ScubaDance

April 13-20, 2002

Produced by Mel and Ellie Briscoe, and Denise Peet.
Travel arrangements through Splash Dive Center, Alexandria, VA.

All times/activities are subject to adjustment for local needs, "island time," etc.

Saturday, April 13

Leave BWI in the morning, on Air Jamaica. Change planes in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Arrive Bonaire mid-afternoon.
Met at airport by Buddy Dive personnel, transport to Buddy Dive, check in, get rental cars.
Diving orientation and check-out.
Dinner at Buddy Dive.
7:30-9:30pm, Scottish Country Dance at Harbour Village aerobics studio (air-conditioned!), post-dance jacuzzi.

Sunday, April 14

Monday, April 15

Tuesday, April 16

Wednesday, April 17

Thursday, April 18

Friday, April 19

Saturday, April 20

Certified divers (any training agency, i.e. PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc) can fully participate in this trip.
Snorkeling is possible at many of the dive sites, but some of the activities are orchestrated around diving. Snorkelers will probably not get full value from the trip, but will have a fine time anyway! Snorkelers can also try out scuba diving on the trip if they wish, through arrangements with Buddy Dive there or by making advance arrangements through Splash.
Referrals: Certification to dive is possible on the trip, but will take up time and attention. The best plan is to do your classroom and pool work at home before the trip, and then in Bonaire just do the four open-water dives (two per day) required for certification. This can be done by Buddy Dive, or arranged through Splash in advance (Mel Briscoe is a PADI Instructor). You can obtain a "referral" from any PADI training center which will allow you to do your four open-water certification dives in Bonaire.
Speciality training in various aspects of diving may be obtained on the trip, either arranged in advance with Splash (and provided by Mel), or obtained through Buddy Dive. Possible topics are: Adventure Diver/Advanced Open Water, Deep Diver, Underwater Navigator, Night Diver, Underwater Naturalist, AWARE Fish Identification, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Enriched Air (Nitrox), Boat Diver, Multi-Level Diver, Underwater Photography, and Search & Recovery. Wreck Diver may also be available.

Dancing will be in a nearby aerobics studio, air-conditioned, with a sprung wooden floor.
Dancing will be to CD's.
Dance programs will be partly planned in advance (send us your requests!) and partly by request on-the-spot. We don't want to take an endless number of CD's with us, so will try this mixture of planned and spontaneous material.
Intermediate SCD skills are assumed; there will be minimal opportunity to learn dancing on the trip.
Heavy exercise after scuba diving is not recommended, as it affects the ability of the body to rid itself of the nitrogen absorbed during diving. Hence, there will be no diving in the afternoons prior to a dance. Diving after dancing, i.e. night dives, is no problem.
Kilts and other fancy dress are not expected on this trip!

Cost will be $1320 each, double occupancy, in 2-bedroom condos, each with a vehicle.
The cost includes: airfare, transport to/from airport in Bonaire, room, rental car (one per condo), buffet breakfast, unlimited diving (with air), 6 boat dives, and Scottish country dancing. Extra boat dives are $20 each; unlimited Nitrox is an extra $110 (approximately). It does not include lunch, dinner, vehicle gasoline, drinks, personal items, shopping, gratuities, a $10 fee to dive in Bonaire, or a $20/person departure tax.
Reservations/deposits ($495)/payments can be made directly to Splash; call 703-823-7680. Mention you are calling to reserve your spot(s) for Mel Briscoe's ScubaDance Bonaire trip in April 2002; the best person to talk to is Dave LeMay.
Trip insurance is always worth considering; see for example: TravelPlus from Travelex; it's about $82.
Please send an email to Mel or Ellie or Denise to let us know of your interest.
The trip is planned for only 16 people total, limited by the size of the dance space (so we can all dance at once)
and the size of the dive boats (so we can all get on one boat).
Cutoff date for all registrations is January 3, 2002.
As of 2 December, there are only 4 places still available!