Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard has captured seven medals in her athletic career. Now she's a travelin' woman, and she's telling the DT about her most recent escape to Bonaire.

Training for and competing in the Olympics is always stressful, and when it's over it's usually time to get away for some much needed peace and quiet. After some careful research, my boyfriend and I decided on Bonaire, a small desert island that sits about 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela. We jumped on an overnight flight, landed at a ripe 5 a.m., and checked into the penthouse at the lovely Bel Mar Apartments. 

The room was perfect: A massive open-air ocean view with a balcony hot tub greeted us. By 6:30 a.m. we were unpacked and in the gin-clear water, snorkeling over pristine heads of brain coral, massive lavender tube sponges, and cities of fish. Looking down on a reef in Bonaire is not unlike looking down on the streets of Manhattan. Little yellow fish team up with little black and white fish and zig and zag all around the other oddly shaped and beautifully colored fish. Spiritually, though, the effects of staring down on a bustling city and a bustling reef are a world apart. Aaaah, relaxation!

Next, we threw tanks on our backs and explored some of the world-renowned dive sites. First stop: the Hooker. A 235-foot ship put to rest due to her alleged use as a transporter of illegal substances, the Hilma Hooker sits with her bow in about 100 feet of water. As we descended from the inner reef to her final resting place, the massive ship truly took our breath away. The stresses of normal life were beginning to fade into the 86-degree Caribbean abyss.

After drying off, we jumped into our Quad Cab 2x2 pickup and headed for the rugged northeast side of the island, where we explored bat caves marked with ancient native inscriptions, followed a family of wild burros from the safety of our vehicle (they bite!), and laughed hysterically at a herd of goats that had taken over a roadside junkyard. Dusty, dirty and tired, we headed back to town as evening fell and tried out a South American-style restaurant called Casablanca. After enjoying ourselves (perhaps a little too much), we got a solid 14 hours of z's. Sleeping in has never been so easy. 

Awake and well-rested the next morning, we contemplated the list of things to do while on Bonaire: wind surfing lessons, visiting the flamingo sanctuary, kayaking the mangroves, mountain biking the trails in the national park, riding quads on the unpaved mountain roads, more diving . . . Even just absorbing the hot sun and warm ocean breeze would be enough to fill our entire trip. We are excited by the thought of the adventures to come.