With the men mixing concrete outside for the fence and the need to keep all the windows closed to keep dust out of the house, Virginia has been accompanying me to the office and to the site. This morning on the way to the office, we noticed another cruise ship, the Sea Princess, was already at the dock and tourists were already on the streets.

This morning, I updated the ‘Security System Notes’ with the additional information gathered from programming and testing it yesterday. I then submitted a draft to Joe Barker as a Word document. It is usable in this form, but will have additional minor changes before I can say it is done.

On the way home for lunch, there was another cruise ship, the Star Flyer of Star Clippers, at the second dock. This one was unique in that it is a sailing tall ship called a clipper.

After a quick lunch of sandwiches, we headed for the site. On the way, we noticed that the tanker, Alice PG, delivering jet fuel was still there. We took a photo of it from one of the most popular beaches, Playa Palu di Mangel (or Airport Beach), of Bonaire, with the Sea Princess in the background. Note the enclosed life boat mounted high on the back poised for a quick getaway. When we talked on the phone later in the evening one grandchild asked why it is taking over a day to deliver the fuel. My reply was that the big tanks must have been very empty, or they were using a very small pump, or both!

As we went on to the site, we could see Salt Pier and observed that the salt ship was gone. It took just under 2 days to load it. Driving into the site, we noticed the water was higher, due to the rain a few days earlier. To park the car in the shaded carport behind the building we had to drive through some water that was not there a couple of days earlier.

Today, I first programmed the security system for one-button review of the time and date. The reason for this was preparing for the next step to program the system to automatically ‘arm’ itself in the event that anyone left after work without ‘arming’ it. I then tested these and more features. About 4pm the TWR staff who normally have access to the site arrived and I gave them training about disarming and arming the alarm. I also demonstrated some of the emergency features, just in case they are ever needed.

At this point, one of the men wanted to hear the siren go off, so we obliged. Joe then mentioned that only one had worked. Being unaware of a second one, Joe showed me the wiring for it. I noticed the output of the system was limited in current capability and decided to verify whether it could handle both sirens. A quick test of the one that was not connected revealed that, even by itself, it required more current than the system could handle. I then checked the one that was connected and noted that it took about 80% of the allowable current. It looks like we will need to install a relay and another 12 volt supply for the higher power siren. I found a relay and socket, so all that is needed now is a 12 volt supply capable of handling 1 amp.

As we left the site this evening, the security alarm was fully armed for the first time (except for testing). Joe had told me this morning that the system was installed several months ago, but that nobody was able to take the time required to get it to work. I am grateful to the Lord for answered prayers for wisdom and feel better now about what seemed like a steep ‘learning curve’ for me to get it going.

Looking out the front door earlier (about 3pm), I noticed a large ship head our way and then turn south toward Salt Pier. Also noticed a tugboat accompanying it. On the way home at about 5:45pm, we noticed that this ship, the United Tenorio of United Seven, was moored and preparing to load. There is a blue obelisk (built in 1837) at this pier which is a marker used by salt ships of the 1800s to indicate where they could land safely to load.

We did not go swimming this evening as it is Friday night and the Flamingo Resort parking had overflowed onto the area along our front fence. Instead, we walked along the sea front towards town and watched the Sea Princess leave right at sunset. Looking from the back, it looked like a huge rectangular box and we commented about similarities to what Noah’s ark much have looked like.

We then walked on into town and took some photos of the Star Flyer at dusk. Since it is a sailing vessel, it must travel mostly during daylight hours.

For most of the day, we had seen a large barge and tugboat about a mile offshore. From shore, it kind of looked like an

airplane floating on the water with its tail fin sticking up in the air. As the Sea Princess was leaving, we noticed that the tugboat began to move the barge toward shore. Moving it into its final position took place after dark at about 6:45pm. During this whole time another tugboat and a pilot boat ‘hovered’ around the barge, the former just in case it was needed and the latter to give instructions and help attach some of the mooring ropes. We had a ‘front row seat’ as we were able to stand on the dock where it tied off and let down a ramp (the ‘fin’ that we had seen) for loading and unloading. The name on the barge was ‘Caribbean Pride’ from Kingstown. It obviously was carrying hundreds of tons of material for use on Bonaire.

For supper tonight we had leftover Japanese chicken and rice from last night. We also used Skype for an hour or so talking to the Etheringtons and our son Allan and family.

NOTE — To see a bigger (and in some cases, expanded) version of any of the images, just click on the one you want to enlarge.