February 24-March 11, 2011 -- Bonaire

Click on the thumbnail for a map during this time period

Diving Paradise

Another post from “boring” Bonaire, where there is nothing to do but dive, dive, and dive.   Um, and for friends Stan (Inner Wisdom) and Bill (Orion), kite boarding and/or wind surfing.   Barb and I continue to gain experience with our new underwater photography apparati.  She took an underwater photo class from Tim at "Fish Eye Photo" and felt it was well worthwhile.   Here are a few of our latest efforts: 

Blue Chromis (C)

Redlipped Blenny (C)

Sailfin Blenny (C)

Secretary Blenny (C)

Juvenile Longfin Damsel (C)

Trumpetfish (C)

Yellowhead Jawfish (C)

Yellownose Goby (C)

Blackbar Soldierfish (B)

Chuck (B)

French Angel (B)

French Grunt (B)

Goldentail Moray (B)

Baby Jackknife (B)

Mahogany Snapper (B)

Queen Angel & Spanish Hogfish (B)

Bonaire Shopping

This is truly a desert island with a small population, and the shopping often reflects that fact.   We called up one day to make reservations for dinner at a local pizzeria and were told that they would not be open that night, because “there is no cheese on the island.”    And we have been trying for weeks to find a grocery that has yeast in stock; at our last attempt (the fifth) we were assured that they would have some soon, “in about two weeks”.

 Carnival

We just had Carnival time here on the island.   One week was kiddy time, with a parade on Sunday and then another later in the week.   The former was at least two hours later than the publicized time; we don’t know about the latter since we were working out at the time and watched from the balcony of the second-story gym.  Then came the adult celebrations with a daytime parade followed in a few days by a nighttime reprise, called a Fat Tuesday parade, but also, with some confusion, called “J’ouvert”.   Not sure why the last appellation was used, the Fat Tuesday parade was nothing like Trinidad’s “dirty mas” J’ouvert.   (Click here to refresh your memory of our Trinidad carnival experience.)

Kiddy Parade
Adult Parade

 Fish ID 

Kim (Gabrielle) is giving her series of presentations on fish identification again.   We are attending, even though we are already certified up to level three as qualified surveyors for the REEF fish-density program.   Good thing, too, that she is repeating the series; the severe cold we experienced during our winter visit to North Dakota seems to have destroyed much of our knowledge of fish identification.   Everything looks familiar, but what the heck are the names again?   Mad Cow disease is a horrible affliction.

Bridge

Speaking of loss of memory, we have been playing a bit of bridge with Don and Pam (Dorothy Ellen).   They have been playing for their entire adult lives, but provide a comfortable way for Barb and I to get back into the swing of things, since they are so patient and non-competitive, offering quiet and gentle post-hand analyses. 

Computer Blues 

The cooling fan in Barb’s computer has failed again, so posting this blog edition could be an “interesting” race against time.   Can we complete the post before the computer stops because of overheating?  Since this is now a “known” recurrent problem, Sony was willing to do the fan replacement for free, but only if we sent the computer back to them from a USA address in their pre-provided mailing carton.  

 “Um, that won’t work, we are too seldom ‘home’ for that to be timely, and can’t you just send us the fan and let us do the installation?”

 “No.” 

So we have ordered a fan – not free -- and will have it shipped to our Green Cove Springs address.   Then we will have to decide whether to pay the expensive FedEx fee to have it shipped to Bonaire, or will there be someone coming to visit us soon who can bring it along.   Who wants to come see us in Bonaire – soon?

Birthday Boys (and Girls)

Bill (Orion) had a birthday a few days ago, so Tusen Takk II and Inner Wisdom joined in a feast aboard Orion to celebrate.   We had ribs from a local rib restaurant, and Mary also provided salads and potato salad and cake.   We had such a good time we have decided that every Sunday will be a birthday celebration aboard Orion.  If I understand the “rules” correctly, we will each come with the identity of a person born on that day, and the rest of the group will have to try to guess the name.   And to save Mary all of that hard work, the entire meal will be brought in from take out.

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