Bonaire May June 2018 - Around Bonaire

Tall cactus everywhere 

May 2018

Laura and a common Bonaire cactus fence

Bonaire is all about diving.  People fly in from all over the world to dive in Bonaire.  There is a dive shop on nearly every corner.  The entire island is a marine park.

Flamingos

But of course there is more to Bonaire than diving.

View to the west and the uninhabited island of Klein Bonaire 

Bonaire is a very dry, arid island.

Salt piles

Big salt piles

Other than diving, SALT is a big industry.  The whole southern tip of the island is salt flats.  I found it pretty interesting and I would have liked to have learned more about the salt flats/pans and the whole process.  However,  Cargill operates the salt flats and has conveniently set up a conservation area to protect the flamingos and such and thus keeping people out of their very private business!  Not a big fan of Cargill!

Salt pans

Anyway, the salt flats are pretty kewl to see, even at a distance (thank you very much Cargill -NOT).  The various salt pans are pink tinted.  This is from the tiny shrimp and microbes that live there.  These same shrimps/microbes are what the flamingos eat which causes them to turn pink!

Flamingos eating in the salt pans

Yes, flamingos are not pink at birth.  Actually, the juveniles are grey.  But as they mature and their diet settles on the pink stuff in the salt flats/pans, then they turn pink.  Kewl huh?  I never knew that before.

A grey juvenile flamingo 

Did I mentioned that Bonaire is arid?  Really arid.  Of course May is still the "dry season" so....  The topography reminds me of the desert southwest of the USA.

We rented a pickup truck with sv Blue Blaze and toured the island.

Rental pickup truck

National park

The northern part of Bonaire is a National Park.  The roads are pretty rough in the park and they have a few rules so traffic can be controlled.  There is some slight elevation in the park but not much overall.  The topography continued to be arid but there was some water (ponds) and thus interesting desert greenery, birds and animals.

Parrots everywhere

Big iguana

Desert island

Bonaire is also windy.  Very windy.

WIND power

Great for kite surfing.

Kewl bus

Kites all laid out and ready to go

So many kite surfers

And wind surfing.

Jibe City

Tons, and tons and tons of boards

Tons of wind surfers, young and old, new and pro

The eastern side of Bonaire is of course the windward side but there is a big protected lagoon on part of the eastern shore.  This is wind surfing nirvana.  Or Jibe City as it is actually called.  Beginners to pro's rip up and down in Lac Bay.  Many world famous wind surfers have come from Bonaire.  If you have the chance, see the documentary "Children of the Wind" about the wind surfing kids of Bonaire.  We saw it 5 yrs ago at the Heineken Regatta in St Maarten and actually met the film maker.  See HERE for the a link to that blog posting.

Bonaire's Wold Champions

Future Champions

Jibe City hospital of the "agony of defeat" and hurt egos

BTW - wind surfing looks easy but it is not!

Lac Bay

The eastern windward shore outside of protected Lac Bay is pretty brutal.

Easter shore aka windward side

NE corner of Bonaire

SE Corner - large boulders tossed up on shore like little pebbles

The southern tip is also harsh. 

Southern shore

Older windmills

Ancient rocks and petroglyphs

Bonaire really is an interesting island.  The more we looked, the more we saw.

Old rocks and big plants

And more.

Donkey in HIS road

And more

This was outside of a house and surprise, surprise....had a ring tone!