vacation! The most relaxed and exciting one I think I have ever enjoyed.

I saw my first sea horse in the wild, and we saw the first stingray we have ever seen in Bonairian waters. Two days ago, on a dive off of Kaya Kachi, right in front of our apartment, we ran into a hawkbill turtle at about 30 to 35 feet down.

He was small, and he was beautiful. (Bonaire is an important breeding ground for this endangered species.) He was just dipping and diving around the coral reef, hovering one moment, and then zipping off to a new location the next. Mary was so excited that she screamed underwater!

We’ve met some new friends, like dive instructor Gaylene who will be moving back to the Cayman Islands soon to start a new diving business with her husband. (Gaylene is a native of British Columbia, Canada. Her husband is from Costa Rica. They met when they we both working as dive instructors in The Caymans. She is the sweetest girl you would ever want to meet.

She would always come out of the dive shop to greet us whenever she saw us getting tanks or coming back from a dive. She and I sat on the picnic table outside the dive shop on a few occasions just shooting the breeze and talking about our lives.

I’m going to miss her. When we said good-bye, she came over and gave both Mary and I the best hugs you could imagine. She’s just an angel.

Rob the dive shop manager, a.k.a., Big Sexy, was always good for a good laugh and sound advice about diving.

Going home for 82 degrees Fahrenheit to 32 degrees Fahrenheit does give one pause. However, there are so many good thingsat home! There’s the kids, the grandkids, the friends, Fritzy and Dixie (the dogs), Smokey and Simba, (the cats), Hoo, Shasta and Mariah (the horses), and Angel (the pony).

And then, on the very same day that we get home, there’s…STEIN NIGHT!

To be honest with you, I also like the routine. There’s something comforting about the familiar.

I enjoy working out too, which is something that I have neglected these last two weeks. (Although scuba divers burn up 1000 calories with every dive…Even though the dive is relaxing, it is also foreign, so you breathe a little heavier. You also have to be almost constantly kicking and repositioning your body in the water. AND you have to carry all of that freaking heavy equipment to and from the entry site.

I also enjoy dinners alone with Mary Ellen.

I enjoy playing with dogs.

I enjoy having Smokey and Simba purring on the bed between us at night.

I love seeing and talking to my kids and grand kids.

I enjoy going out to the barn and spending time with the pone and horses.

I enjoy Netflix.

I enjoy N.C.I.S. on Tuesday nights.

I enjoy the men and women UConn Husky basketball teams.

I enjoy the big screen TV.

I enjoy the hot tub.

I’ll enjoy putting the final touches on plans for producing the latest play that I wrote.

Lots of good things at home.

So, really, I’m just leaving one Paradise for a slightly different one.

I’m so damned spoiled, huh?