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Diane's DiarySeptember 2 Friday We had a lazy morning as the wind was up to 22 knots - another boater clocked it and told us. We started running the water maker at 8:30am as we had lots of electric coming in. We ran the water maker until 11:45am filling our water tanks and also a 5-gallon jug for Whitecap. We were going to burn garbage with Whitecap but Larry was reading a good book he wanted to finish and we were getting so much electric from all this wind he said to continue running the watermaker until the tank was full so we did. I did some emails, banged out the conch to get ready to make conch fritters and worked on my logs for about an hour. We had a wonderful lunch of conch steak- fantastic! That is my favorite conch recipe although I have changed it somewhat- I add Creole seasoning to it and it comes out great! I also make it like a conch fritters. I usually don't eat too much fried food but this is an exception! When the conch is all gone, we won't have any food to fry anymore. We went snorkeling at 2:15pm and after went to the beach to open up another conch- conch #4 this trip. We took a walk to the end of the island as Mima told us they went snorkeling out there and we were looking for a way to get out there. We don't know how they got out there as there were lots of reefs and it looked dangerous to us. Anyway, Larry looked into the water near the small beach on the end and found 2 more conchs! So, we took those back and cleaned them also. We think there are lots more right here so we'll have to come back with our snorkels and mask and look for them. More conch fritters on the way! Yummy! September 3 Saturday We had a very active day- being out here is hard work- don't those of you at home understand that? I guess not! Anyway, we ran the water maker for 40 minutes in the am when we left to go burn the garbage and take a walk on the island. We had to burn the garbage as there is no other place to put it and we don't have room on Destiny to store it all until we get to Bonaire. The bay where the dinghy landing is and most of the birds are was really green. We usually anchor here and would have been really unhappy if we were there as the water was just a horrible color. We burned the garbage and then took a walk on the island. There was absolutely no water in the little ponds at all and very few chicks in the trees, different from previous years. We think it may be that we are just here about 1-2 months earlier than the previous two years and that rainy season has not started out here yet. Also, maybe the chicks are born a little later in the year also. We took a walk to the eastern end and there had obviously been a large fire on the island and lots of the brush was burnt. Someone stopped the fire by building a huge firebreak or else the whole island would have gone up in smoke - there are no firemen out here! We got back to the boat around 12:30pm and ran the water maker for another 2 hours. I made some homemade spaghetti sauce and some macaroni so I could make baked spaghetti later. The water near our boat is green also now- last year it was just a crystal blue. We had some wind in the morning but then it died. It also died for the night too and it was very hot aboard the boat. Anyway, we did a quick snorkel but some of the water was green and murky. We went with the dinghy to find a forward spot on the outer reef near the small beach to land the dinghy. We couldn't get that close to the beach and there was a lot of surge to snorkel here - if we found some conch they would be difficult to carry back to the boat with all that current. So, we went back to bringing our dinghy back to the old spot near the island and walking to the beach with just our mask, snorkels, gloves, and of course, our conch opening tools- rock hammer, knife and pliers! Lo and behold we found more conch on the same beach! We found 6 conch more plus the one I found when we were snorkeling! Larry got busy and opened them all up - it's much easier to make a mess here rather than on the boat! We didn't get back to Destiny till 5pm and still had to put together the baked spaghetti so I was pretty tired later that night. The baked spaghetti was a new recipe- not fantastic but not bad and different. I think it would have tasted better with different ricotta cheese- the stuff in VE is just OK- it's not as smooth and creamy as we have at home. Anyway, we still had no wind at night so it was warm out. Our water tanks are only at half full as we had lots of dishes and Larry used a lot of water cleaned off his camera bag. It got wet in the dinghy from all the spray. Hope we get some wind tomorrow so we can get the tanks full again. We know from last year that if we don't keep the tanks as full as possible it's very easy to get behind - once the tanks get low it's very hard to fill them again without running the water maker for long periods of time. If you have enough wind that's great otherwise it means running the engine for long periods of time. September 4 Sunday A large catamaran came into our anchorage yesterday just as we thought we were going to be alone in the anchorage. Darn it! They even tried to follow us out to the outer reef when we went there in our dinghy! The cat was named Bedouin, an American boat but we don't know them. Anyway, it was about time we went out to our favorite spot again- the blue hole. We wanted to wait until the sun was high enough in the sky to make sure we could read all the reefs so didn't leave until 10:45am. In the meantime, I spent the morning skinning all 7 conchs. It's definitely not as easy as it looks and it took me almost 1.5 hours. We started running the water maker at 8:40am as even though the wind was light we would be running the engine to get out to the reef. We had to run the water maker for 5 hours until the tank was full but between the wind and engine, we were able to do it. The wind was East around 10 knots and very cloudy so there wasn't much sun- we were only getting around 10 amps in around noon time and we usually get around 15 amps at that time of the day. We left the island around 10:45 am and were safely anchored near the blue hole at 11:30 so the trip only took around 45 minutes. Whitecap was out on the northern portion of the reef but came to join us here at the blue hole. We were able to give them about 5 gallons of water every two days. They said without our giving them the water (about 25 gallons altogether), they would have had to leave already as they would be out of water. Anyway, the water is green in the 12 feet of water we have anchored in. It's usually beautiful shades of blue here so I don't now why we have this horrible green color. We had a wonderful lunch of conch fritters again- how we do love that conch! We went snorkeling in the blue hole in the afternoon and that's still fine and is still blue color- no algae here thank goodness! I finished my 9th book out here- Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara about the Civil War. It was very good and I would like to get a book his father Michael wrote called Killer Angels about Gettysburg that is also supposed to be good. The book is from 1974 but still there must be lots of copied around. Whitecap gave us a small mojarra so I made some ceviche- we are eating lots of fish out here! Great as I still have a freezer worth of food we haven't had to touch yet. September 5 Monday The wind picked up during the night E-SE about 15-20. We're not rocking that bad as we are directly behind the outer reef and the blue hole reef so we are well protected. Larry had to feather the wind gen as it kept freewheeling. So, even though we had lots of great wind we weren't able to capitalize on it. So, we wound up with the batteries just the same this morning as last night- normally with all that wind they should have been full. I had to defrost the refrigerator again this morning so we didn't go snorkeling till around 10:30. It was a very tough snorkel with lots of current so I didn't like it very much. We got 2 more conch and Larry opened them up in the dinghy when we got back. We had ceviche for lunch today with the mojarra fish Whitecap gave us and it was very good. We ran the water maker 2 hours in the am and another 1.5 hours in the afternoon. We are also filling a 5-gallon jug for Whitecap but didn't finish it. We went snorkeling again after lunch and this afternoon was much better than this morning as there was far less current. I got another conch this afternoon. There certainly are a lot more conchs out here this year than the previous two years. I put a bunch of conch in the freezer but unless I take out some meat, the freezer is full. I got another conch in the afternoon snorkeling but we'll wait until tomorrow to open him. Anyway, the wind decreased to 10-15 at night but the wind gen is still having problems. I suggested Larry write to Hot Wire where we bought the wind gen from and tell him the problem- it definitely should not be cutting out at 18 amps! Plus, we are losing all those great amps we need out here! I started book #10 Deception Point by Dan Brown- author of the popular book the Da Vinci Code. September 6 Tuesday We went snorkeling at 10:30 this morning on the north side of the blue hole- it was good but not as good as we remember it. We had conch fritters again for lunch- we are going to turn into conch fritters with the way we have been eating them so much! We gave Whitecap a few fritters when they stopped by. They gave us a very small grouper they shot - it was very small and I don't think we would have shot a fish that small. Anyway, we got an email back from Hot Wire and yes; they think we are having problems with our unit! Of course this means getting a new part and taking down the wind gen - all of which is a lot of work. This is the second time this problem has occurred so Larry wrote to Doug, the manufacturer in Trinidad, to explain the problem since it was Doug who fixed the problem the last time. We are waiting to hear his response. In the meantime, we can live with it by just feathering the wind gen when the wind gets over 18 amps- of course, we're losing lots of amps this way but we do get something by having it feathered! If we had a properly working unit we would be watching TV every night so maybe it's good it's not working as we are reading a lot more! Anyway, we gave Whitecap another 6.5 gallons of water. They are going to leave tomorrow and go to Sotavento- the western most Aves islands. Since they are going on to Curacao and we only go as far as Bonaire, we probably won't see them again. Larry did watch one of their movies - All Quiet on the Western Front but we just didn't have enough electric to watch more as we were running the water maker for ourselves and them. September 7 Wednesday Whitecap left at 10am this morning so we went over to say goodbye and return their books and DVD's. It's sad that you meet cruisers and than spend a brief time with them never to see them ever again but I guess that's cruising! Larry had started to read the book Gods and Generals Whitecap had loaned us but since we had to return it, he didn't get to finish it. The wind was low in the am, but picked up later in the day to around 18 from the SE and the wind gen is freewheeling again! We ran the water maker for 3.5 hours today- 1.45 hours in the morning and for the same amount of time in the afternoon. I made some biscuits this morning and they came out great- the other mix must have just been old. I also made some homemade tortillas- we haven't had those in a long time. I'll make some quesadillas for dinner. We went snorkeling in the morning but the current was very strong again and I didn't like it too much. We were going to snorkel again in the afternoon but the wind was up and we could see it white capping in the blue hole so we knew snorkeling would not be very good. I worked on some logs in the pm. The wind finally dropped down to about 10-12 after 3pm but by that time it was late in the day to go snorkeling. I finished book #10 Deception Point- it was OK but not fantastic. September 8 Thursday The wind started blowing last night about 20-25 knots from the East so we didn't get a great night's sleep since the boat was rocking some. Larry had to feather the wind gen again - we really need to get this fixed as we are losing all those wonderful amps! When we feather it, we do get some amps in - enough to keep the batteries the same percent- we don't lose anything but don't gain any amps either. It's too rough to snorkel, as it's even white capping in the blue hole! S/V Ellida called us on the SSB to let us know they were refused entrance to Bonaire and ordered to leave the island with in 24 hours! We couldn't believe it. The reason? They had cleared out of VE over a month ago and hadn't checked in anywhere else in that time. Immigration said they must have been running drugs! Absolutely unbelievable! Bonaire is certainly getting a bad reputation with the cruisers lately and many cruisers are either bypassing the island or only staying a few days. They have recently increased the mooring fee (Note: you cannot use your own anchor anywhere in Bonaire waters) from $5 day to $10 day. This does not include anything at all- no water, electric- nada. We pay only about $7.50 day in BR for our slip and that includes electric, water and cable TV! One of the dinghy docks - Karel's Bar was severely damaged so it's dangerous to use the dock - your dinghy can easily go under the dock now. One of the cruisers offered to fix the dock at their own expense but management said no. The other dinghy dock, Club Nautico Marina, now wants to charge cruisers $10 week to park your dinghy there. This is the dock we used all the time last year so don't know what we'll do this year. Bonaire is definitely not cruiser friendly any more! Even we are not staying as long as the two previous years due to the additional expense of the mooring fee. I read some in the am and than worked on my logs for a while. We started running the water maker at 7:30am as the high voltage alarm went off. We filled the tanks in 2 hours and than filled up the 5-gallon jerry jug we had given to Whitecap. I made some wonderful cheese quesidallas for lunch - they came out a lot better than last night. We had so much electric we are finally getting to watch a movie today - we haven't gotten to see a movie in a long time! We started watching Gods and Generals at 1:30 and didn't finish it until almost 5pm it was so long. I had just finished reading the book so wanted to see the movie. The movie was very disjointed and difficult to follow- I didn't think it was very good. It could have been a lot better. I made my wonderful Creole sauce with our remaining ten-chorizo sausages from PLC. The sauce is excellent and we like it a lot. The recipe normally calls for adding shrimp to it but we like it with meat instead. I only have one package of shrimp left and that's for our anniversary! Anyway, we had so much electric we had enough for another movie at night- we hit the jackpot! We watched Lilo and Stitch- a Disney movie that we had never seen. It was OK- not great but worth seeing once. I started book number 11- Heat Islands today. September 9 Friday The wind is still up, definitely abated somewhat but it's still blowing out. It decreased from about 20- 25 knots to 15-20. The weatherman said it would be like this until Sunday- this is not fun anymore! However, we're safe and the boat is safe and there's really no other place to go so we'll just stay put and put up with it. I made some oat muffins for breakfast and they came very good however they were a little small. I think I just need to add some more baking powder to get them to rise some more. I also made a wonderful corn muffin mix. Once I have the mix made, I just need to add some extra ingredients when I go to actually bake them. We ran the water maker almost 1.5 hours in the am and again in the pm after snorkeling for 2 hours 15 minutes so we ran it for a total of 3 hours and 45 minutes today. We went out snorkeling at 10:45am and did a shallow part of the reef. We didn't see any conch at all. It was OK but kind of rough with all that wind. The wind did die down in the pm to around 15 knots- the wind gen loves this speed- it's perfect for it!
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