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Best of Tres Trappi
Although the shore diving in Aruba is limited, the sites are easily accessible and the marine life is diverse. Tres Trapi, or "Three Steps" is located in Noord on the northern most part of the island, between the kite / wind surfing schools and Arashi Beach. It's a popular site for snorkeling, but also great for scuba diving. Although not very deep, maximum depth does not exceed 20 feet, the site is teeming with marine life including eels, cephalopods, schooling fish, crustaceans and juvenile fish. Swimming straight out from the entry, approximately 50 feet, you will find a concrete block on the sandy bottom. This block is home to many different critters, which I'm sure changes constantly, but while we were visiting we regularly...
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Squad of Squid
The dive started and ended with a large group (shoal, school or squad) of small Caribbean Reef Squid greeting the divers from the dive boat. The divers spotted the squid from the boat and couldn't wait to jump in the water before they swam away. We were not disappointed as the squid stayed put and let me fire off a few shots. Unfortunately the...
Butterflies are Free…
...well, more like $12/person to enter the Butterfly Conservatory in Key West. But it is money well spent!!! Friday morning David and I headed out for a morning walk. Given the heat and humidity in Key West, mornings and evenings are the most comfortable times to leave our temperature controlled Key West habitat to get some exercise. We decided...
Second Move In As Many Months
Two more days until we make the move to Key West. We have tried to strategically pace our food reserves, but uneven quantities of some items combined with a questionable timeline has left us with an imbalance of nuts, mustard, frozen shrimp, tortilla chips and strawberry preserves. Although that might make up one of the tamer Chopped baskets, we...
Retirement Purgatory (Moving On)
There has been lots of frenetic activity these last few days as we made the decision to continue “Bonaire Watch 2020” from Florida. That way we will be closer to Miami and can jump on a plane as soon as the Caribbean airspace opens. Plus, we can get in a few dives to check out the new equipment. Leslie found a terrific house we...
Retirement Purgatory (Episode 3)
Parts of our routine are genuinely enjoyable. Leslie playing “Everything is Awesome” and dancing when we get up, redesigning our website to get it to a point we have long discussed but not had the time to do while we were working and exploring local restaurants as they start to allow patio seating are all very pleasurable and satisfying...
Retirement Purgatory (Episode 2)
Day 24 at the local Chicago area based Residence Inn includes dwindling food options as we nosh our way through temporary supplies hoping to empty the cupboards and fridge at just about the same time flight restrictions are lifted. We seem to have an imbalance of nuts and dried fruit which is met with the same level of resigned gratitude as...
Retirement Purgatory (Episode 1)
2020 has been bittersweet at TropicLens. What started as a pair of much anticipated retirements representing a combined 75+ years of work between us has slowly been absorbed by a global pandemic impacting family, friends and coworkers. It has been challenging to temper what would have otherwise been unabated exuberance sharing...