Yhanni’s arepas | Tusen Takk II

This post will be a quick overview of some of our above-water activities during the last half of our season in Bonaire.

Barb and I fell into the habit of having Sunday breakfasts at La Crêperie early in the season, and continued that practice throughout our time in Bonaire. When Mike and Roberta, co-owners of our pickup, arrived “late” in Bonaire, having been delayed by the birth of their first grandchild back in Portland, OR, they joined us in crepe worship. The four of us also partook of the best arepas in Bonaire at the gazebo on Coco Beach run by Yhanni. And we continued our practice of attending the Burger Nights at Zazu. We also went to Tuna Night at Hill Side; on one occasion transporting a gaggle of folks that overflowed into the back of our pickup. We also took the pickup to one of the monthly wine tasting events held at Antillean Wine. One afternoon we made sushi at Pat’s, whom we met a couple of years ago through Mike and Roberta. We went on a dive/snorkel trip to Klein Bonaire with Pat and Mike & Roberta and Rod & Jill and Rod’s cousin Chuck, afterwards stopping at the beach on the north side for a picnic lunch. Well before the arrival of Mike & Roberta, at the initiative of Lawrence (Phatt Cat), we began playing Mexican Train every Sunday night at the Divers’ Diner. It turned out to be a very popular event, attracting two tables totaling 12 to 16 players. Jill & Rod’s son Roddie visited for a while, during which a bunch of us celebrated Jill’s birthday at Zazu, including Kim and Doug (Gabriel). Speaking of whom, the couple again presented a series of four sessions on fish identification, this time hosted by Dive Friends at their Yellow Submarine location. The lessons are designed to provide certification with REEF to enable citizen-based fish surveys.

: Special picture by Barb

: On Klein Beach after a dive/snorkel

: Making sushi at Pat’s

: On our way back from Tuna Night at Hill Side

: Jill and son Roddie at Jill’s b’day celebration

: Arepas at Yhanni’s

: Roberta, Philip and Mike at Gio’s

: Table One at dominoes

: Table Two at dominoes

: At the wine tasting

On April 13, I completed my 1000^th scuba dive. Diving with me to mark the occasion were Barb and Mike & Roberta. Later, Barb threw a party for me on Tusen Takk II, attended by Roberta & Mike, Kim & Doug, Jill & Rod & Roddie, and Sherry & Lawrence. Barb was enormously supportive as I pushed to reach the milestone before we had to leave Bonaire. We were first certified in 1991. Over 600 of my dives were at Bonaire, including about 400 of the most recent during the last four seasons. (Watch for a subsequent post featuring some of my underwater pictures.)

: Certificate created by Roberta

: Chuck & his biggest fan

: Hard to deny

: Cake with special frosting

: Barb on the big dive

: Chuck

: Mike & Roberta

On April 17 we joined Roberta & Mike at Pasta e Basta, a special occasion at the restaurant It Rains Fishes: an evening of dinner and music provided by singing waiters from an Amsterdam restaurant of the same name: Pasta e Basta. For a review of the Bonaire version, click here.

We received word that my 99 year-old mother was experiencing health problems, so we pushed up our departure date from Bonaire and took Tusen Takk II to Curacao on April 23. We worked frantically at Curacao to put the boat to bed, including putting down four coats of varnish on the cap rails to help them resist the Caribbean sun during our six-month summer absence, but on April 28, on the eve of our departure, joined Al & Maggy (Sweet Dreams) for dinner at scenic Fort Nassau.

: Tusen Takk II at Curacao Marine

: Hauling

: With Maggy & Al at Fort Nassau

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.