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Bonaire Part1: Stopover in Miami

Four years ago I tried to organize a tropical trip for our whole clan: Sandy and I, our three kids, and all of their families. We made arrangements to go to Bonaire, but at the last minute Mickey and his girlfriend had to drop out. He had just left the army and started a new job and couldn't get the time off. The rest of us went and had a great time. Still, it would have been even better if everyone was there.

I tried again the next year. It looked like I had everyone lined up for a spring 2019 trip, but then Covid hit. The whole trip had to be cancelled.

With Covid winding down last year it became possible to travel again. I decided to try organizing another trip. This time Mickey and his girlfriend were available but unfortunately neither Tim nor Shannon could make it. We decided to go with just Mickey and Allie and call it a makeup trip, since they had missed out last time. We went last December and again, we had a great time.

Not being one to give up easily, I decided to try to arrange another trip this year. But by now things had changed quite a bit. Tim's stepdaughters had grown up and moved out. He was separated. Shannon was expecting her first child so her and Jimmy were out. The field had narrowed quite a bit. Some people weren't as excited this time either. Bonaire is a great place to go to scuba dive but if you don't dive, there isn't a lot to do there. Since Sandy and Allie weren't diving, and had just been there last year, they weren't as interested in a return trip. That meant it was down to just myself, Mickey and Tim. It was disappointing that I couldn't get more people to go along. On the other hand, it was a chance for just the three of us to take a trip together. We hadn't done that for over twenty years. And since we were mainly interested in diving, this would give us a chance to dive as much as we wanted. In fact we were going to dive as much as we could. Our plan was to dive our brains out.

During the past year Tim moved to Miami. Since he got there he has really gotten heavily into scuba diving. He done several advanced certifications, all the way up to PADI Divemaster. He even got a part time job at a dive shop in Miami Beach working on their dive boat on weekends. That was pretty cool. It meant that we had our own personal dive guide along on the trip. With a lot of opportunities for us to do shore dives on our own on Bonaire, we were all set.

The last few times that we've gone to Bonaire, we've traveled through Houston on United. For this trip, I thought it would be better to go through Miami, since Tim was starting there anyway. That meant that we were on American for the flight to Bonaire. Since it only flies two days a week, I booked travel for Mickey and I to arrive in Miami a full day ahead of time. That way if there was a problem, we would still have an extra day to get there and not miss our flight to Bonaire. If all went well, we would have an extra day in Miami and Tim could show us around his new hometown.

As it was there were no problems. We both arrived a half hour ahead of schedule. Mickey arrived first in the middle of the afternoon. After Tim picked him up, they found a place to have a beer until I arrived about two hours later. There was a huge traffic jam at arrivals and it was not easy for them to get to me, but eventually they got through. I hopped in Tim's truck and we were off.

Our first stop was at the hotel where Mickey and I were going to stay, which was near the airport. It was a lot cheaper than hotels in Miami proper that were closer to Tim's place. Besides, I figured it would be good to be close to the airport when we left for Bonaire on Monday morning. Unfortunately we missed the right freeway exit and ended up driving right by the hotel. We could see it but we couldn't get there. Mickey eventually was able to navigate us back to the hotel but it required us to drive through some rather questionable neighborhoods along the way. We drove past places like the NeXX Motel,which we thought looked rather suspicious. Besides its suggestive name, it was covered in dark purple mood lighting, made to look like black lights. We checked online later and found out that it rents rooms in two hour intervals, which kind of confirmed our initial impression of the place.

Eventually we did get to our hotel, a Holiday Inn Express, which was quite a bit more conventional. I checked us in, Mickey and I dropped off our bags, and then we were off to Tim's apartment. He lives in Brickell, a neighborhood in Miami just south of downtown and right next to the ocean. It's the citiy's financial district as well as an upscale residential neighborhood. It's filled with new office towers and high rise luxury condos and apartments. There are lots of restaurants, coffee shops, bars and fashionable shops too. It reminded me a little of Singapore, a dense urban area with lots of tall, glittering new buildings. The warm and humid weather in December helped too. Tim was lucky that he found a guy who had a two bedroom apartment and was looking for a roommate. The building is directly across the street from the water. Tim's apartment is on the sixth floor and has a large patio with a nice view looking out over the Bay of Biscayne to Dodge Island, Fisher Island and Virginia Key. Tim gave us a quick tour and then we headed out to get something to eat.

There are scores of places nearby. A three block walk took us to Crazy About You, which was on the ground floor of a luxury condo building right beside the water. It's tagline is "An eclectic and budget-priced menu summons Spain, Italy and America at this stylish waterside bistro". Inside there was some seating and a bar, while outside was a patio overlooking the bay. We had a beer at the bar while we waited for a table on the patio and then had a really nice dinner. It was good for the three of us to get together again.

After dinner Tim drove us back to the Holiday Inn. Mickey and I went next door to a gas station C-store to get drinks and snacks. To get in, we had to step around a drunk passed out in front of the door. While we were in the store, the old guy behind the counter made the young guy working there go out to deal with the guy sleeping in front of their store. When we left he had gotten the guy to sit up and was trying to convince him to go somewhere else to take his siesta. Like I said before, nice neighborhoods around the Miami airport.

Next morning, while Mickey and I were waiting for Tim to pick us up, we noticed not one but two McLarens parked in the lot right in front of the hotel. That was a little strange since it wasn't exactly what I would expect someone staying at the airport Holiday Inn Express to be driving. Maybe this place was classier than I thought.

Or not. We noticed that one of the McLarens had a "For Rent" sign displayed in the window. Heck of a rental car though.

When Tim picked us up we took the MacArthur Causeway across Biscayne Bay to get to South Beach, the upscale neighborhood at the southern end of the city/island of Miami Beach. He went to the parking garage that's next to the dive shop where he works on weekends. One of his fringe benefits is that he can park there all day and doesn't have to pay anything. The dive shop is located in the Miami Beach Marina and the first thing I noticed was that there are some BIG boats parked there, including several megayachts. There is definitely a lot of money in South Beach.

Inside the dive shop, which is called Tarpoon Lagoon, we got to meet some of the people that Tim works with. Tim picked up some dive gear that he had ordered, which arrived just in time for our trip to Bonaire. I got a Tarpoon Lagoon tshirt for me and one for Sandy for Christmas. I did show a lot of restraint though as they had cool hats and hoodies which I could have bought too. Maybe I'll get some of those things for my birthday or Christmas in the future (hint, hint).

When we were finished at Tarpoon Lagoon we walked down Fifth Street, one of the main East-West streets in South Beach, to Ocean Drive, which as you might guess from the name, runs along the ocean. We turned and walked north along the most famous street in the Miami area. On one side it was lined with pastel-hued hotels, restaurants and bars, built during the 1920's and 30's, in the art deco style that Miami Beach is known for. Most had patio seating along the street, which looked tempting since we were all getting hungry. Across the street was Lummus Park, a narrow strip of green criss-crossed by walking paths where beautiful people zipped around on roller blades and skateboards. It also had an outdoor gym area, known as Muscle Beach, where fitness enthusiasts came to work out, and more importantly, to be seen working out. Behind the park was Miami Beach itself, as in, a real beach, with sand and waves and an ocean.

After walking for about half a mile we decided to stop for lunch at the Breakwater Hotel. We got a nice seat in the shade on the patio. It was a cuban restaurant, a cuisine I am not too familiar with, so I was conservative and just ordered a sandwhich. Tim got us a pitcher of Mohitos, a Cuban punch made with rum, sugar, lime juice, soda and mint. It's a local specialty and I have to admit that it was good. Very refreshing on a hot, sunny afternoon.

After lunch we crossed over to the park and then went to the beach where there was a huge temporary tent set up. It was at least two hundred yards long. It was part of Art Basel, a major art show being held that weekend in multiple sites around the Miami area. Tim wanted to check it out. Mickey didn't. I was willing to go along since Tim was interested, as long as it wasn't too expensive. There was a short line at the front of the tent to buy tickets. Tim wandered up to the head of the line to check out the prices. When he came back I asked how much it was. "Let's just walk along the beach" he replied. Wow. That expensive. I never did find out how much they were.

Following Tim's suggestion, we walked south along the beach. I was surprised at how nice it was. There were quite a few people there (it was Sunday, after all, and it was a warm, sunny day) but the beach was so big that it didn't seem crowded. After walking for about a mile we reached the end of the beach, and the southern tip of Miami Beach, at South Pointe Park. We continued to the end of South Pointe Pier, which extends 450 feet past the southernmost tip of the island. It provides a beautiful view of the South Beach shoreline, the skyline of downtown Miami, the cruise ship port and Fisher Island.

Afterwards we continued west along South Pointe Park Promenade, and then north, walking beside the water all the way around South Beach. Eventually we ended up near the dive shop. Right next to it was Monty's Sunset, a restaurant with an outdoor bar that had a small swimming pool. I suspect no one actually swam there - it was just for looks. Tim said that the dive shop did their pool sessions there. While that sounded like a cool idea, he said we wouldn't want to know what they found on the bottom of the pool sometimes.

Next we went to Best Buy. There was one only about two or three blocks away. We wanted to look at GoPro cameras. I offered to both Tim and Mickey that if they wanted a GoPro, I would get it for them for their birthday. It would be early, but that way they could take it to Bonaire. Tim took me up on it. I had done a little research and at least knew that the latest GoPro was the Hero 11. But it had been released just recently and the Best Buy had the Hero 8, 9 and 10, but no 11. None of us were sure of the difference among the various models or what the best choice was. We verified that the store would still be open for a couple of hours (it was a Sunday and we weren't sure when they closed) and retired to a nearby bar to do some internet research. By the time we finished a beer, I had read enough reviews to settle on the Hero 10. We went back to Best Buy and bought one, along with an waterproof case, and then headed back to Tim's place.

When we parked in front of Tim's building there were several people looking down into the water and pointing. We looked and saw a manatee right next to the seawall, almost close enough to touch. It was pretty cool. I had never seen one before. It was only a few feet away, taking it's time moving along. I thought it bode well for our trip to Bonaire, where we were hoping to see a lot of interesting sea life.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening on Tim's patio. It was a warm, sunny afternoon and we had a beautiful view of the ocean and the high rise buildings along the waterfront. It was very pretty, as the daylight eventually started to fade. As it got dark the lights began to come on in the buildings along the shore. Not bad for early Decemeber.

Eventually Tim got hungry so we went out for pizza. It was a fifteen minute walk to Piola, where we got a table on their outdoor patio. There slogan is "Famosi per la pizza" - famous for the pizza. It's definitely my kind of place.

They are actually an Italian chain. Their first restaurant opened in Treviso and is still operating. They have since expanded to other cities in Italy and to many other countries, with multiple restaurants in the US. They also have locations in Turkey, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Inspite of their slogan, I went for pasta instead of pizza and it was very good.

After dinner we walked back to Tim's place and he gave us a ride to our hotel. Mickey and I went to the C-store next door to get some sodas to drink before hitting the sack. Fortunately this time we didn't have to step over anyone to get into the place. Meanwhile Tim hurried back home to finish his packing. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Next morning Tim got an Uber which stopped by the hotel to pick us up. Our flight wasn't until 10:15 but we got to the airport early to make sure there were no problems. Checking in, Tim's bag was overweight even though the limit was fifty pounds. I was impressed. Mine was only thirty five pounds so there we were at the check in with our bags open, Tim digging out enough stuff (about eight pounds) and moving it to my bag to get under the limit. And that was even though he had all his dive gear - mask, fins, snorkel and regualtor - in his carry on bag. We all pretended that we didn't notice the people behind us in line giving us dirty looks. When we finally got the bags checked there were no further issues getting through security and soon we were on the plane. We took off on schedule and we were on our way to Bonaire for ten days.