Showers - Flowers II

Here are some more wild flowers we saw over the weekend. These flowers seem to start out light orange and then turn reddish orange.

Sandra likes these rose like flowers on the cotton trees.

The Cossie trees are about ready to explode with little orange puffs.

The Brazil trees are what got me started on the flowers. They are bursting with color all over the place in the northern hills.

These bushes / trees grow like crazy and could be a problem, but the flowers are nice.

Liquid Sunshine ha-ha

It was really rainy today. We've been having lots of on and off rain for a while now, but this morning, the skies were completely grey and the rain came down quite hard at times. When Donna came to work this morning, her handy dandy rain gauge was registering .7 inches. By the middle of the afternoon, it was at almost three inches!

There were lots of "puddles" that completely covered the roads. Sandra decided to wash the dogs this morning, since they were soaking wet anyway. We have both hot and cold water at one outside faucet, by the outside shower. The dogs loved getting hosed down with warm water.

Cycling

I'm not riding today. It's kids Carnival Sunday on Bonaire and I'm concerned that there might be tipsy drivers out there on the road. So we're at home watching the WRC race from Norway on TV. They're going over 100mph on narrow icy forest roads, amazing. Above is a group of people from a cruise ship on a bike tour from town to Dos Pos. That distance is probably a challenge for many, but the scenery is about as good as it gets and definitely worth the effort.

Cycling is the best way to see Washington Park. It's faster than hiking, but you see a lot more than when you are driving. You can rent bikes right at the park entrance.

Pelicans

Check out the Pelican shadows on the beach at Slac Bai. I looked up and there were 15 to 18 of them floating around up there.

They were passing by right over my head. Made me wish I had something longer than a 24mm lens on the camera so i could get a nice close up. But I like this wide shot.

Slac Bai Cannon

I first snorkeled at Slac Bai either during the summer of 1975 or 1976. I can still remember cruising around way out in the middle of the bay and seeing an amazing array of canons lying in the sand on the bottom. We were really excited until we dove down and noticed that the underside of the canons was flat. They were fake canons. I later learned that they had been props for a movie called, "Sharks Treasure," filmed on Bonaire in 1974. However there are indeed two real canon in shallow water along the south wall of the bay at Slac Bai. It is said that my next door neighbor, Ralph Nolen, discovered them in 1981.

I love the way this one looks like it is growning out of the coral. It sort of reminds me of some members of Davy Jones' crew on the Flying Dutchman, in "Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3"

Washington Park Photos

Here are some more Washington Park pictures from our visit a week or so ago. The air was clear and the bushes were green. That makes for great photos, but is not necessarily how things look most of the year. :) I've kept the thumbnails extra small for those of you who have slower Internet connections. You can see the pix bigger by clicking on them. I've often attempted to image the "roller coaster hills" that are encountered just after Juwa Pass on the way out from Slac Bai. They usually don't look very hilly in the images, but this one gets the feel I think.

A whole flock of pelicans was hanging out at Slac Bai. I first noticed them by their shadows on the beach. I think I have a picture of that, but I'll have to do some digging on the hard drive before I can post it.

I've also often taken pictures of the stark trees of Bonaire. They usually don't come out well in the images, but this one has the feel that I wanted to capture. Can you find the teeny tiny moon in this image, shot with a 24mm lens.

The moon is in this nice green Bonaire landscape as well. Maybe I should shoot the exact same scene in the summer to capture the rainy season and dry season differences.

Erwin Muller

If you've a Bonaire old timer, you'll surely remember Erwin Muller. I first met him at the old Hotel Bonaire, across the street from the TWR offices and studios. Among other things, Erwin was the first one here to learn how to sail the original Windsurfer. Those big heavy boards with their ungainly teak booms and triangular sails didn't make much of an impression on me at the time, as I was caught up with catamaran sailing. But Erwin impressed me with his persistence as he fell in the water again and again, and climbed back on the board again and again. With time, he more than mastered the craft and became a local windsurfing legend. Since then, Erwin has always been around the water, both in the diving and fishing businesses.

Erwin's wife, Ellen, is a world class underwater photographer. Son Jason, one of our son Richard's favorite fishing buddies when they were kids (because Jason had a boat!) has made a successful career of that childhood passion. Sandra's cousin, Bud, always looks up Erwin and Ellen, when he visits Bonaire, to find out what has been happening on and under the water. Bud really values their insights.

I was shocked a few weeks ago, to hear that Erwin, at age 48, had suffered from a stroke and had been flown to Curacao. This week's Bonaire Reporter has an update on Erwin on page 3. (That's the Feb. 13 edition, if you are reading this much later.)

Family and friends have rallied in support of Erwin. Long time friend, Linda Baker, has set up a blog so we can track his recovery. For those who might desire to help Erwin and Ellen with their financial challenges of his illness, friends have set up a Maduro Bank account and a PayPal site for donations.

Erwin's 49th birthday is coming up on March 1. If you'd like to encourage him with a card, his address is: Erwin Muller, c/o Fundashon Mrg. P. I. Verriet, Salsbachweg 20, Santa Maria, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, Dutch Caribbean. Better do it quickly since mail from North America, for example, takes a couple weeks to get here.

7th annual Special Olympics Walk/Ride

This past Sunday I participated in the 7th annual Walk a Thon to benefit Bonaire's special Olympics team. I hadn't done it in previous years, because of my usual Sunday morning church responsibilities. But this time around, I figured that because the event starts at 5am, I should be able to ride my bike from White Slave to Rincon and still get back home in time to shower and be at the High School at 8am to set up the sound system for the 9am church service there.

It was amazing to be part of hundreds and hundreds of walkers and riders swarming down the road past pink beach in the almost full moonlight at 5am. The organizers had a surprise for us bike riders. Instead of our riding the 30km route that the walkers always take, they laid out a 42km route that had us all over Bonaire. We actually rode 48km according to my GPS because we went all the way to Bopec, Goto Lake, and Dos Pos, instead of riding up the long hill at Karpata.

I also cycled out to White Slave before the start and then rode home really hard from Rincon in order to get to the church on time. I estimate I got in 72km (45miles) by 8am, which is probably a record for me.

If you email me I can send you an 18KB kml file that you can open in Google Earth and see exactly where we rode Sunday am. By the way, Google Earth seems to have added a new hi rez section to the map right at the south tip of Bonaire, where it used to be lo rez. Now all of Bonaire is hi rez except for a small part in the north east.

Slac Bai

We went to Washington Park with our friend, Bill, this week. I took loads of photos, some of which I'll be posting over the next week or so.

TWR Cuba Programming Update

In the first three weeks of broadcasting "Messages of Faith and Hope" to Cuba, Alberto Gonzales, director of RTM-Cuba, reports the following:

20 emails. Among them one of haití from a Cuban doctor, and another of a listener in Venezuela. The emails come from the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Manzanillo, Holguín, Camaguey, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara y Matanzas.

4 letters to the address in Havana that we offer. These come from Placetas, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Cifuentes, VC.

telephone calls: Although we don't offer a telephone number in the program, I have received several calls of friends that know me and they call me from Yaguajay, Sancti Spíritus, Santa Clara, Guanabacoa en Ciudad de La Habana.

A Baptist Pastor in Madruga, Province of Havana reports that there is a group of listeners in his town. The same thing in Guines, another city in the Province of Havana.

I received yesterday a letter from a very excited person when he/she heard the first day the program. The letter delayed 17 days in arriving.

We praise God for the impact of our broadcasts in Cuba.
P.S. "RTM - Radio Trans Mundial" is the Spanish version of "TWR - Trans World Radio"

Science Lectures Last Night

I enjoyed two interesting lectures Monday night, at the new CIEE facility across the street from the old CIEE place on Kaya GN Debrot. We used to be packed in like sardines in the old building, but the new one is really airy and spacious. The first lecture was about the factors and forces that shaped Bonaire's coastline in the recent geologic past. The discussion of core samples from the saliñas was particularly interesting.

The second lecture was about a project to get a baseline of the water conditions in the many saliñas in the Washington Park area. One highlight was the team's innovative deployment of numbers of relatively inexpensive commercial sensors, which they then calibrated with a high precision scientific grade instrument.

What's wrong with these Pictures

These pictures were shot on Bonaire yesterday, Feb. 01. Hint... Donna has measured over two and a half inches of rain in the last week up in Republik.

Off Road

I do most of my bike riding on dirt roads and trails that are off the beaten path so to speak. This pickup gives "off road" a different meaning. This is not the first time that a vehicle has gone off the road at this corner. I've sometimes thought that all those concrete posts were overkill, but it looks like they probably kept the pickup from entering someone's living room.

When I see something like this, I'm very thankful that I didn't happen to be riding my bike along that piece of road at that particular time.

Heart Warming Weather

We've been receiving some snowy weather pictures from friends on the East Coast of the USA. So I thought I'd pass along some pix of the current weather here on Bonaire Sandra and I joined the Barker clan late Sunday afternoon for a hike on a new trail along the base of Seru Largu.

The breezes were balmy, the sky was clear, and the scenic views were worth the climb.

Popcorn Prep

What is Brad doing with his popcorn in that colander? Longtime Bonaire residents will no doubt quickly arrive at the correct answer.

"He's sifting out the bugs," of course.

First one freezes the bag of popcorn overnight to kill all the little nasties, and then one sifts them out before popping the popcorn. QED.

Mysterious Sightings

England may have crop circles, but Bonaire has Mysterious Disappearing Houses. Almost overnight, waterfront dwellings that have stood for a generation or two vanish into thin air.

Some say it must be the work of the "Wrecking Crane" continuing its bid to supplant the good old Flamingo as the national bird of Bonaire.

Especially ominous is when two adjacent houses disappear, leaving a space that just might be filled by one of those new-fangled multi story dwellings. Yikes.

The space pictured here is the site of the vacation home of the late Metropolitan Opera Singer, Jerome Hines, and his family. I'm sure that more than a few people have fond memories of vacationing at this very spot over the years.

electric powered dog mobile

Well, it looks like someone else has beaten us to the electric powered dogmobile idea.
See the post below for more info.

Solar Electric Cars on Bonaire

ABCarrental has a solar powered car that they are encouraging their customers to try out. The Bonaire Insider reported on it recently and you can read it here. AB Carrental is set up to be the Caribbean distributor for a number of Solar Car models.

I think they are on to something, especially considering Bonaire's recent emphasis on green power technology.

But the Solar Car is a little too much like a golf cart for my tastes. If it just was a little faster than 35 - 40 kph, I'd be more interested.

I did some searching online and found another option. The vehicle pictured above is a solar powered electric vehicle that I would be happy to drive here on Bonaire. It looks like it would cost $14,000 for the solar version, plus shipping and duty. It could hold plenty of dogs, bikes or scuba gear, goes up to 65 kph and has a range of 40 - 65 km. That sounds just right for Bonaire. They have been in production since 2006 and there is a cute sedan version too. Of course, I've always been a sucker for off beat vehicles.

I wonder if we could talk someone into becoming a dealer for these aptly named "Zap" vehicles here on Bonaire? I suspect that they would sell ok, because they could be promoted as being "green" and politically correct, in addition to being economical to operate. If the govt. were to provide some sort of tax incentives like some places do, it would be almost irresistible.

Marc Heath visits Bonaire

Marc, who grew up here on Bonaire back in the day, came back for a visit with his wife Sara in time for the New Year's Eve fireworks. Marc also was just in time to join in a celebration of Benny's birthday at the TWR office. That's Benny at the top left above, Marc in the middle, and Ivan in the lower right.

Sara really appreciated the chance to see and experience for herself, the island that has played such a large part in her husband's live.

Dutch Christmas Cookies II

For those of you in North America, who might be craving those yummy Dutch Christmas treats, here are a couple links to online stores that import and sell them.

This store has my favorite brand of Kruidnoten, or tiny crunchy gingery spice cookies. They do seem to be reduced in price now that Christmas is past.

I'm not quite as addicted to Taai Taai cookies, but when I eat them, this place has the ones I look for. They are the forth ones down on the list on this page.

There are all sorts of other yummy Dutch treats, like Hagelslag, Chocolate Letters, Speculass and Stroopwafels, available from these stores too.

And of course the hazardous to your health unless you've grown up on it, and are therefore immune, stuff like Dubble Zoute Licorice is available online too. Yikes.

TWR - Cuba Program on the Air

This past Monday evening, we here at TWR - Bonaire transmitted the first episode of a new program titled, "Messages of Faith and Hope." Well, that is what an English translation of the title would be.

This five minute long program is being produced in Cuba at our TWR office and studio there, and is the first program to be produced in Cuba and broadcast back to Cuba from Bonaire. These programs are designed to lay the foundation for faith in God and are on the air five nights a week between the programs "Thru The Bible" and "Luis Palau."

Here is what our TWR partner, Alberto, had to say after hearing the first program Monday night. Tonight we had a special gift. We listened to "Messages of Faith and Hope" in our own house in City of Havana and with an incredibly strong signal! It was very touching for us and there are already people calling. Here it is listened at 8:30 PM. Thank you, brother, for your dream that begins to be completed. We are beginning, yes?

The video clip below is actually just the audio track of this first Messages of Faith and Hope program. Blogger makes it much easier to include video in the blog than audio, and a blank video clip with audio track seems to work ok.

Vocal Flamingos

We always visit the zoo when we go to Curacao to consult with Sandra's doctor there. The zoo is humble, but very well maintained, and it's a peaceful oasis on a otherwise busy island.

I shot a little video of some flamingos at the zoo. The thing I like is that they were making lots of noise, which we don't usually hear the Bonaire flamingos do. I think they are too busy eating!

Moon and Planets on NY Eve.

The fireworks are popping and sparkling here on Bonaire tonight. The Moon, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter are lighting up the sky as well.

The moon and Venus are near the top of the picture. Mercury and Jupiter are towards the bottom. Mercury is to the left of and slightly higher than Jupiter.

Moon and Planets Dec 28

The sky was just clear enough tonight to see Jupiter, Mercury and the Moon in low in the West.

Jupiter is near the top of the picture. Mercury is half way down the picture and a little to the left of middle. The moon is towards the bottom of the picture, just above the cloud bank.

Tomorrow night, the moon will be above Mercury and Jupiter.

Out With a Bang

The last echoes of the Christmas Carols have barely died away here on Bonaire, when other seasonal sounds are beginning to appear.

It's fireworks season on Bonaire. New Years Eve is a big blowout in more ways than one. To help get in the spirit of things, I've posted a video clip of the monster firecracker string (tapeit) from the Napa / Budget Marine parking lot on New Years Eve of last year.

I had problems uploading it here, so it is on YouTube.

Planetary Parade Coming

Yesterday evening, Sandra and I were stuffing ourselves at the Christmas Buffet at the Divi Flamingo hotel. This sumptuous buffet is fast becoming a tradition for us here on Bonaire.

We watched the evening sky darken as we sat there at our waterside table. Venus was high in the sky and very bright. Jupiter was lower and quite bright, and then... yes there was Mercury below Jupiter.

I was surprised how far Mercury was from Jupiter because those two planets are going to be putting on quite a show, beginning Sunday evening. On Dec. 28th, Jupiter and Mercury will be much closer together, and a teeny tiny moon sliver will be below them. On the 29th, the moon sliver will be to Mercury and Jupiter's upper left.

THEN, on the evening of the 31st, when everyone on Bonaire will be outside shooting off fireworks, Jupiter and Mercury will be at their closest point, and the Moon will be stationed right by Venus.

Any of these groupings would be great to see, and I'll attempt to photograph them as well. We're sure hoping for clear skies on the 28th and 31st.

I fired up my ancient astronomy charting software, Skyglobe, today and checked out what we had seen last night. I learned that 22 minutes after sunset on Christmas night, Mercury was 11 degrees above the horizon, Jupiter 17.5, and Venus 40.

On the 28th, when the Moon joins the picture, at 22 min. after sunset:
the Moon will be 9.4 degrees up, Mercury 12.7, Jupiter 15.8, and Venus will be 40.5 degrees up.

By way of comparison, for those brave enough to be outside 22 min. after sunset in northern New Jersey:
the Moon will be 6 degrees above the horizon, Mercury 8.7, Jupiter 12.1 and Venus 29.3. So spotting the Moon and planet grouping could prove to be more of a challenge up North than it will be for us in the Tropics.

But if I were up there in the frozen North, I'd still pop outside on the evenings of the 28th, 29th, and 31st, just to see what I could see.
You can see nice illustrations of what the planet and moon groupings will look like online here.

Christmas Cheer

As someone who grew up as a fan of a recording of the barking dogs performing "Jingle Bells" I guess I was bound to fall for this rendition of Jingle Bells by 49 microwave ovens.

Christmas Programs

We've got loads of Christmas music on the FM station here on Bonaire. In fact, we've got a 50 minute cantata playing without interruption right now while I rebuild the music hard drive on the FM play-out computer. We've got umpteen copies of our audio library stored all over the place, so we can quickly recover from most computer glitches. The Sunday School youth and kids were involved in the church service on Sunday. They did a great job and some of them were even more angelic than usual!

We're also having a Christmas Eve candlelight service in the High School auditorium on Wednesday evening at 7pm. If you are on Bonaire, we'd love to have you join us.

Fun Foods

We returned to Bonaire just in time to enjoy the fun local holiday foods, which run mostly to spicy cookies in my case. Our son, Richard, has found a place on the Internet where he can order them from his home in NJ.

We just zip down to Cultimara and stock up. Yum!


Anyway, it's a good thing that we're enjoying these Christmas treats so much, (I'm munching on some Kruidnoten as I type this) because it means that we won't be missing the delicacies that we had to leave behind in N. America, such as the ones pictured here!

You may need to click on the picture to get the full effect.

More Yacht Fire Pix

For anyone who is interested, I put a bunch more pictures of the recent yacht fire on my Winkflash page.

TWR India Celebrates 30 years

From the TWR E-Snapshots comes this story.

The year 2008 marks the 30-year milestone for TWR-India, Trans World Radio’s partner ministry in the spiritually needy subcontinent. TWR’s fruitful ministry in India comprises church planting, evangelism and discipleship. The ministry in India began in five languages in 1978 from a single AM radio station with one 400,000-kilowatt transmitter. Thirty years later, in thankfulness to God, we rejoice that TWR-India broadcasts from various locations in 56 languages over AM, shortwave, FM, podcasting, television audio feed and Internet audio streaming. Some 383 programs are broadcast for 148 hours per week. On average, TWR-India receives approximately 20,000 listener responses per month.

Vinita Shaw, CEO of TWR-India, says, “In the last 30 years of broadcasting to the Indian subcontinent and the 20 years that I have had the privilege of being part of, there is one thing that has always stood out as TWR-India continues to broadcast the Good News. There is something that has been a part of every letter received, every phone call made or every visit made to our follow-up offices … Hope is what keeps them going … And this hope in the Lord Jesus Christ is living hope …”

Please pray that God will continue to move in TWR-India’s powerful life-changing ministry. Visit TWR India’s Web site at www.radio882.com.

TWR Website Updated for December

The monthly feature on the Trans World Radio web site for December is Christmas traditions around the world. Perevious month's feature storys are still available, as it streaming audio, video clips and other goodies.

Low Fares to Bonaire from Continental

The Bonaire Insider reports that the Continental Airlines website has some pretty attractive fares to Bonaire, from Houston and Newark.
Check it out here.

ISS Puts on a Show

The International Space Station has made some great passes through the early evening sky here on Bonaire this week. On Thursday night, it appeared to pass right through the planet Venus.

I receive alert emails about ISS passes, as well as other astronomy events, from Arnold Barmettler's excellent CalSky Web site. The alert for this week mentioned a close approach to Venus. I then used a neat program by Ed Morena to find out where on Bonaire I needed to be stationed to see the ISS cross over Venus, as opposed to pass near by Venus.

I've also used Ed's Transit Prediction program to successfully station myself to watch the ISS pass across the moon. The ISS may pass across Saturn as seen from Bonaire, on Dec. 17. It will be a pre-dawn event, so I may or may not get up in time to see it. Stay tuned.... ha-ha

Pedrito el Pulpo on the Road

Our Trans World Radio partner in Venezuela has finished up the year with Pedrito el Pulpo rallies in Barinas and Maracaibo. The Pedrito el Pulpo radio program is broadcast from here on Bonaire. It's also heard on 38 stations in Venezuela and 53 stations in Bolivia. There is also a Pedrito web site, and then the team from the Radio Trans Mundial office in Maracai travels all over Venezuela to hold Pedrito rallies such as those pictured here.

You can just get a glimpse of Pedrito peaking out over the shoulder of one of the leaders in the photo below.

Each kid receives a packet with a few "goodies." These rallies in Barinas and Maracaibo were in jeopardy because the team didn't have the funds to prepare the handout packs for the kids. One of Sandra and my New Jersey churches came through with a missions project offering which ensured that the Maracaibo event would happen. The TWR - Bonaire staff helped purchase the supplies for the Barianas kids. The team's travel expenses were picked up by the schools that they visited.

A boy at one of the schools visited this year prayed, "I am happy that Peter is at my school, please ensure that the doors of this school are always open for them, Amen." Actually he said, "Estoy contento que Pedrito este en me escuela, por favor has que las puertas de esta escuela esten siempre abiertas para ellos, Amen."

There are more pictures from Maracaibo and Barinas on my Winkflash photo site.

Yacht Fire

I happened to look outside this morning and saw a big plume of black smoke, which I just had to investigate. It turned out to be one of the many yachts moored along the Playa Pabou waterfront. I don't know the name of the yacht. The back end was all charred and the mast had toppled by the time I got there. A fire truck arrived shortly after I got there. They tried pumping water on the yacht from the shore but just couldn't quite reach it.

A tugboat had some success in spraying water on the burning yacht, but wind shifts kept blowing the (probably toxic) smoke back onto the tug, and they eventually had to abandon their efforts.

Eventually some Marine Park rangers towed the yacht out to deep water, where it continued to burn. I'm not sure if it eventually sank or what. I had to get back to work.

There were two cruise ships in port today, each with something like 3000 passengers.

Back on Bonaire - moon and planets

We're back on Bonaire, after ten weeks of travel and reporting back to our ministry sponsors. It sure is wet and green here. There seems to be a good crop of mosquitoes, but our trusty "Cactus Juice" repellent is keeping them at bay.

The Moon, Jupiter, and Venus made a small triangle in the western sky tonight. It was striking to look at, but I don't think any of my photos came out due to a high haze in the sky.

Here is a picture I took last night, when the Moon was lower than the planets. The moon was above the planets tonight and much closer to them than last night.

TWR's New President

While we were in North Carolina last week, Sandra and I dropped in at the Trans World Radio office in Cary for a brief visit. Sandra happened to be at the reception desk when her dad phoned in from Africa, so she got to say hi to him. What great timing.

I "bumped into" TWR's new president Lauren Libby in the hall. He seemed really nice.

Fun Run

Here are a few shots of some of the runners in the 5K fun run in Greensboro. After going around the pond, they entered some great woodsy trails.

I got in some fine road bike rides while I was in Greensboro, but I saw some really interesting single track trails that have set me to scheming on how I might bring a mtn. bike along the next time I visit.