I’m starting to get into the habit of finding new and interesting locations from which to dictate my blog each evening.  Tonight I am about a mile from the most southern tip of Bonaire at a place we used to call Far Beach.  Now it is called White Beach, but I would have to disagree with the term beach.  In fact, I’m sitting surrounded by the Caribbean equivalent of a gravel pit.  As far as my flashlight can show me, there are mounds upon mounds of pieces of sun-bleached coral.

 Photos here

Bonaire has never had a reputation for long, sandy beaches, but this used to be the exception.  If I’m not mistaken, this beach was destroyed years ago during a storm.  However, I still have very fond memories of camping out here with my brother and sister when the sandy beach used to be about 20 feet wide.  Now I believe all the sand is under the water.  I came here tonight to scout out the area for when my sister arrives in less than two weeks, as we plan to go camping somewhere in this vicinity.  I’m guessing we will have to get air mattresses in order to cope.

Tonight there is a quarter moon out.  The moonbeams are coming right up to my feet, as I sit three feet from the water’s edge.  The sky is almost completely clear, and there is a pleasant breeze coming from behind me.  To my right, at about the two o’clock position, are the lights of two different oil tankers.  Between them and the beam of moonlight is the glow of Curacao.  To my far right are the towers of Trans World Radio, about two miles to the north.  And to my left, there are only the stars.  In fact, I have driven past all civilization.

What draws me to the beach are the stars.  I know I have mentioned this before, but I never cease to be thrilled by looking into the heavens at God’s handiwork.  I remember going to sleep on the beach as a teenager, staring up at the stars, and trying to see just one more reveal itself, if I stared hard enough.

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This morning I did my impression of Darth Vader, and attacked the insects and fleas in my house.  First, I went around the house and closed every single window.  I still had a bit of air left in my scuba tank from Sunday, so I attached the tank to my BC, hooked up the regulator, got my scuba mask, and turned the tank on.  I had purchased a can of Baygon, which is a heavy-duty insect killer they don’t even sell in Canada.  I started in my bedroom and sprayed everywhere I could think of, all the while breathing out of my regulator.

Next I went to the room where the dogs had been kept for a couple of days during the construction of the back fence, and then proceeded to go through the rest of the house, spraying as I went.

Just as I got to the front door, the Baygon ran out, but I think I was able to do a fairly decent job.  I locked the door, and then removed my gear.  Hopefully, there weren’t any neighbours watching!  As I wasn’t sure whether I would go diving tonight or not, I brought my scuba gear with me to work.

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At TWR, I had devotions, and then sat down to check email and get to work.  I had been meaning to have a sit-down with Brandon for a few days now, and asked him before we began work when would be a good time to sit and chat.  He said he would love to talk, and would let me know as soon as he was free.  Unfortunately, Brandon says he often experiences death by meetings, and today was no different.  He is constantly being called out to meetings at different points on the island and with other staff members.

In the meantime, I started to document the questions I had for him, and ended up with a list three pages long.  I was also able to further refine our discussion paper on the listen-live proposal.

I had brought sandwiches for lunch, as I wanted to get down to the Dive Friends’ Retail Store on the main street before they closed for siesta.  Sure enough, they had exactly the scissors I needed for cutting away fishing line from the reef.  And here is the problem with going shopping:  You never walk away with just the one thing you came in for.  I ended up buying two plastic fish charts that I can bring with me on a dive, two T-shirts and a ball cap.  I charged it to my Visa card, which is the first Visa purchase I’ve made, as I am trying to avoid their service fees.

Next, I dropped down to Wannadive and dropped off my two empty tanks and picked up a full one.  I then let the people at the front desk know that I had a tank.  I love the honour system at all the dive shops down here.

(While sitting here, I saw another shooting star streak towards the horizon, just to the right of the moon.)

After lunch, I answered a few emails, and read up some documentation on compliance issues on the Internet.  Finally around two o’clock, Brandon said he could meet with me, so we went into the conference room, which also functions as the director’s office.  I was thankful that I had things written out, as it allowed me to clearly express my ideas and concerns.  Number one on my list was setting a firm target date for the launch of the website.  After a lengthy discussion, it was agreed that should certain areas of the website not be ready by the end of the month, we would simply de-activate them, and still go live by September 1^st.  This was a real answer to prayer, as previously the plan was to launch sometime by the end of this year, after I had left.  Praise the Lord.  My main concern was answered.

We continued going through various topics, including which staff members would be assisting on different pages on the website, as well as when I would be training the staff to take over for me.  We were able to agree on all points.  I actually was able to bring my iPad in so Brandon could go through the site as we discussed each page.  Brandon is working with me to ensure that the site is ready for launch.  We set some goals, and are feverishly working to complete them.  In short, my meeting with Brandon was a real answer to prayer.

(As I continue to dictate, the waves are pounding steadily at my feet, while the Milky Way stretches to the horizon from above my head to about the eleven o’clock position.  I just heard the first car in the last half hour go by.)

After work, the Pedersens invited me over for supper since they were going to provide me with some flea treatment powder for the furniture in the house.  I will be giving all the mattresses and couches a fine coating of flea powder dust before I leave for work in the morning, just in case the Baygon didn’t get all of them.

On the way out, having fed the dogs before leaving, I dropped by the City Café to ask Albert a question.  Since I’ll be doing my first sensor data collection this Friday night, I wasn’t sure how to pass the reader onto the next diver, as the Yellow Submarine Shop will be closed by the time I leave the water.  The solution was easy.  I simply turn it in the following morning.  I also got the contact information of the lady who does the readings Saturday afternoon, and spoke with her on the phone briefly so that we can avoid any missed connections.  I will only have the opportunity to take the readings on four different Fridays.  Once again, Albert was very helpful and enthusiastic.  He seems to be a natural-born leader in these environmental endeavours.

I arrived at the Pedersens by 6:30.  Their son was very excited to show me a new iPad game called Eden.  I decided to buy my own version for 99 cents, which absolutely thrilled the children.  The problem was that the youngest got so excited, that she didn’t want to come to supper.  Mari cooked a lovely supper of rice, chicken thighs, and also chicken in some type of broth, as well as a Chinese vegetable mix with some teriyaki sauce in it.  I told her she should start her own franchise.  The kids took turns telling funny stories from when they were younger.

After supper, Dave called me into his “man cave,” where he showed me the various computer models of radio signal propagation.  Apparently there is a whole series of ham operators who have a secondary hobby of operating VHF receiving stations.  He was able to bring up a website that tracked all the ships on the ocean, as they are all required to have a VHF transmitter on board.  The receiver he showed me was off the Maldives on the east coast of Africa, and it showed the position and track of all the ships in that area.  The VHF receivers these fellows own privately are plugged into the Internet, and together they form this amazing network.  What I find difficult to understand is that these guys do this all for free, in spite of the cost of the equipment.

Dave then went on to show me his own private website where he has posted some of his scientific papers on radio signal propagation through the atmosphere.  Apparently the ionosphere, high up in the atmosphere,  deflects radio waves.   Under the right weather conditions, it can send a ham signal 3,000 miles away or more.   I didn’t realize how much weather affects radio signals.

Dave has been fascinated by radios since he was a child.  It is wonderful how the Lord has called him into the exact ministry where his radio engineering skills can be used for the Lord by Trans World Radio.  Pray for Dave and the other engineer, Dick Veldman, as they do the design on a couple of projects which are still in the pipeline.

(Another shooting star at about “ten o’clock” to my left!)

By the time we came out of Dave’s “cave,” it was eight o’clock, and I could tell that the children were getting a little tired, so I decided to leave and let the parents get them tucked in.

As happened last Friday, instead of heading back north to my home, I headed south to where I am sitting now.

I’m still overwhelmed with how much I have to be thankful for!

Yesterday I got my first confirmation that the pests were beginning to move into the house!

(Not enough photos to post today)

I went to remove yesterday’s towel from the towel rack, and found a cockroach clinging to the far side of it.  It dropped to the floor, and I quickly stomped on it in my slippers.  Cockroaches make a nice “pop” when you step on them properly.

This morning, I noticed a small black speck on my foot, and when I went to investigate it, it disappeared.  It was a flea!  Last week, the dogs were kept in the house a couple of times while they repaired the back wall.  They apparently left some fleas in my house.

At 7:30, I went out to feed and water the dogs, and just as I was filling the water bowl, I noticed a couple of fleas on my white socks.  I quickly brushed them off, but then decided not to stick around and pet the dogs as I usually do.  I had noticed that the dogs had been constantly scratching, and surmised that they had a few ticks as well.  Today, I got confirmation of that.  So, now we will give the dogs a flea treatment, spray a flea treatment on the yard, and  fumigate the house.

I bought a can of Baygon today, and I’m going to use my scuba tank and regulator for an air supply.  Tuesday, I have to shut all the windows, and then spray until each room is full of insect killer.  I will then leave the house and go to work.  By the time I get home, the nasty pests should be dead.

Speaking of pests, there seems to be a great number of stray dogs roaming the island.  Tonight when I went to the supermarket, there was a dog waiting at the front door.  I don’t know if he had lost his master, or was hoping for a handout.  They are not very mangy critters, but seem to be well-bred dogs that are just loose.

Bonaire also has a multitude of donkeys that freely roam the island.  A couple days ago, I saw a donkey at the back of the Wannadive Shop, tearing apart the garbage bags.  When I have been out driving at night, I often see them at the edges of the roadway, grazing. I sometimes hear them braying in the night.

Apparently some time ago, when the slaves on Bonaire were emancipated… so were all the donkeys!  Now, on Bonaire, you cannot cage or tie up a donkey.

The goats seem to be at about the same number as when my family lived here, and they also freely roam the island.  A herd of them went through the studio site a few days ago.  Most goats actually belong to somebody, but I’m not sure how that works.

Some of the nice creatures are the parakeets that you often see flying around, with their peculiar screech.  I’ve never had my camera in hand when they land in a tree, but they do seem to be very plentiful.  When I used to live on Bonaire, we had one as a pet that had become entangled in a barbwire fence when it was young.  While it was missing one toe, it had a rather impressive vocabulary.  We called him Shadrack, and he would repeat his entire vocabulary every morning as soon as the sun came up.

I’ve also seen a lot of little yellow and black sugarbirds, a few orange and black troepials (orioles), and a great many grey mockingbirds.

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This morning at the office, I worked on removing our test documents from the website in order to get it ready for a public launch.  Many of the pages were filled with test-test, and so on.  I also briefly chatted with Benjamin at head office, and he said that his boss is back from holidays today, and so they will begin to address some of the fixes that are needed.

At noon, I ate a few sandwiches that I had brought with me while I drove into town to see if I could get some surgical scissors to cut fishing line with.  You may have noticed the last photo in yesterday’s album was with Jay holding a whole ball of fishing line which he had removed from the reef.  The scissors come with a nice Velcro holder, which I want to get as well.  Unfortunately, the dive shop I went to didn’t have them.  Next, I went to the Yellow Submarine Dive Shop, but they didn’t have them either.  They referred me to a retail store in the downtown area.  But then the lady stopped herself, and said, “Wait a minute.  They’re on siesta now until 1:30.”  So much for that idea.

Next, I went to the Macho Rental Shop for scooters, to price them for my sister, Joanna.  It seems that if you rent for more than three days, it works out to $18.50 a day for a single-seat scooter.  My concern is whether helmets will be available, as they are not mandatory on Bonaire.  I’m not sure I would like to drive a scooter without a helmet.

After lunch, I went back to sorting photos.  I found a great many duplicate photos, which helped speed up the process somewhat.  I have also found a way of renaming and tagging them in batches, which again speeds things up.

Just as I was going home, I received an email from RTM Brazil, Radio Trans Mundial.  This is TWR’s ministry partner in Brazil.  They answered my inquiry about listener stories, and supplied me with many stories from TWR listeners.  I now have a whole lot of them to choose from!  I ran them through the Google Translator, and saved them into a Word document.  This will be a great help.  I wrote them a response, translated it into Portuguese, and sent it back to them.  It seems their office has over 20 people working in it, so they can be a good resource for us.

Earlier in the day, I felt somewhat tired, and grabbed a second coffee.  Apparently I overdid it on the weekend.  But when quitting time came, I forgot it was five o’clock and worked past it a bit as I was “in the groove.”

As usual, I drove the seaside road on the way home, doing about 30 kilometres the whole way.  I never tire of watching the activity in the ocean.  There are always people snorkelling, swimming, sailing little boats, and people generally just congregating by the seaside.  I again noticed how many Dutch people are here now.

Then it was time to feed the dogs, get some groceries, and head out for supper.  Tonight I ate at the Rumba Café, which is two doors down from the Zee Zicht Restaurant of years ago.  It is amazing that the restaurant is still in business, after all these years, but I didn’t like the special they were offering.  The various restaurants compete for customers by putting little billboards on the sidewalk, advertising the special of the day.  They are quite good, and very reasonable.

After supper, I wandered down the boulevard towards the old fish market.  It is now used as a produce-selling stand for the Venezuelan banana boats.  As I dictate this blog, I’m sitting on the seaside-facing steps, about four feet from the water’s edge.  While I’ve been here, two huge tugs docked to my left, followed a few minutes later by a pilot boat.  My guess is that they brought in yet another super tanker from Venezuela.

There is a series of smaller docks down the coast, and I’ve noticed security guards stationed at various buildings, docks, and condos.  Even Jay’s condo has a security guard.

While there were a few no-see-ums nipping at my legs while I was at the restaurant, the mosquitoes don’t seem to bother me at the water’s edge.

I decided not to go diving today as Jay was unavailable, and my right knee is still bothering me a little bit.

Despite my blog from Saturday, I do occasionally stay above water for more than 24 hours!

Now I’ll go back to reading the book about my namesake, Sir John A. Macdonald, called “Nation Builder.”

Tonight I am dictating my blog while sitting in the middle of the road!

This is the coastal highway that goes from Kralendijk out to the Flamingo Airport.  In actual fact, my feet are hanging over a six-foot drop-off where the road was summarily cut off when they dynamited a new harbour into the interior of the island, probably 25 or so years ago.  It is now called Port Bonaire, with the airport across the road from it.  I am looking across the water at the Dive Friends’ Bonaire Shop, which is one of the Yellow Submarine outlets.  That is where we rinsed our gear after our dives this afternoon.

 Photos here

To my right, just past the entrance to the harbour, I see a small oil tanker docked at the jetty, immediately in front of the runway.  Bonaire now has a small oil terminal for jet fuel, which allows for direct flights from Europe and the U.S.

Behind me is the Plaza Resort Bonaire where I just had supper, a made-to-order stir-fry.  I had to wait in line half an hour in order to get my meal.  I won’t be doing that again.

The layout of this hotel reminds me of the large hotel in Cuba where I stayed last year for my vacation.  It is a series of three-storey bungalows, surrounding large pools and an outdoor disco.  I have now walked out through the other side of the hotel and followed the old road to the edge of the new canal.

The harbour entrance is fairly narrow, with only a small space where the yachts can fit in.  The mouth of the new development seems to be well done, but the back end of the harbour is filled with abandoned buildings.

Today being Sunday, I again attended the International Bible Church on Bonaire.  The service begins at 9:00 a.m., and, as usual, I got a very warm welcome from everyone there.  They are in the habit of passing a wireless microphone around in case anyone wants to give a testimony or a praise item or a prayer item.

Pastor Toto delivered a very good sermon on the verse in I Samuel 16:7 that says, “For man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  I find these services more moving than I am used to.  I’m not sure if the Lord is doing a work on my heart or not.

After the service, Brad Swanson got up and said that they would be having open session for our first week of Sunday School.  Here Sunday School follows the morning service rather than preceding it.  This past Monday, all the school children on Bonaire returned to school from their six-week summer break, so Sunday School is starting up here as well.  After Brad’s announcement, a series of Sunday School teachers introduced their classes to the congregation.  Brandon Neal is in charge of the young people (12 and up), and will be running a series on apologetics.  There is also an adult Sunday School class, and I believe they will also have a 12-week series on apologetics.

I have found the congregation to be a very pleasant mix of Dutch people, Bonairian people, some from Suriname, and, of course, some from Trans World Radio.  The project manager for construction of the new Sunday School rooms is Walt Bentsen.  Apparently they are over halfway to the goal for the fund-raising project.

Walt’s wife, Lynne, had a diving accident about a year ago in which she got badly bent.  Apparently it was due to some new medication that she was on that caused her body to react differently to the nitrogen absorption.  Immediately after the dive, she felt a stabbing pain in the middle of her back, which turned out to be an air embolism in her spinal column.  She was confined to a wheelchair for a few months, but now seems to be fine.  Her diving is restricted to one atmosphere, or 33 feet.  I spoke with her, and she said she longs to go deeper, and will gradually start to do so.  I forgot to ask her if she was diving Nitrox, as that is a fair bit safer.  I have begun diving exclusively Nitrox, as Wannadive makes it available as a free upgrade.

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After church, I drove over to Wannadive and picked up a couple new Nitrox tanks and dropped off the two tanks from yesterday.  At $8 a fill, it gives me virtually unlimited diving here.  Competition is wonderful!

I then had lunch at the Flamingo, and gave Jay a call, who picked me up at 1:30.  We dropped by Bruce’s to pick up his spare regulator which Bruce had just repaired.  Bruce seems to be the foremost scuba-gear repairman on the island.  If there is not any significant repair made, he doesn’t even charge.  I bought another bottle of Auro-Dri for my ears while I was there.  I also found out that the refresher half-day course for PADI scuba diving that my sister may want to take is $55.  Joanna will be here in two weeks, and I can hardly wait!

We then discussed where we wanted to go, and he said there was an unnamed site just after LARRY’S LAIR and before JEANNIE’S GLORY.  This is just short of the salt pier.

Much of the coastline here out past the transmitter seems to have been eroded, with small tidal pools between the road and the higher bit of coral right at the shoreline.

Dive 1:  LARRY’S LAIR

There was a slight ledge at the water’s edge, and then we were off.  On this dive, I decided to take my snorkel so that I could be face-down while snorkelling out to the drop-off.  It was our intention to drop straight to 30 metres so that my lion-hunter friend, Jay, could begin hunting his prey.  Just before I submerged, I detached the snorkel, and stowed it in the pocket of my BC.  This seemed to work out very well.

Under water, Jay looks like he is quite the warrior, with his lion fish spear, his collection bag, the knife on his leg, and a couple of scissors attached to his shoulder straps.

We dropped straight to 30 metres, and began our search.  The first lion fish, he missed, as well as the second one.  I spotted some fishing line strung between two coral heads, and motioned to Jay to lend me his scissors.  I cut the line in several pieces and discarded it—-my good deed for the day.  Jay also collected a bunch of fishing line, but he wound it up and took it with him. I must try to pick up a pair of scissors of my own on Monday.

The next lion fish was successfully speared and inserted into his collection bag.  Then we saw a large one, but he missed that.  The following medium-sized one was successfully deposited in his collection bag.

On our exit to the shore, I almost stumbled when climbing over the ledge.  I’m carrying about 70 pounds of gear on my back, and it can be a bit awkward at times.  My right knee is bothering me now ever so slightly, so I probably strained it just a bit, but it’s nothing serious.

The unfortunate part is, as we neared the shore, Jay turned around and started to fiddle with his bag.  It was only then that we realized that the side zipper had become undone, and the lion fish had escaped!  No filet of lion fish tonight.

During the dive, Jay had shown me his pressure gauge, which had been fluctuating about 300 psi, which indicates a malfunction.  When we took the regulator off, he found that the filter was covered in what looked like salt, but we later decided it was aluminum oxide.  My guess is that his air tank was dirty on the inside.

Since we had an hour between dives, as usual, we decided to drive back to see Bruce to get his opinion.  Bruce briefly took the regulator apart, and agreed that it was probably an issue inside the tank.  Since this was a Nitrox tank, it will have to be oxygen cleaned before it can be used for Nitrox again, should we have to remove the valve.  Since it was due to be hydrostatically checked in four months, Jay decided that he will remove the valve to see what the situation is.  An oxygen-cleaned tank means that it has been scrubbed from all impurities, like trace amounts of carbon.  Since we breathe 50% more than the normal level of oxygen, there is a slight risk of combustion, should there be combustible materials in the tank, even if they are only trace amounts.  You cannot use a Nitrox tank interchangeably with air.

Dive 2:  PUNT VIERKANT

For our second dive, we had planned to go a bit further south, but I spotted the dive site called PUNT VIERKANT (meaning Four Corners).  Jay had actually never dove this site, which was surprising. Again the entrance was through some tidal pools, which I don’t recall being there before.  We drove through what looked like an abandoned construction site to get to the shore.  This is a rather sad looking, four-storey building, that was only halfway finished, and now seems to have been completely abandoned.  It reminds me of the Sorobon Hotel on the east coast that we found abandoned when we used to live here some thirty years ago.

When we entered the water, I immediately spotted a lobster.  We found a few more lobsters further down.  There was a fairly significant current coming from our left, so we did the first part of the dive into the current, facing left.

(As I’m sitting here dictating tonight, I can see another prop plane preparing for take-off.  I believe it is the same aircraft I came to the island in with Insel Air.)

Back to the dive at PUNT VIERKANT:

On the way back from our dive, we basically floated all the way to the exit point.  As we were swimming a long distance underwater to shore, I felt we were off-heading, so we surfaced.  Sure enough, we were a few hundred metres off course.  It didn’t look like it was very far, but it was actually a hard go as we had to fight the current the whole way.  I probably had to swim harder than I’ve done on any dive since I’ve been here.

Over all, the beauty of the coral and the soft corals, as well as the abundant fish life, made it one of the best reefs we have seen so far.  There is even some elkhorn coral here.  However, we only spotted a tiny lion fish that managed to get away.  My guess is that the lion fish avoid the high-current areas.  On the way back, we rinsed our gear at the Port Bonaire Dive Shop.

After a shower, I decided to walk further south to where I am sitting now to do this dictation.  As usual, it is a balmy night, with a nice breeze—-just perfect!

Oh, the trials I face here on Bonaire! It seems my wet suit is always wet! I hang it up to dry overnight, but by the time I’m ready for my next dive, it’s still damp. I know you are supposed to dry your clothes after you wash them, so the same must be true for my wet suit. But with my dive schedule, it’s impossible to get it completely dry. Whatever am I to do?

 Photos here

It’s going to smell before long, and I’ll have to wash it out in salt water again, which is, of course, why I go diving every day. After all, you can’t have it smelling. What would the neighbours think? So I’ll just have to persevere with my ‘always wet suit.’

But, wait. Do I hear someone say, Why not just stop diving for a couple of days? Now, don’t be ridiculous. Haven’t you seen the license plates down here? They read, Diver’s Paradise! I have no choice. I’m a diver. What can I do? Not dive every day? Perish the thought.

Oh my . . . moving on.

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Tonight I’m dictating my blog from one of the lawn chairs on the dock at Divi Flamingo Beach Club. In front of me is yet another aircraft approaching from the direction of Curaçao.

On our way back from our dive this afternoon, we noticed lines of cars parked at the end of the runway by the airport, so I asked Jay to pull over as well. I wanted to check out what people do for fun down here. Sure enough, there was the huge, three-engine KLM jet on approach. I was able to whip out my camera and shoot a video of it roaring overhead. How exciting!

You would think with the airport being the lifeblood of this island, flights would be a little more frequent. It seems they are mostly on Friday and Saturday. In fact, for the last while, direct flights are less common, and getting a flight to Bonaire can be somewhat difficult.

1st Dive:  FRONT PORCH

This morning started with meeting Albert at the FRONT PORCH dive site. When I got there, I discovered that he had some Dutch people with him, one of which was going to accompany us on our dive. This was to be my training dive to become a volunteer for the Sea Monitor Foundation Bonaire.

Albert was very thorough, and described in detail what is involved. First, I was issued my official piece of Scotch-brite (a green, nylon scrub pad).

He demonstrated the data collector. He had a scrap sensor which he inserted into the slot in the reader. You then press a little lever (which contains a magnet) onto the casing, which turns the unit on, and the middle yellow light starts to blink, which says Transfer. The transfer takes about ten or more seconds while it downloads the last week’s data. Then the green OK light turns on, and you remove the sensor. Then you press the OFF button on the data collector.

Before you do any of this, of course, you have to clean the sensor off with your scrub pad. Even though we visit the monitoring sites weekly, there is actually a fair amount of algae that grows on it every week. The green algae is easy to remove, but the white algae is more difficult. Apparently the white algae is the precursor to fire coral. The fire coral takes root on the base that the white algae provides. Sometimes I have to use my knife to scrape it off.

Each sensor records the water quality reading every 60 seconds. Each reader is capable of storing 16 days’ worth of information. The battery is able to last for up to two years.

Once the data has been collected, it is downloaded to Albert’s computer, and given a quick assessment. If the data is all correct, it is then uploaded to a university in the United States.

The floater bottles are located at a depth of five metres. This was the agreement with the harbour master, as any ship can pass over it without getting caught in the mooring line. We also did not want boats tying off on our sensor lines. The first sensor is just below at about five metres, and is a single, full-spectrum sensor. The next stop has three sensors at 12 metres. The top sensor has a green filter over the optical input. The second sensor has a blue light filter, and the bottom sensor is clear.

Down further at 20 metres, this pattern of three sensors repeats.

We donned our gear and headed out to the sunken tug that I had dove to on Monday. Albert was going to demonstrate the first sensor, so I watched him as he vigorously scrubbed the two upside-down Coke bottles. They are attached to the rope by a zip tie. There was a fair bit of white algae on the bottles, so Albert took out his diving tool (knife) and vigorously scraped most of it off. He then ran his hand down the line, and started cleaning the first sensor. It, too, needed a bit of help from his knife.

He snapped the sensor into the data reader, and with me watching, clicked the ON button. Sure enough, the yellow transfer light began flashing, and then switched to OK. He removed the data collector, and turned it off.

Down the rope we went to 12 metres, where I took over, and began cleaning the first sensor. While I was doing this, Albert clipped the safety line of the reader to my BC. I then inserted the sensor, and collected the data. The next two sensors went just fine.

Next, it was on to the bottom sensors at 20 metres. By this time, I guess Albert figured I had a handle on it, and he swam off further down to the wreck where our Dutch friend had already arrived.

After I finished, I joined them, and tried to find the name of the wreck on the side. It is something … State… The wreck is at about a hundred feet, so after a few minutes, we headed back up the slope to about 60 feet.

We had just started swimming along for about three minutes when Albert said he had to go in the other direction, but we were to stay where we were. He swam off into the mist, holding his scissors. It was then that I realized he had forgotten to remove a defective sensor and replace it. He was back in about five minutes.

I did not bring my camera on this dive as I wanted to concentrate on the training session. As we got to shallower water around six metres, I discovered a sea cucumber, and picked it off the bottom and handed it to our Dutch friend. They are rather rubbery, but have tiny, sticky feet on the bottom. I made sure to replace it exactly where I had found it.

As we neared the shore, Albert started pointing up. It was the mother and what I thought was the sister of our Dutch diver. They seemed very happy to see us. I still had about 80 bar left on my tank, so I decided to see if they wanted to try breathing out of a regulator. I surfaced, and they were eager to try it out. At first, the young lady couldn’t get the hang of it, so her mother showed her how it’s done. You actually have to exhale with a bit of force to make the regulator work. I had forgotten all about this. I extended my arm, which she grabbed, so she wouldn’t float away past the end of my spare regulator on the longer yellow hose. We swam around for about three minutes, and then separated, and went to shore.

When I got there, I could see Albert had just barely got out of the water, so I asked her if she would like to try submerging while still breathing. I simply blew off my BC and sank to the bottom, but she had a hard time submerging, as she had no weights on. She was able to grab a stone and stay under for about a minute. She seemed very excited about the whole experience.

Once I got to shore and had removed my equipment, I discovered that she was actually the Dutch diver’s girlfriend and not his sister. It was a bit awkward, but at least I think I may have encouraged her to take up diving some day.

Next, it was off to the Hamlet Dive Shop to be introduced to the staff there. I registered my scuba card so that I can pick up free tanks of air when I go diving to service the sensors. I plan to go next Friday.

One thing I’ve noticed about Bonaire is that there are dive shops all over the place. This particular one looked to be no more than a year old, and the owner was busy painting something.

To the south, we could see a rain storm by the transmitter site, and Albert said he wasn’t sure my afternoon dive down there would be a good idea. He then waved goodbye to me, and said, “Welcome aboard!” It seems I have passed his training course, and am now part of the Sea Monitor Foundation Bonaire.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a quick lunch and a pickup of two Nitrox tanks at Wannadive, I headed over to Jay’s, and we loaded things in his truck. He said he wanted to try to dive RED SLAVE, which was almost at the south end of the island. As we were passing my house, I dropped my car there, and we carried on in his truck. When he got to RED SLAVE, he said he wanted to look further south to see if it was calm there as well. We went to the radar tower and checked, but he didn’t like the breakers out at sea. We went even further to the lighthouse, where he again got out and checked the sea, but there were too many rolling breakers there as well.

We returned to halfway between the radar tower and the RED SLAVE dive spot, where the breakers were only coming in one at a time, so off we went.

2nd Dive: RED SLAVE

Shore entries can be sometimes tricky. Jay said to watch the waves, as a big one hits every seventh wave. Once we were in the water, we put our mask on and then our fins, and then swam on our back to conserve air on our way out to the drop-off. I’ve discovered that most experienced divers don’t use a snorkel as it is cumbersome once you are submerged.

This dive site had a great deal of mature staghorn coral. In fact, it is the best site on Bonaire for this formerly common coral species. Jay was very excited to see that one area of the reef had survived the devastation of five years ago.

Once we got out to about 30 feet deep, we submerged and headed down the slope. Jay wanted to go to 30 metres, as that is where the lion fish tend to hide.

The first lion fish he almost had with his spear, but it managed to escape. The second one also disappeared beneath a rock. We did discover two lobsters under a rock ledge. The next time, he was successful, and was able to place a medium-sized lion fish in his carrying bag.

The fourth lion fish was also a medium-sized one, but when he put it in his bag, the spearhead fell off and ended up in the bag along with the lion fish. There was no way he could retrieve it without getting hurt, so that was the end of our hunt. We then turned around, and headed back in the direction we came from.

At the end of the dive, I was pleased that I had a fair bit more air left over than Jay did. It seems I have gotten used to moderating my breathing, as all professional divers do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This was a two-tank dive, but we needed an hour’s surface interval between them, so we went to the kite surfing spot about a kilometre up the road. I was able to shoot some good videos of this amazing sport. It is especially impressive when they catch about ten feet of air on their turn-around. Jay said that he has been trying to learn it, but has only gotten out of the water once so far. I’m just going to stick to scuba diving.

We drove further up the road, and got out at the salt pier. Jay laid out the underwater geography. There are about eight mooring points for the large freighters that pick up the solar salt. There were no ships at the dock today.

3rd Dive: SALT PIER

This entry was very easy, although you had to watch your step on some slippery spots. Since this was the third dive of the day for both of us, we stayed fairly shallow, only going down about 15 or 16 metres.

Under the dock, I found a trio of queen angel fish which appeared to be fairly young and remarkably tame. In my estimation, queen angel fish are the most beautiful of all fish. They seem to have a sapphire jewel mounted on their forehead, along with bright blue and yellow colours. I got a few good shots and even a video of them.

As we came out to the front of the dock, we noticed a great deal of debris strewn across the bottom that had apparently been thrown off the dock at some point.

We spotted a large barracuda down deeper, and as we rounded the side of the dock, we saw a five-foot long tarpon. The tarpon are fished here to service the restaurant business.

I saw numerous schools of fish sheltering in the shadow of the dock. I also noticed some blue tangs feeding in a group of about 20, all in one spot.

Over all, the beauty of this reef was in the decorated pilings going down into the sand to support the dock. Nature can take over artificial objects and do a remarkable job of beautifying them.

After we exited the water, Jay drove to Bonaire Port, which is the new cut-out into the land where they have built a luxury-home development. This is where the road used to go straight along the coastline toward the airport, but you now have to drive all the way around the development. Jay did not know that this entire harbour area was man made. This dive shop also belonged to Yellow Submarine, and we were able to rinse our gear there.

This part of the development near the shore seems to be quite well done. However, in some of the back bay areas, construction has stalled.

After Jay dropped me off, I sorted my photos, and then headed over to the Divi Flamingo for supper.

As I said to Jay, I’m starting to fall in love with this lifestyle, and may be loathe to go home on September 15. Thanks to Paul Wagler for choosing a shift for me that starts with a Monday off.

Tonight I’m a little bit late dictating the blog on my cell phone. It is about 10:30 at night, and rather than go straight home from movie night at the Pedersens, I decided to head further south and look at the stars. I’m sitting on the beach, immediately across from the gates to our transmitter site. I brought my dive light with me and a lawn chair. I’m sitting looking toward the south over the water and the beautiful waves that lap at my feet. To my left, about 20 miles away, there’s a thunder cloud that intermittently flashes lightning and lights up the sky. Immediately in front of me, I just saw a shooting star streaking towards the water. To my right, I see the lights of a tanker ship heading toward Bopec or somewhere. Just to the left of the ship lights, I see a glow on the horizon, which must be Curaçao.

Photos here

I wish Brad Swanson was here with me, as he is an avid star gazer. He could probably point out most of the stars, and tell me what constellation they are in. All I know is that it is a spectacular scene! I am away from the city lights, and there is no moon out tonight, so the visibility is great. Just overhead and stretching towards the south, it looks a bit like a band of clouds, but I believe that is the Milky Way.

Today started with packing the scuba gear into the jeep and heading to work. I’m beginning to get into the routine of going scuba diving immediately after work.

During devotions, a couple of us prayed about some of the roadblocks I described yesterday in our website development. Then, later in the morning, I dropped by Brad’s office to discuss some of the details… and I suggested an idea that may be able to work.  So, I have put together a document to be reviewed by the decision-makers and we’ll wait and see what happens!  We hope to hear something on this (online streaming) issue within the next year.  Keep praying!

By the way, I just saw another shooting star zipping towards the south above the salt-loading pier.

At noon, I went over to the Wannadive Shop beside Eden Beach and registered with them, and picked up a Nitrox tank. They have the best rates I’ve yet found, being $8 for local residents, which I currently am. This compares to $18 for an air tank with the $10 Nitrox upgrade from Divi Dive, which is across from my house. Wannadive also has a door code so you can access or drop off the tanks any time, day or night. They also have two filling stations, one of which is near the airport. I had lunch at the small restaurant on the beach beside Wannadive.

Back at work, I tweaked a few areas on the website, and reported some more issues to Laura. At this point, we are still waiting for the Tech Support Team in the U.S. to fix most of these issues.

In the afternoon, I continued working on the photo sorting. It was interesting to see some of the photos from 1999 and 2000 when they raised the new towers. My problem is, I am unable to identify most of the people in the pictures, but that can be done later. Altogether, it was a much more upbeat day than yesterday.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At 5:00 o’clock, I left promptly, and headed across the road to Jay’s place where we loaded up his pickup truck with our scuba tanks.

I said, “So where are we going?” He said, “I’m going to take you to something special.” And I thought, Well, that’s very nice. I wonder what dive site that is? There must be something special under there. I wondered why he wasn’t telling me the name of the dive site.

We drove past the yacht harbour and took the first road towards the coastal road. Instead of turning left, he turned right into the dead end, and parked right beside a huge condo complex.

I said, “So what’s the name of this dive sight?” He said, “It’s called SOMETHING SPECIAL.” Then I got it.

Dive Site: SOMETHING SPECIAL

We suited up, and Jay included his lion fish hunting gear. He had a long, multi-pronged spear-type of tool, a guard over his hand and forearm, and he strapped a large barbecue knife onto his leg, as well as a bucket to contain the lion fish he hoped to get.

Right after we submerged, he started pointing to something over the sand. I couldn’t see what he was indicating, so I grabbed my writing slate and handed it to him. He explained that there were three tiny fish that had just emerged from the holes about 10 feet in front of us. I peered, and was barely able to make them out. They were just over an inch long.

The next thing I saw looked like some type of sea snake. It didn’t seem to mind our presence at all, and continued poking around in the sand, not four feet from where I was filming it.

Jay decided to go deep, so we went to 30 metres, and cruised along at that depth for about 20 minutes. Nitrox allows you more bottom time, but limits your depth to not much more than 30 metres. Jay was just in front of me when I passed a lobster, looking out with his tentacles from under a rock ledge. I grabbed my noise maker and gave it a shake to rattle the ball bearings inside, and Jay turned around. I got in close for a couple of pictures.

Not 20 feet further, Jay spotted his first lion fish. It was a juvenile, but he managed to spear it. He then took his knife out and pierced it. Then he swam back the way we had come, and handed the dead lion fish over to the lobster! He gently pushed it up right in front of the lobster’s mouth. The lobster moved forward gingerly, and started to eat it. The video is a bit murky, but not bad.

At 30 metres, there was mostly sand below us, stretching out to the undersea horizon, with the rock slope going up to our right. After the turn-around, we swam at about 24 metres on the way back. My 50-bar low air pressure warning had just gone off when Jay spotted a large lion fish. He moved in very carefully, and then jabbed with his spear, but the lion fish saw him coming, and darted back into his hole, out of reach. It would have been big enough to make good eating.

I showed Jay my dive computer display, and I motioned to Jay that it was time to head back up.

All during the dive, Jay pointed out interesting sights, and he is probably better than any dive master I have been with. In fact, he is a qualified dive master, which makes me a very lucky guy.

I surfaced with about 25 bar left in my tank.

During the dive, we had heard various boats go overhead. Jay told me that if it sounds as loud as a motorcycle, you need to get down and hug the bottom, as a motor boat can be fatal to a surfacing diver.

Just as we broke the water, I saw kids playing on a surfboard, and having lots of fun in the water. By their tans, I’m guessing they play half the day in the water every day.

I noticed Jay swam the last little bit on the surface, while I stayed underneath, as it is easier to swim that way. Apparently his tank had run dry. In actual fact, he carries what is called a pony tank strapped to the back of his large tank. It actually has its own regulator and pressure gauge, and holds 13 cubic feet of air. This would be about 10 or 15 minutes’ worth. It serves as a back-up if he dives solo, since he wouldn’t have a partner to act as a back-up. Occasionally he dives solo, although this is not his preference. Apparently, many underwater photographers also dive solo, so it is a lot more common these days than it used to be.

After we came up, he swung by the Yellow Submarine Shop, not three blocks away, to drop off his tank and rinse off his gear. It was closed, but Jay works there, so that was very convenient. I rinsed my gear as well. Then it was back to Jay’s house where I loaded the stuff back into my car, changed my clothes, and then headed home. After quickly feeding the dogs, it was back in the car and off to Pedersens for pizza and movie night. I got the usual warm welcome from the kids, and the fight about who would sit next to me. I must say, they spoil me. Best of all, we watched the second Star Wars movie, “Attack of the Clones,” on their big-screen TV. Life doesn’t get much better.

The time is now 10:53, so I should get going, as I have a dive planned at ten in the morning. I’m looking forward to this dive, as it will be my training dive to work with the Sea Monitor Foundation.

The stars still blanket the sky, and I’m reluctant to leave this magical place!

Today was the most challenging day at work so far.  My guess is that we are making progress for the Lord’s kingdom, and the devil has taken note.

I am reminded of the opposition Nehemiah faced when the wall was about halfway completed. In Nehemiah 3 you read about all the amazing progress the Jews had made restoring the wall around Jerusalem. In my first two weeks here, we have made great progress building our website. Today I discovered that the staff here actually had a website at twrbonaire.com in 2002, but it was taken down about 6-7 years ago.  Only now have they had available staff to once again entertain the idea of maintaining a website.

In the next chapter of Nehemiah, the opposition to the rebuilding began. I believe we have just experienced much the same thing here.

 Photos here

It seems there were several roadblocks thrown in our way today with respect to the website development, so I would ask for prayer that we can overcome these challenges and move ahead.

It appears that streaming a live audio feed is a more involved process than I originally thought.  I’m amazed at the amount of legal compliance that is required when it comes to IPR (intellectual property rights) issues!  To comply with all the regulations would be a bit too involved to pursue at this time, so we are tabling the issue for now.

However, TWR is currently developing some amazing online resources that can stream audio content.  This new system can handle providing great content (in hundreds of languages) to listeners all over the world.  TWR Bonaire plans to use this tool once it becomes available.  This tool is called “LinguaDMS,” or LinguaBlast.  Please be in prayer for the development of this project!

Most of my day was spent on editing the photos.  I find it somewhat difficult when I don’t really know what I’m looking at, as these photos are ten (or more) years old, and taken when I was not here.  I labelled them and tagged them as best I could.

I also took a fair bit of time to document the process I was using to sort the photos.

At noon, I strolled down towards the yacht harbour, and had a very nice lunch at the Bistro de Paris.  It was interesting sitting beside these beautiful yachts floating at their docks only a few feet away.  Beside the café is Village Harbour, a fairly new development that seems to have been well executed.  It looks a bit like a Spanish villa, and is well maintained.

After lunch, I went back to editing and sorting photos.

In regards to the website development, we are waiting to hear back from our Tech Support Stateside.  Until they can make repairs to our software, we cannot do much further development, hence my work on photo sorting instead.

So please pray that I will be able to be patient and understanding, while at the same time knocking on doors to see if they may open.  Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom as we address issues concerning the website. After all, Nehemiah’s people held a weapon in one hand and a trowel in the other hand and still got the wall built. I believe the Lord sent me down here to get the website built.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today I left in good time to meet my dive instructor at the south end of the island for my final deep-dive test.  Regardless of the challenges of the day, I can always look forward to slipping underneath the waves into another world.

I picked up my tank at Bruce’s dive shop, changed, and put the equipment in my car, and continued south past the transmitter site, and just past the salt pier to a sight called INVISIBLES.

As I drove past the Cargil Salt Company, I could see the front-end loaders scraping up the salt on one of the salt pans.  It seems the solar salt business is still booming.

INVISIBLES Dive Site

Ebby arrived in his pickup truck shortly after I did, and we suited up and entered the water.  The entry was quite easy, and we snorkelled out to the marker buoy in about 30 feet of water.

We then blew off our BC’s and sank below the waves, and headed out to sea.  One of the first things I noticed at a depth of 30 feet was some garden eels in the sand.  What was remarkable is they didn’t seem frightened at our presence.  These are the same garden eels that you see a hundred feet down that you can never get close to before they disappear in their little holes.  But these tiny, slender eels continued waving with the current, occasionally snapping at invisible bits of plankton.  I didn’t have time to stop and take pictures as we were headed for deeper waters.  Today was a teaching dive, and not strictly a fun dive.

We proceeded down the slope and across a bit of sand and up onto a second reef.  It is this second reef that is invisible from the shore, hence the name.  It runs from about 80 feet down to 120 feet.  My depth gauge registers in metres, and we went down to 32 metres, or just over a hundred feet.  We swam slowly along the reef, and then across another sand flats to a different reef.  On these sand flats, you could see the garden eels waving in the current in the distance, but directly below us there were only tiny holes where they had disappeared.

After 15 minutes, we began our slow ascent to the surface, spending most of our time around 60 feet deep.  At one point, Ebby pointed into the deeper water towards the surface where what looked like a big tarpan was cruising by.  It appeared to be over six feet long, but quickly disappeared back into the haze.  I also noticed that there seems to be a fair bit of sediment in the water here.  You can see little bits of material floating everywhere in front of your mask.

I had Ebby take a couple pictures of me while I was down there.  Typically, I don’t have a dive instructor all to myself, so I don’t usually have this opportunity.

At one point, I noticed soft corals that looked a lot like a combination of a fern and a bush that seemed to grow everywhere.  Near the end of one branch, I noticed all the branches were tied in a tight knot.  I grabbed Ebby’s fin, and then pointed to the ball of soft coral branches, and motioned as to what that might be.  He reached into his BC pocket and pulled out a notepad, and wrote that it was a star fish that would come out at night.  Apparently it had wrapped a little blanket around itself while it slept during the day.

I also noticed several of the parrot fish darting quickly back and forth.  I’m not sure if the twilight had sent them into an elevated activity, but typically parrot fish move slowly along the reef as they graze with their beaks on dead patches of coral.

Closer to shore, I noticed a large puffer fish.  They have the cutest, huge, saucer-like eyes, and are fairly slow swimmers.  You can see the spines tucked in along their skin which would extend if they were to inflate into a round ball shape, should they be attacked.  But we were just more tourists coming through, so he just ignored us and swam along.

The second one I noticed was near a bald patch in the sand that seemed to have been dug out.  Once we surfaced, I asked Ebby what that was.  He said that was a spot where an eagle ray most likely had been feeding.  I had shot a video of that about a week ago.  Apparently they root in the sand, looking for conch shells to feed on.  Ebby said that if you come on a night dive, you can see the conch shells come out of the sand to feed.  I’m amazed at how many new things you learn on each dive!

After we exited the water and dried off a bit, I filled out my log book and had Ebby sign it, along with his instructor number.  I will now scan this in and email it back to Groundhog Divers where I took the in-class portion of my Deep Diver Speciality Course with SSI.  Once that is processed, I will officially be certified as a deep diver.  That will allow me to be able to dive on wrecks without any hassle from dive masters, wanting to know if I was qualified to do those kind of dives.  In actual fact, though, because deep dives involve less bottom time, I don’t expect I’ll actually be doing that many of them.  Most of the scenery is good up until 80 or 100 feet.  More than a hundred feet, it tends to thin out, due to the lack of sunlight   So unless there is a wreck that interests you, there is not often a good reason to go any deeper.

After Ebby left, I met a few tourists from Florida, and we took each other’s photos.  We chatted for a while, and they seemed enthralled with the beauty of the reefs on Bonaire.  Apparently in 2010, some scuba organization rated the Bonairian reefs as the best in all of the Caribbean.  But as I explained to them, the reefs are not quite as good as they were 30 years ago.  However, to be honest, I try not to notice the damage, but just concentrate on the beauty, of which there is still plenty.

Right after work tomorrow, I’m hooking up with Jay for a dive.  We meet at his house at five.  It is wonderful to finally be in the routine of work, and then a dive immediately after.

Signing off until tomorrow.

Today was another busy day at the office.  I started the photo sorting exercise, and am writing out procedural guidelines as to how I tag and rename the various photo files.  This project will likely take at least a couple weeks to complete, as there are some 10,000 photos to go through.

At lunch, I took Donna, the lady in charge of finances, out for dinner.  Donna told me a bit about her background.  She has been on Bonaire for some time, and could tell me quite a bit about various aspects of the island. She is the lady that told me about Captain Don’s appearances. It is nice to have a local person’s help to edit my blog.

In the afternoon, I received a response from one large radio network regarding my inquiry about the cost of streaming audio.  While I can’t get into the details, TWR has an existing relationship with an online streaming service.  In short, much of what I learned was very encouraging news, but will warrant further investigation.

I now have a key and the alarm code to the TWR-Bonaire office, which allows me extra freedom in my work schedule.  I find that Brad is a very helpful person.  He also wears many hats, including computer repair for Donna.

It is nice to have Dick Veldman working in the office again.  His second oldest son dropped by the office today to see his father.  The Veldmans seem to have a very nice family.  I spoke to Dick about the possibility of us going scuba diving together, and it should likely happen after his two oldest children return to Holland next week.  I enjoy practicing my Dutch with Dick.

I was also able to help Donna translate some Dutch on an Internet form that she was working on, and then showed her how to use translate.google.com.  I must make more Dutch friends around the island so that I can practice my Dutch even more.  It has gotten a little more rusty than I would like.

Immediately after work, I drove to the downtown area right across from where the former fish market used to be.  It now is a vegetable market that is used by the banana boats from Venezuela.  I took a couple of pictures, but I won’t put them up until tomorrow.

I then walked across the street to the City Café where I met Albert Bianculli who is the head of the Sea Monitor Foundation Bonaire.  I was there to be interviewed for the position of Volunteer Data Collector for some of the floating sea monitoring sites along the coastline.

Albert Bianculli of the Sea Monitor Foundation Bonaire

Albert is a retired advertising executive from the States, and seems to be an avid environmentalist.  He founded the Sea Monitor Foundation, which provides scientific readings of the health of our ocean over a ten-year period.  They have already been monitoring for six years, with four more to go.  They are completely independent of any government organizations, and are funded by volunteer workers and donations from local scuba divers.  One nice thing is that I will get free air fills when I’m doing a dive for the Sea Monitor Foundation.

Below is some information about the Sea Monitor Foundation:

“The goal of operating the sensors is to measure biological productivity and nutrient load that may be caused by runoff or seepages from the coastal septic tanks.  The Sea Monitor’s sensor approach seeks to use a chlorophyll sensor which uses low-cost materials.  Phase I has deployed 14 sensors along the leeward coast of Bonaire.  Each sensor array is on an independent mooring line.  There are three optical sensors–one white, one blue, and one green–at a depth of 5 metres, 12 metres, and 20 metres, for a total of nine per array.  Each sensor uses its advanced optics and temperature readings to collect data every 8 minutes.  The raw data is later transmitted to a U.S. lab where it is analysed and posted as public information.”

Albert explained that the data extraction from the sensors is magnetically activated.  The diver approaches the sensor that’s suspended on a line from an anchor on the bottom, and uses a rag to wipe the algae off of the sensor.  Then the probe is inserted over top of the sensor, and the magnetic trigger is activated to begin the data transfer, using optics.  The transfer takes about 11 seconds, which gives the diver time to wipe off the other sensor right beside it.  After doing all three sensors, the diver move up to the next level and take three more readings, and then up to the 5-metre level for the final set of readings.  They provide a rag for wiping off the algae.  The last step is to go to the surface and clean off the floater bottles.  The entire process takes about 15 minutes. Readings are taken once a week.  The diver is free to use the rest of the air to do a regular dive at his leisure.  I intend to take full advantage of these weekly dives to explore the reef.

The sensor I will be monitoring is located at the FRONT PORCH dive site, otherwise known as Ebby Beach.  My generation may still know it as HOTEL BONAIRE, although that is no longer there.  In fact, I noticed the Sea Monitor line extending up from the wreck of the tugboat when I dove that exact site on Monday.  The fellow that normally takes care of those sensors is away on vacation in the U.S.

On Saturday, I am to meet Albert at the shore at 10:00 am, and he will get me trained as to how to take the readings.  He is bringing the air tank with him.  Afterwards, we will return the tank to the Hamlet Dive Shop, which is just beyond Captain Don’s Habitat on the water plant side.  This is actually a satellite shop for the Yellow Submarine Dive Shop.  Yellow Submarine actually has four different dive shops around the island.  I am amazed at what must be about 30 different dive shops that dot the coastline.

Albert said he was very happy to have me on board, and then excused himself to go back to his friends in the restaurant.  The City Café is actually a bar and grill where many local Dutch people gather for a few friendly drinks.

I ordered the special of the day, and just relaxed and watched people chat.  When I was finished, it happened that Albert was finished with his friends as well, so I called him over to my table.  I was able to keep him talking for close to an hour.  He is one of the most interesting fellows I have yet met on the island.

Albert has been living on Bonaire off and on since 1970.  He explained the various ventures which he is involved in, including sea turtle conservation, and the removal of fish lines from the reef.  He told me that three turtles had drowned after they had been caught in discarded fishing line tangled in the reef.  There are actually little containers mounted at many of the dive sites where divers can deposit fishing line they have retrieved from the reef.  He encourages divers to carry a set of surgical scissors with them so they can trim off any fishing line they find and remove it.  I intend to buy one of these sets of scissors at my first opportunity.

Albert is also a contributor to the island newspaper called the Bonaire Reporter.  He wrote an article a few years ago called “The Diver’s Benefit.”  Without going into detail, his theory is that one hour of diving extends your life by one earth-day on land.  The idea is that just as a person sleeping gets a rest benefit by being horizontal, allowing his internal organs to rest and repair themselves, a diver exists in a weightless environment, getting much of the same benefit.  There is also the added benefit of a completely stress-free environment most divers experience when exploring a reef.  I must say, Albert does seem to be in good shape.  He has logged over 9,000 dives, which is the most I have ever heard of.

On the way home, I dropped by the Dutch supermarket just before they closed at eight o’clock.  Then it was off to feed my four hungry dogs, and sit down to work on my blog.

Tomorrow after work is my last deep-dive test down at the south end of the island.

I want to thank the many people who have emailed me or messaged me on Skype that they have been reading my blog.  Feel free to click the “Comment” button at the bottom of each blog, and leave a comment about what you have read.  Denny Hogan left a comment a couple of days ago about the Diving Dawn Till Dusk blog.  Comments are meant to add interesting insights on the contents of the blog.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.

Today was a busy day at the office with a lot of decisions being made about the website.  During the morning, I worked at filling in the remaining pages I was responsible for with content.  Quite often we have no existing content, so I am copying and pasting from the global website at twr.org.  For instance, our listener stories came from the international website.  We can update them with new listener stories from this region as they become available.

 Photos here

One of the things that I was wrestling with today is what content should be made public, and what content should remain private.  There are plans and other internal communications that would be inappropriate to post online.  I am discovering how important it is that we be very careful with what information is made public.  This prevents unnecessary political headaches for TWR down the road, and is an important aspect of any global ministry. Pray for me as I try to adjust my way of thinking to comply with these necessary policies.

We decided to pare down the number of pages that we make visible online, and leave only those which we currently have content for.  Later on, as new content is generated, those pages will become active, and will be visible to the general public.  So far, there are roughly 25 pages that will make up our website.

For lunch, I drove up just past the Sand Dollar condominium complex and had lunch at Eddy’s Bar and Grill.  It was a very tropical-looking restaurant, and the catch of the day, Wahoo, was very delicious.  There was even a swimming pool immediately adjacent to the restaurant where guests could go swimming.

Back at work, I began a few tentative inquiries about the cost for streaming audio, as I have begun researching what it would take to launch a “listen-live” feature.

The next item on the agenda is the catologing of archive photos.  This project will take some serious concentration and attention to detail.  Although we’ve looked into several different ways of handling this, it looks like it’s going to come down to some old-fashioned work!

I was given permission to leave an hour early in order to help Dave Pedersen raise his ham radio antenna at his home.  We got there just after 4:30, and I received the usual boisterous welcome from his two dogs and three children.

When I went outside, I discovered that Dave had done a great deal of planning to get the antenna ready to raise back up to the vertical.  He had guy wires tied in the appropriate places, as well as kitty litter buckets full of water tied to the other end to counterbalance it.  He had a steel beam attached horizontally to the side of the house on which we pivoted the tower until it stood vertical. Dave’s very energetic daughter took pictures of the process.

Once we had released the appropriate lines, Dave and I pulled on the bottom of the tower and swung it into the vertical position.  It worked flawlessly.  We then moved the bottom around until it was exactly perpendicular.  Once we had it exactly right, Dave and I pounded two three-foot long steel spikes into the ground to anchor it.  We then bolted it to the horizontal beam, and it was secured in place.

The next step was to string the feed-line cables, of which there were four, around to the back of the house and into his ham radio room.  This room is actually beside the old wash house.  Last year, TWR built an addition onto the side of the former Roswell house, and so there is an entire living room and kitchen where the driveway used to be in front of the wash house.

Just like Dad, Dave tied up all his cables with plastic cable ties.  We  had to add an extension to a couple of cables in order for them to reach his ham radio transmitter.

The kids then asked if I would stay for supper, and, of course, being a bachelor, I readily agreed.  We had rice and kidney beans, and some pasta, and watermelon for dessert.  It was all very good.

After supper, I imported the pictures to my iPad, and we reviewed them on the big screen, using the Air Display app.  This is the handy app that transmits the display to a big-screen TV with no wires.  It turned out that Dave’s daughter did fairly well with her photo shoot, and I encouraged her to possibly take up photography in the future.

We also watched my video of the sea turtle from Sunday, and Dave’s youngest daughter insisted she was going to go out right away and become a scuba diver.  When I explained that you don’t get a tank-fill if you’re not certified, she said she would just go without the tank!

After we watched a few more videos from the family, Dave pulled up a YouTube video of The Forgetful Waiter by Steve Martin.  It was hilarious.

On the way home, I stopped by the beach road near the airport, and sat on a bench, looking up at the stars. The wonderful thing is that there are probably double the amount of stars visible in the Caribbean than we see from Canada. I called Brad Swanson to see if he had gone out star-gazing, as he had planned to.  Apparently there were too many clouds tonight, so that trip was cancelled.

By the time I got home, the dogs were more than a little excited to see me.  After I fed them, they all stood around sniffing the scents of the Pedersens’ dogs on my pants.

And so ends another interesting day on Bonaire.

Today I had to be out of the door in good time as I had to load all my scuba gear and pick up a tank and still get to work by eight o’clock.  When I went over to Bruce’s dive shop at quarter to eight to grab my tank, I found that they were still closed.  Almost without exception, all dive shops here operate from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  I ended up having to go next door to the Divi Dive Shop tank locker and grab a tank from there, even though it cost $5 more. All you need at the Divi tank locker is the door code, so it is accessible 24/7.

 Photos here

This morning during devotions, almost the entire staff was present.  Dick Veldman, our Dutch engineer, was back from his vacation.  It is good to be able to practice my Dutch with him.

Brad led the devotions, and then we all went around the circle and prayed for the various needs on Bonaire and the other mission fields.

Afterwards I then spoke to Ivan, the very friendly Bonairian staff member whose profile I was going to post on the staff page of our website.  First, we went back to the shop and got some pictures of him in action, pretending to cut a piece of wood on the table saw.  Then we went outside and took some shots in front of the building.  After, we sat down with my iPad in the lobby, and I interviewed him for about 20 minutes.  It was very interesting to hear how he was saved at the age of 13, and then later on came to work for Trans World Radio.  He feels that the Lord led him to this job, when he could have been diverted to a secular career.

Ivan is now the longest serving Bonairian staff member, having started in 1975.  Apparently a friend told him about the job opportunity, so he dropped by the studio, and was interviewed by Tom Lowell.  Apparently it went very well, and he was told to report to work the next day.  I typed up the interview, and sent it on to Brandon to massage a bit further.  I’ll be posting it in the morning.

Next, I sat down with Laura on a Skype call to our IT support guy, Benjamin Tangeman, in the U.S.  We went over the list of “bugs” on the website software, one item at a time.  I felt it was a good discussion overall, and we hope to continue moving forward on these web-related items.

I also kidded Benjamin about his email being “Bonaire MK.”  I told him that I had seniority to that, and we both laughed.

Next I went downstairs to interview Dick Veldman.  It was fun to be able to interview him in the Dutch language.  I find that my Dutch is not as good now as I would like it, and every now and then I stumble on a word that I can no longer remember, and have to revert back to English.

Dick Veldman is the Technical Director and heads up the Maintenance Department.  He also has six children, two of whom are just entering college and university, so this is an intersting time in his life.  He seems like a very passionate man for getting the Word of God through radio to the world.

Berni Lusse also dropped by the studio to say good bye to everyone.  We gave her a little card as a going-away gift.

At five o’clock, I rounded up my scuba gear, and was at Jay’s place shortly after five.  We drove about a block or two to the site of the former Hotel Bonaire.  You could still see piles of rubble where it was demolished years ago.

Front Porch dive (Eden Beach)

Jay told me that there was a sunken tug boat about a hundred feet down, so we decided to check it out.  The bottom time at 110 feet is only 15 minutes.  We didn’t have to go far to find the wreck, which was about 70 feet long.  There were a couple of lion fish hovering in its shadow, as well as some sergeant major fish with egg patches on the hull that they were guarding.  The interesting thing is that they actually change to a darker colour when they are protecting their patch of purple eggs.  They alternately go from rubbing the eggs with the side of their body, to charging any nearby intruders.

We then explored a little further down the slope and went down to about 120 feet.  This is the sand plain where you see the grass eels.  These are the most bizarre creatures which live their entire lives in a vertical shaft about half an inch wide.  As you approach, you can see them gently waving in the current about two feet above their burrows, with their tails still down under the sand.  They apparently are fishing for plankton.  They are no bigger around than your baby finger, but are probably about three feet or more long.  I have actually never seen them all the way out of their hole.  As you approach, they slowly withdraw into their hole, until they disappear altogether when you’re within ten feet.  Twenty feet out, you see them about six inches out of their holes, and thirty feet out, they are a foot out of their holes.  How they all co-ordinate how far to extend out of the hole, according to your proximity, I’ll never know.

We then returned to the wreck, and started along the slope.  At that point, we had hit 14 minutes bottom time, so I motioned to Jay that we needed to start to slowly ascend.  We worked our way slowly up the slope, and ended up spending most of our time around 60 feet deep.

One of the strangest sights I saw was a pale, grey type of worm extending out from under a coral head.  The first one I discovered was sticking out about two feet long, and the next one I saw was close to three feet out from under the coral head.  They are almost as big around as your wrist, and don’t seem to move at all.  I wonder how long they are when they are completely out on the sand?  I also saw a sea cucumber up at the shallower depth.

We saw a large fish that looks a bit like a tuna.  I believe it is called a jack.

I did notice during the dive that I had a bit of a stiff neck, which may be a result of the way I have my weights positioned in my integrated weight belt.  I may look at putting some weight on the back of my tank instead of in my BC to balance out.  At the moment, I seem to be straining my neck upwards all the time, while the BC wants me face-down all the time.

Once we had exited the water and stored our gear in Jay’s truck, he took me next-door to the Wannadive Shop.  The tank locker is at the beginning of the condominium complex, with the actual dive shop back near the water.  Apparently, they only charge $8 for a tank, so I may have to register with them tomorrow.  The only drawback is that it is not 24-hour access like it is at the Divi Dive Shop.

I thought it was wonderful to have my own tourist guide, showing me all the highlights of the facility.  This is exactly the kind of generous spirit that I’ve been looking for in a local contact.  Jay delights in showing me things on the reef and on land, which is a real blessing.

Tonight I’m a little tired, so I didn’t go out for supper, but just ate the sandwich I had brought with me.  I’m now sitting in my comfy living room, with the fan going full blast on me to keep me cool.

Tomorrow I’m helping Dave raise a ham radio antenna.

On Wednesday, I’m meeting with Albert Bianculli from the Sea Monitor Foundation.  Jay introduced me to him, and I was able to finally make contact with him tonight.  It involves divers going out to two different underwater sensors, and attaching a computerized reader to it to extract the readings.  They measure water temperature, pollution levels, algae, and that kind of thing.  The diver also has to clean off the sensors, as they quickly become coated with marine growth.  He also said that if I get my air fills from a certain dive shop, it is free of charge when going out to service the sensors.

On Thursday, I’m doing my final deep-dive test with Ebby.  We will be diving the “Invisible” dive spot that is just past the salt pier. That should allow me to obtain the Deep Dive Specialty Course from SSI (Scuba Schools International).

My ex-wife, Lori, messaged me on Skype today and asked how things were going.  I summed it up by saying it was going better than expected. She wished me well, which was nice. And so ends another stimulating day on Bonaire.

On the way to church today, I actually had to wear my raincoat.  This is the semi-desert island of Bonaire, but it was pouring cats and dogs!  In fact, it was raining a bit on the inside of my Jeep as well, as the roof has been patched and is not 100% leak-proof.  I actually took a picture of the rain, so people would believe it.  I do think that the island gets more rainfall than when we used to live here.  Apparently, the rainy season has officially begun!

 Photos here

I was again at the International Bible Church (bonaireibc.org).  Sandra Swanson was at church, having just returned from the States where she was caring for her aging mother.  It was good to finally see her back with Brad.

The local pastor, Toto Baran, had also returned from vacation, but it was another lay minister who actually delivered the sermon.  Apparently this was his first sermon in English in five years.  I find the services very warm and genuine, and they seem to share together as one big family.  While the services are in English, half of the congregation are Bonairians, with the other half being the English-speaking residents and TWR staff.

Berni Lusse was also present in the service.  She was visiting from Germany where she and her husband, Udo, have recently retired.  Berni and Udo served with TWR during the time that I lived on Bonaire.  I think Udo was the fellow who interacted with me most from the staff.  He held craft-making classes at the local community centre where we learned to make jewelry out of ordinary materials from around the island.  My mother still wears a cross-section of a cow bone that was polished to look like ivory.

One of the wonderful things that happens when you join a local Christian fellowship is that you are able to network with the local people.  The way I’ve been accepted and introduced to others make me feel like I’ve been on the island for years.  Bob Lassiter contacted a local diver by the name of Jay Silverstein.  We had communicated by email, and I was to phone him using my local cell phone immediately after the service.  We ended up arranging to meet at his house, which is almost directly across the road at the Sand Dollar condos.

Jay does not belong to the church, but is a retired Jewish doctor from New York.  He is a very enthusiastic diver who was in need of a dive buddy, as his girlfriend is not interested in diving any more.  She apparently lived on a sailboat with her ex-husband for 17 years, and could go diving anywhere, at any time.

Jay suggested we go to the exact site I have been hoping to dive called La Dania’s Leap.  This is on the northern Tourist Road, one dive spot before Karpata, the last dive spot before Bopec.  I had interviewed Bruce Bowker the day before and also his dive master, and they both indicated that their personal favourite dive site was La Dania’s Leap!

Most of the local divers here drive pickup trucks with a wooden rack in the back for the tanks, and this is exactly what Jay drives.  Jay had told me not to bother bringing a tank, as he had one for me.  Unfortunately when we got there, he had a problem with the valve, so we drove down to the Yellow Submarine Dive Shop, about a four-minute drive, to get it fixed.  Jay is a casual dive master for this shop, and so has the free run of the place, as well as free air fills.  He was able to repair his valve in a matter of minutes, and we also picked up an additional tank.  We were on our way in five minutes.  That is one of the features of most of the dive shops here – easily accessible tanks.

The drive up the north end took about 20 minutes.  It is a two-way road until just before Radio Nederlands, after which it becomes a one-way road.  The plan was to drop the gear at La Dania’s Leap, and drive the truck up to the end point at Karpata, and walk back.

As we walked back to our entry point, which was about an 8-minute walk away, it began to rain.  By the time we hit the water, it was pouring, but this would make the islanders happy, as apparently they have been in great need of rain for a while now.

The entry on this dive was an actual leap from about three feet above the water from a stone ledge.  With my new fins, I wear a rubber booty, which, in this case, was essential for walking to the dive site.  They are kind of like rubber shoes, but they are needed to be able to fit the fin onto your foot.

As soon as we hit the water, Jay started pointing to a large staghorn coral.  The reason he was so excited by this perfect specimen, about 15 feet wide, is that staghorn and elkhorn coral were almost all destroyed five years ago during a near  miss by a hurricane.  The entire west coast, which is normally the sheltered side, suffered punishing waves for a day-and-a-half, which destroyed the entire fringe reef up to a depth of 30 feet.  Most of the staghorn and elkhorn coral are no more than one or two feet in size at this point.  This specimen was the lone survivor.

Another interesting habit of Jay’s is that he likes to touch the creatures (not coral) on the reef.  Conventional wisdom is that you are not to touch anything for fear of harming it.  However, Jay subscribes to an ideology promoted by author Dee Scarr, who wrote the book called “Touch the Sea.”  She still leaves here on Bonaire.  Jay actually gave me an autographed copy of her book when we got home that evening.  I am about to start reading it now, but the idea is that you can pet the fish, and get up close and personal with the sea life.

The first thing Jay did was point under a coral head at what looked like a patch of white lace.  To my surprise, he reached in and grabbed it, and it turned out to be a sea slug.  I had previously thought it was an interesting form of coral.  After we rolled it around in our hands and took a photo, Jay carefully placed it back in the exact spot that he had taken it from.

Of all the dives I have done to date, I would say that La Dania’s Leap is in the most pristine shape of any of the dive sites around Bonaire.  The landscape features gorgeous, rolling hills and valleys, and it almost feels like you are swimming in an aquarium, as there is so much fish life around you.  Also, when you look down the sea slope, there is no bottom.  Typically you see a sand bottom at about 120 feet, but here it just goes down, I believe, for close to a mile deep.

About five minutes into the dive, Jay started pointing furiously at something about 20 feet away in the water.  There were two squids slowly swimming along.  They were about 18 inches long, with their legs trailing out behind them.  Just above the legs were two saucer-shaped eyes staring back at us, with the rest of the body being a kind of torpedo-shaped thing.  I tried getting closer, but they kept their distance, and I don’t think the shot I took turned out very well.  I’ve been waiting to see a squid since I got here.  My next goal is to spot the tiny little sea horses that are here.

I also got a nice video of a sea turtle swimming nearby.  I find the way they swim through the water to be just majestic!  Their flippers make a wide arc, almost like a bird’s wings.  It is fascinating how unconcerned they are with the need to eventually surface to get more air.

We also saw a massive, midnight-blue parrot fish which probably weighed about 40 pounds.  It was jet black with indigo-blue markings on the front.

This time the exit at Karpata was much easier, as there was not the wave action that I had the previous Saturday.  My knuckles are almost healed from that incident.

When we got back to the truck, Jay handed me a bottle of water so that I could rinse my hair, as we were nowhere near town.  Being a veteran diver, he has all these little details worked out.

Next, the tourist guide in Jay came out.  He veered off the road through Rincon up to the mountain top to a lookout over the City of Rincon.  In all the time that I lived on Bonaire, I never knew this little lookout existed.  The road to get there is actually extremely rough, and you almost need a Jeep or a pickup truck to make it.  They actually have stone ‘sofas’ built into the hillside.  I took my dive camera out of its case, and got some good shots of the city.  There was almost no wind, and we could hear all the sounds coming from the city below.

We then drove back to his home, and he asked me if I had plans for supper. I said, “None at all,” so they invited me to come back, after I changed, for a spaghetti dinner.  The meal they provided could have been right from one of the posh restaurants.  They served appetizers, and then copious amounts of meat sauce and spaghetti, as well as salad, and a wonderful dessert.

I brought out my iPad and imported the shots we had just taken, and showed his girlfriend the one of the turtle.  She loved it.  I do find the iPad ideal for reviewing photos.  She started suggesting that they needed to buy an iPad next!  We gabbed for over an hour, and I found them very interesting company.  We then made arrangements for the next day to go diving immediately after work, and then I hit the road.

I believe I have finally the dive buddy that I’ve been looking for since I arrived here — yet another blessing from my Lord!