Have you ever heard the expression: “the lower the latitude, the better the attitude”? Or maybe listened to the Buffett song “Changes in Latitude, Changes is Attitude“?

On a recent dive trip to the island of Bonaire organized by dive traveler extraordinaire Lauren Hermley, I discovered first hand what those expressions mean. It was the third day of the trip, Wednesday, and I had plans to meet up with the group around 8:30 to dive the island’s signature wreck, the Hilma Hooker. We had decided to make that dive a first of the day due to fact that she rests on her side in 100′ of water. My wonderful wife Jan, decided to sit this one out, preferring to keep her dives above 80′.

Earlier in the week on Monday, we discovered a local breakfast sandwich called a tosti at the City Cafe on the waterfront in Kralendijk. The tosti comes in several configurations, but basically is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top and eaten with fork and knife. I got mine with tomato, of course. We joined another couple in the group, Chris and Leslie, and we were served by an attractive and friendly young Colombian woman who provided great service and we were fed and on our way in less than 30 minutes.

Our plan before meeting the group was to take the short walk along the harbor down to the City Cafe and grab a tosti and a cup of java. We seated ourselves and after a longer than normal period were greeted by a tall, blond, apparently Dutch woman who asked if we wanted to order. Her stature was rigid and straight, her demeanor was stern and devoid of pleasantry. Adorned in leather and with whip in hand, she would be the model dominatrix.

“What would you like?” she asked in english that was obviously limited. I said the we would like an american coffee and a tosti. “We don’t have american today” she replied without a smile. We agreed to be served any coffee she was willing to bring. By the time the coffee and tosti finally came, it was 8:20 and Jan suggested that we ask to make them “take away”. I wanted to eat there, so we did. After we finished, and with a bit of an effort to get the bill and pay it, we were on our way back to the apartment at 8:40.

We were greeted with with a note stuck in the tailgate of our truck informing us that the group had left for the dive on the Hooker (yes all possible jokes were made referring to the wreck’s name). I was a little disappointed, I really wanted to do that dive, and Jan felt bad I had missed it, but hell, we were in Bonaire so really there we no worries. I knew that we couldn’t catch them, so we decided to go in the opposite direction to the north to dive, knowing the group planned on doing a second dive at Captain Don’s habitat and then have lunch. We would get a dive in close by and then catch up with them for number two.

We worked our way north along the narrow road searching for a suitable dive site. The further away you get from from the center of the island and the protection of the small island of Klein Bonaire, the more the surge of the sea can affect the entry and exit of the dive. Our first stop to look was at the site called Jeff Davis. We inspected the entry and found a very rough ledge that required handing down equipment. Not a chance, and we heading further north and began to ascend in elevation and the water was further and further above the road.

The view from the top of the dive site 1000 Steps

The next site we came to was aptly named 1000 Steps. I am not going to waste any keystrokes in explaining why we moved on to the next site. It was easily agreed between the two of us it was a no-brainer. On monday we did a dive called Karpata. There was a large cement slab that made it easy to negotiate the surge, so we decided to give that one a try. The only problem was that we were going to have to enter the section of road that was one way and required a trip through the town of Rincon and down the east side of the island back to Kralendijk (which we affectionally referred to as Cranky Dick because we had no idea how to pronounce it). The only other option was a dirt road “shortcut”.

Hey, we are in Bonaire, whats wrong with a little adventure? So we proceeded up the one way road to Karpata. It was becoming more and more obvious that the surge was really strong today on the north end. When we got to the dive site, one glance at the entry made the prospect of negogiating the 1000 steps with gear on seem like a stroll in the park.

The entry at Karpata this rough day

We got back in the truck and Jan turned to me and lamented “Things are just not going as planned today”. Feeling a little bad that she might be discouraged, all I could think to say was “Baby, things might not be going as planned, but nothing is going wrong. We are in the tropics on the beautiful island of Bonaire, if this is a bad day, we are doing pretty damn good.” We both laughed and agreed and the attitude in the truck was one of lightheartedness and joy. We were riding around having fun on a beautiful day, who could complain about that?

All of a sudden, things became very much in perspective and it was easy to have an attitude of gratitude. As a couple, that has 6 children (3 each) between us and are all now legal adults, we have had our share of challenges. Life has not always been a day in sunny Bonaire. But that is exactly where we were that day, and it started what was to become my favorite day of the vacation.

Our attitudes were adjusting to the latitude.