National Park

The north end of the island has been designated as a National Park.  Washington Slagbaai National Park is made from two large plantations that covered the north end of the island.

This is the most famous and picturesque spot.  Looks like a grand Dutch house on a spectacular beach.  It was, in fact, a slaughter house operation (Slagbaai in Dutch translates to slaughter bay) and a main port center in the 1700's. Wealthy plantation families lived on Curacao and had operations on Bonaire. The roof in the picture was the customs house.  Now it rents out as a hotel.

Lighthouses on the north end of the island have spectacular views of the sea and the surrounding land.  This one still operates although it is automated and unmanned. 

The east side of the park looks like moon scape. Tsunami rocks (rocks that were carried inland from an ancient tsunami) litter the beach. Some of the rocks are bigger than a large truck. 

The highest point on Bonaire is Mt. Brandaris at 784 feet.  It is a 3-4 hour climb because of the volcanic rock and rock climbing is required to each the summit. We opted out of the hike and settled for a photo.

The dirt road through the park is full of ruts, rocks, steep inclines, hills and bumpy passages.  It is a one way road.  Once you start on the journey there is no turning back. We entered the park at 8:00 am and left about 4:00 pm. 

Bonaire has two springs where freshwater can be found year round. The birds are usually at the springs in the early morning.  You can see flamingos, parrots, and birds of prey. The park has one of the fresh water springs.  We saw this Caracara on top of a cactus looking for food. It is one of the native birds of prey on the island.

Flamingos were everywhere.  As usual I couldn't get a good photo.

We snorkeled at several spots.  The water was crystal clear, Caribbean blue and comfortably cool. For those of you that dive or snorkel, we saw an Ocean Trigger which is very unusual.  Also our guide found octopus for us.  We could never have found it on our own because they are hiding

experts.

 

The entrance of the Park features the skeleton of a baby Baleen whale. The whale was impaled on a cruise boat and removed when the boat docked on Bonaire. Gory story but interesting exhibit.

Bonaire was divided into six large plantations. Each area was named after a foreign country. The park entrance is located in the America area.  The slaves called the center of the plantation where they went for pay and supplies, Washington, because its the capital of America. 

 

Drivers License Saga #3

We passed our drivers licenses test. 

It was a long journey that we started in September 2021. Since the government closes down from mid-December to mid-January our first appointment was scheduled for January 20 , 2022.  That date was canceled due to Covid concerns and rescheduled for January 24.

Bonaire has some odd rules for this process.  If you have a valid US drivers license, only the practical driving test is required.  If not, you have to take a written test. Thank God I didn't have to do that!

Before you take the test, you have to take lessons because of their different driving methods.  We learned three-point turns, backing around corners, backing into parking places, starting (up and down hill) on hills using a 4- step process using a parking brake so you don't roll backwards, and turning from a one way street. The road signs are different here and they expect you to know what they mean as well. You also have to declare if you want a license for an automatic or a standard transmission. You are not allowed to drive a standard shift with out a special license. For the test, the requirement is to wear long paints, long sleeves, close toed shoes. This is why I am covered from head to toe with clothes in the picture outside the testing office. 

I spent two weeks practicing, two weeks worrying about the test and two weeks of sleepless nights wondering if I could pass the test.

This was an expensive process:  

The pleasure of testing                                          $55 

Classes                                                                  $35 

Doctor health form                                                  $15 

Car rental for testing                                               $65  

Actual license card                                                 $16.76   

Total                                                                      $172.76 (x2)

The test took 15 minutes. I am now back to driving like a crazy woman...no turn signals, go fast, pass all golf carts and bicycles, yield to no one. Actually, Rick usually drives.

 

Pot of Gold

The police called to inform us that we could pick up the recovered items from the robbery that occurred in September.

The police (Politie in Dutch) apprehended a group of local (Antillean) young men in their twenties and thirties. They had been robbing residences and businesses all over the island.  Apparently, they did not surveil any of the locations or target any place in particular.  It was all random acts.  

The police caught them by listening to a cell phone conversation between the get away driver and the thieves trying to find each other in the night. The police said the robbers were not very smart....which we think is usually the case with criminals. 

The thieves dumped some stuff in the sea, sold things and kept other items.  The police apprehended them with the goods they kept.  Some of our items were recovered. Some were not. 

The police said that they used our statement and identification of stolen items to convict the group.  The robbers will spend 6 to 7 years in jail.

There was a rainbow that came out after the storm the day our items were returned.  I guess there really was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Sunrise

This is a once in a lifetime event.  We got up at 6:30 am drove to the east side of the island to see the sun rise at 7:00 am.

We don't ever get up that early.  But we wanted to see what all the fuss was about when it comes to sunrise.  We set our alarm and bounced out of bed and headed out.  It was cloudy this morning which made for a beautiful colors but no bright sun. 

Seeing the light behind the clouds and over the ocean was really spectacular.

  

We were surprised to find others awake at this un-Godly hour.  We saw walkers, runners, bicyclists, donkeys and goats.  There were also lots of people driving to work. We thought we would be the only ones up that early.

It occurred to us that sunrise is not much different than sunset in terms of color and lighting. However, it is much calmer on the west side of the island.  This is a picture of a kit boarder at sunset.  There are no waves to contend with on the west side of the island and it is much more serene. There are also lots more people on the beach at sunset watching the event.

No more sunrises for us. We will continue to show you sunsets....because they look alike.  Just pretend its a sunrise. I am going back to bed.

Sightseeing

We went sightseeing and look what we found.  This is the closest I have been to flamingos in the wild.  I walked into an inlet from the sea and found these two beauties hanging out.  It was an unprotected area so I could walk very close to them.

At Lac Bay there is a bench overlooking the bay and across from the Antilleans park and harbor.  The local fisherman keep their boats here.  Beautiful spot. We stopped to have a cocktail at a local place and they gave us a a plastic flamingo with our drink...which was appropriate.

One of the five wind turbines on the island sits on the bay facing the east and the on coming direction of the wind. Since the wind blows non stop on Bonaire, there should  be turbines everywhere. The government is financing a study of installation of wind and solar energy since the oil prices have spiked.  The local utility is not keen on the idea of renewable energy.

Our electrician has solar and runs his entire house with air conditioning and does not pay utilities.  He ordered his batteries and panels from China.  He installs them all over the island.  If utility costs keep going up as they have, we may have to check into this system.

Another selfie that looks like all the rest of our selfies. We have a million of these standing by oceans and beaches all over the Caribbean and North America.  Nothing changes except we look older but still happy to be living on an island.

Mosquito Tennis

Mosquitos are a real problem on Bonaire.  During rainy season they are really prolific. We make sure that we don't have sitting water in our plant pots or another item that catches rain.  These are the breeding grounds for mosquitos.

We were told about bug zappers sold at the Chinese markets.  We got two.  They look like tennis rackets with rechargeable batteries. 

It takes 10 hours to charge the swatter. It can be used for 10 days before needing recharging. The swatter is a three-layer mesh structure.  Mosquitos fly into the net and get zapped by a high voltage sent through the net.

We were skeptical of it working.  We usually spray ourselves with bug repellent on a regular basis.  The early morning and evenings are the worst. The mosquitos are small and it's hard to see them.  They munch you before you have a chance to swat them.

We are believers now. It makes an electric  zap noise each time it catches and fries the mosquito. "Mosquito Tennis" is a very satisfying activity.

 

Self Quarantine

We are in self quarantine at our house.  The driving instructor, whom we spent two hours with in a car, tested positive for Covid.  Our friends, whom we had dinner with the evening of the driving test, are also in self quarantine because of our close contact. 

We are in day six of our ten-day quarantine.  We have no symptoms, other than boredom. Our neighbors have brought supplies to us and leave them at our door step.  We are doing fine and are not sick.  Just sick or being home 24/7.

The island Covid count is up to 850.  Higher than when the pandemic closed the island.  About a quarter of the cases are tourists.  I find that interesting since a negative test is required for entry as well as a test after five days on the island. Cruise ships have been turned away because of positive Covid tests on board.  Restrictions on the number of people in stores, restaurants and sporting events are in full swing.

We tried home delivery for pizza.  It's called Dinner in a Box. It took two and a half hours for the delivery to make it to us after we placed our order. The delivery person told us that they are short staffed due to Covid illnesses, that the island is very busy, and everything take longer now because they have more tourists on the island and less people to serve them.  It's not like they were speedy before this spike in Covid cases.

We still hope to take our driving test later this month.  We hope that the government does not shut down like it did when we first got on the island.

At least, we are quarantined on an island paradise.

 

Drivers License Saga

In September 2021 we went to the government office to pay a $50 fee to take the drivers license test on Bonaire. We took our receipt of payment to yet another government office to schedule the driving test.  We were given a date of January 17, 2022.

Our Expat group told us that we needed to take driver's training class or we would never pass the test. We were referred to Andrew the English speaking driving instructor.

After contacting Andrew and providing him with all the government paper we had secured for the drivers license, he informed us that we were scheduled to take the written exam, not the practical driving exam.  He sent us back to government office to schedule a driving test.  Apparently, if you have a valid US drivers license you skip the written test. Andrew said to be "kindly firm" and explain that the government scheduled the wrong test and should therefore reschedule us for driving test immediately.  Otherwise, they would set a date for March.

Back to the government drivers license test office. We explained our situation to the supervisor and he was kind enough to schedule our test in January.

Yesterday, we took a two hour driving class from Andrew. We learned how to drive and turn on one way streets, how to turn left and right, how to back up into parking spaces, how to parallel park, and how to drive up and down hills. You would think that we had all these skills after driving for 40 + years. But alas, the Dutch have a different way of driving.  No one actually drives the way they teach you in class.  You only need it for the test and then you drive any way you want.

Andrew texted us to say that he had flu like symptoms and was getting tested for Covid.  He wanted us to know since we spent the entire morning with him in the car.

We still have no drivers license. We may have been exposed to Covid. Our test may be cancelled since Covid infections are nearing 500.

Geesh!

 

New Years

Bonaire goes wild on New Years Eve.  We have never seen anything like the celebrations all over the island.

Fireworks are set off by everyone.  Big, booming fireworks fill the sky for hours. They light up fireworks that only the government or professionals are allowed to use in the US. 

It's a spectacular show. This is a view of Kralendijk with fireworks going off all over the island.  This show went on for hours.  It's more fireworks than we have ever seen.  And, yes, it put the US 4th of July fireworks to shame.

The Chinese import these fireworks to Bonaire.  Locals (I recently learned are called Antilleans) save up all year to buy fireworks.

The grocery store was so full we couldn't find a parking spot.  Everyone was lining up to buy a traditional Dutch pastry called a oliebollen (translated to oil ball).  It's a ball of dough with raisins, deep fried and dusted in powdered sugar.  

We found bacon at the store and made BLATs.  Served with Prosecco and raspberries. We had way too much Prosecco and stayed up way too late for old folks.

Way, way too much Prosecco.

We wish you all a happy, healthy and joyful 2022!