One day, any day on Bonaire

It is early, the sun is not up yet, but I am. Captain is inforsing his sleeping right. To early to cook, coffee is instant. I seat on the deck, put a piece of chicken on the hook and dip it into the aquarium undernith the boat. It is breakfast time for fish. At seven, cruise ship sneaks into the harbour. On the shore people start stretching, walking, running, before the sun shines the heat down on everybody. It is to early for divers, who spent part of the night under the water. Then, the first cars on the road along the shore start beeping, greating the walkers and the runners. I hear noises in the cabin. Captain is up. Time to play tennis. The sun is burning off the clouds, the courts are hot. We did good, lasting an hour and a half. We pick up a baguette in a deli shop and dinghy back to our floating home. It is swimming time, then lunch, a few games of cards, captain's nap, while I feed chichen to the fish again. Mid afternoon we dinghy to the marina, then walk a mile along the shore, each time admiring 'Nada', when we go by her, to Kralendijk. We walk through the town, nothing is new. We stop for an icecream and buy some mangos on the Venezuela's market, then walk back to the marina. It is four in the afternoon, kids are out of school. They come to the shore to show off their sailing skills. Sunfish sailboats look like butterflys with their colourfull sails. One tips over in the gust, oh, another one! But they pull the sails out of the water and race on. It doesn't matter that they are wet, the air is hot. After dinner we play ten games of dominos. Another day in paradise is over.

Traffic

There are no traffic lights and no speed limitation signs on Bonaire. Instead the authorities placed speed bumps where they felt the traffic should slow down. Elsewhere the cars and the motorcycles are free to drive too fast on the roads, that were not built for speeding. Inspite, we haven't seen an exident yet. We see a lot of jeeps, small cars and pick-up trucks with wooden racks on the back for diving equipment. This is the diving world. Bubbles from divers around and under our boat are at any time, day or night. People of all ages and sizes come to Bonaire to see the world, that is hidden from the rest of us. But let's go back to the wheels. During the week, cars are being used as a necessity. Friday night is a show time. Along with the brick-paved promenade walkway along the shore is a one way road, where most of the Kralendijk restaurants are lined up. Every Friday evening polished cars are being driven there bumper to bumper, music to anybody's taste sounding out of the open windows. Some cars are overfilled with youth, girls sitting on boys' laps, and still flirting with those walking in the promenade. Out of the cars the calls are coming to the walkers in Dutch, Papiamentu, Spanish and English language. This is a small island, but certanly multinational.