Night Dive

Our Grandson took his Advanced Divers certification course while visiting Bonaire.  One of the options in the class is to do a night dive. He got in the water from a dock near the dive shop and did a giant stride into the water at about sundown.

Each diver carries a torch (underwater flash light).  It's a lot of fun watching the lights under the water as they get near the surface. The divers told us that the tarpons followed side-by-side like security guards following the light and eating every fish that was illuminated. 

Rick and I sat on the dock with cocktails and snacks and watched the sunset.  The clouds were spectacular over the island.  Clouds are really great when there is a storm nearby, they move fast across the island and are very high and billowy.

 

Living the dream...Cheetos with rum and Pepsi cocktails on the Dive Friends Dock in Bonaire.

Solar Part 2

When I last reported, the contractor was building the solar bunker to house the equipment and batteries for solar power.  The bunker has been completed and the door has been installed.  That left the painting. We thought we could do that that part ourselves.  What were we thinking?

We have been working on the painting for a month. First we had to let all the plaster dry.  Our painter friend gave us an instrument to measure the moisture content.  This was followed by painting a sealer on all the surfaces inside and out of the bunker.  The sealer dried for a week.  We proceeded with a coat of white paint and waited for drying.  The second coat went on and we waited again.

We painted the floor with two coats of some grey paint we had from painting chairs.  It was too smooth and sticky.  Our painter friend said: " Use this two part epoxy to harden the paint.  You must sand the floor first" . Now the floor has four coats of paint and sealers.

We got up early (7 am for Rick and 8 am for me) on paint days.  It was cooler in the morning to paint and we had all day to recover.  

What a process it has been. The bunker is now completed.  Rick has cut, sanded, painted and installed the security spikes on the top of the bunker and it now looks like a little castle.

We will install a small air conditioner to keep the batteries cool and dry. The whole reason for the bunker was to protect the batteries.

All we need now is the delivery and installation of solar panels and equipment.  This may be like waiting for our paint to dry.

 

Pastrami

"Holy Smokes" is our favorite BBQ place.  Its about 0.5 km from our house.  We can pick it up and get it home to eat before it get cold. They have ribs and turkey legs on the weekend and pulled pork sandwiches Wednesday through Friday.The guys that run it are like neighbors and really nice guys.  Besides food we always have a good conversation while we wait.

They just started making Pastrami sandwiches. We recently tried one and it was awesome complete with sauerkraut, mustard and cheese. It's made from goat.  They buy goat meat roasts and brine them.  It doesn't have much fat but it's still juicy and delicious. 

The goats around the island are the skinniest animals I have seen.  I don't know how they get goat roast from these animals.  The local goat farms must feed the goats better than the wild one walking around. Anyway, here is a photo of the goat roasts.

There is always something new to eat on Bonaire.

 

Groups

Bocce season is over. It's too hot to play and many in our group have left for the summer.  Our Bocce league got team t-shirts.  We call ourselves "Dushi Balls". Dushi is a Papiamentu word meaning love, daring, lovely  or lover. We got orange t-shirts because it is the royal color of the Dutch King. He represents the House of Orange.

 One season is in the books.  Our next seasons starts in January.

Our good friends are leaving for Saudi Arabia to work a year-long contract to gather and analyze data for a coral reef restoration project in the Red Sea. So we had a "Last Supper"  to wish them well on their new adventure. As you can see, Jesus is played by Michelle as she blesses the event.

We traveled to Kansas recently to attend the service for Mike Luce, Rick's brother. Mike wore a tie to work for 40 years. He had a collection of hundreds.  Everyone who attended the service wore one of Mike's ties. This photo is of the Luce family.

It was a profoundly sad event to say goodbye to such a nice man who touched so many people in his community.  Many people spoke of his kindness, charity work and skills as a speech therapist. The theme was:  "Be Like Mike". He will be missed and remembered.

Michael S. Luce 1955-2024