Renata Fairwell

Renata has been a fixture here at TWR, Bonaire since she came from Brazil in 1976. Yesterday, we said our good-byes at the airport as she left to join the team at the TWR headquarters in Cary, NC.

We had a reception for her at our staff meeting last week, as well as a ladies lunch on Friday, and a pot luck reception at the church on Sunday.

Here we are, hanging out in the mail room - staff lounge. TWR old timers may recognise this room as the entrance lobby of the office wing. We have our weekly staff meeting in here now.


Renata received a Bonaire book, that her friends were all able to sign for her.


Yum yum!


Here we see Azalea and Ivan Statia, and Sara Lyn (Flaming), with Udo lurking on the right edge of the picture.

moon map

I mentioned Google's cool maps and satellite images a while ago. Our son, Richard, just alerted us to Google's new moon maps.

They are pretty cool, and if you zoom all the way in, you'll finally find the answer to an age old question.

What is Wrong with this Picture - Emily Edition

Here are two photos I took on Thursday, around 5 pm.

Here is the first view.


Here is the same scene from a bit further back.


You can click on these pictures to see them bigger, in case that helps.
Or you can look at my post from April 25 (I think) to get some clues.

Emily Update

Emily is turning into quite the storm. Yikes.

Fortunately for us, Emily was just far enough North and was "tightly wound" when she passed by Bonaire during the night. Our trade winds shut down and I noticed some waves coming in from the west this morning, but it was basically a quiet and uneventful night.

It is overcast here now with a light wind from the South. I had a nice tailwind riding my bike along the coast road to Karpata earlier this morning. Water had splashed up on the road in one spot, but I don't think there will be any significant reef damage this time. It may take a little while for the churned up water to settle down however.

I'm tentatively planning on riding up in Washington Park tomorrow to see how the north side of the island fared. If it is still cloudy and coolish, like today, it could be fun. It has been seriously hot here lately.

Emily update

Well, it's 5 pm and Sandra is on the phone telling me to get home quickly 'cause it looks like rain is on the way. A rain band hit Bonaire around noon and really dumped down on us. It's been pretty nice all afternoon, but satellite images seem to indicate that another chunk of storm seems to be headed our way.

As Emily moves West, the part of the cone of doom over Bonaire gets narrower, and further away from us. In fact, from the Satellite images, it looks like the body of the storm will miss us entirely. That would be great.

So, I'm optimistic that we'll experience a fairly 'normal' wind reversal type storm, and not a super intense one.

I'll post an update tomorrow, assuming that we still have power, and internet access etc. :)

Waiting for Emily

Unlike, Godot, it looks like Emily will indeed arrive.

Wednesday night, Bonaire was within the "cone of uncertainty". I call it the cone of doom, but I guess one can't say that on TV.

This morning, Emily has veered a teeny tiny bit North, so the ABC islands are outside the cone. Whoo whoo! I imagine that even if Emiliy passes us by to the North, we'll still have a wind reversal and some damage along the shore etc.

It looks like we'll have the final answer by this evening and we'll in the thick of things later tonight. A direct hit by a storm like Emily, would basically demolish Bonaire, much like what happened to Grenada a year ago.

So we're praying that Bonaire will be spared once again, both for selfish self-preservation type reasons, and also to preserve the broadcast ministry of TWR, which is such an important part of the lives of so many, from Cuba to the North, all the way down into the Amazon basin to the South.

You can track Emily at this web site, or at weather dot com.

Workshop Move

A few years ago, we moved the wooodworking shop from the back of the Activities Building, to the north wing of the Studio Office complex. The next step was to move the shipping containers, used for parts and equipment storage over too, so the stuff would be readily at hand. That happened in 2003 as I recall. Here are some photos from my archives. They are sort of backwards. If you scroll down to the third photo and work up, it will make more sense.

Ivan and Benny help guide one of the containers to its new home.


The site has been prepped and everything is in readiness for the big move.


The end of the building in this picture is where the woodworking shop is now located. It used to be the Purchasing/Shipping and Receiving area. Before that..... well, storage area for the print shop maybe. This wing was radically altered back when the auto shop was moved here from the transmitter site.

Workshop Changes Part II

The woodworking shop and the storage containers have been in place for a while now. The area is now being walled in and a roof added. This is a zoning requirement, but also will add a sheltered work area for those nasty type jobs that you don't want to work on inside. It will also greatly increase the security of the storage area.

Rich West has added new features to the trusty Suzuki Samurai work beast that I've featured in the blog from time to time.


Christophe Lusse and his family are visiting Udo and Berni here on Bonaire, just in time to get in on the construction action.


Here is the top end of the rig, and the form for the reinforced concrete beam.


In the background, you can see where the Hotel Bonaire used to be, on the left, and on the right, you can see the new building where the Den Laman restaurant used to be. It houses a new restaurant, a dive/bicycle shop, and hotel rooms.

Moon, Venus, and Mercury

The show in what has come to be know as the Bonaire Sky Park continues. On Friday evening, the Moon, joined Venus and Mercury in the west shortly after sunset for a beautiful grouping.

From lower left to upper right, you can see Mercury, Venus, and the Moon in a nice line.


You can click on the picture to see it bigger.

30th Anniversary for Ivan

On Friday, Ivan Statia completed 30 years with Trans World Radio, here on Bonaire.

Here, Rich Fuller presents Ivan with a plaque and a clock as part of the 30th anniv. ceremony.


Ivan's wife, and former TWR missionary, Azalea Statia, looks on.

30 years continued

A lot of folks have come and gone from TWR Bonaire during Ivan's 30 years. Some have moved on to other ministries, and some have moved on to their final reward.

I caught Ivan in front of one of the wall displays created for TWR's anniversary celebration last year. If you click on the picture, you may be able to identify some of the people.

Separated at Birth

When we were visiting my parents in PA last month, we discovered what must be the twin of one of our fearless HPUs. (house protection units)

twin number one


twin number two

Planet Parade

We have really enjoyed the dance of the planets this past weekend. We had clear skies and were able to observe them every night. I forgot to take a picture one night though. Grrrr.....

Thursday night - June 23
You can click the pictures to make them bigger if you want to.
Most of the pictures also show the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, to the upper right of the three planets. However, I only labeled them in one of the pictures.


Friday night - June 24


Saturday night - June 25


I didn't take a picture Sunday night. Mercury was just to the lower right of Venus and super close.

Monday night - June 27


Tuesday night - June 28


Saturn is going to drop out of sight soon, but we'll be able to keep observing Venus and Mercury for a while.

Graduation 2005

Richard graduated with a double major; a BS in Computer Science and Engineering, and a BA in History.

Richard with three generations of fans.


You can click on these pictures to see them bigger.

Our happy family. It was freeeeeeezing that day, until the sun came out.

Graduation photos 2

Richard sure looks happy to be graduating.


The moment of truth - awarding the diploma.

Pix from NJ

Here we see richard giving his new car its first bath.


You can click on the pix to see them bigger.

For those of you who think New Jersey is all chemical plants and parking lots, check out the view out Richard's bedroom window in Bloomfield.

Planetary Parade

We saw a really nice sunset from the plane as we were flying to Bonaire on Friday. When it got darker, we could see Venus too. Just before we landed, we noticed a star to the lower right of Venus and another to the upper left.

It turns out that the one to the lower right of Venus is Mercury and the one to the upper left of Venus is Saturn.

Right now, Saturn is about twice as far from Venus as Mercury is. That is going to change quickly and radically over the next few nights, so that by Friday, June 24, all three planets will be clumped together in a more or less horizontal arrangement.

On the 25th and 26th, all three planets will fit within a circle just two degrees across. They will also be in line with the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, which will be to the upper right of the planets.

You can be sure that we will be looking at the show every evening this week, and I'd recommend that you do too. You don't need any optical aid, and the planets are bright enough to be seen in urban skies. You just need to have a clear view of the western horizon.

back on Bonaire

Whoo, whoo.
We arrived back on Bonaire tonight after a month in the States. We had a great time at our son Richard's graduation, and enjoyed helping him buy a car, move into his apartment etc. etc.
We also visited a few of our supporting churches, saw old friends and met new ones.
I have some pictures that I'll be posting over the next few days, so stay tuned.

Cool Trains

I've been having some problems posting pictures today. This photo goes with the two in the post right below this one. Here Bill Heffelfinger has popped up through a cool access hatch to fix one of the trains. You can click on the picture to see it bigger.

Train Room

We visited with Bill Heffelfinger and Bob Madeira in the model train room at the Willow Valley Manor North. This detailed layout is constantly evolving and contains many humerous scenes, if one looks closely.


Here is a close up shot of the crash site. You can click on these pictures to make them bigger.

Hi from PA

We are in the States for a few weeks, to see our son graduate from college, and to connect with friends, family, and some of the local churches that sponsor our work with Trans World Radio.

As of yesterday, Bonaire was suffering through a week of wind reversal / no wind. It is bad timing, because many of the best windsurfers in the world are on Bonaire right now for the first pro freestyle competition of the season.

It was hot and muggy when we left Bonaire yesterday. It was drizzling in San Juan when we passed through, and it is beautiful here in Lancaster, PA. Hooray.

I opened our suitcases last night and all this muggy stuffy air came out. It smelled just like Bonaire! I'm going to spread my stuff our all over our room today and see if it will air out and crisp up.

Strange Ship Sited

I was riding my bike north along the coast road after work the other day and saw a really strange ship hanging around out in the bay. It looked like something out of Star Wars, or Waterworld.

There were little boats swarming around behind the mother ship, which was catamaran-ish. So I figured it was either a military operation, or a new fangled fishing operation where the little boats drag the giant net between the hulls of the ship, which sucks it up.

It was amusing, as I rode along ogling the strange ship, to imagine some young sailors on the bridge ogling that "strange bike" with their giant "battleship binoculars".

To learn more about the strange ship, you can visit the US Navy's web site.

I wasn't the only one to see this strange site, here is the discussion on the Bonaire Talk site, as well as a few pictures that really capture the ship as it now looks. That navy photo showed it a little too new and shiny.

There are also some cool photos and video at the ship builder's web site.

There is LOTS more info at Incat's web site. They developed the ship as a high speed ferry, and they are in use all over the world. They also currently hold the Trans Atlantic crossing speed record for ships at over 40 knots. whew!

Astronomy Again

We've had some rain and lower winds the last week or two, which cleared up the sky, so we could see the stars again. Hooray.

And I've got a new toy to play with for a while. The scope on the right is mine and is what I used to take the solar eclipse photos. You can click on the picture to see it bigger.

The scope on the left has been donated to what will hopefully someday become a Bonaire community astronomy club / NGO. It's a 8" Meade LX50, and needed some cleaning and collimation, but is now producing great images. I had to tilt the tripod to polar align the mount, but I hope to come up with a better solution than that.

The computerized object locator gizmo almost puts the objects within the field of view of the eyepiece. "Almost" isn't good enough for dim objects though, so I'll fiddle some more with that too. Fortunately I remember where all sorts of celestial goodies are from back when I used to observe with my classic, non-computerized, orange Celestron scope.

Last week, the little scope was consistently putting Messier objects within the field of view of a 26 mm eyepiece. That was really cool, but once you do locate something in the big scope, the view is waaaay better, so I'll be using it a lot while I can.

Here is what Jupiter looked like Thursday evening in the big scope.
I couldn't find a way to post an uncompressed version of this image, even though the .bmp file was quite small. For some reason, the jpeg compression really hammers the visual quality of this small image.

Sorry, clicking on this image won't make it any bigger. :)

Rincon Bike Parade

Sunday afternoon in Rincon was the scene of the second annual bicycle parade on the day following Rincon Day.

There were tons of kids, young people, and adults riding.
Here is part of the adult contingent of riders.


This group brought their own shade and a well stocked cooler.


Thank you Bob Lassiter for these two pictures.