More part of South America,
than the Caribbean, Bonaire is
a small, semi-arid, island 50 miles north of the coast of
Venezuela (not much rainfall to interfere with windsurfing).
Bonaire is located in the southernmost and most western extreme
reach of the Caribbean, well south
and OUTSIDE of the hurricane belt. Just 12 degrees off the equator,
it is
slightly north of and 300 miles west of
another well known windsurfing destination,
Margarita Island. Bonaire is an
ideal tropical location that ensures year round air and
water
temperatures ideal for windsurfing. But the most
important factor is the strong, steady, consistent and
reliable trade winds out of the east that
blow steady and unobstructed for the whole day.
The time zone
for all three of the A-B-C islands is Atlantic Standard Time
(UTC-4 hours), 4 hours ahead
of Los Angeles and 1 hour ahead of New York.
Here's a current
satellite weather map and
here're the
current weather conditions and
here's the
5 day forecast.
Bonaire is part of the ABC islands
in the Dutch Caribbean, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao. Bonaire has the
smallest population of the three (about 16,000). Many say it is
like Aruba was 20 years ago. Those same people describe the Aruba
of today as being like "
a little Miami".
Salt production made Bonaire a desirable colony, changing ownership
several times before permanently becoming one of the Netherlands
Antilles in 1816. The Dutch salt ponds, slave huts, and colonial
history can be seen driving around the island's south shore and in
the capital city of Kralendijk.
Until 1986 Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao together with the windward
islands of St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba made up the Netherlands
Antilles, which is part of the Dutch Kingdom (the mother country
is Holland, or
The Netherlands). This means that whilst island affairs are
regulated by a local Island Government, each island also has a Lt.
Governor appointed by the Crown and representation at both Central
Government level (on Curacao) and in the
Dutch parliament.
In 1986, Aruba
became independent from the Netherlands Antilles, though still
part of the Dutch Kingdom. Today the
Netherlands Antilles consists of the
remaining five islands. The government seat of the
Netherlands Antilles is in Curacao and from there controls
Bonaire and the other three islands.
The island is
very Dutch in appearance. A striking manifestation
of this is that everything is
impeccably clean, particularly
in contrast with other [non-Dutch] Caribbean locations. The hotels
are all spotlessly clean as are the
restaurants, restrooms and all
public places. There is no trash thrown about. Bonaire has done an
outstanding job of keeping the island clean and the environment protected.
Bonairians are some
of the friendliest and most linguistically able of all Caribbean
islanders and they switch with equal ease between their native
Papiamento (a pidgin mix of English, Spanish, French,
and Dutch) and English, Dutch and Spanish. US dollars are
welcome and universally in use, but you will often get change in
and use Netherlands Antilles Florins (referred to as
Guilders --
about 1.77 Guilders to 1 US$).
Besides tourism (primarily scuba divers), the main industry is
harvesting
sea salt. There are several very large salt evaporation
ponds on the southern end of the island. The Antilles International
Salt Co. operates these historic brown and pinkish salt ponds.
Originally, the work was all done
by imported slaves, quartered in
tiny huts, built around 1850. Incredible to imagine, people
had to live in these tiny things, about the size of big
dog houses. Three 30-foot
obelisks, built in 1838, were used to
guide the salt ships to their moorings.
Most people visiting Bonaire are scuba divers. The
island has over fifty designated dive spots, and the underwater
world is rigorously protected by the law. Bonaire is considered
by many to be THE primo diving spot in all the world. The dive spots
are all located on the west side of the island, and on a small islet
off shore,
Klein Bonaire, also on the west side, where the surface
waters are wind shadowed from the easterly trade winds.
Bonaire is small; you can tour the entire island in a little
over an hour. Except for the northwestern part of
the island, with a hill of 240 meters (787 ft), the island is very
flat. Most of the southern end of the island is less than 6'
(2 meters) above sea level.
Bonaire is a truly unique experience, a unique place with lots
of character and . . . absolutely
fabulous windsurfing!
Trade winds, at a constant 15 to 25 knots per hour, sweep across
Bonaire year round making Lac Bay, with its clear, waist-deep
lagoon waters, the ultimate windsurfing location.
It's not your typical Caribbean island. It doesn't have endless
sandy beaches with palm trees. It's a rough and fairly rocky little
island with cactus, thorny scrub, windswept woodlands interspersed
with small holdings growing corn and raising goats and sheep (and
lots of
wild donkeys everywhere). And did I say, lots of incredibly
beautiful and graceful flamingos.
The small, very friendly airport
even takes it's name after them.
The largest center of population is the centrally located
town of
Kralendijk (CRAWL-en-dike), with a population of about 15,000
(about the same as the island's flamingo population).
There is a second, much smaller, town on the northern end of the
island called, Rincón. That's it.
And, there are no high rises anywhere! The Bonairians
like it that way -- and intend to keep it that way.
There is only one windsurfing beach on the island,
Sorobon Beach at Lac Bay, but it is arguably the best
windsurfing beach in all the world.
Lac Bay is a natural, unspoiled,
lagoon situated on the
windward, southeast side of the island, approximately 8 square
kilometers in size and separated from the Caribbean Sea by a
barrier reef, which makes the waters inside the reef flat, and
I mean f-l-a-t.
The incredibly gorgeous, clear turquoise waters are nothing
short of a spiritual experience. Along with the surrounding mangroves,
Lac Bay is a protected nature reserve. The beaches are unspoiled by
high-rise hotels and Aruba-style casinos. there are only two small
low-rise resorts,
Lac Bay Resort and Sorobon Beach Resort, which are likely
to remain the only developments. As a result, windsurfers can
rest assured that the area will remain an unspoiled paradise for
years to come. Oh yes, and did I tell you that the
Sorobon Beach Resort is a
nudist colony?
There is a higher percentage of
American windsurfers traveling to Bonaire than many of the other
Caribbean windsurf destinations, e.g., Cabarete and Margarita
Island, which seem to attract
primarily European windsurfers. Though being part of the
Netherlands, and having jumbo jet
direct flights from Amsterdam, the island gets a good share of
European, especially Dutch, windsurfers.
Lac Bay has
two windsurf rental shops and not likely to have any more than
that. It is one of the best high-wind,
flat water sailing sites imaginable with a
consistent 25 knot directly on-shore wind all day long.
Mornings start
out with a good blow, which often declines a few knots at mid-day,
then picks up again in the late afternoon until quitting time and
typically averages
20 knots over the whole day, though for your
actually sailing time, it will more often be 25 knots.
The water is
wonderfully warm and shallow -- knee to waist deep, absolutely
crystal clear water out to the reef,
some 800 meters off shore, with virtually no rocks or other
underwater obstructions to worry about. the water is 2-4 feet deep
forever. At times of particularly low tide, places are even too
shallow and you must watch carefully to avoid fin plants.
The wind blows directly on shore, so the
typical runs involve walking your board out 50 meters or so, then
mount up and use your upwind skills to work your way out
another few hundred meters off shore. Then it's scary fast BAF (Back and
Forth) planing reaches parallel to the beach. Inside the reef, there
are NO waves or significant chop to deal with.
It's a
positively ideal spot for beginners, for intermediates practicing
new maneuvers, and advanced windsurfers who just want to shred.
Evenings and nights are consistently breezy, making for a pleasant
tropical ambience.
A new problem to deal with may be the
blisters on your hands from death gripping the boom while
going scary fast in the higher winds here than you are used to at home. You'll see
many windsurfers with
duct tape, the universal windsurfing fix for everything, wrapped
around their hands and
fingers.
The island is first and foremost a scuba diving destination
(Bonaire license plates read
"Diver's Paradise").
Windsurfing is a relatively new addition to the island and makes
up perhaps less than 5% of the travelers who come here. There are
many fine hotels
and condos available, though all are a good deal
more pricey than Cabarete or Margarita Island. All but one of the
hotels and condos are
located on the western side (the scuba divers side)
of the island and are directly on the water
with rooms overlooking dive sites just off the beaches.
The Bellafonte Chateau
de la Mer is a nice place
to stay. It's a
3-story building
of 20 rental condo apartments (purchase prices start at $250,000
for the studio units) just
1/2 km south of the airport and only
3 km south of Kralendijk.
The Bellafonte has it's own reef offshore and a dive and
snorkel platform to make it easily
accessible. The Manager, Sjoerd Vanderbrug,
handles everything for you and will pick you up at the airport when you arrive.
The Happy Holiday Homes
is a popular location with windsurfers. It is the least expensive
facility that
Sailboard Vacations offers in its
ABK clinic packages. Another popular lodging (advertised in
Windsurfing Magazine) is the
Sand Dollar
Condo Resort Hotel, especially for groups of 3 or more traveling
together.
Mango's Restaurant at the Sand Dollar is a popular
restaurant.
And hey, if you decide you really like it on Bonaire, you can
buy a home there for under $200,000. And the local
classifieds indicate that, for longer stays, apartment
rentals are available for $600 USD per month.
There are two windsurf centers at Lac Bay, Sorobon Beach,
directly adjacent to each other.
Jibe City was the first to locate on Bonaire. Started in 1988,
by Ernst van Vliet. It has a laid back easy going style. "The Place",
Bonaire Windsurf Place,
is the newer windsurf center. Directly next door to Jibe City,
it is owned and operated by Bonaireans
Elvis Martinus and Patoen Saragoza, it is has slightly more
expensive rental rates, and correspondingly, a slightly better
and newer selection of equipment.
The KonTiki is the only
hotel located on Lac Bay that caters to windsurfers (Hey, the
other hotel is a nudist
colony). The KonTiki has a great
restaurant
for lunch (offering a nice change of venue from Jibe City's Hang
Out Bar).
One of the nice features of Bonaire is its many
fine restaurants.
You can easily eat at a different place everynight and never run
out of new ones. Setting up to meet your buds for dinner is one
of the favorite lunch topics at Jibe City's Hang Out Bar.
The Casablanca is
a must visit when you're there. The Argentinian prepared steaks
are delicous and the portions are huge. Another great place, but
only open on the weekends, is Bobbejan's BBQ in downtown Kralendijk.
And there're plenty of pizza places and even some fast food places
to make you feel right at home, a Subway, a Kentucky Fried Chicken
and a
Wattaburger, nice stops for those nights when you just want
"a quickie".
Pros. . . .
- Arguably the best windsurfing on the planet.
- Abundant supply of nice hotels and condos to stay at.
- Entire island and people extremely clean.
- Many, many great restaurants.
- Local people very nice, amiable and like Americans.
- Everyone speaks English at least as a second language.
- No violent crime (breaking car windows and stealing is common).
Cons. . . .
- Entire trip will cost about double that for Margarita and Cabarete.
- Getting there is a little difficult (requires an overnight) and pricey.
- Hotels and condos are pricey compared with Margarita and Cabarete.
- Restaurants and food are pricey compared with Margarita and Cabarete.
-
Rental car is a must have.
Bottom line. . . . It's a
windsurfer's paradise!
