We were on island for less than 48 hours when my daughter Lauren remarked, "Hey Dad, there are two more islands close to Aruba. Whadda think?"
I just smiled.
At 5am this morning, we packed a day bag and headed to Queen Beatrix Airport hoping for 2 standby tickets to Bonaire.
This is our story.
Arriving in Bonaire, we noticed a older white haired gentleman among the much younger curbside cabbies all anxious to show us the island.
His name was Lucien. Instead of stating his taxi fee schedule and negotiating an agreed upon rate, he informed us that we can pay him what we felt like was a reasonable rate at the conclusion of the day.
This was the beginning of our friendship.
Born in Bonaire in 1942, Lucien went to Santa Barbara college in California. He got his first job in the late 60s Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. He worked there during the time the famed Rat Pack was all the rage! He met Meyer Lansky and helped start casinos in Aruba (Pit Boss) and Curacao.
Along the way, he married his childhood sweetheart (48 years this year) at the San Martin de Pores church in the tiny village of Ricon. He met his future wife at the local dance school. They have three lovely children and four grandchildren. The kids live in Aruba and Curacao; nurse, bookkeeper and computer specialist. Later he worked at a local radio station, learned to be an electrician and was an avid photographer, eyeing up my digital camera he boasted about his old Nikon F4 camera.
His ancestors were ship builders from Scandinavia and his father was a Dutch ship Captain.
If ever there was someone who lived a full life, it was this man!
Lucien - Thank you for enriching our day on your island of Bonaire (aka Divers Paradise).
I hope our paths cross one day in Jibe City where Brian Glodowski and I hope to learn kite boarding!
Dad & Daughter
June 23, 2015
Jibe City, Bonaire
Our shared experiences included: lunch in Punt Vierkant, exploring Kralendijk, Thousand Steps Beach, Flamingo Park in Lagun Goto, Rincon, Long Hill Gum Tree in Seru Largu, village of Antriol, Nikiboko, Jibe City (Sorbon Beach) and Mangrove.
