Next week we will have been in Bonaire a month - wow, I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. I totally love it here, there's a great community of very international cruisers and we can dial in to the social events as much or as little as we like - there's a pot luck every Sunday, happy hour every Thursday, shared diving and any thing else people come up with. The protected mooring field is in calm, crystal clear water just in front of a world class reef, despite the fact that most days it's blowing 20-25knots.
This is what it looks like everyday - I just snapped this for the blog just now.....
My ear infection meant we had a few days off diving and explored the island for three days. The Washington Slaagbaai National Park visit was a real highlight and we ended up spending two days there so we could get it all in. The Park covers the whole north of the island and contains, wild countryside full of cacti and spectacular coves. Plus hundreds of flamingoes, the highest point on Bonaire and several remote dive sites. Of course we had to climb Mount Brandaris to check out the view - just 241m but the rest of the island is so very flat. On the way back we stopped in Rincon again and this time visited the Cadushy Distillery - liquor made from Cacti..... We had a great tour and yummy tasting whilst admiring the beautiful island birds that visit the terrace.
Beautiful National Park
Our hire truck - needed for the national park
Warawara birds in the park
Trying Cactus Liquor
Look how they make fencing in Rincon
Centre of Rincon
One afternoon we got a surprise invitation to Linde's birthday - Linde was turning 13 and made invitations for a birthday party including a Dutch Bottle Bash. Boat kids are so fantastic, here was a 12 year old who confidently came to our boat and spoke in perfect English to invite Andrew and I to her birthday. It was such a fun afternoon with other Dutch, Swedish and French boats all with kids playing a game with water in bottles and a football. There was lots of cake too. For Linde's birthday 4 of the boats got together and we bought her a trial dive which she did the next day - I think watching this was an even more special gift . She was also given a windsurfing lesson by professional windsurfers which she did the day after and then went bareback horse riding in the water- what a week this fabulous girl had.
Birthday Girl
Our final day of car hire took us exploring the south of the island. This consists of salt pans, wild donkeys and more flamingoes. The salt pans are all different colours making for a stunning landscape.
Salt Pans
This is a complete package island for watersports enthusiasts - South is Kite Surfing central and then on the East side there's a protect lake that is home to Windsurfing central - oh my goodness I think I might even think about learning windsurfing again it looks so perfect at Jibe City - we just spent a couple of hours having a beer and watching the professionals and beginners.
The Lac
Jibe City
Ear fixed, or so I thought, we got back to diving and I have been keeping up a dive log most days on instagram.....https://www.instagram.com/carolynspictures/ We got invited to do a shore dive in the north of the island with the Fat Susan's - a lovely English family also with an Oyster - you'll need to read their blog to learn why she's called FatSusan. The dive at Karpata was great and we got experience truck diving that Bonaire is famous for. The dive shop they used, allowed you to pull in fill your own tanks and drive on to the next dive, in the car parks at most dive site divers chat and compare notes. We must have passed the test as last week we got invited back to dive the wreck of the Hilma Hooker with Sian and Des - too deep for teenagers. We repaid them with a roast dinner aboard Askari last night.
Me taking pics on the Hilma Hooker - thx @Growingapair
Andrew and Fat Susan crew after a great dive at Karpata
After our fun night wine tasting we had invited Gabi and Audrey aboard for dinner - these guys were such fun and I think were quite intrigued about our lifestyle - it's always interesting to see what people think when they don't know about cruising and then bringing them into our world.
Local friends looking at home on Askari
I have to admit we haven't done much boat work in the last couple of weeks but it has been a lot of fun and we feel happy to stay another month at least.....
Oh btw if you haven't seen my frogfish and octopus swimming videos the're here and here....This was the coolest diver ever we did earlier this week.
'Dushi' is a Papiamentu (Bonairian language) word which means sweetheart, lovely and basically everything positive and is everywhere here in Bonaire. 'Biba Dushi' is a phrase that means living a sweet life and that is exactly what we have been doing for the last week.
Bonaire is hopefully where we are going to be for the next couple of months, at least, so just as well we love it. It has really grown up and is much more sophisticated than when we were last here but is still wildly beautiful, has a relaxed feel, the water is still crystal clear and the reef full of 'fisheshs'.
Boni Bini Bonaire - Welcome to Bonaire
When we first arrived our mission was diving and we hardly went on land. We did six dives in the first 4 days. The best of the pictures can be found at https://www.instagram.com/carolynspictures/ where I have been posting my dive logs, but this turtle was my favourite of the week - he looks like he was taking a selfie with an angel fish behind him.
Loving the local craft beers
Bonaire Brewary - so upsclae
We did get in a bit of evening socialising though with a great cruisers catch up for happy two hours at the Bistro de Paris and a few sundowners with other yachts and trying out the local brewery. A 'Jellyfish Jamboree was however something I had not anticipated being much fun but it was- box jellyfish arrive in Bonaire 8-10 days after a full moon and a scientist was here doing research so set himself up at Carel's Bar with a bucket and alot of jelly fish stories. I even got to hold one which was pretty wild. We ended the evening with the other cruisers at a Cuban bar - there's such a mixture of things going on here.
On Saturday we went with Steve and Nellie on Alkemi to a lovely cultural day at Rincon, where we listened to great local music, watched the men jump fire; to improve their fertility apparently, and ate some yummy local food. Rincon is the oldest village in Bonaire and has a lot of history; the first people to live on Bonaire planted crops and lived in the hills around this area and then the village was founded by the Spanish in 1527. As in inland village it was considered safe from pirates. Then as the Dutch took over Bonaire it was home to a huge community of slaves. The language and culture is a bit of a mixture between Spainish, Portuguese, African and Dutch. The people we met at Rincon were so friendly and the kids took a particular liking to Nellie.
Fun day out at Rincon
Fire Jumping
Local girls in love with Nellie
We caught up with crews of Star Gazer, Tryst and Midnight Breeze at Rincon
My new friend - quite the dancer
Local dress - took her a month to make - quite Portuguese
Returning to Askari we got cleaned up for a date night. We had spotted a sign for a special wine tasting event at a local restaurant so made a booking. What a treat we were in for and one of the best meals we have had since leaving Europe. The restaurant owner was a really knowledgeable and fun Italian who did a wonderful job including all the guests (mainly who lived in Bonaire and all knew each other) in the discussion about the wines and the food. We ended up at the end of the evening hanging out with Gabi and his girlfriend Audrey with their friends for a few more wines. We will definitely go back next month.
Date night - sparkling wine from Chile
Wine Tasting at La Terrazza
Sadly on Sunday I woke up with a pain in my ear which has since developed into an ear infection - damn! We had a rainy day (totally unusual) so did some boat jobs and took in sundowners at Coco Beach a great spot just along from the anchorage. My ear is still playing up and I've been to the local Dive Doctor who confirmed I have an infection and to keep taking the antibiotic drops and hopefully it will clear up in a few days - ah time to update the blog and rent a car.....
