Kiteboarding at Sunset

Carolyn thought the post about Max kiteboarding didn't show well enough what kiteboarding looks like. We try to catch the sunset each evening and the beach where the kiteboards hang out is one of our favorites as it is fairly close.

These guys and gals are fun to watch. It's basically a small surfboard with footholds where the boarder clips the kite assembly to a harness on his/her waist and then steers the kite by adjusting the angle of the lines to the kite. They get up enough speed to jump out of the water quite high.

Snorkeling at Lac Bay

Carolyn has really enjoyed snorkeling while here. It is amazing how much activity there is in shallow water. Even the really little fish, corals, and sponges are colorful and fun to watch. Lac Bay is a huge ahallow bay on the east side of the island. It's about 3 miles wide and 1.5 miles deep. Lots of it isn't over waist deep. Several windsurfing businesses are located there. The wind is always blowing there.

Carolyn and I went over last Sunday with snorkel gear and walked out to the breakers--where the bay meets the ocean. It's about a 3/4 mile wade. We snorkeled for over an hour. It was well worth the walk. The blazing orange/brown color on the branching vase sponge is one I haven't seen. Of course anemone are always cool.

Dan

Waking up in the Caribbean

January is part of the "rainy season" here on Bonaire. The last few days we've been having some pretty intense showers. They are short-lived though. I know we won't get much sympathy...

This morning's shower created a rather intense rainbow over Klein Bonaire, the small island just off shore. Billionaire Paul Allen's superyacht is at right.

Correction to Caitlin art post

I made a mistake on an earlier post. The picture of Caitlin (as a princess) was drawn by 3-year-old Julianna (pictured with Max). I wouldn't think of slighting a 3-year-old, especially a girl.... :)

Apologies to Julianna....Dan

1-23 Doggielogue--Sunset at Rum Runners

Our favorite spot so far for a drink, sunset, and dinner has been Rum Runners, a bar/restaurant at Capt. Don's Habitat. Max really seems to enjoy the namesake drink.

(For the doubters, a picture to prove that I do exist.....Dan)

1-23 Doggielogue--Superyacht

For about two weeks now the Octopus, a superyacht owned by Microsoft billionaire co-founder Paul Allen has been docked here on Bonaire. It's quite impressive. At 414 feet it's listed at NationMaster.com as the fifth-largest superyacht in the world. It sports 3 helicopters and 7 smaller tenders (boats) on-board, including a 63-footer docked in the transom.

Carolyn and I were walking on the waterfront in Kralendijk looking for a place to eat lunch when we noticed that Max disappeared. After an hour of searching we heard him barking. Were we surprised when we spied him on the deck of the Octopus. Max, being the people magnet that he is, apparently struck up a conversation with Mr. Allen and ended up being invited for a tour of the boat.

Lucky dog!

1-22 Doggielogue---Can we play now?

All work and no play makes Max, Carolyn and Dan dull boys and girls. Luckily the weekend is here and we'll be out and about for more of Max's adventures...stay tuned...Dan

1-21 Doggielogue--Max at "work"

Some of you have asked how it is possible for Carolyn to stay in touch with her clinics and patients for an extended stay here on Bonaire.

Like many other things these days, the internet and technology make lots of things possible. A few years ago Carolyn started doing telepsychiatry from home via camera hookups over the internet. Since then, hardware, software, and the common availability of high-speed internet has meant that with the right tools Carolyn can work from almost anywhere, including the middle of almost nowhere.

It does mean however, that we have to have a table full of laptops and cables. Carolyn uses an external webcam (on the stick in front of her laptop) and software that integrates with the cameras set up at her clinics in Hannibal, MO and Carthage, IL. Biggest challenge is getting documentation back and forth via email. I had no idea how many documents she has to sign on a daily basis.

Max seems to really enjoy the great outdoors. As you can see he's settled in to his daily routine of napping and occasionally making an on-camera appearance for patients.

Bonaire odds and ends--Jan 19

Posting a couple things that don't seem to fit anywhere else. You might think life on the island is all ocean breezes and calm waters, but it seems even the "bad boys" have rough days here. We've seen a few scorpions around the apartment. You definitely need to shake out your shoes before you put them on. Found one little guy (about 1.5" in length)being attacked by ants and he wasn't winning (photo 1).

Jasmine, the 6-year-old daughter of the host family, is quite the artist. I mentioned earlier the gallery of her work we taped to the bathroom wall. Photo 3 is a portrait of Caitlin she drew this last week. Apparently Jasmine thinks Caitlin is a princess. Of course I think every girl is supposed to be a princess in her mind.

Thought I should throw in an underwater photo (photo 3). It's a smooth trunkfish, about 3 inches long.

Dan

1-18 1000 Steps

Carolyn and I joined a couple from an adjoining apartment to the dive site "1000 steps". Nils and I dove there while he was here, but Carolyn hadn't been there yet. It offers a wide beach and easy entry and is popular with divers, snorkelers, and beachgoers alike. Carolyn and I snorkeled and later I jumped into the shallow waters with dive gear and the underwater camera to figure out if the external flash was working properly.

Caitlin called to report they made it back to Chicago on time and were on their way back to Madison.

1-17 Stargazing

To cap off Caitlin and Nils' final night on Bonaire we decided to drive back over to the lighthouse on the east side of the island where no lights from town impeeded the view of the night sky. We took some chairs from the apartment and camped out for about an hour. A perfect ending to the day....Dan

1-16 Lunch at Jibe City

Jibe City on Lac Bay is a fun place. There is a beach bar where you can get a cold beverage and a fairly nice selection of sandwiches. Our group now recommends the "Jibe Pita", a toasted pita bread sandwich made with chicken. Very tasty. We washed them down with a pitcher of sangria, which later gave Carolyn a headache...oops.

Nils, Caitlin, and I walked from the beach across the bay to where the bay and ocean meet. Easily a quarter mile. Water barely gets past you bellybutton anywhere in the Bay.

Dan

1-16 Doggielogue---Invisibles

Max just loves the beach. Spent Friday morning at "Invisibles" dive site. Caitlin and I snorkeled. Carolyn and Max read a book. Nils helped Caitlin find beach coral for her giraffe creation (see photo). After a morning there, we headed back across the island for lunch at Jibe City beach bar on Lac Bay...Dan

Jan 15 Doggielogue--Max kiteboards

A few miles south along the shore is a beach where kiteboarders do their thing each day. Max, always our ambassador of good will, struck up a conversation with one of the kiters and convinced the fellow to let him give kiteboarding a try. These people are so nice.....Dan

1-14 Fanning the princess

After a "hard afternoon of diving/snorkeling" the princess retired to her lawn chair. Mr. Nils provided some much needed fanning. (Actually Julia Klug did a lot of trimming around the building and a good palm frond is a terrible thing to waste).

1-14 Finally some diving

Nils finished his Open Water certification Wed morning so we loaded up some tanks and headed to 1000 Steps, one of the most well known dive sites on the island. Named for the stairway leading down to the water from the road. There are really only 73? steps, but with dive gear on the trek back to the top can feel like 1000 steps.

Caitlin snorkeled while Nils and I made our dive on the reef. It felt great to finally be under the water. Nils is a natural at bouyancy control and air conservation. Thursday we'll find sites where the girls can snorkel and the boys will dive.....Dan

Stupid Human Tricks and Vending Nostalgia

The gang went out to one of Divi Flamingo's restaurants for Taco and Margarita Night. Both Caitlin and Nils figured out how to tie the cherry stem with their tongue. Who knew??

Also found a blast from the past in the vending machine. Almost forgot that you used to be able to buy smokes in a vending machine. Here though you can get some M&Ms for your chocolate fix too....Dan

Caitlin = SuperGirl to the Rescue

The wind is always blowing here on Bonaire. Turns out that's a good thing as it's rather warm (I am NOT complaining) so there is always a cooling breeze. Caitlin took advantage of the wind to survey the island for crime and corruption....Caitlin to the RESCUE!

Tues 1-13 Doggielogue---Sunset in Bonaire

Max spent most of the day napping. He's not used to all the activity. Got a little snippy with the little girls a couple days ago. Not a good thing. So today he lounged most of the day until the sun started making it's way to the horizon. Then off to the beach. The huge pile of coral rocks made a great viewing platform. After sundown Max made his way to Divi Flamingo Resort for Tuesday Night Tacos and Margaritas.

Mon Jan 12 Doggielogue--Open water diving

Max finally gets to see what excites so many about this place. Nils and Caitlin started their Open Water portion of their certification at Bruce Bowker's Carib Inn (photo is their new dock). After finishing the morning session, Caitlin decided she wasn't that comfortable with scuba and opted to stick with snorkeling.

Nils went back for the afternoon boat dive session off of Klein Bonaire---the smaller island just off the west coast--to finish up the day. After finishing on Tuesday he'll have completed his Open Water Diver certification and we're all looking forward to some time in the water. Nils and I will dive and Carolyn and Caitlin will snorkel. Max hasn't decided what he'll do yet.

Stiches in my hand come out tomorrow and we'll have a closer look at whether it's healed up enough to dive or not....Dan

Saturday Jan 10 Doggie Travelogue

After a long nap for Caitlin and Nils, Max decided to do a little sightseeing on Bonaire. The group hopped in the rental truck and headed over to the east side of the island--referred to as the "wild side" because of all the wind--to check out Jibe City and Sorobon Beach. Jibe City is hotspot on Lac Bay for windsurfers. They have a small beach bar/restaurant where the group hung out, had a snack, and watched the windsurfers.

After that we traveled down the coast with a stop at one of the lighthouses on the island. Doesn't appear that this one is operational, but on the windy side of the island all sorts of stuff washes up on the beach and people will put up makeshift "sculptures" with found items from the beach. Max surveyed the rubbled landscape and Caitlin found some interesting stuff too.

There's also what appears to be what was once the lighthouse keepers residence. Nothing left but the walls. In one room there is what can only be describes as an offering to the flip-flop god. Based on the number of sandals and flip-flops that wash up on this coast it's hard to imagine anyone has a complete set in the world.

Sun Jan 11 Doggielogue

Max couldn't get enough of "the coldiest beer" at The Rose Inn in Rincon, so the group hopped in the truck and made the 20 min drive across the island. According to the Klug family (our hosts) the Rose Inn is the only place left on the island serving authentic Bonairean food. Carolyn and Caitlin had the salted fish, while Nils and I had the beef stew. The food was delicious, and the beer was "coldiest" as usual.

Max did a bit of sightseeing also, visiting the church in Rincon and the St. James School of Medicine in Kralendijk. Carolyn and I encountered about a dozen students of the med school on our inbound flight who were returning from Christmas break. The med school looks more like the elementary schools we were shuttled to in Cancun, Mexico during the hurricane in 2005. Carolyn and Max were not too impressed.....Dan

Caitlin & Nils Arrive

Caitlin and Nils arrived on time Saturday (9th) morning. Like us, they didn't get much sleep on the red-eye from Houston and took a long nap after arriving. In the afternoon we drove a loop to the Sorobon Beach on the east side of the island, down the coast, around the southern tip, and back north along the shore. Picture shows the pink slave huts along the western shore--a remnant of earlier times when slaves were used for the salt trade.

The Klug Girls

The Klug girls, Jasmine, 7 next month, and Julianna, 4, are crazy about Max and have gone through about half the paper we bought making pictures for him. We're running out of tape to....

Map & apartment locator

The pop-out shows the area we're living at a few miles south of downtown Kralendijk, the biggest town on the island.

Island and Apartment Map

Apartment and Family Klug

Carolyn researched places to stay before we decided to do this 2 month thing. Settled on renting an apartment south of the main island town in what we'd probably describe as a subdivision. It's away from the main town about 2 miles, just south of the airport. Host family built a two-story house with their living quarters on the top floor and 3 apartments on the ground floor (pic at far left is back of house--apartments on lower level). It's new construction and very nicely put together. They planted palm trees and flowering plants while the foundation was being put in 3 years ago so the gardens would be established when the house was finished. It is very beautiful.


The couple we rent from are originally from Germany. Julia and Ralf Klug and their girls Jasmine and Julianna. The two little girls ages 3 and 6 and a boy on the way. The girls are adorable and are quite taken with Maxie. We already have a refrigerator full of pictures drawn by Jasmine, the older girl, taped to the fridge.

The family couldn't be lovelier or more helpful, especially since Julia, our hostess, is about 4 weeks away from delivering their 3rd child. Her husband Ralf works as property manager at one of the local resorts. They have 3 apartments to look after along with the landscaping and the daily chores of working and raising children and seem to be doing a wonderful job. It's a very happy place to stay.

Dan and Carolyn's Bonaire adventure--the start

Flew Continental Airlines from St. Louis to Houston to Bonaire. It was a red-eye from Houston arriving before 6 a.m. on Bonaire, which at this time of year is 2 hrs ahead of US Central. As we landed a HUGE thunderstorm hit the island-----sheets of rain----so we stayed on the plane for about 1/2 hr until the rain stopped. (You exit the plane on the elevated staircase, not a skyway so you are exposed to the elements). That wasn't so bad, but we waited over 2 hrs to get luggage after the plane had landed......arghh. Not sure, but Sunday a.m. might not be the best time to fly into Bonaire if you want the airport adventure to go smoothly.

After finally getting the luggage and meeting our car rental rep outside the airport we were transported to the offices of the car rental company at a nearby resort. We pull into the parking lot (probably a 60 car parking lot) and virtually the whole parking lot is covered in 4-5 inches of standing water from the torrential rain of earlier. Apparently drainage and runoff aren't high on things to consider when building here.

To make matters worse, our driver pulls up and drops us off in the middle of the parking lot as if there isn't any water anywhere. We have 3 big checked bags, our carry-ons, and Max the dog, trying to figure out what this guy is thinking dropping us off in the middle of a lake.

Having been here before I'm not too surprised by this so I just go with the flow, carry the bags to dry land, tip the guy, and say "Thanks". Getting the rental truck no big deal. They even drove it to a dry spot so we could load our luggage without wading through the water.

Finally on our way to our rental apartment.