March 17, 2024

Here we go. On our way to Montreal on the redeye. We are sitting by a fake fireplace.

At the gate in Montreal

At the gate in Montreal

Overnight to Montreal I slept most of the way. No drama in my sleep ( moms biggest concern). We had a row to our selves to Curacao. This plane is the oldest one we have been on for years. Arrived 35 min early. There is no gate for us to park at so he is driving around the parking lot. I see O-Chin!

We picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel on the other side of the island without even having a map. We just knew that if the front wheels got wet, we had to stop. We just kept driving until we got here. I had looked at some maps previously, so had an idea where we were staying, but we found it pretty easily. I got smart and decided that we would buy a Sim card in town instead of at the airport because they give you more data for less money but then we got to town and realized it was Sunday night and nothing was open so we have no Sim card for today. We’ll get one tomorrow. Tonight we ate at the hotel restaurant and then walked the whole length of Mambo Beach, which is party central – even on a Sunday night! It’s St. Patricks day.

Eat, Sleep, Dive, Eat, Repeat!

March 18

Getting our SIM cards hooked up…

March 19, 2024

Not so SIMple

OK maybe for $5 we should have picked up the card at the airport. The review I read said to get the card from the Flow office near the McDonalds. Navigation without Google again we found the place without much trouble. 

We went in and the place was full of people, some sitting in a waiting area, some standing in a queue, others on couches with a TV. There were a couple security guards. There were people behind the glass sitting waiting to serve … and no one was doing anything.

We are always shocked at how inefficient the rest of the world is compared to Canada. What would have taken us 5 min at a kiosk in a mall in Calgary took 2.5 hours here.

We had to wait in in a line to get put on the waiting list (my name – “Nil” up on the screen), sit in the chairs and wait until our turn. 

Once people made it to the top of the screen some got moved to the couches to wait there, others went through a door to the back room – never to be seen again. Others got to talk to the people behind the glass. It seems the glass people can only do one thing – if there isn’t anyone there for their thing they just sit and wait.

When we finally got l picked to be seen, the guy didn’t know how to sell tourist SIM cards – he kept having to ask the girl next to him what to do. There was only one credit card machine and it was on our side of the glass. I had to get it from the window a couple windows down. The slot under the glass was too small to pass the machine, so I had to hold it just right so the guy could reach his fingers under the glass and push the buttons. 

Of course we did all this thinking it would take a few minutes and then we could go for breakfast…. 

We finally got the SIM cards and – oh wait – we need a little paper clip to get the SIM card slot open. Back into the store – wait in the Wait in Line line, to borrow her paper clip…

Once we got the SIM cards in and tested them – Colleen’s worked but mine didn’t. I had to go back in the Wait in Line line to get her to test the card in her own phone – it worked so it must be my phone…

I’ll try again tomorrow…

Making Bubbles

Sights and Sounds of the Curaçao reefs after a 1 hour drive to the western point of the island

Dive Log

March 21, 2924

Here is a sample dive log from today.

On this day, we went in at Directors Bay, and then the current take us west towards tugboat. We had to decide at what point we were going to turn around and swim upstream, or let the current take us all the way to tugboat. We knew tugboat from the dive the other day and I had gone up on the hill prior to the dive to see how far it was, so we’re pretty confident we would find it on the way, but it was still a little nerve-racking. I ended the dive with 948 psi so all was good.

This was dinner last night!

March 20, 2024

In 5 days,

12 Dives, 9 sites, 9 hours underwater, deepest 67.4 ft, longest dive 53 min 53 sec,

Under Water to Under Ground to Under the Cabana.

Last Sunrise

Off to the airport and back to reality later this morning!

One More Dive!

We decided to do one more dive – The Quality Inn Montreal Airport. Colleen has now confirmed that we are too old to stay in crappy hotels. Another reminder for me like “Feed the Girl”.