Bonaire, Netherland Antilles

Bonaire, N.A.

Our 2005 Holiday season get-away found us on the island of Bonaire, in the Netherland Antilles, from 16 to 26 December 2005.

Bon For complete information on the island demographics, see the CIA factbook on the Antilles.

Why Bonaire? It came as a recommendation from friends who travel there annually, so we took their advice and sailed forth.

We stayed at the Bel Mar apartments, really condos,their that offer water views, on site diving, pool, dive shop, and their own rental fleet of small trucks. Bonaire is known for it's shore diving, and the trucks are necessary to get the full taste of the wild life on the island.

The Bel Mar was reasonably priced, even as we were there for high season. We had a single bedroom unit.

View of the main room. Bel Mar Apartments

Looking back into the condo

And the kitchen area

Bedroom

Bathroom

And as we arrived around 9 P.M. local time, Our first view of the sea and grounds were at night.

Thanks to the lighted dock area, we actually went snorkeling around 11 PM that night, and were greeting the amazing amount of sea life in the waters around Bonaire, including very large (1, 1.5 m) Tarpon!

The next morning we got a better view of the area. Right in front is the small uninhabitable island of Klein Bonaire, just about 1 km m the main island.

From our docks looking towards the main city of Kralendijk. The big white building dead center is a cruise ship that was in port for the day.

Ah, Karen enjoying the luxury of a private dock and the sun.

The Bel Mar also has a couple of resident iguanas that live pool/sea side.

Not a bad spot, even for an iguana!

They were actually an aggressive bunch, here taking food (dried fruit) from Karen.

Chomp! he didn't draw blood, but cramped down on Karen's finger's pretty hard, and than jumped in her lap!

Unlike the iguanas, we took all of our meals out in Kralendijk. The port was a nice one, and not overly littered with pleasure or professional watercraft

The views from most of the restaurants are quite lovely.

The City bar offered a pretty good happy hour deal from 5:30-6:30 pm, with 2 for 1 drink specials, right on the waterfront.

I'd recommend the rum punch!

The casino was a true to it's name and a real dive. Just 3 blackjack tables and one roulette table, $5 minimum bet, and slots. Boring.

Will's restaurant had good food, I'd recommend the calamari appetizer salad 100%, and the tuna civiche was also worth mentioning.

Will's suffers from a combination of Dutch wait staff and an overbearing american hostess, but it's a newer place so maybe they can sort out the details.

A rental vehicle is necessary to get the full benefits of the island, and the Bel Mar provided this Toyota highlux 4 door pickup at a fair cost.

As mentioned earlier, the island is known for it's shore diving. There is a water side road that hugs the inside coast of the island, along which you can find many well marked and amazing diving and snorkeling spots.

And no, most of this road is two way.

The water is amazingly clear and garbage free, even from 20 feet up along the road!

Dive/Snorkel spots are marked with big yellow rocks along the roads, making finding them pretty easy.

Can you guess the name of this site? Combined with the maps provided for free island wide, it made things pretty simple for out of town guests.

She counted, but no, there weren't really 1,000 steps.

In some cases the markers were a bit more obscured, but once you know what to look for, it becomes pretty easy.

Driving north towards the Washington Slagbaai National Park

Almost the entire top of the island is the Washington Slagbaai national park, with limited access.

This road in the park is a teaser. The conditions get a lot worse down the way, and you cannot do this in a car. Our truck wasn't 4 wheel, but it had the clearance needed.

There were some fantastic dive sites in the park.

This is the first place in the park we jumped in. Looks peaceful, until we were followed very closely by a 1.5 meter great barracuda. No joke. We gave him wide berth, and finally speed kicked for a minute back to shore, and he stayed with us the entire time, just 3 meters away and behind. He finally (literally) drove us from the water, as his actions were not normal and were making us uncomfortable.

FYI, you can sweat underwater.

Karen celebrates making it back to shore in one piece, sans barracuda bite.

So how was the snorkeling?Awesome. Sorry about the dodgy pictures, the disposable cameras let us down this year, and don't do the sea life any justice. Viability was on average over 20 meters.

Barracuda. only 4 in this picture, and they behaved like barracuda are supposed to, and ignored us.

Puffer fish

Trumpet fish

Garbo fish

Parrot fish

Garbo fish.

Diver fish

Coral

The barracuda cam.

Looking across Lac Bay. These high(er) waves are outside the bay along the island's eastern coast.

A sea hawk (osprey?) makes a good living here on the island.

More wildlife, and the reason the island is a desert. Goats and Donkeys run wild, and have chewed down the vegetation.

Getting ready to go out to dinner!

Copyright 2005, Garbo.org/GIAK.com

Our 2005 Holiday season get-away found us on the island of Bonaire, in the Netherland Antilles, from 16 to 26 December 2005. Bon For complete information on the island demographics, see the CIA factbook on the Antilles. Why Bonaire? It came as a recommendation from friends who travel there annually, so we took their advice and sailed forth. We stayed at the Bel Mar apartments, really condos,their that offer water views, on site diving, pool, dive shop, and their own rental fleet of small trucks. Bonaire is known for it's shore diving, and the trucks are necessary to get the full taste of the wild life on the island. The Bel Mar was reasonably priced, even as we were there for high season. We had a single bedroom unit.
View of the main room. Bel Mar Apartments
Looking back into the condo
And the kitchen area
Bedroom
Bathroom
And as we arrived around 9 P.M. local time, Our first view of the sea and grounds were at night.
Thanks to the lighted dock area, we actually went snorkeling around 11 PM that night, and were greeting the amazing amount of sea life in the waters around Bonaire, including very large (1, 1.5 m) Tarpon!
The next morning we got a better view of the area. Right in front is the small uninhabitable island of Klein Bonaire, just about 1 km m the main island.

From our docks looking towards the main city of Kralendijk. The big white building dead center is a cruise ship that was in port for the day.
Ah, Karen enjoying the luxury of a private dock and the sun.

The Bel Mar also has a couple of resident iguanas that live pool/sea side.

Not a bad spot, even for an iguana!
They were actually an aggressive bunch, here taking food (dried fruit) from Karen.
Chomp! he didn't draw blood, but cramped down on Karen's finger's pretty hard, and than jumped in her lap!

Unlike the iguanas, we took all of our meals out in Kralendijk. The port was a nice one, and not overly littered with pleasure or professional watercraft



The views from most of the restaurants are quite lovely.

The City bar offered a pretty good happy hour deal from 5:30-6:30 pm, with 2 for 1 drink specials, right on the waterfront.

I'd recommend the rum punch!
The casino was a true to it's name and a real dive. Just 3 blackjack tables and one roulette table, $5 minimum bet, and slots. Boring.
Will's restaurant had good food, I'd recommend the calamari appetizer salad 100%, and the tuna civiche was also worth mentioning. Will's suffers from a combination of Dutch wait staff and an overbearing american hostess, but it's a newer place so maybe they can sort out the details.

A rental vehicle is necessary to get the full benefits of the island, and the Bel Mar provided this Toyota highlux 4 door pickup at a fair cost.
As mentioned earlier, the island is known for it's shore diving. There is a water side road that hugs the inside coast of the island, along which you can find many well marked and amazing diving and snorkeling spots.
And no, most of this road is two way.
The water is amazingly clear and garbage free, even from 20 feet up along the road!
Dive/Snorkel spots are marked with big yellow rocks along the roads, making finding them pretty easy.
Can you guess the name of this site? Combined with the maps provided for free island wide, it made things pretty simple for out of town guests.
She counted, but no, there weren't really 1,000 steps.
In some cases the markers were a bit more obscured, but once you know what to look for, it becomes pretty easy.
Driving north towards the Washington Slagbaai National Park

Almost the entire top of the island is the Washington Slagbaai national park, with limited access.
This road in the park is a teaser. The conditions get a lot worse down the way, and you cannot do this in a car. Our truck wasn't 4 wheel, but it had the clearance needed.
There were some fantastic dive sites in the park.


This is the first place in the park we jumped in. Looks peaceful, until we were followed very closely by a 1.5 meter great barracuda. No joke. We gave him wide berth, and finally speed kicked for a minute back to shore, and he stayed with us the entire time, just 3 meters away and behind. He finally (literally) drove us from the water, as his actions were not normal and were making us uncomfortable. FYI, you can sweat underwater.
Karen celebrates making it back to shore in one piece, sans barracuda bite.
So how was the snorkeling?Awesome. Sorry about the dodgy pictures, the disposable cameras let us down this year, and don't do the sea life any justice. Viability was on average over 20 meters.
Barracuda. only 4 in this picture, and they behaved like barracuda are supposed to, and ignored us.
Puffer fish
Trumpet fish
Garbo fish

Parrot fish
Garbo fish.
Diver fish
Coral
The barracuda cam.
Looking across Lac Bay. These high(er) waves are outside the bay along the island's eastern coast.
A sea hawk (osprey?) makes a good living here on the island.
More wildlife, and the reason the island is a desert. Goats and Donkeys run wild, and have chewed down the vegetation.