Stepping off the Edge: Bonaire

There is a lot of beauty below the sea in Bonaire but there is also lots to see on land!

Flamingo Airport - yes it's pink!

The weather was hot and humid - about 30⁰C every day with sun and cloud and a nice gentle breeze.

Every day, twice a day, we boarded a boat from this dock, to head out to one of the many spots on the reef to dive. We also shore dove, snorkeled and swam from here.

The Divi Dive dock

There were different shades of Bougainvillea and lots of birds - yellow canaries, green parakeets, frigate birds; many monarch butterflies and a wide variety of reptiles from small geckos to 7 ft. long iguanas sauntering across the road!

The beach view from our hotel room

Monarch Butterflies

Lizard

Tropical Crabs

Tropical Crabs shyly hid on the rocks below the beach and dock. I was able to capture some photos of them from the water.

Slave Huts - outside

Bonaire is in the Caribbean Ocean. It is about 39 kms long and only 5 kms wide and is 80 kms off the shore of Venezuela, near Caracas.

Due to the limited supply of vehicles Keith and I rented one scooter to tour the Island on our last day. The engine sounded dicey a few times and worried it wouldn't make it to the top of a steep hill I got off and walked.

Nevertheless we had a great day!

Slave Hut - inside

Bonaire's main resource is salt which is produced through evaporation. We witnessed vast pink pools of it on the Island. Some of the pools were inhabited by flamingos.

Bonaire was colonized by the Spanish in the 1600s, followed by the Dutch. Repressively indigenous people were enslaved to harvest the solar salt. The huts below - photos outside and inside - were set up for them to stay in while they worked harvesting and then loading the ships that pulled up to Obelisks, like the orange one below, identifying the location of the salt.

Obelisk marker to let boats know where to load up salt

Flamingos in flight

Bonaire is one of only four nesting grounds for flamingos in the world. We saw hundreds of them in the salt pools and in Washington Slagbaii National Park on the north end of the island (below).

Flamingos at the salt pans

Bonaire's winds are perfect for kite surfing and wind surfing

Due to the dry, arid climate cactus grow well and tall. We had never seen such tall cactus.

A cactus fence - that will keep people out! Ouch!

The tallest cactus we've ever seen - upwards of 10 ft.

Washington Slagbaai National Park

Wild donkeys and wild goats are found on the Island.

Timid wild donkeys

Recycling and protecting the ocean is important. By 2020 sunscreen that contains oxybenzone, that kills the coral will be banned completely. We were required to have a reusable water bottle with us on the dive boat.
The reefs are part of a protected Marine Park that was established in 1992.

We were there for 8 days and there was only one small cruise ship at a time on 4 different days.