Bonaire Extreme Duo Mtb. Race

Well, I think we finally have nailed down the route for the Extreme Duo mountain bike race to be held here on Bonaire on October 24.
It is almost exactly 75 kilometers long, which is what Miguel wanted.
We rode parts of it on saturday afternoon and it was exteeeeeemly muddy. The almost five inches of rain that fell on Bonaire this past week might have had something to do with that. I still haven't gotten all the mud off of my bike yet, and I worked at it pretty seriously after the ride.
Here is a link to map my run where you can see the whole route and even do a simulated fly over, if you have a fast internet connection.

Rainy Days

Yesterday was rainy and stormy here on Bonaire. We got a lot of rain in Hato, more than the southern parts of the island. Donna's rain gauge measured 1.3 inches (3.3cm) of rain during the day yesterday and 2.25 inches (5.7cm) during the night.

I saw some joggers and one cyclist out training yesterday evening, but I wimped out and stayed indoors with our dogs, who were also smart enough to stay out of the rain.

The stormy weather is also affecting the Bonaire Sky Park. On Monday, Jupiter was closer to the earth than it has been since 1963 and the closest it will be until 2022. The planet Uranus is parked right next to Jupiter these days as well. But it has been too cloudy to do any observing. If it is clear where you are, check out Jupiter in the East in the evening skies. You can't miss it. Binoculars will show the four main moons of Jupiter and probably Uranus as well.

Extreme Duo Mountain Bike Race update

A bunch of us have been busy working on the route for the upcoming Extreme Mtb. race here on Bonaire. Miguel and 15 brave souls did a test ride on the first half of the route this morning. Thanks, Miguel, for the great pictures I did a solo ride on the second half of the course yesterday morning. When you look at the above picture, think about 91 degrees F and a heat index well over 100 F and NO wind. It was brutal out there this weekend.

The riders in the above photos are at the end of today' s ride, which was actually not quite half way through the race course. This is right by the land sailing track part way between Kralendijk and Rincon.

This shot looks like the pink rock trail, which is between Dos Pos and Washington Park.

More pictures from this morning can be seen on the Bonaire Wellness web site.

The race route includes a couple of the trails that Joost and I opened up in Washington Park last winter.

You can see the new improved 80 km long route on Map My Run. Miguel has been advertising 75 km, so we might have to chop a little bit out of the loop. :)

Big Bopec Blaze

Wednesday afternoon, Sandra noticed a police car go zooming by with its lights and siren going. A bit later a police truck did the same as well. That's pretty rare here on Bonaire, so she was wondering what was going on up north. Well, it appears that lightning struck one of the Bopec oil storage tanks and set the crude on fire. Above is a wide angle view from oil slick leap.

Above is a telephoto shot as seen from 1000 steps.

As the sun set and the sky darkened, the smoke plume really stood out in stark contrast to the sky colors.

Above is the view from partway up the hill from Karpata to Rincon. It is a big blaze.

And here is a panoramic view from Karpata, including a teeny tiny moon at the left. The fire is lighting up the whole area and was casting distinct shadows at Karpata. I could easily see the glow in the sky over North Salina, when I was by the Antriol gas station.

Rincon Church Anniversary

The evangelical church in Rincon celebrated its 50th anniversary last weekend with a special celebration Saturday night. There were greetings from the Resslers, who helped found the church back in 1960, as well as other pastors and church leaders from the ABC islands.

And of course, no church get together would be complete without food. We all hung out in the courtyard and the youth from the church did a fantastic job serving the food and beverages.

New IBCB Building

Here's a shot of the new International Bible Church building, as seen from the roof of TWR while I was taking pictures of Benny and Rich fixing our air-conditioning system.

Ottens Visit Bonaire

Ben and Ruth Otten met each other here on Bonaire while both of them were serving with TWR. After Bonaire, they were with TWR in Africa for a couple years, but have been home in Canada for quite some time now.

Ruth and Ben, together with their two sons, were recently here to see their old stomping grounds and we had a great time hanging out with them.

Airconditioning Repair

The chilled water air-conditioning system at the studios was in bad shape. The roof mounted condenser unit was pretty much shot. We could only cool about half of the building at a time.
Benny and Carl Phillips rescued a no longer needed condenser unit from the transmitter site back when Carl was here on vacation a couple months ago. Then Rich West came for two weeks to finish the wiring and to help Benny get it hooked up to our system.

The upgraded system works great now. Our offices are nice and cool just in time for the hottest part of the year here.

Colmenares Visit Bonaire

It was great to see Saturno and Maria Colmenares, who visited Bonaire recently, after being away for quite a few years now. Saturno is still fondly remembered by TWR's Spanish speaking listeners even after all this time. Pictured from left to right is Maria's nephew, Saturno and Maria.