Caribbean Note #37

Hey Everybody,

We hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!!  We're looking forward to returning next weekend (on the fourth) and will schedule a family dinner to celebrate Garrett, Matthew and Jacob's birthdays early in December.  And, of course, will have Christmas dinner soon as well.  We have missed you all and are anxious to catch up on life back in our wet and cold homeland.

We spent Thanksgiving night diving with the Tarpons and Black Friday wind surfing on Lac Cai.  After an hour long lesson (and some nice shin bruises from falling off and climbing back onto the board) Berit was looking pretty good out there.  We've just put Ron and Ashley on the airplane after a two weeks visit and the three of them sailed around the bay with increasing alacrity while I acted as team photographer and beach support. 

When Geoffrey and Amber were here we spent a day on a snorkel/sail charter called The Aquaspace to view the reef through the submarine windows of the boat.  While Ron and Ashley were here we did a similar snorkel/sail charter on The Woodwind and found the trip to be very cool and the crew attentive and nice and the snorkel spots full of brightly colored tropical fish and turtles.  Sailing along on the warm sunny seas and free diving toward the coral covered reef proved a nice counterpoint to returning home to hike in the rain forests of the Gorge and Oregon Coast. 

We've also done a bunch of scuba diving (of course) and with three rebreathers and Berit diving an Al100 we've been regularly doing two hour profiles at our favorite dive sites.  Ron and I have been collecting Lionfish in the 200' depths (where they are largest) and have had so many Lionfish dinners I'm happy to be taking a break for a while.  We're currently at (441) and counting. 

It's been raining lately and with the cooler weather we've had some relief from the heat, but are watching the reports of snow and freezing temperatures with more than a little dread.  We hope to go down to the square for Tuba Christmas but wonder if we'll be able to stand the shock.

Thanks to Geoffrey and his success in collecting all our necessary documents (and an Apostille for each one from the various states of issue) we have completed the process of obtaining our Sedulas and are now official residents of Bonaire!  This means we are no longer subject to the immigration rules for tourists and as an added benefit we are included under Holland's Universal Health care System.  So now we can come and go as we please and can stay for as long as we want.  Our next trip to Bonaire will be from March through May in order to be home for summer weddings and family events in Oregon.

We're still Survivor junkies and have been stymied the past two weeks by having no TV reception (thanks to TDS Curacao) but it seems all is now well and we'll be able to rejoin Ozzy and Coach this week on the island.  We are rooting for Ozzy and hate Coach as much as ever!!

The other big news on Bonaire is there's a brand new supermarket that opened yesterday with all the items we're used to seeing at Albertsons or Safeway back home.  Grocery shopping here has always been a scavenger hunt with bare shelves and few choices.  We typically go to four or five smaller stores and find enough here and there to complete our shopping, but now this big modern store has everything and all at good prices.  I don't think the island will ever be the same!  It will be interesting to see what the other stores do to compete.  I suppose it's a lot like the big box stores driving out the small hardware operations or the Wal-Mart coming into a community and driving out the Mom & Pop retailers.  This will make a huge difference in the way our little island buys its groceries.

Island life is still full of other challenges but is equally rewarding and for the most part a wonderful get away where we can slow down and enjoy life.  Please make plans to visit us here, we would love to have you come and stay with us!!

We've purchased a second birdbath to accommodate the increasing bird population and added additional plants to our garden to replace those stripped clean of leaves by the iguanas.  The garden is still our favorite spot on the island.

We've met and made friends with more and more people each time we visit and by now it's hard to go anywhere without seeing people we know.  It’s a whole lot like living in a small town where people embrace and feel connected to you in the shared experience.  It's easy to make friends, almost by default.

Well, enough for now.  Hope you all are well and happy!!

See you soon,

Dad

PS  Thanks go to Ashley for pictures included in this post.

Caribbean Note #36

Hi Everybody,

Wow!  Can’t believe it’s already November!  We’ve been here two months and it seems like two weeks.  Soon it will be December and while we’re looking forward to seeing you all we will miss the sun and clear blue water here in Bonaire.

It’s cruise ship season once again and the Pod People are running around everywhere.  We really hope our island doesn’t become a huge destination island like our neighbors Aruba and Curacao.

Along with October comes the start of the rainy season and our first tropical storm created enough surge to wipe out the more vulnerable west coast docks and the surge caused the sailboat Utopia to break free of its mooring and she was destroyed on the reef.  Note to Matt:  When your sailboat is moored here in the harbor, make sure to use anchor chain instead of nylon line!!

Berit and I have been doing a regular 20 mile bike ride along the coast road and after the last set of thorns were removed from my (new) tires I had my first flat.  So, I took my tires to the bike shop to have Kevlar liners installed in the tires and made friends with the owner, Frank.  It turns out Frank was sponsoring the Bonaire mountain bike race, Duo Xtreme Bonaire (79K) the following weekend.  Racers come from all over the world to compete for cash and medals, and I volunteered Berit and myself to help.  It was pretty amazing.

We had two jobs at directing the race.  First, we stood in an intersection in town and stopped traffic while the 150+/- riders raced through, then we hiked out into the middle of the thorny countryside and waited in the hot sun while the racers wound their way through the rocky trails.  Our job was to direct them onto the right trail where there were intersections.

Needless to say, the conditions were very harsh and the racers had special tires and bikes to handle the terrain.  I don’t think our bikes would take it even if we were in good enough shape to ride the trails, let alone race on the trails.  In the end there were plenty of cuts and bruises and the leaders were hours ahead of the pack.

I managed to get my share of cuts and bruises too.  I climbed up onto a cactus covered outcrop of rock in order to see the racers coming and while I was on tip toe, the rocks gave way and I tumbled down the pile through the vicious spines.  As a 60 year old man I find I don’t roll down rock piles as well as I once did; still sore, but no lasting damage.

We spent last week diving and hiking with our house guests, Tim and Kat, and broke 300 in the Lionfish wars.  Berit and Kat spent an enjoyable day birding with our friend and resident island naturalist, Jerry Ligon.  It’s fun to experience all Bonaire has to offer and show people around the island; we’re becoming quite the tour guides.

No news yet on progress with our application for island residency.  Thanks Geoff, for helping us acquire all the documentation we need to jump through all the crazy hoops the Dutch require.  We hope none of you ever have to know the definition of the word “apostille”.

When we start to get a hankering for dinner at the Verbort Sausage Festival, we know it’s time for Matt’s birthday, so “Happy Birthday” to Mr. Matt!!  We’ll have a Matt and Garrett birthday celebration when we come home!  (No wonder the old man can’t take a tumble like he used to, he’s got a grandson getting ready to go to college!!)

For those who have visited, you’ll be pleased to know we’ve repaired all the window slides and as of now, they no longer need to be held up by sticks.  The story of how difficult it has been to accomplish a simple task like this would double the length of this post.  And, I can’t overstate how pleased Berit is about this repair!!  (No more falling windows and crushed fingers!)

Hope all is well and you’re following your dreams.

See you soon,

Dad and Mom

PS  We're considering training Rexx as a lionfish hunter.  We're still working with his gear configuration.  (Thanks Tina and Bonnie for the pic.)