This isn’t actually a recent visit, but this place holds a special place in my heart and so I wanted to share it. I didn’t know much about Bonaire (or even that it existed) before we visited; we had intended to go to the Caribbean for a relaxing break and only stumbled across the country when we found a rental property that looked amazing (Pure Villa Lila).
Bonaire is one of the “ABC” islands in the Caribbean Sea, very close to the coast of Venezuala, and a municipality of the Netherlands. One of the funniest things, I found, is that as a Dutch municipality, the airport complied with the EU guidelines and so, there was a fully functioning and sizeable fire bridge (with proper fire trucks) that was definitely too large for the island itself. The country, overall, has had a mixed history, with the Spanish, the Dutch and the English all having conquered the country at some point. The most common language, Papiamentu, is a reflection of this as it combines influences from all these languages and then some (African, Portugese, French influences).
Bonaire is an absolutely gorgeous small country. The thing that struck me most, especially since I’ve never been to the Caribbean before, is how blue and perfect the water always looks. I loved waking up to the tranquil and pristine shades of blue and I loved walking along the main promenade and letting the blueness and calmness of the water shape my day. Unlike some of the other Caribbean islands, Bonaire isn’t known for its beaches; there weren’t that many long stretches of soft, white sand beach but it was all okay, because everything else was perfect.
The island has gained increasing popularity for its shore diving opportunities; there are ladders that go straight into the water (for snorkelling) and yellow stones marking the dive spots, all along the west coast of the island. There was a “stop” traffic sign where someone had drawn diving gear onto the sign. We met a lot of people who had come to the island (and some of them stayed for the longer term!) just because of how great the diving was. I’m not a diver (yet), so I can’t say that I really explored what the island had to offer in terms of diving, but I definitely had a fantastic and relaxing time there.
What I Saw
We travelled to Bonaire to relax (and study) and so, spent a lot of our time in our villa. This wasn’t too bad, because it was pretty relaxing and provided an escape from the heat and mosquitos outside. When we did take a break from the more pressing things in life *cough*, we spent time exploring the island and chilling in the town.
I like to think that Bonaire is divided into three main parts: the West, the North and the East. The “West” is the main western stretch of the island with all the dive spots, the “North” is the half of the island that is not perpendicular to the equator (and at a 45 degree angle from the other 50% of the island) and the “East” is the eastern side of the island that is parallel to the “West”. A poor description, I know.
The main town and the majority of dive sites are located along the Western “leeward” side of the island. The main town (Kralendijk) is cheerful and colourful; most of the houses are painted in bright colours and there is a very joyful and lively vibe about town. One of the key commodities produced in Bonaire is salt and as we drove down the Western coast, we saw the expansive network of salt flats and the “sun gem” salt crystal production process. It was interesting to learn how the salt gets produced (from seawater and the sun alone) and to see the changing colour of the ponds as the production process is advanced over time.
We also came across the slave huts and navigational obelisks along this side. The slave huts were remnants from a period in Bonaire’s history where slavery was still prevalent. Each hut was tiny (probably the size of a queen size bed) but slept six or so slaves; these slaves worked in the salt flats and would walk back to Rincon (in the Northern part of the island every weekend) to see their families.
The Pink Beach, so named because of the supposed sand colour formed from broken coral pieces, was another stop along this side. The sand didn’t look that pink to me, although I could see the hue in some areas where the water washed over the sand.
The “North” (Winter is coming, except it’s never winter in Bonaire) appeared to be where more of the locals resided. We drove through Rincon as part of our tour and it was insightful to see the local community (the church, the schools, the houses with the cactus fences) and how laid back everyone in the town was. We passed through in the late afternoon and observed a number of houses with open seating at the back and selling beers for $1. It was super chill–I really liked it. We saw a lot of donkeys along the way. Our guide explained that they are protected animals and the residents aren’t permitted to harm them (even if the donkeys are eating the grass in the resident’s front lawn).
We stopped by the Cadushy Distillery to try their proprietary “cactus” liqueur. It isn’t my favourite spirit (and very bright green in colour) but my travelling companion grew quite fond of it, so I’d say it’s an acquired taste. The lookout at Seru Largo was another highlight along the way–awesome view and impressive religious structure.
There’s more in this part of the country that we didn’t get a chance to explore. Definitely on our list for the next visit though!
There is a very substantial contrast between the Eastern and Western sides of the island. Whereas the west coast is relatively calm and perfect for diving, the east coast had dangerous waves and very strong winds, which provided for a good source of wind energy (so many windmills) and great windsurfing conditions (in a bay). It was amazing to see the difference in environment as we drove past the southern-most tip and rounded the corner on our way to Lac Bay.
Lac Bay is home of one of the greatest places (in my mind) on Bonaire–Jibe City and the accompanying Hang Out Beach Bar. We didn’t discover this place until our second last day, when we thought it’d be a good idea to drive around the whole island and visit some of the other sites that we came across in our game of Bonaire Monopoly (highly recommended game). The Hang Out Beach Bar is a chilled and relaxed restaurant/ bar with many colourful deck chairs that faced out onto the water and which you could hire for the day. The water was extremely popular with windsurfers and there were some very proficient windsurfers cruising around on the day we went. They made windsurfing look easy; when we tried our hand out at it, we realised just how good they were. We also realised why pros loved Lac Bay as a windsurfing destinaton–there were steady tradewinds over the bay (enough to keep knocking us amateurs over), but the water was still sufficiently shallow and warm (so it didn’t feel too startling when we kept falling in). It was pretty embarrasing as we struggled to windsurf on a massive board with a small sail, yet there were numerous other people zipping by on their tiny boards and massive sails!
We also made the snorkelling trip out to Klein Bonaire with the intention of seeing turtles, to which Bonaire is home to. Unfortunately, we chose a rainy day for our trip and didn’t see any cute-dopey sea turtles; we did see a puffer fish though, so I guess that was nice.
A Study in Sunsets
I loved stopping whatever I was doing and admiring the sunsets in the evenings. They were absolutely delightful; pity I didn’t take enough photos.
What I Ate
I don’t derive any enjoyment from cooking so, even though our villa came equipped with a kitchen and we had the opportunity to buy groceries and cook, we didn’t do so. Instead, we spent our mealtimes exploring the various food options that Bonaire offered. Outside of KFC (which is always great), we really enjoyed:
- Phillip’s Cooking: Phillip came to cook at our villa on our second night and cooked a superb four-course European-French meal. Was absolutely fantastic and it was great being able to enjoy high-quality food in the comfort of our “home”
- Cuba Compagnie: very cool and popular place with a lot of homage to Cuba
- Spice Beach Club: lovely location and great vibe. They have a pool, a bar with lots of deck chairs on the beach and a more formal restaurant by the water
- Karel’s Beach Bar: we chilled here during the day. They’re on a whart off the main strip and it was nice drinking with the water literally around us
- Pasa Bon Pizza: they make awesome pizza and apparently, their shop sign has the only set of traffic lights in Bonaire
- Windsock, The Beach: this neat beach club was located surprisingly close to our villa so made for an easy and super chill lunch; cool set-up (they had stairs into the water) and super relaxed atmosphere (feels like everything else in Bonaire)
- Food trucks: we actually loved stopping by at the food trucks around the island and having lunch/ dinner along the waters edge; two of our favourites were Kite City (great seafood and ceviche) and King Kong (burgers and hotdogs, nom)
Parting Comments
We visited in December and it was extremely hot. The heat wasn’t too bad though since there were so many opportunities to jump into the water. The mosquitoes, however, were a lot more vicious than I initially anticipated. I learnt my lesson in the subsequent days and liberally applied insect repellent.
Flamingos are the national bird here (even the airport is pink and called the Flamingo International Airport) and I had hoped to see them in abundance. We went to the National Park (and some other areas) especially to see them. Unfortunately, I didn’t see as many as I had expected (and definitely not in a large flamboyance, as the online memes indicate), which was slightly disappointing.
I also wished I did a bit more snorkelling (since I can’t dive yet)–extremely clear (really high visibility) and calm waters.
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3 December 2016 – 11 December 2016
Lucky &New 