Monthly Archives: May 2009

History of Bonaire

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Bonaire is located 60 miles north of Venezuela. It is a total of 285 sq kilometers big and has a population of 14,500. There is evidence that humans inhabited Bonaire as far back as 3,000 years ago, living on fish, shellfish, crabs, birds and iguanas. Some sources say the original inhabitants were Arawaks, others say it was a different people group and that the Arawaks arrived in Bonaire about 1000 – 1500 years ago, when farming began. The Arawaks cultivated maize, manioc, squash and beans.

The Spanish laid claim to the island in 1499. The Spanish enslaved the Arawaks. In 1515, the Spaniards decided Continue reading →

Passage from Dominica to Bonaire – Days 1 – 3

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Day 1

We spent the morning getting ready to go and pulled out around 11:45. We decided to run with dual stabilization, so we left the paravanes out when we took off. We like the idea of the smoothest ride possible.

Initially, we were in the lee of Dominica and seas were calm and pleasant. Even after leaving the lee, the ride was nice. At 1730, the seas started to pick up some, but only enough to move us from the “nice” to the “fairly good” category. It was a dark night with no moon.

Pretty much the entire ride the wind was 8 14 apparent on the aft (directly behind us), which means the usual problems with the hot air from the engine room getting blown into the downstairs cabins. It is definitely stuffy and stinky down there. Since it is calm, we have the hatches and portholes open, which helps a lot.

Day 2

Conditions were status quo until the early afternoon, when the wind picked up to 11 20 apparent. The seas followed suit and Continue reading →

Snorkeling the Fan Garden and the Market

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Yesterday Barb and Chuck took us snorkeling at one of their favorite spots, “The Fan Garden”. It is located at the southern end of the bay, near the shore. Fortunately for us, they picked us up in their fast dinghy. It would have taken us forever to get there in Kosmopolitan.

We hopped in the water with our snazzy new camera that is waterproof to 30 feet and it immediately went dead. It had filled with water. Sigh. This camera is touted as being totally indestructible and we were sure it would survive us. We must have some kind of bad camera killing karma from a past life haunting us. We swam from south to north, and each took turns pulling the dinghy along with us as we swam.

We are so sad about losing the camera right then, because the site was lovely and Continue reading →