Tuesday, October 3, 1995 - Bonaire

Roy took his bicycle bag to a canvas shop to have the corroded zipper replaced by velcro. Then he tried to take his bike to a shop for repairs, but couldn't find a bicycle shop. Bill didn't come by last night or this morning, so I phoned Norman again and found out Bill is on vacation in Holland. Terrific. Norman is trying to find someone else on Bonaire to look at the pictures. He'll leave a message for us at the marina office if he finds someone. It's a good thing we started early on the visa application; it's going to take still another day. This morning, a very pleasant young lady, who spoke flawless English, took my application. She gave me a form to fax to Isla Margarita and told me to return tomorrow. I went to TELBO (the phone company) and sent the fax. Went to the Post Office and mailed another letter. Tried to get some more money at an ATM. Believe it or not, the lines are down again! I'm lucky I was able to get some money the other day. At one o'clock, like everyone else in the world, we watched the CNN telecast of the Simpson verdicts. The picture came in just as sharp and clear as if we'd been parked next to the courthouse. Roy said the verdict was what he'd expected, but I was surprised; I thought he'd be convicted of second-degree murder. I guess the evidence just wasn't substantial enough. The prosecution certainly did a crummy job. We spent the rest of the afternoon paddling our Royaks. Had a great time. Went way up to a lagoon near the airport. A really nice, expensive development of condos or time-shares is going in there. Only a tiny fraction of the area has been completed. The lagoon is huge; it seems to go on forever. They'll be able to continue building for thirty years. I paddled around every cove in the lagoon, but Roy gave up and left after about the tenth. This island is so beautiful. It's a shame we couldn't have left Cura‡ao sooner so we'd have more time here. There's so much we want to see and do. Some of the best diving in the world is right here. Roy bought our admission tags to the Underwater Marine Park. The tags are good for a year, but we'll only get to use them for a couple of days. The International Regatta starts Sunday, so we have to be out of here before then.