Lac Baai Restaurant | Tusen Takk II

Granddaughter Kristen — daughter of Danielle — flew in to visit us from Georgia. She was on a brief break between Spring and Summer sessions at Georgia Southern University, and was determined to get some quality down time, which primarily meant relaxing and reading to her, and meant “activity, activity, activity” to Barb. They are both strong-willed women, and so it was interesting to watch the process of reaching an accommodation during the week. We began with our traditional tour of the southern end of the island, supplemented with a preliminary stop to a vista northeast of Kralendijk: Seru Grandi. Then we followed our familiar counter-clockwise route through the south part of the island: past the salt works and the kite surfing and white and red slave huts, and around to the east end where we expected to enjoy lunch at the marvelous Lac Baai restaurant. Alas, they were closed, so we made do with a much less appealing snack at Jibe City, where there were surprisingly few wind surfers. And then around the bend to the north side of the mangroves, where we have lately had great luck in getting guests close to flamingos. Alas, not this time.

On another day, the girls disappeared for hours in town, including an extended visit to a beauty shop for a facial.

Barb did little diving while Kristen was here, opting instead to snorkel with her. On one such venture, I dove beneath them and got pictures of one of Barb’s activities: cleaning the bottom of the dinghy. Barb also got some nice pictures with her GoPro of Kristen snorkeling. And of course we attended the Wednesday hamburger night at Zazu’s and Yhanni’s Friday arepa night. We watched some movies and played dominoes enough times that each of us won at least once. We enjoyed having Kristen with us, and hope she feels sufficiently recharged and ready for more studies.

: The ladies got facials one day

: View of Kralendijk from Seru Grandi

: Structure at the peak

: Interesting tree on the mount

: Salt piles and pink ponds

: Pink ponds and salt piles

: Waiting for Grandpa to finish with his camera

: Posing for Barb at White Slave

: Barb reversing positions

: Red Slave

: Donkeys in the flats

: Back from a refreshing dip

: In front of Capt. Don’s image at Tops Groceries

: GoPro image of Kristen

: Another GoPro image

: Picture from the deep

: Kristen cleaning the dinghy

: Barb cleaning the dinghy

: On our way to the departing taxi

: One final selfie

After spending a few days in Curacao, Norwegian friends Kari & Rasmus joined us on Tusen Takk II in Bonaire. Rasmus had done some diving while in the Norwegian Armed Forces, but that was, um, a few years ago. So he decided to start afresh and get PADI certified so that he could dive during their visit. He finished the “book” portion of the process back in Norway by completing a computerized set of on line lessons, reserving the “wet” portion of the process for after he arrived in Bonaire. Our dive shop, the Yellow Submarine branch of Dive Friends, Bonaire, would conduct the lessons, but they were fully booked for a few days, so while we waited we rented a car and toured the south end of Bonaire.

Regular readers will recognize the list of our stops: the Salt Pier and the Salt Ponds and the massive Salt Piles, the White Slave Huts, the Red Slave Huts (now a pretty yellow), the Kite Beach kiteboarding area, the Willemstoren lighthouse, the multi-colored obelisk, the Lac Baai restaurant (always a delight), the Lac Baai windsurfing area, and the mangroves on the north end of Lac Baai where so often (including this time) flamingos can be seen.

On the eve of his scuba lessons, Rasmus mentioned that he had a sore throat and some chest congestion. He resolutely began the lessons anyway, but after a day and a half had to suspend them and visit a local doctor, who diagnosed the malady as a virus that only time could heal – no medicine to take other than lozenges for the throat and something to lesson his fever. In the course of time he returned to the doctor and was cleared to resume the diving lessons. We celebrated his certification with toasts of Prosecco. Alas, Barb caught the bug and spent several days out of commission. Kari and I somehow escaped.

Rasmus and I did a fair amount of diving (with Rasmus diving like a pro), and we all (after Barb recovered) did a fair amount of walking. We joined cruising friends for a number of dinners at local restaurants, and the four of us played a number of Mexican Train domino games in the evening. Both Kari and Rasmus caught on quickly and became ruthless players.

On their last full day with us, we rented a double-cab pickup truck and toured the north end of the island, including a long and bumpy drive through the Washington-Slagbaai National Park. On our last stop in the Park, Barb and Kari and Rasmus cooled off with a nice snorkel.

Rasmus and Kari were ideal guests: relaxed, cordial, helpful, and fun to be with. We look forward to our next time together.