'Bon bini' Bonaire

Our first excursion was a walk downtown to the island’s capital of Kralendijk where we needed to check into Bonaire. My initial impressions were not favourable! A cruise ship was in town, so the small, but fashionable malls, near the terminal were full of tourists. The glossy shops were selling plenty of tourist mementoes, not what we have become used to. The prices had also increased back to European prices which seemed really expensive to us. Further away from the main streets, the roads became dry and dusty, lined by seemingly ramshackle buildings. Then, to top it all, the mosquitoes and biting midges were vicious! Once the sun started to set, they came out in force, so there wascno sitting outside for the  evening. I was not looking forward to being here for a whole month!

The Dutch influence was evident with plenty of brightly coloured buildings and murals everywhere. The choice in the supermarkets was amazing too. Walking into Van den Tweel’s was an experience. There was fresh fruit and veg, cheeses, cold meats, bread of all shapes and sizes….the list goes on. It was definitely sensory overload!

Geographically, Bonaire is an island of two halves. The southern end is almost completely flat, barely rising above sea level. A significant part of this area is covered with sea water in process of evaporation for salt production. Here we saw the impressive salt pier and sparkling white salt mountains. The day that we were passing, the ‘mountains’ were perfectly reflected in the still waters.

Along the coast from the pier were the original loading areas, marked by tall stone obelisks. There were four colours red, white, yellow and orange. Each colour representing a different grade of salt. Near by these obelisks were the workers’ accommodation (slave huts); small stone buildings with barren interiors.

In comparison to the south, the northern end of the island is relatively mountainous. The northern tip is designated as the Washington Slagbaai National Park with its amazing geological features.  It is also home to Brandaris, Bonaire’s highest peak at 790 feet (240m). The journey around the park is interesting with rutted dirt roads and lizards and iguanas playing chicken with the passing cars.

While we were in Bonaire, the island experienced a period of very wet weather with extremely heavy rain on most days. On the wettest days, we had over 6″ (15cm) of rain. Unfortunately, the island is not set up for this kind of rain and, having no drainage system meant that many of the roads and some of the buildings were flooded. Several of the roads become rivers, hiding huge potholes. Exploring became interesting!

Overall, Bonaire is not what I would class as a pretty place, but having spent a month here, it definitely has a charm of its own. However, I would not be in a hurry to recommend it as a holiday destination, unless, like us, you visit for the diving….