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Diane's DiarySeptember 26 Monday We had lots of rain and no wind last night so it was very hot out. Larry was up working on the PC since we were hot and we had to keep opening and closing the windows with the on and off rain. I couldn't close the hatches as my finger was all swollen so Larry had to do it. We left for Immigration at 10am. They told us we could NOT clear into Bonaire as we had spent too much time without clearing in anywhere!! They gave us 24 hours to leave the island. We were both very upset and feared this may happen. We didn't know what to do; we went to the nearby tourist office to call the marina manager. Unfortunately, he was off the island now. We asked the tourist office what we should do. They mentioned going to the Governor's Office. Geri on Freestyle had said the same thing. The man at the tourist office gave us a name to speak to and we went there. We spoke to a lady who worked for the Governor and told her we had been to Bonaire twice before doing the exact same trip and never had a problem before. She took our papers and retuned about 10 minutes later telling us all would be OK and to return to the Immigration office at 3pm. We still weren't sure if we were really "in" so both of us were in a bad mood. To top it all off, there is no wind at all so it's really ungodly out. We went back to Immigration at 3pm and of course they said they knew nothing about us staying. Fortunately, I had all the names of the people we spoke too. They then said they didn't know how long we could stay so we had to come back. We walked over to the Yamaha dealer and got the new prop for our outboard engine. Then back to the immigration office where the papers still weren't ready. We went off again and went shopping but we really weren't in the mood for it. Finally, at 4:30pm we got our papers back and they said we could stay a month and after that we needed an extension. We were hot, tired and disgusted with Bonaire at this point. If we hadn't come here to go diving, I don't think we would have even bothered. Most cruisers just left the island when they were told to leave but we wanted to stay so pushed things. It's a shame the island is acting this way but we have been told there is a new change in politics here- the new Governor is a local and not Dutch as the others had been. It's quite apparent that many cruisers aren't coming to Bonaire any longer what with the hassles of Immigration, increase of the mooring fee to $10.50 per day, increase of dive tag to $25, and no good dinghy dock. (Club Nautico wants $10 per week to use their dock and at Karel's the lower part of the dock is gone so the dinghy's now go under the dock.) The question is: does Bonaire really want the cruisers any more? I think it would make a great article for the Compass. It certainly is not leaving a good impression with me! Talk about hospitality! Anyway, the wind picked up slightly but it's still ungodly hot out without it. September 27 Tuesday Larry put the new prop on and the dinghy seems to be working fine - thank God. Glad it was just this and nothing more serious. I did a whole bunch of hand laundry since we had a lot of water from our passage here. We went to the marina to pay our bill and to the Internet store, but the store was closed today. We also went to Wanna Dive, our usual dive shop, to sign up for air. Unfortunately, Karen the dive instructor we liked a lot has left the shop. We always liked her and were sad to hear is she is no longer there. They have all new kids working but fortunately when we went in, one of the owners, Bob, was there and he remembered us. We got back before lunch but both were tired so didn't want to start diving today. I made the last of the oatmeal cookies with the dough I still had in the refrigerator. In the afternoon, Larry worked on the KISS wind generator. Larry finally heard back from the owner and he told us a few things Larry should try doing. Unfortunately, while he was doing this, he broke a fuse to the wind generator and also broke the fuse holder for the solar panels. I happened to notice the following morning that we weren't getting any amps in from the solar panels and when I told Larry this, he found the problem. Anyway, we hope to start diving tomorrow. September 28 Wednesday We had on and off again rain starting around 4am last night so we were both up and down closing the hatches which doesn't lend for a good night's sleep. We thought rainy season didn't start until November and were quite dismayed to see it's started early this year. Bonaire gets a lot of mosquitoes in rainy season. Anyway, the wind is SE around 12 knots so the boat is really rocking and rolling and we have lots of clouds. The weather sounds a lot like last year! We put the awning up so the boat will stay cooler. After lunch, we did a dive just off the boat. I was a little nervous as we hadn't dove in almost 8 months but I was surprised to see how well I did. I guess we have a lot more experience now so are getting much better at diving. We had done about 70 dives before this trip. We don't think the moorings on the south side are as good as the north side though. We did see a gray angelfish and I had only seen one of this before this. We met S/V Freestyle for a pizza dinner at Pasa Bon Pizza. The pizza was good but we both thought the pizza in Merida was better - and a whole lot cheaper also! We had a large pie with 2 toppings and 2 beers for Larry and the bill was $26! Wow! I drank water too! Now you know why we don't eat pout here that often. We went to the turtle slide show at 7pm at the Carib Inn. We had always wanted to go to this last year but never did. Freestyle had a car so it was great to go there quickly as it's usually a long walk. The show was very good but there was only 6 of us there - all cruisers too. We got back to the boat around 8:30pm. Freestyle had invited us for drinks but we had to go back and run the engine, as we aren't getting enough sun or wind. There is almost zero wind so it's very hot out- hope we get some wind soon! September 29 Thursday There is absolutely no breeze so I was up during the night, as I can't sleep in all this heat. My nightgown and hair were drenched with sweat. The boat is rocking some. We went diving at 10:30. We wanted to go to Something Special- its close by and usually has tons of fish. Plus, we want to take it easy for a few dives to get our feet wet again. Anyway, just as we were going to the site when a dive boat approached the site so we didn't want to ask to go on the site also. So, we just went north to "The Cliff" as it was also close to us. This dive site is OK but is not one of my favorites. We got back at 1:45 and had a quick lunch as I left at 3pm to go food shopping with Freestyle and Sharon from Makai as Freestyle has a car. We went shopping to 3 different stores. It was great to get American sour cream again! They have a lot of other American products we can't get in Venezuela also. We got back at 5:15 and I threw everything into the refrigerator so we could leave for the Wanna Dive party at 5:30. The party was very good with free rum punch and appetizers - this time they had chicken satay in a wonderful peanut sauce that was fantastic. They have this party every Thursday night from now until December so you can bet we'll be there every Thursday night. What cruiser can pass up a free party? We had so many appetizers we just made them dinner so I didn't have to cook when we got back- yea! We got back to the boat around 7:30 and of course we had to run the engine again. Seems like we had to do this every day last year also! I had to throw out 8 eggs from Venezuela. I guess I really can't complain as they lasted a long time. September 30 Friday I was tired from all that activity we had yesterday. We read in the morning and moved up to a northern mooring except now we are right in front of a noisy construction site. Oh, well, they leave at 4pm and we are usually out diving during the day. I finished my 17th book- The Arraignment by Steve Martini and liked it a lot. At 2pm, we left to go diving to Something Special. I always like this site as we see lots of fish and it close by. Larry had to replace my tank o-ring as it was leaking. We have lots of clouds again and not much wind so looks like we'll be running the engine again today. I made some hamburgers for dinner along with a string bean vinaigrette dish that was excellent. Around 7pm, we started getting noise from a band on shore near the boat. It wasn't too bad as they ended at 10pm but than at 11pm, the weekly disco started from Karel's Bar so I had a very hard time sleeping. It lasted until the wee hours of the night. I couldn't sleep so I just did some emails. We have very little wind so it's very hot. I started book #19 The List by Steve Martini- I like this author a lot and we have 3 books of his on board. October 1 Saturday Larry got the wireless Internet working finally. We thought it was our location in the southern end of the mooring field that was preventing us from getting a good signal but the problem was the antenna wasn't up high enough. While Larry was working on that and going back and forth to the Internet office, I had made bacon and eggs for breakfast. I also made corn and oatmeal muffin mixes so they are all ready to mix together quickly in the mornings. At 1:30pm, we went to the dive site Petrie's Pillar. I always liked this site last year as we used to see a turtle here and sure enough he was here again. It was terrific. I made some conch fritters, as we wanted to have a light dinner since we are going to Wanna Dive's 5th annual party tonight. We went about 8pm and left at 10. Actually, the only food and drink they had was if you bought it there so it wasn't that great. They did have a band that was good. We also saw Karen, a dive instructor we knew from last year. She told us where a few seahorses and frogfish are so we'll go check them out. She has promised to come over to our boat for dinner one night. She even bought us 2 drinks, which was nice of her. We could actually hear the band when we got back to Destiny but it ended at 10pm so that wasn't too bad. However, at 11pm the disco started at Karel's Bar again and went until the wee hours of the am again. I must be a very light sleeper, as I can't sleep with this entire racket going on. Not enough sun and wind again so we are still running the engine every day. Thank goodness we can take showers at the dive shop (with their permission) as it saves on water. October 2 Sunday I am very tired this morning, as I am not getting enough sleep with the band playing on weekends. So we just had a lazy morning. It's still hot out with little breeze so we're running the engine and water maker again. We left at 1pm for the dive site Small Wall, as Karen told us about a frogfish here. Sure enough he was there and it was great as he actually was very active since I think we spooked him. We even saw him open his mouth- cool! Actually, other than that, this dive site is just OK though we did see a big tarpon that I think lives in the cave. We didn't have our flashlights so couldn't see into the cave though. I had made a beef burgundy with sun-dried tomatoes for dinner before we went diving so I was glad I had everything prepared ahead of time. I am tired when we get back from diving so it's nice to have dinner all prepared. October 3 Monday We still have very little wind and not much sun so we are running the engine again. We were reading this morning, as I can't put down the Steve Martini book- The List-I am reading. We had some thunderstorms and dark clouds north of us but thank goodness it didn't come near us. At 1pm we went diving off mooring # 6 as last year there were sea horses here. We found the spot where they were but unfortunately, they were not here- hope we see some this year! We did see 3 scorpion fish, 2 large spotted moray eels and 1 golden tail moray. I always like diving from the boat and it's close too! October 4 Tuesday It's still very hot with almost no wind and not much sun. We have to use the fans at night to sleep. At 10am, we left to get our dive tanks and then off to Klein Bonaire- the little island west of the mainland. Larry likes to come out here but it's a long dinghy ride- about a half hour. We dove at Rock Pile and saw a shark! It was the first one we have ever seen in Bonaire. The site was good- the coral is great but I don't think there is the variety of fish we see on the mainland. The wind had picked up from the SE during our dive so it was a little rough going back as we were on the south end of the island. I found a huge lobster hiding in the rocks! I think we definitely have to buy a spear gun next year although we are not allowed to use them in Bonaire. We got back to the boat around 1:30, had lunch and relaxed. At 4pm, when it was cooler out, we walked to Kooyman's hardware store and Chinese junk stores where we always find something to buy. We got back around 5pm and of course had to run the engine and watermaker as we aren't getting enough wind or sun. I exchanged books with S/V Makai yesterday and they lent us another Dan Brown book I had wanted to read called Digital Fortress so I started this- that's book #19. October 5 Wednesday It's still hot out with little wind and we're starting to get mosquitoes. We have had little wind or sun since we got to Bonaire and the bad weather started while we were in Sotavento. I want to put up the screening but Larry doesn't want to as he says it cuts down on the air coming in the boat. He's right except there's not much breeze anyway! I am having a hard time sleeping in all this heat. I am waking up with my nightgown and hair drenched in sweat. I made some homemade tortillas this morning. They came out good except they take so long to make so think I'll buy them from now on. I finished book # 19 Digital Fortress and while I didn't think it was the best book I have ever read, it was very entertaining and fast paced. I think Larry will like it also. I started reading book #20- Nimitz Class. Larry read it and said it was good. I bought it a number of years ago but somehow never got around to reading it. It's probably been on Destiny a few years too! I also did some chores this morning and made a taco salad for lunch. At 1pm, we went back to the dive site Petrie's Pillar as Karen told us about a frogfish here. We looked but couldn't find him. The Bonaire Sailing Regatta will start this weekend and I am not looking forward to that. There's really nothing for us cruisers and they have loud bands playing every night. We would go into the marina but with the upcoming Regatta, there's no space. We know it will be hot and buggy in there also. October 6 Thursday Still no wind- just a little from the SE but less than 10 knots. Not much sun either. I checked my logs from the 2 previous years and it seems October and November are bad weather months with little sun, no wind and lots of thunderstorms. I finally put up the screens as we have been getting mosquitoes at night. Bonaire seems to have a lot of problems with mosquitoes when rainy season starts! Anyway, Larry worked on the wind gen this morning. The manufacturer, Doug, told him to look at the connectors, as they could be bad. Of course this was no easy task as it involved taking out the propane locker so it was a lot of work for Larry. Larry checked them and the connectors are still good so what's the problem with the wind gen? We don't know and of course have emailed Doug back. He has not been very good with responding to us at all! Anyway, I worked on my logs this morning. We went diving at 1:30pm to Front Porch right near the Wanna Dive shop. It's usually not my favorite site but today it was pretty good. We went to see the wreck at 90'. We saw a moray eel out in the open and that was just terrific watching him. We got back to the boat around 4:45pm. Larry was tired from all the work he did on the boat in all that intense heat but I wanted to go to the Wanna Dive party, as that's really the only time we go off the boat at night. So, we went to the party but came back around 7pm. They had the usual rum punch and chicken satay that I like so much. We make this dinner so I don't have to make anything for dinner when we come home.
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