Friday 22^nd January

We arrived in Bonaire midday Friday and went into the marina to get some good sleep !

The generator had stopped working again and so the afternoon was spent taking it apart and replacing the impellor which had been wrecked by the previous overheating. Mark made good use of his new tool box and I helped with the screwing as my hands are smaller !

We took to our bikes early evening to check in at customs and immigration, had a meal in town and then crashed out for a good nights sleep.

Saturday 23^rd January

Saturday we dinghied to the local dive centre and bought our dive passes and I hired some scuba gear ready to join a group of ralliers for an afternoon dive at dive site no.29 called ‘Somewhere Special’

We are very lucky to have Debbie on the rally, who is a dive instructor, and looks after us all when we dive.

The site was amazing with colourful live coral and so many different varieties of fish including a large leaopard print moray eel and a huge turtle grazing on the bottom.

There were several shoals of very large fish swimming past, little puffer fish and fantastic angel fish.

Sunday 24^th January

Today we treated ourselves to breakfast in the five star hotel next door to the marina.

Pastries, fresh orange juice and coffee and full English which we enjoyed over two hours surrounded by the local wildlife and taking in the views across the harbour.

The restaurant was in the shape of a ship extending out into the harbour, we had iguanas coming to say hello, a pelican watching us from the bow sprit and lots of colourful birds and green parrots waiting for our breakfast crumbs.

The afternoon was full of excitement too as we took Suzanna and Eddie to the donkey sanctuary with another sailing family.

We drove through the sanctuary where there are 400 donkeys being cared for, they pushed their heads into the car and surrounded us so that it was impossible to get out and give them the feed we had bought.

The taxi driver tried racing away from them to let us out at the next feeding area but they galloped at an alarming rate, keeping up with the car. Eventually we were able to make a run for it to the safety of a feeding area surrounded by rocks where we could feed the donkeys as they leaned over the rocks.

However, one donkey took a run up and jumped the rocks to join us, making all the children scream and run for the car !

We finished off the day with a visit to the ice cream parlour and a swim in the marina pool before delivering both children back to their boat to meet Mummy & Daddy who had been off for a dive together.  

Monday 25^th January

Today we are in the internet café updating the blog before we set off for the supermarket to provision for the next couple of weeks when we will be at sea or at anchor in the San Blas islands.

We are looking forward to meeting John & Sue at San Blas on 2^nd February ready to explore the islands and the transit the panama canal.