Barker girls and their mother sewing
This osprey was eating a small fish.
On our way home we saw a bird eating its catch by the sea. We went around the block and took a picture. He was quite happy to have his picture snapped until I got out of the car to see if I could get closer.
Trying to get a closer photo, the osprey flew off.
As we drove by the fish market, we noticed that they had lots of fruit and even some plants from Venezuela. We stopped and bought bananas and papaya and took a picture of the ‘banana boat’ (as
Due to heightened security since 9/11, it is not longer possible to buy produce on the pier directly off the Venezuela 'banana boat'.
On our way to the site we saw a ship at the salt flats pier, so we drove the extra mile past the site gate to take some pictures. When we got closer, we heard a warning siren, which we learned later was because they were in the process of opening the huge covers over the rear hold in preparation for loading.
Beginning preparations to load salt
We checked again several hours later as were were heading home. We could now clearly see that the huge covers over the hold were folded back. The conveyor belt was running and salt was flowing into the ship’s hold using a funnel type arrangement. We assume this is so
The huge hold doors can be seen standing up like two big pup tents. Salt is moving up the conveyor.
The loaders are about 1/4 mile away -- hence the poor quality of the photo.
We were amazed to see that the loading onto the conveyor was being done by a couple of front end loaders. They loaded the salt into a hopper over the conveyor belt which evenly distributed salt onto the conveyor. We observed that the loaders were not able to load enough salt to prevent empty spots on the conveyor belt. It is going to be interesting to see how long it takes to fill this huge ship.
NOTE — To see a bigger (and in some cases, expanded) version of any of the images in this blog, just click on the one you want to see.
Hi Mom;
A quilting party sounds like a lot of fun! I will supply the sharpened scissors if you supply the plane tickets. 🙂
Wow, that’s really interesting with the salt ships. Is that the salt I put on my food?
Joyce, I sure wish I could say the tickets are on the way!
Sam, it is likely the salt you put on your food. Not sure how one would know for sure. I have never seen salt that said “harvested in Bonaire” or any other place for that matter, but I’m sure it could be.
Sea Salt would come this way, not “normal” table salt, I suppose, from Morton.?
From what I understand, “sea salt” and “regular salt” could both come from the sea. Salt that is sold as “sea salt” is processed differently than regular salt. There are even different types of sea salt. Some even have clay added to give it a different color! Most salts that you buy in the store don’t say whether it is sea salt or not, but the ones that are labeled sea salt cost a lot more. Maybe I’ll check our Morton Salt and see if they get the salt from mines or from the sea or a mixture.