Time just goes by way too fast when you’re having fun. Sorry folks for letting you wait so long for our new entry:

After two weeks we finally managed to get some rain out of the tropical waves. The waves at this time come by every 3 to 5 days and one even managed to build itself into a Low and then turned into the first Tropical Storm “Alex” and eventually our first hurricane. What surprises us is that the waves already have changed direction northward and pass just a bit north of us, which is good for us but not so much for the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast.

In the mean time many more tropical waves brought us some rain and we are able to fill up our tank with fresh rain water.

One afternoon we noticed this upwelling in the bay we guessed due to current or tidal change, but it was a phenomenon we’ve never seen here. It looked really weird as the upwelling inched its way slowly towards the boats, lasting about one hour. Then we noticed these reddish patches floating by, really weird. Then the water around us went red as more of those patches floated by. We realized that these were patches of Krill. Although krill are miniature shrimp, these looked more like crabs, therefore of course everybody had a different opinion. The latest news was that they were land crabs. In any case they were a nuisance and made swimming around the boat impossible as they crawled all over you and pinched the skin with their tiny but very sharp pinchers. We also were reluctant to run the water maker or fridge in fear the krill could clog the strainers. It lasted about one week before the critters were completely gone but not before washing onshore leaving a horrible stink that wouldn’t go a way for days. We had fun watching the divers especially two families, 4 kids and 4 adults all divers and were guessing how long before the first scream and who would scream first. Didn’t take long for the first kid to scream then she started crying while the adults helped her getting back to the beach. One mother and daughter floated out to our boat and started talking to us about the krill. We told them to hang onto the line of the flopper stopper which they gladly did. One minute into the conversation the girl stared squirming: “Ohmygosh they are crawling into my suite”, her mother trying to calm her that it was no problem and us telling her they don’t bite (didn’t know yet they did). The mother now started squirming: “Ohmygosh they are crawling into my suite”. They didn’t stick around for long and didn’t take much time either to swim the 80 feet back to shore. We knew swimming was out for a while.

Before and after the krill invasion we’ve been enjoying some more diving and found many incredible spots. Each one had something new to offer. At the Small Wall we found a cave on the foot of the wall, fairly good size and on the bottom nestled into the sand was a giant stingray (would have barely fit in our cockpit) resting but keeping one eye on us to see if we were a threat. Same dive we saw a slipper lobster or Spanish lobster resting in a giant sponge. That night we did a night dive under our boat. Wow, really kewl. The parrot fish were all nestled in coral beds and sleeping. One big slipper lobster was wandering around for food. Another type fish we’ve never seen swam around looking for food and many little beautifully colored crabs and shrimp roamed around also scavenging for food. One little crab looked like an orange piece of sponge I would have never know it was a crab hadn’t it moved. The eyes of the shrimp all sparkled like little diamonds in the light of our underwater lights.

The best dive spot is over at Klein Bonaire called Forrest. As soon as you look into the water from the dinghy the view takes your breath away when you see the yellowish coral heads scattered on white sandy patches surrounded by different type plants and colorful fish playing around and where two big angel fish come towards you right into your mask. You can almost hear them say: “Oh hi, oh, oh, let me look at you oh let me look, oh, oh, so nice to see you, oh, oh this is so exiting”, while they poke around your mast. If you’re slow and gentle enough they even let you pet them. The bottom under the dinghy is in about 15 feet of water and gradually sinks to about 20 feet from there a steep hill plummets down to 120 plus feet and when you follow the wall you dive over one valley after another with corals and plants we haven’t seen yet. This is truly the best dive we had and we of course came back a couple of days later brining some food for the cute angel fish which they gently took our of our hands, attracting all kind of other fish surrounded us.

Our neighbors Maggie and Stan on Inner Wisdom drive around the island every other day to feed the donkeys and took us along the ride. Bonaire’s wildlife consists of mainly iguanas, donkeys and goats. We managed to see a family of wild pigs. The bird life is a bit more exciting. Bonaire doesn’t get much rain especially the last year has been very dry which causes a problem for the donkeys to find food. So Stan and Maggie feed them on a regular basis and even bring water for them. It was really fun feeding the mama’s with babies.

They have been in Bonaire for over 6 months and introduced us to their friends Anna and Henk who live ashore and provide free wifi for us cruisers. We were invited for dinner at Henk and Anna’s but before dinner we went to Inner Wisdom as I had a dental appointment with Stan. I had a chipped tooth and we had talked about what the options were about fixing it. He offered to fix it if we had a dremel. So I sat in the dentist chair on his boat, which was me lying on the couch with my head in his lap and he used Sid’s dremel to fix my tooth. It was pretty funny. Sid was holding a flash light while Maggie was filming the procedure. And the gargle water next to the dentist lounge was a glass of wine. Stan even sanded my long K9 tooth down. This was so much fun which was followed with more fun and a wonderful dinner at Henk and Anna’s. We had left the dinghy at the Village Marina at Paradise Moon dock and when we returned late at night, “happy”, driving the dingy home we made it just to a couple of feet off Paradise when the engine stalled. We were lucky we had enough speed left to coast along side the boat. Sid investigated what could be wrong with the outboard when he realized that someone had stolen our gas tank out of the dinghy. We were lucky to have made it back to our boat. A bummer that when you finally get to a place you think is safe, you find out there is no such thing. Unfortunately the gas tanks are hard to come by and are very expensive and we had it just filled up with 30 dollars of gasoline, but luckily we still have the dinghy and engine so now the new gas tank is chained onto the dinghy and motor as well.

A couple of days later Inner Wisdom left for the Aves and we took over their mooring which is the best in Bonaire the first one right next to the marina so we have no boat on one side which gives us an incredible view of the northern part of Bonaire with its beautiful sunsets. Not just that but the mooring came with a car. Stan had leased a car for 6 months and he still had 8 days left on the lease so he wrote it over to us and we have a car to get around. We took up their duty of driving around and feeding the donkeys.

Irene and Roland the Dutch/Swiss couple we met swimming buy our boat invited us for a Swiss meal at their house. Days later when Holland was playing Cameroon we went to the Wanna Dive Hut to watch the soccer game and ran into them as their resort is right across the street from the Dive Bar. They were just trimming the palm leaves of their palms. As we chatted I mentioned the donkeys and since she was going to bring the leaves to the donkey sanctuary she invited me to go along. Roland was so happy that he could join Sid watching the soccer game instead of having to help her. We drove to the sanctuary which is right next to the airport. She introduced me first to the ladies running the place then she followed the instruction they gave her on where the donkeys were and to back up into the side road, then feed them. Done so, it took no time at all to be surrounded by 300 donkeys all wanting dessert. Irene of course, having done this so many time, knew the drill, got out of the car and started unloading the palm leaves. I got out of the car and stood there for just a second too long and I was boxed in by all the donkeys. At first a bit intimidated I realized that they were as docile as puppies. But it was too late for me to help Irene I could not even open the car door they were all around us. Eventually I managed to open the door reach for the camera and take some photos. The leaves were gone in no time. We managed to get into the car and slowly drove away from the donkeys which started to follow. Back by the entrance of the park we were let into a pen where they kept the babies, one was just one month old, how cute. This was really a fun visit.

Of course we try to get together with Randy and Lourae regularly and she invited the whole fleet for a second potluck at their house, which is always a lot of fun. We also had Henk and Anna aboard Paradise for dinner as a thank you for letting us use the wifi and just because they are super nice people, after all our boat is right in front of their beach.

One morning we woke up this weird looking mega yacht was floating in the bay, later we found out that it is a “Giga Yacht” and belongs to a Russian multi billionaire 36 years of age and his wife who is a super model. That thing was huge and at first you don’t know whether you like it or hate it. Once it was voted the ugliest yacht in the world. By the way “A” is the 11^th biggest privately owned yacht in the world. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303695604575181911796253780.html

A couple days later Moon Dancer our diving buddies came back. Sure was a happy reunion. Boats still come and go and most only hang around for 2 weeks max and nobody seems to be interested in getting to know one and another, when 4^th of July rolled in nothing happened, nobody wanted to celebrate. Sid and I heard that Captain Don’s had a 4^th of July celebration with fireworks so at 9 pm we snuck over there by dinghy tide up to one of the moorings in front of their dock and waited about 5 minutes before it started. It was amazing we were positioned right under the fireworks. Happy 4^th of July!

Our visa ran out on the 13^th of July so we decided it was time to tackle the immigration guy to get an extension. This dude was pretty unfriendly and even though we told him that Sid had extended dental work ahead of him, he said that this was no reason to stay. Kind of reminded me of Trinidad when they told Sid that my broken ankle is not a reason to stay. After he let us sit in the hallway for what it seem an eternity he finally came back and told us flat our no, and after Sid’s protest didn’t do any good I pulled Sid’s pension deposit slip out, handed it to the “Chief” as he was introduced to us and told him that we are not going to be a burden on the island. He looked at the slip, thought for a few seconds, excused himself and left us alone for another who knows how many minutes, then came back asked for the passports to take a copy after that wanted to know if we had a phone, which we don’t so he offered to send us an email to let us know. Before he stomped out again Sid asked him if we could have our paper work back. “Paperwork???” The secretary had neglected to give him our paperwork including the letter from the dentist. When he saw the dentist note he changed completely around, was super friendly and apologized that it had taken so long and promised to send us an email within a couple of days. Since it fell on a weekend we gave him until Thursday. No email had arrived so we went back. A new officer was now dealing with us and same thing as unfriendly as she could be until the chief came in, recognized us, apologized that he hadn’t sent an email yet but that he was glad we came back and gave us a 2 months extension. Yeah, what a guy!!! So folks we’re here for a while longer enjoying the crystal clear water and the fabulous diving and of course are watching the soccer world cup game when Holland got beat by Spain, what a good game.

I have to mention that several diving instructors have told us that there are no sharks here. Wrong, I saw one swimming away from our boat!