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Bonaire Talk: Bonaire WebCams: Archives: Archives 1999-2004: Archives - 2003-06-01 to 2004-02-28: Home again
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Louis Dessau (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 9:17 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I visited Bonaire from August 9 to 16, had not been there since 1997. One of the destinations was my old home. The first approach was with a dive on the site called Small Wall. Prior to my visit doing research on the internet I learned there was a webcam on the island. Once on the island I learned the webcam was at Small Wall.
I alerted my father, Ralph Dessau, who is now retired in South Florida that together with my wife and close friend, Jean Pierre Chovett I would try to approach the Webcam and wave. We decided to write a note of thanks on a small slab as my parents introduced us to Bonaire. My father was inspired by Cousteau when he was young and living in his native Denmark!
Well the dive went well and on time I found my way to the camera and send a friendly waive home!
Later that day, we rented a car and as fate would have it I learned the Bonaire WebCam is situated in my old home! The house used to be painted green and white, it was called Caralou. On the same beach where the webcam is now situated, my father with my help ran a power line into the water with a sealed beam light at the end. We used it for night dives! It may also interest you to learn the my grandfather, Einar Dessau snorkled on this beach. Who cares you say. Well Einar was the fist "ham" radio operator in the world. It is fantastic to see how this house on Bonaire continues to be home to people on the cutting edge of technology. By the way when we lived there, the illustrious neighborhood was home to the Harvey's of Trans World Radio in what is now a Spanish style mansion, the Beudeker's , Captain Don Stewart and his family ( Valerie, Gwenn and Kevin), the Baker's, the Doves, Renee Hackenberg of the Diamond Salt Company ( prior to Cargill), and the Felix family,and down the street on one side the Clarks and L.D. Gerharts on the other side. Good to see the power plant keeps you on line and still provides the water.
I signed the guestbook in the mailbox. I thought of knocking at the door but figured you were busy keeping the webcams going and monitoring the chats.It was nice to be home again, hope you enjoy the place as much as I did.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By jos van osnabrugge (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #772) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 9:24 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Louis !!!

O man , talk about missed opportunity !!!
Ofcourse you should have knocked on the door , I strongly believe ( just from reading and observing) that things like this and visitors like you make Jake happy in his work.

great story btw.

sjosss

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Barbara Leary (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2612) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 9:37 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great story, Louis! Thanks for all the detail, I love the historic bits on people and places, makes one appreciate them even more! :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Annette Bursey (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #6484) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 9:41 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Louis. That is a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing it with us, and yes, you should have knocked on the door. Jake and Linda would have welcomed you with open arms. They are the nicest people I have ever met. Annie B.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Niki Harris (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #881) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 2:20 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Louis, what a wonderful coincidence! Next time you will meet Jake and Linda.... So glad you have told us your history there and contributed your longtime perspective to this group. Your former home is now our link to our home away from home (our favorite vacation), know what I mean? :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Igor van Riel (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1992) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 2:53 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Louis and thanks 4 giving us some background about the house we're all so "familiar" with!
I hope u had a great trip. Have u been waving at us on the streetcam?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eileen Kimmett (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2720) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 5:15 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank-you for sharing that wonderful story!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linda Richter - NetTech (Moderator - Post #1447) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 9:07 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

You should have stopped in. Did the house have the master bedroom addition when you lived here? Another long time neighbor found an old slide of the house from the 70's which showed the street as just crushed rock and no carport.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #831) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 10:45 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for sharing your wonderful story!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Martine TLOUZEAU - Jean Paul GODARD (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2378) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 4:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Oh Louis, what a beautiful story.
Thank you for sharing, wish we meet someday on Bonaire. Mange tak.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Louis Dessau (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 10:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Well the update on this story is that my father did see me on the WebCam, in fact he sent me the image. The date and time were 12-Aug-2003 10:36:05
in looking at the land webcam I saw image of me in front of the house. On one of the threads, someone wrote they thought we were shy, I wrote to that person that it was not a matter of being shy, I just had not taken note that we were on camera. Next visit to Bonaire I will knock at the door. In the meantime I will stay in touch with this Bonaire Talk. Bon Nochi

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Faith M. Senie (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #399) on Sunday, August 24, 2003 - 4:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Louis, your "history of the webcam house" is fascinating, especially the part about your grandfather being a ham radio operator -- Dan and I (the northern partners in the webcam) are both ham radio operators, too! We took radio gear down to the island with us a few years ago when we were house-sitting for Jake and Linda, and talked to a number of friends back here in Massachusetts, just by stringing a wire out between two palm trees in the back yard and hooking it up to the radio. When we printed up QSL cards (cards we swap with folks we talk to around the world, giving the time, date and frequency of the conversation), we used a picture of a green moray that Dan took at the Angel City dive site as the background picture...

Nice to know we were carrying on your grandfather's legacy, without even knowing!

Faith

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Louis Dessau (BonaireTalker - Post #15) on Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - 12:02 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

History and places are often interesting. It is splendid the legacy of the house continues.
The web cam house was visited by Einar Dessau who records show on March 18, 1937 used a home made shortwave transmitter to communicate with a government outpost, that of Valdemar Poulsen. (AP News Monday March 18, 1991) I will try to locate his old call letters used on the QSL cards.
It was June 27, 1980 when he took the Air France Concorde to Caracas to visit us on Bonaire to celebrate his 88th birthday and to snorkle for the first time as per the Berlinske Tidende, June 11, 1980. The palm trees used by Dan and Faith used to hold the wire antena, were planted by my parents, Carmen and Ralph. The correspondence on this site had really been interesting. More to come I hope as we live and learn

 


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