Sunday Drive

I don't think Rick will take me for a Sunday drive again. I wanted to go see another light house that is on the sea about mid-island.  I told him it wasn't far and we would make an afternoon of it.  So we set out for a new sightseeing adventure. We packed water, sunscreen, hats and towels and a worthless tourist map.

This is what the landscape looked like.  This is also what the road looked like.  The road was a rock strewn, rutted, bumpy area that never really looked like a road anywhere.  It was 3 km of this until we got to a turn off.

We came to this ominous sign and concrete columns. It says "you have the right to enter" in English, Dutch and Spanish. The columns were barely wide enough for the Kia to enter.  We saw a pickup truck drive through so we thought we could too. We had no idea where we were, only where we were going.   

As you know, it is impossible for me to get close enough to get a decent picture of the flamingos on this island.  You can see a couple of sticks with pink blobs on top in the middle of a pond.  Those, my friends, are flamingos.  Big pink flamingos.  This is probably the best picture I will ever have of them.  They are illusive and we are not allowed to get close to them.

Spelonk Lighthouse is on Bonaire's eastern coastline.  We could see it as we drove across the Moon-like terrain.  It guided us through the desert, gulleys and rocks because there was no actual road to follow.  From both land and sea it is a beacon.

We could feel the spray of the sea as we walked the property.  This is on the windward side of the island and the seas are rough but beautiful.

There is an abandoned, spooky, rock building that served as both a lightkeeper house and fort.  It's abandoned now but still has window frames and a roof and some floors.  We think it serves as a party place for weed smoking, drinking, partying young adults, as we saw several, fitting this description  coming in as we were departing the site. 

The seas are really rough on this side of the island. Just looking at the 3-4 foot waves makes me nauseous. The land is moon-scape coral that has been sprayed with saltwater for eons.

This was the roughest road trip we have taken.  We drove 10-15 kmh the whole way.  Next time, I will check the route and road conditions.