Category Archives: Caribbean

SCUBA Diving in Kralendijk

Posted on by
1

Today we intended to spend the whole day SCUBA diving. The plan had been to hop in the dinghy and head to one of the moorings nearby. But, yesterday we had forgotten to do the most important thing on our errand list: buy dive tags. Since we were going ashore anyway, we decided to get breakfast. We were excited to find that several places offer hearty breakfast menus. We picked a place where the food was good, but the service was painfully slow. Then we went to a dive shop near the restaurant to buy the tags.

It has rained a lot the whole time we have been in the Caribbean, which is odd since it is supposed to be the dry season. In Guadeloupe and Antigua, it was usually an odd squall or two each day, though we had a few days with more rain. In Dominica, we had several days where the squalls consistently came through every couple of hours. In our short time in Bonaire, we have experienced squalls every couple of hours, just like Dominica. Usually, they are fairly hard rains that last only a few minutes. Anyway, while in the dive shop, another one rolled through. This one was probably the biggest Continue reading →

Settling in Bonaire and Minor Watermaker Trouble

Posted on by
1

Yesterday didn’t get off to a good start. First of all, we had intended to get up early. We wanted to get all of our errands run in the morning so we could spend the afternoon SCUBA diving. But we wound up sleeping late, which put us behind schedule.

Our morning routine at anchor/mooring is to turn the generator on to charge the batteries and make water when we get up. Eric turned on the watermaker and was dismayed to see the high pressure pump didn’t go on. Eric suspected that Continue reading →

Welcome to Kralendijk, Bonaire, Netherland Antilles

Posted on by
1

After midnight, we were hit with several squalls that agitated the seas, so the ride became even more lumpy and no fun. There still was virtually no moon, so we enjoyed the luminescent stars in between the storms. It was still rough at dawn. It was a bit hazy out, so even though we were close to Bonaire, we couldn’t actually see land until 0745.

We approached from the southeast side of the island. Kralendijk, the main city on the island and the only place boats are allowed to moor (anchoring is prohibited in Bonaire waters except under special circumstances), is on the west coast, in the center of the island. We rounded the bottom of the island at 0945 and headed north on the west coast. The minute we were on the west side, in the lee of the island, the seas instantly flattened out. We were so happy.

The ride along the coast was pleasant. We saw a nice rainbow. We saw several schools of flying fish leaping along the water in unison. One school in particular was absolutely enormous. We watched a few people kite surfing.

The southern side of the island is flat and low and the northern end is hilly. The town seems to be right where the hills meet the flat land, in the center of a nice bay. From what we could see, it looked like neither the north or southern ends of the island had any buildings on them whatsoever. So, as we headed up the coast, at first it was empty land, then eventually there were a few buildings that looked like residences along the water, then some buildings that looked more like hotels, then the town center. There are no big high rises at all. There was a cruise ship in port. Just a few miles west of town, in the bay, is the low, flat island of Klein Bonaire, which is apparently vacant land. Near Klein Bonaire we could see what looked like a smaller cruise ship waiting to pull in. However, we had eavesdropped on a conversation between this ship and the port captain on the radio and knew it was not a cruise ship at all, but Continue reading →

History of Bonaire

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
4

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 →