11th July The first proper supermarket since St Barths in Early March, what joy! We even got freshly baked croissants!
12th July A fresh Sunday shower. Soooo refreshing. However a rare clap of thunder was heard too, I hope there is no lightning or the phones may have to go in the oven !
13th July 2020 Something Special for our first dive of the new season sufficient air to get over to the wreck and pass by a field of brown garden eels waveing in the current.
23rd July Diving again!
25th July 2020.Finally snagged a mooring’ . Seven dives and things are looking up, generally 80 to 100 minutes for a dive.
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| View to Shore and neighbours |
These old favourites from Something Special.
30th July 2020
Since Gonzales passed through (with almost no wind but plenty of rain and thunder), we’ve had incredibly light and variable winds, which had the yachtys pointing in all directions. In the calm you didn’t need to go into the water to photograph the underwater scene.
August 2020
6th August 2020 diving Petries Pillar Meet a Soapfish.
12 dives in August interspersed with a little sailing on the weekend of 14th -15th
This was the annual Kanti-Awa Race around Klein Bonaire. Our new friends Roberta and Michael were available to crew for us.
The first race started at 09.35 during which Michael helmed, Roberta spotted and Malcolm trimmed, while I took care of refreshments and snacks. Full sails all the way. Much the same on the Sunday starting at 10.15 and crossing the finish at 12.16. Our entry fee included lunch and beer vouchers on both days. We won 2nd place overall and quite a nice plack.
PIANO hits the headlines. This photo, was taken moments after the start of the Sunday cruiser race in the recent Kanti-Awa regatta. The Sunfish in the foreground was part of a previous fleet, just finishing in the immediate vicinity of our start line, making for a stressful couple of minutes. We started in second place in this race and held that position for much of the time, only losing it to local boat Papyro at the last mark and finally finishing third, just a few seconds behind Taimaa, who had lead most of the way round. With our first place in the Saturday race, we were joint first overall on the water but second to Taimaa on handicap. A great weekends sailing with Michael and Roberta Hilbruner on board , with Michael helming, while I trimmed and sorted out the tactics, as well as fixing the occasional problem!
18th August 2020.Diving at Bonaventure, my ankle weights went missing, effect on buoyancy is that I float head down and expelled air fill my BCD and to compensate I have to ditch air!
Malcolm had the camera:
23rd August 2020 Diving today at Ebo’s Special – not particularly special apart from the end at which we saw a Green Moray who was good enough to pose for snaps.
There was also a drift and drink with dinghys from the yachts.
Customs smooched by looking for illegal aliens but they scattered when approached so were difficult to round up. Fortunately no one was harmed in the water which was the only place to cool off.
September 2020
10th September 2020. The most interesting dive to date. We tied up behind S/Y Tegan and went on a sea horse hunt.
Janet had already shown us what to look for so we were able to go straight there and begin photographing them. One brown and the other paler cream coloured. Also seen were a smooth trunkfish and an unopened bottle of Heineken!
Hippocampus erectus
2nd October 2020 For the last week or so there’s been lots of thundery activity. Mainly over Venezuela but a few storms have come right over us, bringing wind reversals, which are very exciting given how close to shore we are. The first day of the week that we could eat out following the relaxation of Bonaires mild lockdown.
Evening of 6th-7th October our first taste of a wind reversal in the anchorage. There was lots of rain, lightning and big swells. Malcolm had the engine running for a couple of hours in case we got too near a mooring block which was now behind us as we were now facing out to sea.
th October 2020 It just happens to be Octopus day today and it wasn’t Facebook who reminded me. So we posted snaps of those we had seen previously.
13th October a snap of the evening before the latest storm reversal
Another thunderstorm reversal. This time less rain and lightning, winds reaching 20-25 occasionally 30 knots. The main problem was the huge swell, with shortened lines which kept snatching to keep us clear if the mooring block. I must say that other boats took respite both in the marina and out at sea for the duration.
15th-16th October had a trip into the marina to fill up with water and diesel. While there we were given new lines for our mooring since the old ones had much chaffing caused by the reversals.
With all this excitement we only managed 6 dives this month. One was a major expedition out to Karpata to which we sailed in style. After slipping at 10.07 we sailed under Yankee only, out round Klein Bonaire to the dive site had lunch and then dived sailed back to pick up the mooring by 17.55. Maybe we ate out that night?
20th October 2020 The latest storm- this one came from the west, propergating straight upwind. At least it wasn’t the middle of the night-and the local children thought it was great fun- not realising just how dangerous it was.
21st October 2020 diving Honeycombed Cowfish.
24th October diving
29th October 2020 Malcolm noticed a Spotted Eagle Ray feeding under Piano. He also saw a Hairy Blenny right by the shore wall.
4th November at last our first frogfish of the season. Plus an Octopus pretending to be a coral which was only noticed because of the behaviour of the other fish around it.
8th November Diving at Something Special a good collection of big fish including Spotted Scorpion, Green Moray and a Barracuda.
9th November 2020 snaps from the deck of crystal clear water in the anchorage
11th November 2020 A nice sail with Roberta and Michael (S/Y Celilo) 3 reefs in the main, Yankee and staysail used. Moored at Alice in Wonderland dive post, snaps in the diving folder, and on my dive programme. Lunch aboard, back to the mooring by 16.00. Tea and cake.
12th November 2020 Yet another wind reversal 30-35 knots wind from the SW and big seas with torrential rain. All this while rolling from gunnel to gunnel what fun…
8 dives this month.
22nd November 2020 S close encounter with a Tarpon, I didn’t even notice he was there!
November 27th 2020 A tasty lunch at La Terrazza with fellow lady cruisers, thanks Brenda (S/C Lille Venn) for sharing.
December 2020.
9 Dives this month.
5th December Another great dive at Something Special during which our total time underwater went over 200 hours! Followed by great company and food at Breezes and Bites burgers night, so it must be a Thursday. In the snap are Kari-Anne and Per Arne (S/Y Blue) Roberta and Michael (S/Y Celilo).
13th December an accidentally arty snap taken at the marina wall while Malcolm was snorkeling.
18th December my facebook update was deleted! I wonder what it was ???
23rd December I had just posted an Xmas greeting on Facebook when the generator failed making us dependent on the engine for power.
24th December The engine heat exchanger sprang a serious leak and started flooding the bilge! We called for assistance and were tow ed into the marina by STINAPA Thanks guys
31st December New Years Eve, Happy New Year, it doesn’t feel any different being British again now that we have left the European Community. The snap here is a different one to last year, no yachts were harmed making our video ( not available in this book/blog. Thanks to Roberta and Michael for hosting wall to wall visions.
January 2021
3rd January 2021 Coral Wo/man at Andrea 2 dive post. With a singing parrotfish. When not cleaning dead coral with their powerful teeth they smile and sing La La La
9th January 2021 Malcolm chose new dive boots since there was more naked foot than rubber in his fins!
23rd January 2021 I received the Coral Identification book of the series, different format and is harder to use than either the Fish or the Creatures !
24th January 2021 Dived Small Wall and saw the underwater mushroom.
14th February Sunday Pizza at Diver Diner, we just missed the sunset and there was no one to play Mexican Train tonight.
Also I completely forgot that since the washing machine has had a serious illness I have been going to the laundrette with Roberta and Janet, with side trips and multi-tasking to the dump for recycling and Van Den Tweels shopping every Monday
February 20th Flamingo Evening. Windy and cool with friends watching the flamingos leave to roost. Some fly to their bedrooms in Venezuela others decide to wait for the next flight. Luckily my camera was accidentally on burst so I did get one or two shots. We ended the evening with Arepas at a local eatery with many new ex pat friends.
March 2021
Thursday 11th March Dancing fish and shrimps
Friday 12th March a day sail out from the mooring and back just because we can. Slipped at 09.23 winds light 10-15 knots . The Raymarine helm display is very odd maybe a new/ second hand one is needed?
13th March A day at the beach! Well diving at Angels City and we didn’t get lost this year! Tasty lunch aboard S/Y Piano and a fast sail home in comfort for a change. Perfect for a Saturday afternoon. Great day out sailing, 32 nm, that’s easily across from Dover to Dunkirk! If only the pond were as perfect.
19th March 2021 *** back into the marina slip A20 the generator is loosing coolant.
Patrick the mechanic came round and agrees with Malcolm so it too is asking for a new heat inverter. Not to be outsmarted the engine said OK I need a new set of bearings in my alternator… but Patrick warned them of asking for too many spare parts and suggested that the alternator would run happily until after we get to Curaçao
March 2021
Bad news and good news. Nice sunset from the marina this evening, the bad news being that we're back here (In the marina) as now our generator needs a new heat exchanger. Other good news is that we should be able to dive again, as the dive shop has decided that it will be able to fill tanks.
30th March 2020 A pleasant downwind sail during which we saw some flamingoes travelling to Bonaire. The waves were quite large and the only objection to the rolling was the cooker who decided “This is just too much!” and sheared off one of its gimbels, mmmm that looks different I muttered as I put the croissants in to warm…
As we arrived off the coast we radioed the harbourmaster to prepare him for the bridge we needed to pass through. Happily he told us to stand off ¼ of a mile so that a large freighter could have room to leave the entrance.
Docked 3.30 in the afternoon. Immigration cleared us in which saved a trip out again. Then we waited for the health team to administer our PCR tests These were sent the next day showing a negative result yipee! Customs used sail clear to do their bit.
