Today, I again updated the ‘Security System Notes’. This draft is nearing completion, but I know of a couple more things that need to be added. One of these I researched this morning for checking out this afternoon at the site.

There was a ‘Comm Failure’ error on the security system keypad left from Friday when the men wanted to hear what ‘siren’ sounded like. Because the alarm was set off, it attempted to contact my cell phone eight times and a secondary phone eight times. These repetitive calls confirm to us that there is an alarm. Because the system is looking for a security company computer and did not get the response it expected, it recorded the above error. How to clear that error was my initial quest of the afternoon. I already knew the user code or the master code would not, therefore it was speculated that the installer code might do the trick. NOT so!! The only way found to clear it was by powering down the system, which requires resetting the clock. If necessary, we can live with this, but will investigate the possibility of also using the pager alert function of the system.

With the intent of providing additional monitoring by the Gentner controller, I began tracing wires from the old fire alarm system. I found two outputs. One goes to WEB, the electric company sharing the south end of our property, and turns on a fire alarm on their supervisory panel. The other goes somewhere in the building.

I found a label on a cable going out of the phone line distribution box that said fire alarm to Gentner, so decided to trace from there. After lifting ceiling panels, and following ducts through four rooms, I found that it ‘dead ended’ in the room that once housed the BBC 500kw transmitter. At one time, the Gentner must have been located there, but was later moved to its current location near the Nautel 100 kw transmitter.

I now began to more intently trace the second output from the old fire alarm system. Fortunately, among the hundreds of phone line wires, the wire colors for this pair remained the same. After passing through a couple of telephone punch blocks, the wires were traced to a punch block labeled ‘TX Hall’. To this was terminated a 33 pair cable with beige PVC jacket.

Now the challenge was to find the route the cable took to the transmitter hall, and where it ended. Again, lifting ceiling panels and tracing ducting (again in four rooms), I discovered it went into a conduit down the south wall of the transmitter room. Under a built-in desk were some doors concealing two more punch blocks. The PVC jacketed cable being traced terminated on one of the punch blocks. The fire alarm pair was jumper to the second punch block to which another cable was terminated, but this one had a braided shield over the outside.

I was fairly confident that this shielded cable terminated at a punch block in the ceiling just behind the audio rack for the transmitter. By now it was 5:30pm and time to head home. This search will continue tomorrow.

This evening we walked again, instead of swimming. The wind is out of the west, a very rare occurrence. It is almost always out of the east. This west wind results in large waves at our usual swimming beach and all along the west coast.

Today I decided to walk downtown and see the action since there was another cruise ship, Ventura, in the harbor. It is a big one again. I could see that a lot of people just stayed on the boat. Probably a good thing for Bonaire, but it seems to me to be a waste of a cruise to not see the places where they stop.

I like to see what kind of food the vendors are selling for the tourists. It’s easier to buy food there than to try to hunt down a restaurant that sells the type of food I want to try. Most of the restaurants seem to be mainly bars, so buying from the vendor, helps the locals and we can eat it wherever we like.

Today, the vendor had fish that she said was shark. She put some yellow spice on it before frying it. She served it with saute’ onions and green peppers. She also served some pickled red cabbage, pumpkin and rice. And she included some Tutu, which is a local dish. I found a recipe for you to look at or try. I am not sure that she used black-eyed peas or just regular red beans. She told me it was beans and maize, but she may not have known black-eyed peas in English. It looked like regular beans to me. It was very tasty. Would be a fun dish to try. She did not put butter or cheese on it either, but I think this is probably close to what we ate.

Tutu
(Corn Meal With Black Eyed Peas)
Adapted from The Jewish Kitchens of Curaçao

1 cup corn-meal
16 oz. packaged dry black-eyed peas
6 cups water
3 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups funchi or corn-meal
4 tablespoons butter or margarine

Cook the black-eyed peas in the 6 cups water until soft. Drain.
Add 3 cups of water to the peas and bring to a boil, then use a whisk or “lele stick” to break the peas. Add sugar and salt and whisk again. Taste for seasoning, and adjust if necessary.

Add corn-meal, and in a combination of beating and mashing the mixture, blend it well to avoid lumps using a wooden spoon. Reduce heat. Continue the beating/mashing technique until the meal disappears and the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Add butter when done and either invert on a platter or use an ice cream scoop (dipped in water before each scoop) for individual portions. Serve with butter and cheese.

We took a picture of a trailer load of bicycles on their way to the cruise ship. Bicycles are a popular mode of transportation as well as a big sport on Bonaire.

I also took a picture of this sign advertising unusual things for sale. I have not yet had time to explore what the unusual things are.

In the evening we went for a walk and stopped in the ‘Mall’ and had ice cream. I had mango ice cream and it was very good and refreshing.

Harborside Mall is actually a walk way from the main street to the beach front, the width of two buildings. There are several small shops and an ice cream shop. There is also a second floor that has an art shop, a restaurant and other small shops.

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.

This morning’s message by Pastor Baran at International Bible Church was from Revelation 2 on the church at Thyatira. In Sunday school we viewed and discussed a video bible study by Dick Woodward on the book of Romans.

For dinner we had left-over Nasi chicken, again with mango chutney because we liked it so much.

This afternoon we decided to take a drive up the west coast of Bonaire. Our drive took us past the Dutch World Radio (Radio Nederland) shortwave broadcasting station. TWR relayed some of Radio Netherlands programs from 1964 until they built this facility about 1974.

Since BOPEC is a high security facility with a pier for loading and unloading oil tankers, we had to skirt around their perimeter fence to get back to the west coast road to the north. It is hard to get a good photo

of BOPEC, but I saw a small break in the cacti. By chance, and by holding my camera way over my head, I happened to get a photo of the tank that burned after a lightening strike in September. This road ended only a few kilometers north of BOPEC at Playa Frans, where there a couple of houses belonging to fishermen. It is a rather unique place to travel with some fairly rugged coast line.

I am always on call, especially after the transmitter goes on the air at 5:30pm. By retracing the route taken, we figured we would be back home

about 5:30, but, about half way home (time-wise), we encountered a ‘detour’. Only upon seeing the ‘do not enter’ symbol on the sign post on our anticipated return route, did we realize that part of the road that we had previously traveled is now ONE WAY going north. This was not the case 40 years ago, and, both times we have taken part of this route in the past four weeks, we returned another way. The only way we knew to get back was through Rincon, then to the east coast and back to Kralendijk. We got back about 6pm and the transmitter was OK.

It was raining when we got back, so we decided not to walk or swim [we might get wet!]. Actually a breeze is still blowing from the west and the surf is very rough.

We checked at the salt pier this evening and noted that the third of five holds was being filled. We also stopped by the office and called my mother.

NOTE #1 — Click on the highlighted ‘Playa Frans‘ above, or here, to see an amazing panaroma. Also click on this one –> Nukove and see how calm the waves usually are on the west coast of Bonaire.

NOTE #2 — To see a bigger (and in some cases, expanded) version of any of the images, just click on the one you want to enlarge.

Saturday morning is the one day of the week that we can sleep in an extra hour or so, which we did. I was just getting up when someone called from outside to say I needed to move the car out of our driveway. They were going to pour a new gate post and were letting us know that it would be trapped inside the yard for the weekend.

This morning, Virginia wanted me to repair the gas dryer in the outside utility room. With high humidity the past few days, it has been difficult to get things dry. The dryer drum belt was missing (apparently broken) but there was a replacement belt on a shelf beside the dryer. I popped the top up, took two screws out near the

top of the front panel and lifted the front up about a 1/4″ to gain full access. That part was amazingly easy, then I saw the idler pulley assembly laying in the bottom with no screws and wondered where it was supposed to go! Fortunately a drawing on the package for the belt showed a typical installation. From this, I figured out that one end of the assembly fits into a slot in the bottom panel of the dryer and the tension of the belt holds it in place.

I put all the panels back on and started it, only to hear a ‘thump’ on every revolution. This was resolved when it was discovered that the plastic bearing surface attached to the front edge of the drum had slipped out of place. Some of the plastic clips that hold it in place were broken, but when put back in the correct position the remaining clips held it OK. Now, after again replacing the panels, the dryer was up and running great.

We planned to do some sightseeing after a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ice tea, but rain began to pour down during lunch. Now Virginia was really glad that the dryer was working! As the rain kept up for quite a long time, with water running

everywhere we decided to take the opportunity to work on updating our blogs. We heard later today that Curacao, around 40 miles west of Bonaire, received the equivalent of its annual rainfall in one day! Glad it was not that bad here.

After the rain let up, we went shopping. Some of the things we were wanting were missing and in their place were empty shelves with a sign apologizing because Hurricane Tomas had delayed their shipments. Some of the things we noticed missing were spaghetti, cheese and butter.

Weather was looking pretty good after shopping, so we decided to see what the ‘new’ road from Belnem going across the island to Sorobon was like. Before doing so, we elected to make a detour via Salt Pier to see how loading of the United Tenorio was progressing.

On the way, we noticed that waves were really crashing against the east shore which is usually very calm. This precipitated a stop at Bachelor Beach, where we used to frequently swim, to take a photo. This was much worse than the effects of Hurricane Tomas — must be from the storm that passed through earlier.

Moving on down to Salt Pier, we noted that the second of five holds was now being filled. At this rate, the United Tenorio will spend at least two, maybe three, days at Salt Pier.

Since we were near the transmitter site, I decided to run a test of the security system by switching it off, then later coming back after the auto-arming programmed time to verify that it had indeed armed itself. On our way into the site, we noticed that the water had risen even higher and was over the paved road. Fortunately, it was not more than a couple of inches deep. I entered the building, disarmed the system, then locked the door upon leaving,

We now began our trip from Belnem to Sorobon. This must be the straightest road any where on Bonaire. With all the black marks seen on the pavement, it looks like it is also being used for a drag strip! It definitely seems to be the fastest way straight across the island east/west. When we got to Sorobon, there was a big group having a party on the beach. We also noticed that there were a lot of cars, most of them rented, at the Naturist Resort.

We came back the same way to Belnem then went to the site to check the security system. It had auto-armed as it was supposed to.

Due to the high waves, Virginia and I took a short walk tonight along the shore, then came home for a supper of nasi chicken. ‘Nasi’ is the Indonesian work for rice. We used some mango chutney on it, which really gave it an excellent flavor.

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.