Preparations

I have always liked packing for trips, it gets me thinking about where I'm going and what I'll be doing. And I'm pretty notorious for underpacking and overpacking at the wrong times. That always reminds me of the millionaire and his wife and Ginger from Gilligan's Island - if they were only going on a 3 hour cruise, why is it that they brought so much stuff?!

To get ready for this trip, I was faced with the ever-popular proverbial deserted island quandry. While Bonaire is not quite the deserted island in the middle of the ocean, I still had to consider the airline weight allowance. So what do you bring to a small island with limited resources? Despite my considerable experience in packing suitcases, I struggled a little bit. Bringing my SCUBA gear was a given, mask, snorkel, fins, brand-new wetsuit, BCD, boots, etc. After packing and re-packing the rest of my gear my final weigh-in for 2 checked bags for my 3 1/2 month adventure was 70 pounds; I'm feeling good about it. So what 5 books did I bring to this deserted isle? I hate to disappoint, but to save on space I didn't bring any except The Message, which I feel is a decent choice. And I haven't had any moments of panic where I realize that I forgot crucial item X. Yet.