A MONTH IN BONAIRE

We are moored (no anchoring allowed here!) in front of Kralendik – a charming little town even when the cruise ships are here. It has not succumbed to the electronics/liquor/jewelry store outrageousness of other cruise ship ports, and has retained its local, hometown feeling. There are a few souvenir shops, lots of restaurants, good grocery stores, and many dive shops.

We have been hanging out with Barbara and Chuck Shipley of the motor vessel Tusen Takk II, a beautiful Kadey Krogen 48’ Trawler. Their trawler has far more space than Celilo, so we are over there fairly often to play cards and a game called Quiddler. It is fun to find another couple that likes to play card games – we have not found many in our life together. And they love to dive. We go almost every day. They have many more years of diving experience than we do and are great guides. They are also certified Reef fish identification experts, so we are learning many more species – especially the tiny, hard to see and identify fish. It is so fun to just pick up tanks, get ready, and go diving wherever we please with a choice of over 100 sites.

The diving here is fabulous, and each site is very different in the underwater structures and corals. At some the fish are slightly different. Some are gorgeous coral gardens, and some are bare, rocky-looking walls, but with lots hidey-holes and tons of fish. We were thrilled to find two seahorses at one site! Our first sighting in the wild. It was magical. Now to find that elusive frogfish!

Although in good shape, Roberta has been getting very tired after an hour underwater, probably due to nitrogen absorption. Diving with Nitrox is supposed to help that, so next week we will take the class to get certified for Nitrox diving. We rent tanks at Dive Friends Bonaire’s Yellow Submarine shop (they have five shops in the area) and are enjoying getting to know their friendly international staff – Dutch, Austrian, German, Czech, American, etc…

So we are settled into more or less of a routine. It is nice being in one place for a long time and not spending so much time moving and dealing with the boat on that level. We are into more of a maintenance mode. Mornings are for reading and/or chores (laundry, 30-min PIYO workout, running generator if needed, polishing stainless, “making” water if needed, repairs, etc.) and afternoons are for diving. Some days we switch it up.

Roberta is binge-reading the Inspector Gamache murder mystery series by Louise Penny that new friends on “Dorothy Ellen” - a Tayana 52 center cockpit (a South African couple from Canada) gave us. One or two evenings each week we play cards with Chuck and Barbara, one or two others we meet friends for dinner in town (TTII and Dorothy Ellen) and we organized a Wed night hamburger scheme at the marina bar for 14 of us). A favorite evening group activity is going for gelato. YUM! We are usually in bed by 9pm and get up at 7am to listen to weather and then at 8am chime in to the “Coconut Net” – an SSB network for cruisers to stay in touch. It is a VERY quiet and relaxing life here in the turquoise water, with pearly puffy clouds in the azure sky, bright Caribbean-colored buildings on shore amongst waving palm trees, in our (mostly gently) rocking boat. Some days we can hardly believe it. The constant trade winds keep us somewhat cool in the 86-degree heat and power our electricity when the breeze gets above 15k.

One day Chuck and Barbara rented a car and showed us the island. We drove south past the salt ponds and mountains of salt, past former slave huts and flamingo ponds to the tip of the island, and then north along the east coast, past Lac Bay, where we watched windsurfers and had a delicious lunch nearby. Then back across the island and up past favorite shore dive sites to the Slagbaai National Park – where we enjoyed the Museum and will return to hike the “mountain” trails. Down to Rincon, a very old town, and the new Cadushy Distillery for a tasting. A fun day.

We shared Christmas dinner on Celilo, attended a Boxing Day Antillean Classical Music event at the local church, and spent a lovely New Year’s Eve on “Dorothy Ellen” with Pam and Don, Chuck and Barbara. The fireworks were amazing – huge, loud, long and all over the place all up and down the coast – about 20 different sites. The Bonaireans do love their fireworks – for about a week before Christmas and a week after New Year’s Eve the firecrackers are still exploding!

Life is Good in Bonaire!