Starlink

We got Starlink! They recently got their permit to provide services on Bonaire and all of us are ordering it.  We are happy to have consistent and high quality internet services.  

The local internet is really weak, slow and inconsistent.  Worst of all, the island internet companies don't care that their service is poor.  They have not invested in upgraded infrastructure.  I think the whole system is held together with duck tape and bad cable hanging from the power poles. I think Starlink will hurt their business because many of the expats have made the shift.

We hope Starlink will add telephone services as well.  That will solve many of our communication issues.  We currently use eSims to get service on the island and when we travel.  In addition, we have a local telephone with service and Google Fi. It would simplify our communications if it could be through one source. 

It took only 10 days to get shipped to us.  It came through DHL.  When we went to pick up our order, the entire back room of DHL was loaded with Starlink boxes. Everything came in two boxes.  It included cables, a flat panel receiver, instructions, router and mounting equipment.

Rick (and a sailor friend of ours) evaluated the house for the best location to mount the flat panel.  The panel must face north-northeast. and have a clear line to the sky.  I expected a dish but Starlink uses a flat panel. Since we have trees, a tall roof and various other obstacles it took some time to identify the best location to mount the equipment.  

Starlink makes hook up and connection easy. There is a phone app to determine the right direction for the panel.  They provided picture diagrams to connect all the pieces and the cabling to the house. 

We are slowly becoming self sufficient with our utilities and lessening our food insecurity.  Our solar is up and running so we don't have to totally depend on island electricity.  Our freezer is humming along making food storage possible and we are less dependent on local grocery stores on a daily basis. Now we have consistent internet services which improves both the quality and quantity of our communication. 

Life on the island keeps getting better and better. 

Venezuela

We had a little excitement on Bonaire a week ago. The air space around Bonaire was closed for big commercial flights for 24 hours.  This was due to the US extraction operation in Venezuela. As you can see from the map, we are close to Venezuela, about 60 miles to be exact.  We did not see any military activity as we are about 150 miles from Caracas. 

It did cause a food and gas panic on the island.  We stood in the checkout  line for 1 hour.  Of course we were with everyone else on the island that was concerned about cargo ships getting into our port to bring supplies.  We had no information from the Island government which is not unusual.  However, we did have US news and a press release from the US Consulate in Curacao.  Apparently, the news traveled fast and we all showed up at the grocery stores not knowing how long we might be without supplies.  This panic left the grocery stores bare for about 2 days.  They restocked quickly and we have had no food shortages.

We were not totally isolated during the 24-hour no fly time, Cruise and cargo ships came in and the inter-island small planes kept flying. Nevertheless, there was a calm nervousness. Buying food and fuel was our first concern (although we were well stocked with both). We didn't worry about our safety because there is nothing but tourists on Bonaire. Certainly, no military or commercial value.

Flights returned within two days. Many people were stranded trying to get to Bonaire and trying to leave. And before you know it, we were all back to normal.

We are safe and sound in Paradise.

 

New Years

New Year's fireworks is a big deal on Bonaire much like most of the  countries around the world. I have always wanted to see the show from the water looking back at the coast line because it lights up with fireworks at midnight.

We boarded the Lady Bellais at 10:30 pm with about 75 others for a New Year's booze cruise. We had the best time.  Many of our friends came too! We cruised around the waters off Kralendijk's coastline.  We drank, we toasted, we kissed and watched the fireworks which went on for 2 hours. It was an incredible show.  Big, really big, fireworks lit up the sky from one end of the island to the other. Its was a magnificent sight.  We even managed to stay up until 2:00 am when the boat docked at the harbor.

New Years day started with our traditional orange cinnamon rolls, eggs and orange slices. Believe it or not, we didn't drink anything but water.

Happy New Year! We welcomed 2026 in grand style.  We hope all of you have a healthy and happy year.

 

Christmas Trip

One Friday evening Rick and I were drinking rum and probably had more than we should have. We thought it would be interesting to find out where our rum was made.  We discovered that the Dominican Republic (DR) is the biggest producer of rum in the Caribbean.....sooo we decided to go and see the distillery, learn about rum, and drink lots of it. 

That's what happens when you drink rum....your end up in the DR having the time of your life.

We will call this our Christmas trip to hide the fact that we just wanted to go and drink rum.

Our first stop was in Santo Domingo, capital of the DR, which is only a one hour direct flight from Bonaire.  It's the oldest city in the Caribbean. We toured the historical old town portion of the city and it was  delightful. 

We had planned to stay at a resort in Punta Cana which is a 3+ hour drive from Santa Domingo.  The drive is a little like Kansas wheat fields only it's sugar cane fields that line the highway for miles and miles. We knew sugar cane means rum, so we were on the right path.

Punta Cana is a beautiful tropical area and boasts a clear water beach.  Although its pretty and the water is blue, it can't compare the water in Bonaire. However, they have lots of rum. Our resort was about 30 minutes north.

The all inclusive resort where we stayed was spectacular.  I suspect it's is like a cruise boat only on land.  It had 10 restaurants, a million bars, planned activities throughout the week, a beach with palapas and a service staff that brings drinks ( in our case it was always rum).  Swimming pools were everywhere and enough lounge chairs for everyone.

The resort was decorated with  spectacular Christmas trees. We even had a visit from Santa. To celebrate our birthdays, the resort delivered a bottle of Prosecco and a HBD birthday cake.

We took a snorkel boat trip which was really an excuse to drink more rum.  The ocean water was warm but rough because of wind and rain.  It was fun all the same because there was dancing, drinking, snorkeling and a shore trip to drink rum out of a coconut.

Our travel companions and good friends helped us celebrate the week of Christmas in fine style. They even drank some rum along the way. 

Merry Christmas to all and Ho, Ho, Ho and a bottle of rum.
 

Happy Birthday To Us

 

As many of you know, December is Birthday month for both Rick and I.  We try and do something special for each other because many times birthdays get lost in Christmas.  This year Rick took me on a sunset-sushi boat ride. 

We boarded the boat along with 10 Dutch speaking tourists ( who also spoke English). They were all very excited to talk to us about moving to and living on Bonaire.  So we became the entertainment for the boat by talking about our experiences.  We met the CEO for Kooyman ( our version of Home Depot) which is a chain throughout the Caribbean and in the Netherlands.  There were attorneys, an electrician, a nurse, young couples, and older couples which made it a delightful evening of drinking Cava discussing island life and eating sushi.

The boat was decorated for Christmas. A pair of moose antlers were at the bow. Nothing like a moose-antler silhouette at sunset on our evening cruise.

It's always amusing to me how the islanders decorate for Christmas.  They have penguins, snowmen, Santa Clauses, reindeer, sleds and everything cold weather places have minus the snow. They could just decorate the palm trees and call it good.

The next day, Rick's Birthday, we flew to the Dominican Republic (DR) for Christmas week. It is just a one hour flight from Bonaire and the home to some of the best rum in the Caribbean. We spent a day in Santo Domingo which is the capital city and I think one of the oldest towns in the Caribbean.  This is  the night view from our hotel. 

We traveled with our friends, the Shelton's, to the DR. It was a perfect combination of sunshine, beaches, good friends and RUM.

Read all about our trip in the "Christmas Trip" blog...coming soon

Holidays

The holidays on Bonaire start with the arrival of Sinter Klaus.  It is always an amazing sight to see him and his Pete's arrive by boat.  The Pete's paint their black faces blacker, put on crazy colorful costumes, and hang on the boat riggings doing crazy things.  The band is playing and pleasure boats accompany Sinter Klaus in a water parade while the people of Bonaire cheer from shore.  Children eagerly await his arrival and often dress in costumes like the Pete's. It's a whole day affair.

Next comes Thanksgiving for all the American Expats.  We started our traditional turkey dinner with orange-cinnamon rolls.

 It took me about two months to collect all the supplies for our dinner.  I brought a can of pumpkin from the States for pumpkin pie.  I found fresh cranberries at the store (which was a miracle) in October and put them in the freezer.  A friend snagged a can of cranberry jelly for Rick and donated it to my cause. I had to by a full turkey this year because the boneless breasts didn't show up.  I waited late to buy potatoes and they were all out of the big ones so I had to get a bag of small new potatoes.  All this involved going to 5 grocery stores multiple times to get the supplies.  It felt like I was on a treasure hunt.

 

The best part of thanksgiving are the left-overs.  We love turkey sandwiches, left over cranberries and pie with mounds of Cool Whip.  I even made turkey soup, just like my mother always did, with veggies and turkey.

On Bonaire, the Antilleans do not celebrate American Thanksgiving (big surprise) but they do have Black Friday.  All the stores offer specials, appliances go on sale, Christmas decorations are put up and out for sale and the parking lots are packed. The island just about goes grid lock with all the traffic. We couldn't resist the fun so we ventured out to look around. We came home with hand soap and a squeegee.

It now "legal" to put up our Christmas tree.  

Happy Holidays from Bonaire.

Golf

One of the things that Rick misses is playing golf. Recently, we brought his golf clubs to Bonaire in the hope that one day he may get a chance to play. That day came at the Piedra So Golf Course on Bonaire.

This is not your typical golf course. You sign up and pay your fees on line,  rent a golf buggy (the push kind, not the driving kind), drive to the other side (east side) of the island and play on rocks and dirt. The wind blows about 20 mph.  Sometimes you are hitting the ball into the wind, sometimes its a cross wind and once in a while the wind is behind you.  No worries about staying out of the trees because there are none.  There are lots of thorny scrub bushes, so  ball retrieval is impossible. There are also no greens and everything is "the rough".

The tee box at each hole is a mound of dirt surrounded by rocks with green AstroTurf on top. This is the only green on the course except for AstroTurf greens.

 

Wood tees are not used.  These hard rubber golf tees are used so that your clubs don't get damaged by the rocks when you swing at the ball.  The tall one is for the driver, and the others are used for shots from the fairway.

This is a typical fairway from the tee box to the green.  This golf course has 9 holes. One of the holes is located about 100 yards from the sea so you can pretend you are at Pebble Beach at the par-3 7th hole famous for its stunning view. Okay it's not a stunning view but its as close as we are going to get.

Rick played with our neighbors who visit from time to time from the Netherlands.  The two sisters took Rick on his maiden golf outing to Bonaire's golf course. Rick had his golf shoes, glove and clubs but the sisters, who also own their own clubs, wore flip-flops to play golf.  Rick was a little amused about it because one of the sister's flip-flops broke and she had to play with one bare foot and one flip-flop. They did not keep score - this was just for fun. 

That's how golf is played on Bonaire.

Freezer

When we moved to Bonaire, a small freezer came with the house.  It was big enough for a bag of ice (we don't have an ice maker), some frozen veggies and meat. One day we were walking through a department /grocery store and saw an upright freezer with a good price.  We were preparing to leave for our two month trip to Europe so we told ourselves we would get it when we returned. We should have known better. When you see something on the island you need to buy it because there is no guarantee it will be there tomorrow.

We went back to get the freezer and it wasn't on display and there was no hope for a new supply.  We looked at freezers that were bigger and more expensive, of course.  We found one that was a scratch and dent.  The store was nice enough to give us a 10 percent discount because of the minor damage and they delivered it for free.  

We went home and cleared a spot in our storage room.  Moved all the frozen items to the apartment freezer. We were all ready for the delivery.

 

Two nice guys delivered the freezer and set it into place. Nothing is very easy or perfect on the island.  The freezer had a minor problem with the roller on the bottom...not part of the scratch and dent on the door. Rick, my talented handyman, repaired it with a screw and a bolt. Perfection.  We now have double the freezer space. Rick always says, " Bigger is Better".

While we were on a buying spree, I also purchased an air fryer.  I have heard so much about them and wanted to give it a try.  It's easier than using our oven, I think....I will let you know.

Cantine Pellegrino , Marsala, Sicily

Pellegrino is the largest producer (out of 20)  of Marsala wines in Sicily. It's a family owned business located in Marsala (not related to the water people). They offer a unique tour and tasting and we took part.

 

Each year they produce cooking Marsala and dinking marsala. For those of you that don't know about Marsala, it is a fortified wine that ranges from dry to very sweet depending on fermentation and added brandy or sugar. Our German tour guide told us all about the process and let us taste three different kinds.  

As an added treat, they had a collection of hand carved and painted carts from the the 19th century.  They were used as a means of transporting goods and people in Sicily up until about the 1920's.  Owning a hand carved and ornately decorated cart became a status symbol and demonstrated the owner's wealth and success. Pellegrino's collection is one of the largest in Sicily.

The "carretti siciliani" or Sicilian carts are part of the island's folklore and history.  Every surface, including the wheels is highly decorated with elaborate carvings and paintings.  The scenes often depict moments from Sicilian history, epic stories, religious figures or chivalrous tales.  Even the underneath of the cart was carved and painted with designs of flowers, people and landscapes. 

Drinking Marsala in Marsala.