Early Days on Bonaire

Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean

[Note: we are not quite done with our Mexico posts, but wanted to post something about Bonaire before we leave!]

After about 15 months in Mexico, we moved on to the Caribbean island of Bonaire in mid-January, to scratch the dive itch. Bonaire is about 50 miles north of Venezuela, one of the ABC Islands along with Aruba and Curacao, and known as one of the best, if not the best shore diving locations in the world. We had vacationed here twice before, in 1997 and 2002. We decided to spend about 4 months here to see if we get tired of diving, when we could dive about any time we wanted to, and for not that much money.

There are about 200 of these identical trucks....

We are renting a dive truck, which is basically a 4-door truck with a wooden pallet in the back, sized for carrying scuba tanks. On the one hand it is about $26 per day, not so bad, on the other hand, over a month that adds up to $800. Tanks cost $8-14 each, so all in still a lot cheaper than boat diving, and more flexible. With the flexibility comes more responsibility. On a boat we generally follow a divemaster on a profile they have used, so don’t have to pay too much attention to navigation, etc.

From the shore, though, you are in charge of everything, set up, break down, navigation, reading surface conditions and current, safe entry and exit. With the ironshore (rough coral and rock) here, miscalculating the exit, even in a pretty calm ocean, can result in some shin and finger damage. Yes, that happened on Day 3. Don’t turn your back on the ocean! There is a reason crabs walk sideways.

We are renting an apartment in a local neighborhood – our landlady, and both neighbors are Bonairians. We have 3 large iguanas that live on the back fence, a tamarind tree which at least on full moons (one so far) is home to some yowling cats (which have had a few buckets of water sent their way at night). 

Lora (from Bonaire Birders website)

There are also many lovely bird songs, and so far we’ve identified a few birds, yellow orioles, saffron finches (yellow with saffron colored eyeliner), mockingbirds, ground doves, and unique to Bonaire – yellow-shouldered Amazon parrots (that hang upside down on the telephone lines – because they can!).

The washing machine on the large back porch is a model of customization, sort of. We fill the main tub with a garden hose, to fit the load, wash, remove laundry to a small side basket, rapid spin to drain, then back in the main tub, more garden hose, for rinsing, then once more in the spinner. Kind of like the run on George Bailey’s bank – use only what you need. The trade winds blow pretty much 24/7, the air is very low humidity, and the back clothesline, where we double down on clothespins due to the wind, dries things wicked fast.

The apartment has no hot water, but due to the warm climate, usually 80s during the day, that is not much of a factor. We also have repurposed a few 1-liter plastic bottles with water, solar heated on the front porch, which make for a nice if brief hot water indulgence after the tepid shower. We’ve also been taking 1-2 bottles on our dives, leaving them on the dashboard in the sun -- free hot water rinse after diving! That and an icy Amstel (not Light, the real kind) is Mark’s happy place.

Why did we wait so long? Life gets in the way if you let it.

The Dutch have a thing for mayonnaise...!?!

Bonaire is a Dutch island, having changed “ownership” multiple times over the past 400 years. The Dutch influence means good cheese, good meat, and good road signs. Unfortunately, it also means (well, not sure about the connection, but…) high prices. We have serious sticker shock after 1+ years in Mexico. Groceries, some are pricey, some not so much. Rum - this is the Caribbean, right? – they have decent choices from Cuba and Venezuela and the DR, but they are expensive. Eating at a restaurant, early days but it is easy to spend $70 US for not that much.

aka topes in Spanish

Bonaire drivers are in general terrible, be they local or Dutch expats. (sorry, but!) Compared to Mexico, supposedly known for crazy behavior…no contest. Bonaire is worse.

Mark vs the mosquitos

We’ve been visited by a few plagues so far. First was mosquitos, which we thought we sorted out but continue to battle, having become quite adept with the electric tennis racquet zapper. Next was what Google said were Indianmeal Moth larvae. Small white inchworms, no idea where they came from (other than mature Indianmeal Moths?) One day and they are now gone. And, of course, ants. They even found our leftovers in our truck and swarmed. Ick. Yay, bug spray! 3 down, 4 to go, if Moses shows up. No cucarachas so far, knock on wood.

Heeere they come!! (cue scary music)

we love carrots!! oh look what just hit me in the nose!

We went to the Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary. It was a hoot. The word in Papiamentu for thank you is danki, a homophone for donkey. Suffice it to say the animals are awesome, if legion (700+), and we laughed a lot. They watched us get out of the truck, but knew the carrots were inside, so surrounded and stared at the truck for 10 minutes while we climbed the observation tower. Reminded us of that movie, Men Who Stare at Goats....but Donkeys Who Stare at Truck may not do as well at the box office. We can also now find our truck in the parking lot thanks to donkey snot on the windows!

There are carrots in there!!

Super aqua man? 

But what about the diving, you say? It is FANTASTIC. Ok, can we tell that there is more damage and algae than our first trip here 22 years ago? Yes. Is it a shame that they now allow cruise ships here? Yes. But for the most part there are lots of fish, quite a bit of good coral and sponges, and lots to look at.

In fact, we got an underwater camera/ flashlight combo which Linda has been playing with to some good results. It takes an extra step or two to process the pictures to tone down the blue in the pictures, but it’s been pretty cool to have pics to show others some of the cool stuff under the water.

We are still trying to sort out what the Marine Park fee accomplishes ($45 per year per person), besides paying the salaries of the rangers (which we never see on the water). Also of note, the cruise ship folks pay no park fee, they hit and run on the reef (often terrible divers,) while the cruise ships are happy to pay the smallish fine if caught dumping off the coast as they leave. It is a very non-ecofriendly operation.

Update: As for the experimental test of diving interest part of the sojourn, at 76 days we’ve done 75 dives. And not bored yet! And we each hit our 400^th dive a couple of weeks back. 

2019 maart / marzo