All the staff met at the TWR office for morning devotions.  The total number present was down considerably with 9 of our team, Daryl and 3 others having returned to the U.S over the weekend!

I drove to the transmitting site by myself after staff meeting.  Jonas told me the alarm code and gave me Daryl’s set of keys.  Ivan had already opened the building before my arrival.

Today I reviewed the list of needed parts that we made on Friday, then measured the lengths of tubing still needed to improve the accuracy of the list.  I then took inventory of all the copper tubing fittings and the various sizes and kinds of electrical conduit fittings to determine quantities to order.

I drove back to the duplex for lunch.  I also decided to take a siesta with my legs up for a few minutes, because of swelling of my feet.  This is likely due to the hot weather.  This is a symptom that first happened with my trip to Australia in 2006 after 3 days of traveling, then the constant 90sF heat and high humidity.

After lunch, Jonas was also at the site and gave me some additional things to add to the growing list.  TWR would like to have a normally closed contactor for the tower lighting.  In the event of a coil or control failure, the tower lights would automatically would turn on.  With the current system, a similar failure causes the tower lights to go out.  The computer control system is set up to monitor the lighting current and calls someone, if the tower lights are out when they should be on.  The airport must be notified, then the problem corrected.  With a normally closed contactor, there should never be such a crisis situation, unless there is a power failure and the standby engine does not start.  Initially Jonas requested a 24 volt DC coil for the contactor, but decided a 110 vac coil could also be an option.

Jonas also added relays to control cooling fans in the ATU (antenna tuning units) at the base of the four towers.

I looked into the possibility of a frequency controller to vary the speed of the 10HP motors for the air handler blowers.  This will require more research.  Initially and if acceptable, it looks like changing pulley sizes would be a much less expensive option.

When I got home this evening, I did not feel a cool-down swim was needed, as most of my time was spent in an air conditioned room today.

For supper we had spaghetti and salad.  Later in the evening we had dessert–ice cream and a Dutch waffle cookie with a layer of syrup inside.

Just the two of us are in the duplex this evening and it seems so quiet!  I think someone will arrive this coming weekend and spend a few days in the other side of the duplex.

Today we again went to International Bible Church where the worship service starts at 9am.  Forgot to mention earlier that the service is live streamed on Facebook each Sunday.  We sat on the windward side of the church this time and had the advantage of a good breeze, which is a real help since there is no air conditioning.  The pastor spoke on the events of Palm Sunday and ended his message with the question, “What sort of Savior are you looking for?”  The Jews who sang Hosana (meaning “Save, I Pray”) when Jesus rode the colt of a donkey into Jerusalem were looking for a political savior.  Others look for an economic savior, or a savoir from physical ailments.  Others looked for a savior that could provide food, like Jesus did when he fed the 5000.  We need a Savior from spiritual death, not physical death (like Lazarus, who eventually died again).

After church we needed a quick lunch so stopped by Subway in town.  It was just like those in the U.S, but with slightly less selection of vegetables, and no pepper jack cheese.

We got back to the duplex in plenty of time to load up the luggage and take Ralph, Mary Jane and Jim to the airport.  They arrive there about 90 minutes before departure time.  There was a short line at the check-in counters and no line at security.  They should have been able to get good seats in the waiting area.  From past experience, we have found that when two flights are leaving within 15 minutes of each other, about half of the passengers are standing while they wait.

After dropping them at the airport, Virginia and I decided to take the road to Lac Cai that we avoided yesterday.  Are we glad, for Mary Jane’s neck’s sake that we did not go that way yesterday!

Even though this road carries quite a bit of traffic, there are deep holes everywhere that are hard to avoid for the entire distance of 4 miles.  Even being careful, we got jolted around a lot.  Along the road we saw goats, donkeys, horses and flamingos.  The flamingos were closer than anywhere else that we had seen them.

Lac Cai is much like it was nearly 50 years ago when I first swam there.  Diving for queen conch shells was allowed in those days.  Once I remember diving down to about 10 feet deep to retrieve a conch when a huge shadow passed over above me.  I looked up and saw a huge sea turtle passing overhead.  Fortunately, the turtle wasn’t interested in me, because the most urgent thing on my mind was getting to the surface to get a breath of air.

No modern businesses have been built at Lac Cai, though there is a wooden shack type building where food and drink can be purchased.  Supposedly there is live music on the weekends, but we didn’t hear any today.

On the way back to our duplex, we decided to stop by Gio’s for another scoop of their ice cream.

After two weeks of eleven people in the duplex, It is really quiet with only the two of us here!  The evening was spent on catching up with these reports.

Today, all six of the cousins start their journey back to their homes — three to Burney, CA and three to Niles, MI.

Their morning was spent with all the packing that needed to be done.  All their check-in luggage, with tools, approached the 50 pound limit.

We returned the one rented pick up to the airport before 11am to avoid having to pay for an extra day.

After a light lunch for everyone, we loaded all the luggage into the remaining TWR pickup.  I could tell our load was heavy when Ralph and I took the six cousins for the short 1 mile trip to the airport.  Because of only having one pickup available, a couple of them had to ride in the back (which is allowed in Bonaire).  Although allowed, we did not make a practice of doing this.

Two flights arrive at and leave Bonaire within 15 minutes, so check-in was fairly busy.  There was some shuffling of items between bags to get each one under 50 pounds. [There is no scale at the duplex to check weight].  The lines for security were quite long and at one point all the United passengers were asked to allow Delta passengers to go ahead of them.  The cousins were flying United to Newark, where they will overnight at the airport before taking their flight to Chicago or San Francisco (then Redding, CA).

After their flight left at 2:45pm, Jim walked to the Hilma Hooker dive site for a swim to see if he could locate the sunken ship, Hilma Hooker, that is offshore under about 100 feet of water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilma_Hooker

Ralph Mary Jane, Virginia and I decided to drive to the north side of Lac Bay, where there are large piles of old conch shells remaining from 50 years ago.  When I was here in 1967, we were allowed to dive for conch shells in Lac Bay and the locals ‘harvested’ them for their meat.  Today, conch are on the endangered list.  We found a nice wide dirt road taking off in the right direction and eventually discovered two concrete mixing plants.  A little further, there was a couple of gravel pits.  The road passed a couple of farm crops (rare on Bonaire) that looked like milo and eventually we ended up at the gate of a kunuku (Bonairan farm).  We decided that this must not be the right road and returned to the tarred road.  The road we wanted was about 1/4 mile further down the tarred road, but it was much narrower and a whole lot rougher.  It was decided not to go, because Mary Jane’s neck was bothering her and jolting bumps could make it much worse — something not wanted before their return flight tomorrow.

We then decided to drive up the ‘mountain’ just north of  Kralendijk to Seru Largo (meaning ‘large hill’)  https://www.123rf.com/photo_27709113_holy-cross-on-seru-largo-lookout-bonaire-abc-islands.html .  There is a monument there with a large cross on the top.  It’s inscription reads, “A.D. 2000  Kritus  Ayera  Awe Semper” which translates Christ Yesterday Today Forever.  Next week, International Bible Church will be having their Easter Sunrise here.  All the island, except the north, can be clearly seen from this location.  Today’s view was a little hazy because of strong east winds causing salt spray from the waves and dirt from the eastern farm lands.

When we got back to the duplex, Jim was back from his swim.  He had located the sunken ship and made a few dives for a closer look.  Since he was only using a snorkel and free diving he could not dive the full 100 feet down.  He was happy to have found it.

For supper, the remaining five of us, went out for supper at Joe’s restaurant located between the airport and town.  Before our orders came, we were brought a small warm loaf of bread with butter mixed with parsley, and some type of tomato salsa.  I had fish, Ralph and Jim had beef, Virginia had Bonairian salad (lettuce, goat cheese, walnuts, onions, pickled onions, celery, shredded beets) and Mary Jane had a baked potato with side salad.  The food was good and the atmosphere was family friendly with music (mostly from the 1960s) playing softly in the background.  Joe’s restaurant appears to be family run and we wondered if they chose the music based on the apparent age of their customers!

After supper, we went into town to Gio’s Gelateria & Caffe ( http://www.gioscaribbean.com/ )for a scoop of Italian ice cream.

Each of us were able to have a piece of the Caribbean lobster that Philip caught last night.  He sauteed it last night in garlic butter and it was quite good.  Since this species does not have claws, it does not have as much ‘meat’ as other lobsters.

Today is the last working day for our complete team, so most effort was put into winding up their various projects.  The ceiling was finished in the new lab, including an access hole and cover.  Some control wiring was connected in the dummy load/ antenna transfer switch.

Phil from Alabama and Steve from Kansas moved in the rest of the inductors (coils) and capacitor mounting plates into the phasor room and bolted them to the floor.

Ralph, Jim and I met with Daryl and Jonas to go over what was completed and what still needed to be done.  We generated a list of materials that needs to be ordered from the U.S. and shipped to Bonaire.  After some discussion, it was decided that, rather than multiple shipments being made, all the items would be procured and gathered at Jim’s shop to be packed into a small crate.  This would then be shipped to AMCAR in Miami.  AMCAR has regular shipments to Bonaire.

Ralph and I went back to the duplex for lunch and siesta.  After a short nap, I went back to the transmitter site.

Our team at the site was gathering up all the tools and returning them to their proper places.  Many of the tools were their own.  They also cleaned up all the work areas.  By 3pm, everything was packed and ready to head back to the duplex.

In short order, back at the duplex, the team washed and cleaned both pickups.

All six of the younger boys wanted to go for a last swim, so I drove them to the salt pier and joined in on the cool-down swim.  They again spotted a medium sized sea turtle and followed it around for a while.  They also found quite a bit of live coral just beyond the pier. [Most of the beautiful live coral close to shore was destroyed by a rare hurricane about 20 years ago.  It takes a LONG time for coral to reestablish itself.]

Supper consisted of meatloaf, cole slaw, rice with broccoli, lettuce, peach slices, pudding cups, and cookies.  I think two older members of our team have put on a little weight with these meals suited for active young men!

Today many different projects were worked on by various members of our team. Steve, Brian and Jake finished installing all the sheet metal ducting for delivering cold air to the phasor and transmitter hall. Jim, who had pressure tested the north air conditioning system yesterday, now vacuum pumped the system, then filled it with refrigerant.

Jim and Philip also worked on installing all the copper tubing we had available for the south air conditioning system. There is enough 7/8” tubing to complete the hookup, but more 1-5/8” tubing is needed (none available on Bonaire).

Paul and Bruce worked on wiring the UPS (uninterrupted power supply), dehydrator system for the coax lines, control lines for the switchable antenna system, four multi-conductor cables for the antenna system control and wiring for a 5,000 watt test transmitter. [I forgot to mention yesterday that our team moved the UPS from its old location to the new transmitter hall. By using a long temporary electrical connection, the UPS was out of service for only a few minutes.]

Ralph and I went for lunch and a siesta, then to Kooymans to pick up some two hole 2” conduit straps for some of the control cables. We also picked up some CFLs for the phasor room to replace LED bulbs that were mounted horizontally in a ceiling fixture. The LED bulbs work great in a vertical position, but when installed horizontally, only half of the ceiling fixture is lit up and there is a shadow to the other side of the fixture.

After changing all nine CFLs in the ceiling lights of the phasor room, Jim told me that he was ready to test the one air conditioning system.

Since WEB will not make their connection to the power room until June, we needed to run the standby generator to provide the necessary power for the condensing units. When I checked on the generator, Benny and Lionel had purchased 300 liters of diesel fuel and were just finishing filling the tank. I manually changed the large switch in the ATS to the generator, started the generator and checked voltages to make sure that all three phases were 200vac phase-to-phase and 127vac to neutral before switching on its circuit breaker. We then switched on the 800 amp breaker in the distribution panel and the 150 amp breakers for the condensing units. We then checked the voltages to all three phase at the condensing units. Because these are fed via a step-down transformer the voltages were 190vac phase-to-phase as expected.

We made sure the blower was running for the north evaporator unit (cooling coils) then switched on the condensing unit. Since the automated control wiring is not completed, a jumper was used where a thermostat would normally be connected. After a built-in delay of about 5 minutes two compressors switched on followed by the other two within about 5 seconds. Within a couple minutes the transmitter hall and phasor room began to cool down. Everyone was excited to feel the cool air, especially Jim–after almost two full weeks of very hard work on his part of the project. Most of his work was done outside in the hot sun or inside near the ceiling, which was also hot!

We let the generator and air conditioning run for about an hour at the end of the workday. Working conditions inside was so much more pleasant during that hour!

Mid afternoon, Philip, Jake and Dan, another working visitor from Atlanta, started hanging sheet rock on the ceiling of the new lab room. By quitting time they were close to half done. The work was made easier by a special lift that TWR Bonaire has that can lift the sheets of sheet rock up to the 10 foot high ceiling joists.

Steve and Phil, working visitors from Kansas and Alabama, moved high power switches into the phasor room and connected control wires to them. They then began moving in some of the very large inductors (coils). It is good to see some visible progress after all the preparation work that has been going on in the phasor room.

After work, I drove Steven, Philip, Paul, Bruce and Jake to the salt pier for our cool-down swim. No turtles were seen today.

For supper we had a chicken/macaroni casserole, beets, salad with a large variety of topping, Hawaiian rolls, crackers with jam, and cookies.

This evening, several guys wanted to go again for a swim after sunset at Coco Beach, like they did last night. Last night they had seen lobster and after hearing that lobster season was open and no license required, they wanted to catch one or two. Caribbean lobster do not have claws, which reduces the risks from catching them by hand. They only caught one small one, but are busy cooking it as I write this.