BABY TURTLES SAVED!!!

Have you ever just been at the right place at the right time, the perfect time to witness something truly amazing? Well, wait til you hear about our latest, greatest adventure! Meet "Red" Berger, pictured above with Danielle. She and her husband Tom just happen to be on the boat next to us in Bonaire. They are in their fifth year cruising aboard Katana, a steel-hulled Endurance 44 ketch. She volunteers three days a week at STCB, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire, and invited us to tag along one day.

Meet STCB associate Funchi Egbreghts, a native of Bonaire. He's the nesting expert, and takes volunteers along to check Bonaire's west coast and the offshore island of Klein Bonaire for signs of nesting activities. When a new nest is discovered, it is flagged with a blue marker and logged into the records. The nest he's checking above should hatch very soon.

A closer look at the top egg. It takes about 60 days to hatch.

This one is a dud - unfertilized.

The next nest has a big surprise in store; it hatched last night, 4 days early! Funchi and "Red" start digging. They collect all the empty eggshells and determine that about 110 hatchlings made it out of the nest under the light of the moon.

It's normal for a few babies to get trapped in the nest, which can be about 2 feet deep. As the little guys start hatching, they climb up on top of each other. There's always a few who are too deep and too tired to make it out. Here's when the fun starts. "Red" finds the first two hatchlings and hands them out to Funchi.

"Red" hands the next two to Danielle.

And the next one! They are baby hawksbill turtles.

First he gets a bath to wash some of the sand off. Then he's placed on the beach to insure he imprints with the place of his birth. If he's a she, she will come back one day and lay her nests on this same beach.

Then they warm up in the sunshine and start to move around, slowly. It's pretty common to find 3 to 5 turtles left behind in the nest...

...but this nest had around 30 little ones that wouldn't have made it without the help of STCB, and dedicated volunteers like "Red".

They head into the water, and tumble back and forth in the waves for a minute or so.

Sometimes the weaker ones are kept a few days until they are strong enough to swim on their own.

Now this is what I call Marine Biology!


Our group looks on - Good Luck, Little Turtles!

Sea Ya! Ricky, Robin and Danielle in Bonaire

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season. After three very busy weeks in Louisiana and Florida visiting with friends and family, going to Christmas parties, and eating way too much, we were anxious to return to Curacao where we left Allways Sunday at a marina. One niece and two nephews made the trip back, celebrating the New Year with us and about 200 other boats anchored in Spanish Water Bay. The fireworks started at dark, and were still going off when Ricky and I finally went to bed at 1AM. It was spectacular!

We took the crew to Fuik Bay for a couple of fun days swimming, snorkeling and relaxing. Pictured above are Joel and Rebekah with Danielle.


Tim knew what he wanted to do, FISH. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any this trip.



After Joel and Rebekah left, the next group came in. Ricky's oldest brother and his wife and their other three children (Tim belongs to them as well) spent a week with us and at two different resorts. We moved the boat to a beautiful little cove called Santa Cruz Bay, where the water was crystal clear and the snorkeling was great. Here I celebrated my 50th birthday, surrounded by God's handiwork and lots of family. We ate at the small beach restaurant where the owner catches his own fish. He served up grilled grouper with large shrimp, a Caesar salad and a mound of sweet potato fries. It was a lot of fun!

Dobe and Sherry Wright


Sharon, Danielle and Rebekah model new beach wraps.




David learns about the electronics from Uncle Ricky.

Sharon pulls in the jib!

Spotted Moray Eel

Trumpetfish grow up to 2 1/2 feet long, and change color to camouflage themselves. Commonly brown to red (as pictured above), they can turn blue, purple or bright yellow. They often drift head down in a vertical position among sea reeds.

This beautiful Foureye Butterflyfish is very common here. You almost always see them in pairs. The minute they know you're watching them, they move away.

SENDING YOU BEST WISHES FOR A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS 2010!

RICKY, ROBIN AND DANIELLE

Interesting Discoveries in Bonaire

Bonaire was our "home away from home" for the month of November. It was nice to settle into one place after hopping around to new anchorages every few days. Surprised by the semi-desert landscape, we enjoyed driving around the small island that's home to towering cacti and iguana, among other interesting animals found wandering the back roads like donkeys, goats and sheep.

Bonaire is better known for its world class scuba diving, snorkeling and wind surfing, and has legally protected its marine environment since 1979. No anchoring is allowed; only moorings for visiting sailboats. The pace is slow and the people are very friendly. The average temperature is a lovely 82 degrees with sunny skies year round. Needless to say, we had a very good stay in Bonaire!

Now for some interesting photos and facts about this beautiful island:

Saint Nicholas comes early in Bonaire, bringing gifts on the night of December 4th. According to Dutch tradition, good children fill their shoes with hay and carrots for St. Nick's horse, then find it replaced with candy on the morning of December 5th. Naughty boys and girls are threatened with switches and the like from Black Pete. Danielle was clearly not excited when presented with her candy-filled sneaker, but promptly ate the wonderful milk chocolate treat for breakfast without further complaint.



Wild goats can be seen crossing the lesser traveled roads on the island. This one reminds me of the nubians we raised at home on the farm. Oh, how I wish I could have some fresh goat milk!

Ricky snagged a 20 pound mahi mahi on our way back to Curacao. He was yellow at first, then turned blue, then yellow again. Danielle ate her portion raw, seasoned with salt and red pepper. Ricky grilled the rest for dinner that night with friends Pieter, Randy and Inge.

Danielle learning to windsurf

Ricky caught on to windsurfing with ease, as usual.

We had to try the Iguana Stew, ordered at Rose Inn, where traditional food is served. You could see the skin on one side of the white meat, and I would guess that they just chopped up the tail. We had to carefully pick through the bones. Hey, it's part of the culture!

Salt is harvested as a natural resource.

Thousands of shy, pink flamingos forage for shrimp in the bone-white salt flats.

Slaves huts remain as a reminder of the slave history of Bonaire, going back to 1499. Slaves were brought to work in the salt ponds, and four men were housed in each tiny building.

Cactus fences are commonly seen. Everyone has their property fenced to keep out the goats!

Iguanas are everywhere! This guy actually climbed up the side of my chair while we were eating at an outdoor restaurant on the water. I did not feed him!

Sea Ya!

Ricky, Robin and Danielle

Diving Bonaire

Bonaire is a small Dutch island about 50 miles north of Venezuela. The cruise ships pull in and out almost daily, bringing in tourist dollars, but scuba diving is what puts Bonaire on our #1 dream destination list.

We were dive certified before we started cruising last year, but didn't have much experience. As fate would have it, our buddy boat friend, Jamie Dryden, is a dive instructor, so diving with him was such an awesome learning experience! We did 20 dives in 30 days, including 2 night dives, which Danielle did not like.

Needless to say, my pictures don't come close to capturing the beauty and colors underwater. After spending lots of time in the water, I realize that even though the ocean is huge, most fish have a home and living radius that's relatively small. Each species of fish have a different personality. Some are shy, while others are very aggressive. It's a fascinating world that's fun to observe. Here are a few of my best photos.

It looks like a snake, it slithers like a snake, but it's a rare Sharptail Eel, accompanied by a Spanish Hogfish.

Turtles are shy, but Danielle followed this guy long enough for a photo.

Danielle hovering among the fish.

The Greater Soapfish. named from the soaplike toxic mucus is secretes, often appears dead, just resting on the sand or against coral heads.

A large colony of Brown Garden Eels wave their heads gracefully, but withdraw to their sand burrows as we approach.

Can you find the very poisonous Scorpionfish camouflaged among the rocks and coral in this photo? Puncture wounds from stepping on him can cause severe pain and illness.

This tiny goby sits in the beautiful coral heads.

French Angelfish are beautiful and very friendly.

My, what big eyes you have! A pair of squirrelfish are happy to pose for a photo.

Spotted Trunkfish are a lot of fun to watch. We often see them just meandering all alone in shallow water.

A pair of large Grey Snapper just look at me.

A fabulous Spotted Drum!

One of my favorite fish, the Queen Angelfish. See her crown?

Black coral

Ricky waves "HI"

Jamie blowing air rings underwater. He's very talented!

SEA YA!

RICKY, ROBIN AND DANIELLE