Touring Bonaire

You can imagine how elated we were to finally be doing what we had dreamed "cruising" was all about. The pristine clear waters along with Bonaire’s strict protectionist policies of their reefs equals a diver's paradise.  We learned Bonaire has Captain Don to thank for establishing Bonaire’s Marine Park in 1979.  Captain Don arrived in the early 70’s and had the foresight to see the potential from preserving Bonaire’s greatest natural resource right along its shores.

Meryl, Carol, Patrick, Darnell, and Patrick cozying up to the bar.

As Thanksgiving approached it was only fitting to pay a special tribute to Captain Don by attending the annual feast at his original resort.  We were fortunate our friends on s/v Songbird knew about the special Thanksgiving feast and made reservations for us and another cruising couple, Darnelle and Patrick on s/v Island Dream. We had all met at an earlier gathering so it was great to all get together again.

The resort put out a truly impressive buffet, including turkey, a delicious ham, and a variety of salads, soups, and desserts.

Round one of gastronomical delight.

What an idyllic setting for a Thanksgiving feast.

The setting was picture perfect as we sat over-looking the Caribbean Sea. The cornucopia of dishes included turkey, ham, three different stuffings, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes, salads galore, soups; truly a smorgasbord of everything imaginable for a Thanksgiving Day.  We were all truly thankful to be with new found friends and partaking in a feast of plenty.

As we started counting down our days before leaving Bonaire (wish we had come three months earlier), we realized we had explored beneath the waters extensively but had yet to see what the island had to offer topside. With numerous errands to complete we rented a car to tour the island and finish up some other tasks made easier with transportation.

These salt pans are filled with sea water and allowed to evaporate leaving the valuable sea salt behind.

When sailing ships from Europe arrived, they'd be directed to a specific colored obelisk where the salt was ready to load.

We headed down toward the south end of the island to see the Salt Ponds. Salt has been Bonaire’s leading export for centuries and according to a workman at the Salt Pier, there are over 175 different uses for salt today. The Dutch had constructed large obelisks colored white, orange, and red to designate anchoring areas for ships to pick up salt.  This way the ships knew where the salt had been hauled by the slaves and was stockpiled ready to be loaded onto the ships.

A large number of African slaves had been brought to Bonaire to work the salt pans. They mostly lived in Rincon, an inland village and walked ten miles each week to the salt pan area. They stayed in these houses during the working week.

While the name seems inappropriate, these yellow rock markers serve to identify SCUBA dives just offshore of the location.

So sad to see the tiny houses the slaves stayed in while they were working at the Salt Ponds.  They had families in Rincon over 10 miles away and could walk home on weekends. The yellow rock markers actually designate offshore diving sites. The reef is so close to the shore that many divers simply rent pick-up trucks and drive to the dive site and swim out a couple hundred yards for the actual dive.

This was a totally cool place on the eastern (windward) shore of Bonaire with an enclosed shallow lagoon that was prefect for wind surfing. No kite surfing allowed.

Oh how I wish I could spend a few weeks here and get back into windsurfing. I can windsurf OK but never mastered the high speed jibe or the deep water start.

What a great place for lunch while watching all the wind surfers zoom by.

We rounded the tip of the island and drove up the windward side of the island strewn with sculptures made from driftwood and flotsam all along the beaches. We ended up at Lac Bay around lunch time and wandered into a funky wind-surfing center called, Jibe City. The decor was colorful artistic driftwood with a very busy hub of sunbathing, wind-surfing, and outside dining.  Perfect timing as lunch was on our minds.  It was run by a youngish crowd of Dutch and we had very friendly service and great food.  We asked why there were no kite surfers and they said it was illegal. We understand the owner has some political pull and doesn't want any competition.

With limited time we headed up north along the coastal road toward Rincon to see the Gotomeer Lake and  Flamingo Sanctuary.  The road along the coast would have been fun on a motor scooter Walter kept mentioning.   A lot of the dive sights along the cliffs were only accessible by boat but, one exception, 1,000 Steps, a famous dive, but didn’t sound like much fun carrying equipment up and down the steps.

We did see a number of flamingos from the road but our point and shoot cameras didn't have enough lens to capture them.  The lake borders the Washington-Slagbaai National Park. The park has bike and walking paths everywhere, as well as ancient Indian inscription sites.  Our rental car company won't let us take the car on the four-wheel drive roads so that will have to be saved till next time.

This dock is know as Salt Pier and is one of the most popular dives on Bonaire. You need to go with a certified guide to dive along the 600 foot pier that is populated with huge schools of fish and some very large and friendly Tarpon.

Many thanks to our friends Carol and Pat on s/v Song Bird. They were great at getting us back into SCUBA diving and showing us around all the great dive sites on Bonaire.

The day before our departure for Cartagena the Salt Pier dive opened up (you can only dive on it when a ship is not at the dock) and we were able to do the “grand dive” as our finale.  It lived up to its reputation and was one of our favorite dives.  We dove from a large dive boat much different than our casual dinghy entries.  Once below the fish were prolific and the plant life on the piers unbelievable colors as we wove in and out of the piers. It was interesting when one of our divers didn't show up at the designated pick-up point. Our dive guide had to go back to the pier to look for her when ironically she had drifted far down current and was holding on to a mooring buoy. All's well that ends well.

If you are a diver, Bonaire is a "must do" for the bucket list. Even if you aren't a diver it's a great island to spend some time exploring.