Northern Bonaire

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The northern half of Bonaire is a desert landscape with sculpted cliffs, jagged rocks, caves and arches. We rented a jeep with Ken and Roberta, Second Wind, to see the Washington Slagbaai National Park which is located on the northern end of Bonaire. Go the this link http://www.washingtonparkbonaire.org/ to read find out more about the park and it's history.

Inside the park you can see large Iguanas and lots of bird life. We saw this bird species several times, an Osprey. We have one that frequents the condos in front of our boat also. He perches high on the condo roof overlooking the sea.

The Yellow Shouldered Parrot is an endangered species and a rare sight. We saw this one on the way to the park. You can always find Flamingos in the park.

There are several Beaches and Dive sites in the Park. This is Playa Funchi. We didn't bring our gear so we didn't dive here, there probably wouldn't of been enough time to dive and see the park. They are very strict about closing on time - you have to be on your way out by 4:00 PM to close at 5:00 PM.


With the abolishment of slavery in 1863, the Spanish brought donkeys to the island to cart water, salt and other goods. Donkeys were used instead of horses because they are stubborn and always follow the same route without a guide. These guys run free in the park and three of them came up to our jeep to feed on some potato chips. They were very friendly.

This house is in the park. You have to cross a dirt road that goes right through the water to get to it. Here is an Iguana road sign to warn you that there may be iguanas in the roadway. In Bonaire they use cactus for fence.

They plant full grown cactus which start to root and make the fence. They have special tools to help with the planting.

Bye for now, Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

Exploring Bonaire

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Bonaire is approximately 112 square miles, 24 miles long and between 3 and 7 miles wide. It is 50 miles from the Venezuelan coast with 13,000 inhabitants. The highest point is Mount Brandaris (241m, 790 ft), which is in the north of the island. We explored the South and Southwest areas of Bonaire on Scooters along with Ken and Roberta, Second Wind and Byron and Denise, South of Reality. The southern part of the island is dominated by the saltpans, wetlands and mangroves.
Bonaire is part of the Netherlands Antilles with its sister islands, Curacao and Aruba, to the west. Other Antillean islands include Saint Maarten, Saba and Statia. Bonaire's two main industries are salt and tourism, especially diving and eco-tourism. The salt mountains supply the solar salt industries in the world and were the main reason for the early introduction of slaves. Slavery was a part of the culture from the 17th - 19th century, and abolished in 1863. On the Southern coast are the restored slave houses. These were used to house the slaves working on the saltpans. The doors of these houses are at crawling height and barely big enough to stand up in. They used to house up to four men, but they hardly seem big enough for one!! During the week the slaves worked on the pans and then were allowed to walk home for the weekend, a seven hour hike to the settlement of Rincon. The salt pans also house the Flamingos. The Flamingos get their pink color by eating the shrimps on the saltpans. These shots were taken in flat marshlands on the southwest side of Bonaire. Flamingos live all over the island, we even met a lady that had 4 of them in her yard that she had raised since birth.


Windsurfing is a big attraction in Bonaire, most windsurfing takes place on the large lagoon on the southwestern windward side of the island, Lac Bay. The bay has a barrier reef which is calm and shallow which makes it ideal for windsurfing. Lac is also home to three globally endangered species: the Green Turtle, the Queen Conch and the mangrove trees. Bonaire National Marine Park enforces their legal protections.

We got lost at one point, but this sign cleared it all up. We saw several lighthouses on the island, the one to the right was at the southern end and the one on the left was on the southwest side. The great fun was the lighthouse was open so we were able to climb to the top for an incredible view.

The roads were all dirt out there, but our 100 cc scooters handeled it very well.

Adios for now, we will have an update of our explorations to the northern part of the island next. Hope you are enjoying the updates and leave us some comments, we enjoying hearing from you!!!!

Til next time, Kim and Mike on Ka'imi..................................

Bonaire Night Diving

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Here are some pictures from night dives in Bonaire. This dive was the reef that lies just behind our boats on the mooring balls.

These pictures are Trumpet fish that are trying to hide in the coral. They stay upside down and swing with the current.

Here is a picture of a squid. Kim had her light on it and it was just swimming straight into the light.

Tarpon are huge fish that are very curious and will approach you at night. The one we saw at night is to the left. We also saw some in the daytime, to the right, in one spot we saw a school of about 7. They also sometimes just lay in the water motionless.

Eels just swim about at night, or stick their head out of the coral to catch their prey.

Here is a little reef crab, Mike spotted.

In this picture, look to the top - center/right and you can see two fire worms.

Cheers, Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

Underwater Bonaire

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One of the biggest attractions to Bonaire is its crystal clear water and beautiful coral reefs. Coral reefs are complex associations of living animals. Stoney corals are the major reef builders, they look like brown/green colored rocks. The tiny animal, called a polyp, extracts calcium from seawater and deposits this beneath itself as a limestone skeleton. The polyps of one coral head are all linked together into one giant colony. The limestone structures produced by stoney corals provide a home to lots of tiny bottom dwelling animals as well as the array of reef fish that swim above the reefs.

Bonaire and Klein Bonaire (the little island just off the coast) are surrounded by one almost continuous fringing reef. A shallow and narrow terrace slopes down from the shoreline to a depth of 30 feet (10m) and then drops, typically at an angle of 45 degrees, to depths of 130 feet (40m). There are variations to this, like vertical walls and double reef formations - which are both incredible to dive on.

We have been diving A LOT since we arrived. The visibility has been anywhere from 70 feet to over a 100 feet. We have pictures of most everything we have seen, except the spotted eagle rays. There are 96 named dive sites on Bonaire and Klein Bonaire, and we will never be able to do them all in this trip. A lot of our friends just got certified to Scuba Dive while here in Bonaire. The first picture is that group, on their first dive with us, after the certification process. Ken on Second Wind was one of those newly certified. He took a bunch of us out on his boat, to the north coast of Bonaire for a first dive, and then to Klein for the seconc dive. Here is Mike and Kim after the second dive on the steps of Second Wind and in the water . (Photos of Ken and Mike and Kim are courtesy of Second Wind.)

The following photos are from our dives (courtesy of Mike).

Midnight Parrotfish and Trumpet Fish

Spanish Hogfish and Blackbar Soldier Fish

Stoplight Parrotfish, Terminal Phase and Porcupine Fish

French Angelfish and Queen Angelfish

Three spotted Damselfish from different angles. It might be hard to spot in the picture to the right, look in the center of the picture.

Barracuda - they are very territorial and curious. We have seen many here and throughout the Caribbean. They will watch you and sometimes approach you out of curiosity, but will turn away before getting too close.

Turtle - we have seen many turtles here in Bonaire. This is the only one we could photograph. This one was also unafraid, he just let us swim with him and watch him.

We have put night diving pictures in the next update. Bye for now, Mike and Kim submerged in Bonaire :))