Bonaire

We flew to Miami then borded a flight south across the Caribbean to Bonaire, a small Dutch controlled island 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It was almost 8 hours of flying. Due to the current state of war between Venezuela and the US, our pilot had to Navigate without GPS as both sides are jamming it .

We rented a water front place in a marina on the second floor, a very nice spot . We’re just outside of the small town Kralenijk, a 2 minute car ride ( we rented a car ) .

Bonaire is primarily a diving destination with amazingly clear water . The entire island is a Marine Preserve protecting all the reefs and ocean life. This island is below the hurricane belt and it’s been spared the Sargassum seaweed nightmare that has ruined much of the Caribbean. We’re not far from the equator and it’s HOT, it was quite a shock exiting the plane into the tropical blast furnace, we had started our trip in down parkas . It cools down to 80 at night and is around 90 during the day. Fortunately the trade winds are always blowing so there’s a constant breeze making our covered porch pleasant to sit on . The water temperature is in the 80,s , nice swimming.

There are surprisingly few Americans here. Most visitors are European with Dutch and Germans the most numerous. The stores are full of Dutch products with Dutch labels making shopping a bit confusing . We had to guess what we were purchasing in the food stores. It was difficult to decipher between butter and margarine. The Locals are very friendly but some of the Europeans not so much.

The architecture has a Dutch flavor to It that I find attractive . The newer buildings often copy Dutch styles from the old country. There’s lots of new buildings and the island seems prosperous. Due to our extremely remote location , everything is pricey.

We hit the beach tomorrow for snorkeling.