Beautiful Bonaire

Our second stop on the ABC island trilogy was Bonaire. The 20,000ish population are part of what is called Special Municipality of The Netherlands. We spent just over a week here and found it very much to our liking.

The southern 10% (approximately) of the island is given over to salt production. The massive stockpiles of salt amongst the vast brine coloured evaporation ponds is quite a sight to see.

The laid back lifestyle, spectacular coastal views and SCUBA diving set it apart from the other two ABC islands. I will be doing a blog focusing on the diving here, but let me just mention here that they have done it right here, in my humble opinion.

The view looking north toward the Salt Pier along the coastline gives you an idea of what you have to endure when exploring the island here.

The orange obelisk was one of four (the others being blue, white, and red) that told ships where to dock to be loaded with different types of salt in the early 1800’s. The work was done by slaves who lived in the small stone huts you can see near the pillar.

At the southern tip of the island you can definitely see the Dutch influence with the windmills that help control the dykes that facilitate the movement of seawater into the evaporation ponds.

One of the other features of Bonaire is that it is home to the largest breeding colony of American Flamingos in the southern Caribbean. The brine that lives in the salt heavy ponds is a vital food for the birds which are the reddest of all the flamingo species.

We saw hundreds of these flamingos on the island. Here they are feeding while the Royal Terns hang out around them. Everything between them and the salt piles in the background is all salt evaporation ponds.

We got great use out of our little rental pickup. It allowed us to explore all the areas of the island. And some of them were pretty rugged. If you are ever going to Bonaire the only logical choice for rentals is AB Car Rental. Seriously, full insurance coverage and zero deductible at no extra cost.

We were told it was worthwhile to head over to the east side of the island to see the sights. Diving is challenging on this side due to wind and currents. However, it makes it a natural Mecca for windsurfing enthusiasts.

Also the windward east side is a logical choice of location for the wind farm which apparently supplies around a third of the islands electrical power.

After what seemed like forever on a brutal path (I think we took the long way in) we found the Bolivia Caves. Worth the trip. Fantastic limestone features in this surprisingly deep cave in the side of the escarpment.

On our second last night there we made our way down to Bachelor’s Beach and enjoyed the sunset with several of the locals. Pretty spectacular.

Beautiful Bonaire

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Beautiful Bonaire

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