Bonaire Tour...

Kathryn and Enrique made arrangements to have a truck for us to tour the island for the day. We started out at the marina…early…9ish…and drove up the coastline past some of the dive sites that I remembered from October when I was here. I have heard that these sites were hit especially hard by Omar. One of the dive operators said that one site that I dove last year before Omar...when he dove on it after Omar...he cried! When we got to the oil storage tanks (maybe a refinery as well?) we turned inland. First stop was a lake and some of the Caribbean Flamingo…through Rincon (one of the original settlement areas)…and into the entrance of Washington Slagbaai National Park. What did we find there but... WHALE BONES!!! I’m going to print a picture and see if Paul and Phil still want to pee on them for good luck?? Ha ha! We went through the museum and found some interesting facts about the island. Bonaire is not a volcanic island…it is from tectonic forces. Over 70 million years ago the sea floor bucked and rose forcing post-volcanic strata to the surface…these became the mountains of Mount Brandaris and Seru Mangel, Bonaire’s highest points. Tropical coral reefs developed around the mountains and when the sea floor rose again…the first dead reef layer…again…the second dead reef layer…again…the last dead reef layer (the one we were walking on). The dead reefs result in Limestone that is vulnerable to natural erosion and continually exposes marine fossils! Cacti fences and dirt roads was the name of our four hour tour (just kidding about the four hour tour…we didn’t get back to the boat until 6:00pm – the dirt roads and the Cacti fences and Cacti everywhere…well, that it true). So…first on our trip…the windward side…being able to look at the reef layers exposed …these little guys were everywhere, they were beautifully colored…and more than a little brave! There are beautiful little beaches etched out of the limestone…and everywhere you walk reminds you of coral…The lighthouse at Malmok is the northern point of Bonaire. We drove up to a walking trail that wasn’t too long and walked into Put Bronswinkel…a natural algae covered fresh water well. The ancestors of the first Bonaireans were Amerindian about 3400 years ago and used this site for their drinking water. Beautiful birds and.... HUGE iguana’s were along this trail…one was thinking we were friendly?? The remains of another lighthouse that also use to be a research station…Then the beaches of a more leeward side of the island. Somehow this four hour tour was taking us a lot longer…we stopped for a late lunch at Boka Slagbaai…the original bay used as a shipping port for goats, sheep and donkeys as well as aloe. Livestock was exported but also slaughtered hence the name of the bay (Slaughter Bay).

There were old salt pans here as well and a lot more flamingos! After lunch we went over Juwa Pass…caught a few parrots having their cactus lunch…and out of the Park! We then drove up to Lac…the bay on the windward side of the island…K&E had rode their bikes over the day before and had taken sailboard lessons! Off to the southern most lighthouse on the island, more dive sites, and Red Slave…where the slave huts were for the workers of the salt ponds…

the current salt industry here (Paul really wants to get some Bonaire salt…but none of us were willing to go past the gates and dig into the salt piles and get some for him)…to the warehouse supermarket…and back to the boat! What a wonderful day tour we had…It truly is a beautiful DRY island and the way it was formed just fascinates me! We all thought many times of the beauty of dry Arizona as we (Enrique did all the driving – special thank you!) were driving through! Tomorrow…Bonaire UNDER the waterline!!!