Touring Bonaire by car

We decided to take the shore route around the island in our rental car. The island is 26 miles long and 5 miles wide, about third bigger than Nantucket. The first part of the drive is on a one way narrow paved road winding along the coast, a very scenic route. The road then heads inland to the mountains which contain a remarkable salt water lake far from the coast.

A majority of the coast is like this , no beaches and very limited water access
We stopped by an abandoned Aloe plantation, The central courtyard had a beautiful coral inlayed patio and pathways
The narrow road into the mountains was lined with these tall skinny cactus
Near the summit we arrived at this salt water lake ( not connected to the sea ) which was 3-4 miles long and dotted with wading pink flamingos.
The flamingos slowly waded along scratching the bottom and ducking their heads under feeding on shrimp. They made a soft clucking noise reminding me of our Vermont wild turkeys
Beyond the lake we parked and headed into the mountains on a trail marked with pink stones . We headed uphill and did a 4 mile lope through the beautiful cactus scenery . It was scorching hot.
The summit reminded us of Arizona

On the way back to town we saw alot of this cactus fencing , very effective against the invasive wild donkeys that cause ecological havoc island wide. We went swimming when we got back to our place, whew !

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