Bonaire
We approached Bonaire in the early morning, and by 0800 hours the ship was docking at the pier in downtown Kralendijk. This end of the island is quite flat, but off in the distance we could see a ridge, and beyond that a small mountain. This island has approximately 12,000 residents; it is a much quieter cousin to Curacao, where we were yesterday. Most of the 70,000 tourists that visit here each year come for scuba diving. Numerous dive sites are at the perimeter of the island, and divers need only walk in from the shoreline.
Our tour began by visiting the island’s salt works, in the southeast region. Huge, rectangular pools of seawater are left in shallow pools; over a period of ten months the water evaporates, leaving behind sea salt. Recently-filled pools are green, while others further along in the process are pink. Salty, white foam resembling ‘snow’ blows off the surface of the pools and over the road. We see several large, white triangular mountains of the finished product, sea salt. Today, the salt processed here is used mostly for softening drinking water.
Centuries ago, salt was crucial for preserving food. Slaves used in the salt works were housed in tiny, rectangular huts right at the sea’s edge. We visited these huts; it was shocking and very sad to experience firsthand their small size. Entering a hut’s miniature doorway requires one to stoop very low. Between the huts, the shoreline is covered with chunks of white, broken coral.
Throughout the day, whenever we passed natural, shallow pools of water we looked carefully; flamingos are in many of them! During the tour we also saw lots of cacti and cactus fences, as well as small goat farms, wild donkeys and divi divi trees. In high, exposed areas, the divi divi trees lean far over, a response to the constant force of strong trade winds.
In the afternoon, snorkelers took a boat over to Klein Bonaire, the uninhabited island off Kralendijk. Just a few meters from the water’s edge, the bottom drops off into deep blue, and corals and sponges grow on the slope. We see schools of tangs, grunts and damselfishes as we floated down shore with the current. Birdwatchers head out for another minibus tour in the late afternoon.
We had a guest speaker at recap: Kalli De Meyer, former director of the Bonaire Marine Park. She discussed Bonaire’s pioneering strategy for promoting conservation of its precious marine resources, something the rest of the world should study.
