Caribbean Note #41

Hey Everyone,

Hope all is well with you on this balmy Halloween morning.

We have been watching the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy and feel bad for the people in New Jersey and on Long Island.  It's like watching our own vacation island get wiped out, but if that were to happen at least we could return to Oregon.  We're sad to see there are a whole bunch of people in a whole lot of trouble there. I'll take our volcano over their hurricane any day of the week.

Happy Birthday(s) go to Garrett and (soon) Mr. Matt with Jacob on deck before we arrive home at Christmas.  We'll have to have Birthday cake along with our ham for Christmas dinner!

Soon the election will be over and we'll have to wait (that's right, never enough) for the next cycle to begin.  And then we'll have both parties battling it out in the primaries.  I wonder if Hillary will run?  I'm already looking forward to 2016!

Life on the island is as easy and laid back as ever. Our business with the government office, like taxes and residency renewal, has moved along at a glacial pace and when we checked last week (again) on Berit's new bike (ordered for her birthday last March) we were told it was still not here but would arrive soon from Holland. We hope to have it by her next birthday.


The new neighborhood "watchdog" -- Tequila!
She lives next door and is a sweetie.

Our garden continues to be a great joy and we have so many named iguanas coming for their daily ration of papaya that we're starting to feel overrun.  Rexx doesn't even chase them anymore.  The lizards stand their ground and Rexx trots by with hardly a glance while on his way to see if they left any scraps of food for him.

  

A pot full of zucchini.  Hope to have some by Thanksgiving!

We volunteered again this year for the big (82 kilometer) mountain bike race and feel like we're getting to know more and more of the regular folks (instead of mostly divers) and still enjoy the island very much.  Regatta week has also come and gone with the influx of "cruisers" and sailboats of all description.

DuoExtreme 2012 Mountain Bike Race
Photo by Henk Piek

There is a group of divers here from Oregon (including Bobby) for two weeks, staying at one of the dive resorts and we've taken them to a couple of our favorite spots to dive.  They are (as we once were) trying to squeeze four and five dives a day into their vacation, so we mostly stay with our own more casual routine. We are taking advantage of the favorable winds to dive the East Coast sites and collecting more and more information about the wrecks and little known sites on the island.

We had an opportunity to join a group diving from an inflatable rubber boat off the very rough East Coast Site where an old lighthouse still stands. There is an inlet about two kilometers north by the same name, but Spelonk Lighthouse is where it is because the coastline there is probably the roughest on Bonaire. Anyway, Berit and I did two dives from the RIB on the wrecks there and along the beautiful reef and were certain to have been two of the very few to have ever dived the site. One of the other divers took video of Berit spearing lionfish and posted it on YouTube, so now she is an internet star!!  Three hunters - two dives - 100 less lionfish on the reef!  

We're still regularly spearfishing and have passed the 1000 mark with lionfish now commonly in the 40 cm (16") range.  More and more restaurants are serving lionfish and the tourists are asking for them, so a bit of a competition has started among the hunters to provide fish to the restaurants.

Berit has had a difficult time getting the supplements she needs through the mail, so it was fortunate she could have Bobby bring a package for her when he came last week.  He also brought (as visitors are asked to do) some items for me, a mask and a hard to find book I'd ordered, and even a frying pan for Robert.

Speaking of health issues, it's been more than ninety days since my heart surgery and I've been off all medication now for more than thirty days with zero incidents of A-Fib, so it's time to pronounce me cured of my heart condition.  Too bad this treatment protocol wasn't available to help Aunt Zada, and at sixty thousand dollars it was fortunate I was (mostly) covered by health insurance, but at least, going forward, the country will have access to health care in spite of the efforts of "He who shall not be named".

As always, you can Skype us (mpement) here if you email first and designate a time for us to meet you online. We love and miss you all and would be glad to hear from you anytime (thanks Sidney and Jesse!!) to catch up on the news.

Talk to you soon.

Love,
Dad