Kralendijk,
Bonaire
12.09.532N
68.16.895W

Happy Birthday Dale!

Bright and early this morning, the guys dinked over to the marina office and returned with our laundry and propane tanks. Two out of 3 is good, I guess. We’re still waiting for our mail to arrive.

They also returned with one of the marina attendants to record our use of electricity and water, so that we could check out of the marina and return to a mooring ball. Thank heavens we had elected to use the electricity to charge our batteries and rarely anything else as Gerry’s electrical bill was quite large for only 3 days. We, however, used $50 of water in cleaning and replenishment of our tanks. With that done, they dinked back over to the office and paid our bill.

On their return, Gerry & Nicky untied and kicked us away from the dock. The wind carried us toward the deeper water and when clear of the docks, we turned and headed out the narrow entrance. We turned south and made our way back toward town looking for 2 mooring balls that were close together and hopefully near a WiFi hotspot. Not finding any close to town, we headed back toward the marina and secured two spots. On the first mooring we attached to, we had no sooner tied up when the wind shifted and I didn’t care for the way we swung close to another boat nearby. So being a nice guy, Dale agreed to move to another mooring behind the guy. This time when the wind shifted, I felt we had a lot more room between boats. Orpailleur is either beside us or behind us depending upon the way the wind blows.

As we were nearing the time to run the genset again and I knew we wouldn’t be going anywhere for the next hour, I grabbed my snorkel gear, pestered Dale into joining me and then jumped in. We had been able to see that the water was crystal clear when we first arrived in Bonaire and knew that each mooring ball was designated as a dive spot. Now we know why. The bottom drops dramatically as you move away from the shore line. Where the Palace rests while swinging on her mooring lines is where the water changes from the bright turquoise to the deep blue. So right below us is where the bottom shifts from being predominately sand to coral and reef fish.

Immediately upon jumping in, I saw a turtle swimming below our swim ladder on the bottom. A porcupine fish was loitering around the blocks of cement the mooring lines were attached to, a huge trumpet fish chased a smaller one through the coral, and a trunk fish was seen heading off in the direction of Orpailleur. There were of course the usual schools of sergeant majors and chromis loitering around looking for a handout. Once again, I wished that I could find the wallet with my dive card as all of this beauty, no matter how clear the water, was too deep to truly enjoy with a snorkel. Although, over the next hour, I did my best.

When the genset was done, we followed Orpailleur into town, stopping briefly to say hello to Moon Goddess who had arrived while we were in the marina, and tied up to the dock by Karols. While Gerry checked on some parts he ordered at Budget Marine, Dale took off in the opposite direction to check about the procedures for departing on a Sunday. That left Nicky and I to do what we do best. Methodical shopping. Up one side of the street, checking every store and then down the other. That way we see everything that is available and know who has the best prices. The guys hate it. At one point I mentioned to Nicky that the guys would never believe that we had hit just about every store without finding anything we wanted. Then again, the last couple of stores had some nice souvenirs for the kids and I found an optical shop that could replace a screw that had fallen out of my glasses.

We finished the day with dinner at a place called the Rib Factory. We sat on the balcony and listened to a mariachi band playing at Karols. We even sang Happy Birthday to Dale quietly in 3 part harmony. Well . . . Maybe it was 3 different keys.