Last week in Bonaire

Amazing how busy one can get on a small island like Bonaire. Kim on Gabrielle organized Fish Idea Seminar learning all about the fish we daily encounter on our wonderful snorkels or dives. We finally saw our first seahorse, fairly big sized and all black but unfortunately within a week it died. One day snorkeling in the shallows along the mooring field I saw a lionfish, they are really beautiful fish but they are not native to this area and since they have no predators they decimate the fish count in Bonaire and the rest of the Caribbean. Divers carry wine corks on a long red or yellow ribbon and tag the area where they see lion fish. Trained lionfish catchers will capture them and use them in research. Unfortunately since it is against the law to use spear guns here in Bonaire many lionfish are getting away and since they can reproduce 3 times per month they are taking over the reefs. Lionfish are eating machine, they eat and eat just until before they pop, throw everything up and start eating again. Next day we watched divers leaving the water and Sid noticed that they had the lionfish bag with them, so we rushed ashore and asked them how badly they wanted to catch a lionfish. 10 minutes later we met them where I had seen the lionfish and showed them were. It was fun watching them how they the fish into the see-through plastic bag with the assistants of two fly swatters. They were really happy as this was their 50^th lionfish. On the way back to the beach I found a dead baby angelfish and the head of a nurse shark, the couple took them both home for their young kids to dissect.

We also watched the sergeant major laying eggs, which are attached to any structure, like the mooring blocks. The male changes his color from yellow and black stripped to the color of the eggs, purple and black striped and he’ll guard the eggs. One nest in particular stood out as the eggs were arranged in a perfect heart shaped form, how unique. Then right next to our boat I noticed a suspicious looking knot on the sand, which I’ve never noticed before. After staring at it for a few second I noticed that it was slightly expanding, as if it was breathing. I pointed it out to Sid and as soon as we swam right over it, it would pulsate. Could it be an octopus? As Sid dove down it slowly spread out and started opening like a sundial, became really huge and the color turned white, then it closed up again turning dark. This happened every time we got close to it. It was really fascinating to see the octopus showing his aggression. Sid left and I watched it for a bit longer. He finally stretched out as long as he could get and swam 6 feet away from his spot and wrapped around a rock and it was like he wasn’t even there, he was so well camoflashed.

Every Friday afternoon the local kids meet at the Sailing Club and sail around the bay in their Sunfish little sailboats. Sid ended up volunteering to stand by with the dinghy to help and also to teach the kids. He had a lot of fun and one kid specially was so grateful he proudly gave Sid a Bonaire cap. How cute.

Sid as every Wednesday meets the boys for breakfast. He learned some Dutch; in Holland they have a “Bob”, which is the designated driver. Bob of course is the abbreviation of “Bewust Onbeschonken Bestuurder” try to remember that one; I think we stick with “Bob”

I meet Lourae for breakfast and we usually go shopping afterwards but Saturday is our chicken run. There is a Venezuelan butcher with the biggest charcoal rotisserie grill I’ve ever seen. I think he can fit about 100 chickens a time plus some ribs into the grill and they are the best we’ve ever had. I usually buy 6 chickens for some of the other cruisers.

Our neighbor Clayton on Argo had a big heart scare and needed to be airlifted to the States. He was a Dan Diver member and they sent in a Learjet to pick him up the following day. In Miami a medical team was waiting for him and brought him to the hospital. He needed a pacemaker and is doing great. He and his wife will still be for a while longer in the States so in the mean time we’ve been taking care of Argo, making sure she gets aired out and batteries are up to snuff.

Lourae and Randy invited the cruisers for another fun potluck at their house. We were 25 people and the taxi we used before doubled the price. Now what, Sid remembered the old, old school bus that now and then drives around town for events and so I hunted it down, didn’t take much effort to find it, after all Bonaire is a very small island. We all met in at the marina parking lot and Sid and I had a 4 gallon jug full of rum punch ready, it was a happy group by the time the bus arrived. What a great way to get up to Villa Blue, besides the bus has the loudest air horn which announced our arrival at Villa Blue. Randy and Lourae laughed so hard when they saw the junk bus. We had a wonderful potluck.

Then of course the motor broke again and Sid was busy for a day or so to fix it, but he did fix it. Never a dull moment.

The last month plus we have had a fun and active cruising community. We met at least once a week at the Paradise Moon bar for Happy Hour, went to the Wanna Dive Hut for their all you can eat BBQ night with free rum punch. On Sundays we “Paradise” organized noodeling parties behind our boat. We stretched a line between our stern to a nearby buoy which was the parking lot for the dinghies. Behind the boat we had two further lines out attached on each a floating mattress we call the bar and the end of the line had a bumper attached. Our little blow up cooler was filled with ice, rum punch and cups and was floating between the two mattresses. Each time we had around 30 people floating on their noodles behind our boat sipping rum punch by Jimmy Buffet. It always was a hoot and enjoyed it.

Then we had a BBQ potluck with games on Klein Bonaire. Now this was really a good party with lots of fun. We plaid Charades, Trivia (the winner of each question had to drink a shot of a concoction Sid made or designate someone else to drink it) and a Dunking the Tampon game now that topped the whole day. I line up 8 guys on the beach, in front of each was a beer bottle 1/3 filled with water, I then attached a line around their waist with a dangling tampon at knee height. At the count of three they all had to try to dip the tampon inside the bottle, let it soak with water pull it up to the bottle neck then with the bottle dangling run to the finish line. It was so funny we were screaming.

Most of that cruising community has left and it is a lot more quite again.

Sid slipped and fell and hurt his foot again, I had a weird heart palpitation and had an EKG done. Sid is still in a lot of pain, my heart is in good health and we’re on our count down to leave the island sometime after our 20^th Anniversary next Wednesday the 8^th.

Thanks to Caroona, Fine Line and Tusen Takk II for the great Fotos.

Anyway, I'll try to update the Blog more often now that we are leaving Bonaire. Sorry for the long wait. Hugs and kisses