Diving with Martijn

On our crossing in 2019 André sailed with us. He used to be a fanatical diver, but his ears started giving him trouble. Our ears, on the other hand, he talked right off about how awesome diving was. Yeah yeah, André, but right now we’re sailing…

And then suddenly I find myself on Bonaire, all on my own, for quite a while. First in lockdown, but at the end of April the restrictions are gradually eased, we’re allowed to go out to a restaurant again, and bit by bit social activities can resume. The boat has long been ready for the big crossing, and Marion and Els don’t arrive until 12 May. And then out of the blue a dinghy comes by, a lady at the helm and a gentleman who asks in perfect English whether he can clean the bottom of the boat. Well, no need, I’d already promised that job to someone else. But if he’s such a good diver, which of the many dive schools would he recommend for a PADI Open Water course? Martijn didn’t have to think long about that one: himself, of course! We quickly come to an agreement: I’ll take a private course with him instead of joining a group at a dive school, where the instructor has to divide his or her attention over several people.

A few days later I’ve worked through the theory and passed, and I go diving with Martijn. He turns out to be a great guy, and he lives right on the beach, directly in front of a dive site. Now, 15 years ago I’d already earned a “mini diving certificate” so I could work under the boat, down to 3 metres. So the very first dive goes pretty well straight away, and we manage to finish all the exercises (“skills”, as PADI calls them) in 2 dives. The second time we even head out to the reef, so there’s actually something to see. Everything goes swimmingly, and after 4 dives I’m told I’ve passed! Super fast, thanks to the perfect one-on-one instruction. And all that at absolutely stunning dive sites, somewhere different each time, with increasing difficulty.

The nice thing about diving on Bonaire for tourists is that you can drive to a dive site and then simply walk into the sea. Apparently that’s quite rare; usually you have to spend a shorter or longer time in a boat that takes you, bouncing and seasick, to the site. But even better, of course, is that the reef just carries on along and under the mooring field for the sailing boats, so you can dive straight off your own (or someone else’s) boat. And so I’ve dived from 8 (Robbert and Luuke), from Baradal (with Uli, at Klein Bonaire) and from Merrimac. Really cool!

It’s great fun hanging out with Martijn, who was more than ready to get back to work after the lockdown, and his girlfriend Catherine. We go out for dinner together a number of times and laugh a lot about each other’s adventures.

One Sunday he sends me a WhatsApp asking whether I’d like to join him and Cat in the “Street art rally 2021”. Of course! It turns out an artist, Kenneth Letsoin from Rotterdam, has spent 5 weeks on the island putting up paintings all over the place. They all turn out to be easy to find, and here and there we get a nice tour of the property where the artwork is. We end up with a couple who had the concrete wall along their property brightened up. The house, which they built themselves and is “almost finished”, sits in an incredibly beautiful spot on the east coast, with a fantastic view, for now. Sadly, locals tell us that the low-lying land below it has been sold to developers who have permission to build 1,600 houses there…

And then it’s almost time again… Marion and Els arrive, and after a week of wrapping up and tying up loose ends, during which Els and I do a few more dives with Martijn, it’s already time to say goodbye to Bonaire!

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