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Take a dive in nice, warm water

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No matter how impressive your resume, here’s one addition that would really set it apart: certified shark feeder. Just think, that’s only one of many watery skills you could work on if you sign up soon for a winter or spring diving vacation.

At Adventure Diving Inc. in West Des Moines, where Randy Molnari is the owner and sole employee, the schedule includes March and April trips to the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles just north of Venezuela.

For around $2,000, you can fly to Bonaire and spend nine days and eight nights scuba diving to your heart’s content in water that will be at least 80 degrees on the surface. Of course, that assumes that you know what you’re doing. If you’re not an experienced diver, better start with lessons from someone like Molnari, who says he teaches diving skills to as many as 300 people per year.

“Students range from children with their parents up to people in their 70s with both knees and hips replaced,” said Molnari, the kind of guy who thinks just about anything is possible.

And if you really get into it, that’s when you can start working toward special qualifications such as adventure diving, boat diving, deep diving, underwater navigation, underwater photography and wreck diving. As for Molnari, he seems to have most of the qualifications you or the U.S. Navy could imagine.

Or you can go to Bonaire and not dive at all. Molnari, whose next visit to the island will be his 13th, said non-divers can go snorkeling or try ocean kayaking or parasailing. Or they can stay out of the water completely and go horseback riding or birdwatching or explore the island’s caves.

“Or you can lay out by the pool and have margaritas,” Molnari said. “I’ve had couples on the trip where the wife is the diver and the husband sits by the pool, drinks a margarita and reads a book.”

Bonaire is host to migrating hummingbirds, sailboarding championships and a nudist camp – which has a European and South American clientele and a fence that the owners keep building higher.

And if you get a chance to chat with Molnari while you’re vacationing, mention any of these words to hear about his adrenaline-charged history: airplane (he claims he became a pilot at 14), motorcycle (check the “road rash”), skydiving or even automobile repair. The guy definitely has not spent all of his time filling scuba tanks.