My day in Bonaire, The forgotten island in the Caribbean - Travel #4

Dear Steemit friends, Gemma here, let me take you on a journey to the forgotten island in the Caribbean, Bonaire. Bonaire is an island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Along with Aruba and Curacao, it forms the group known as the ABC islands. It lies less than a hundred miles off the northern coast of South America near Venezuela. Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the country's dissolution in 2010, when the island became a special municipality (officially “public body”) within the country of the Netherlands. It is one of the three BES islands in the Caribbean, along with Sint Eustatius and Saba. It's entire coast line is lined with beautiful reef which is protected by Bonaire National Marine Park.

To find me, look for my Chihuahua's face

Bonaire is really only popular for visitors that want to scuba dive. However beyond its rich marine life, the island has so much more to offer as well. It is home to lizards, donkeys, flamingoes and has spectacular untouched beaches, lagoons, caverns and desert-like hills.

The ABC islands, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao

The capital of Bonaire is Kralendijk. The island has a population of 18,905 (as of 1 January 2015) and an area of 294 square km including the nearby uninhabited Klein Bonaire. The official language in Bonaire is Dutch, however a lot of locals can speak relatively good English. Bonaire has not been exposed to as much tourism as some of the other islands in the Caribbean, even though there is a dock that can accommodate large cruise ships, the major cruise companies have only recently in 2015 started to add Bonaire to their ports of call. Bonaire is special as it lies outside the belt of hurricanes leaving it mostly untouched in severe tropical storm season.

Bonaire

Bonaire does have an airport, known by the locals as Flamingo Airport due to its bright pink colour but is officially named Bonaire International Airport. I must say it is a very pretty colour for an airport, I just love pink. Even though it is a small airport it does offer almost all the amenities of an international airport, it is open 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and has car hire and taxi options for ground transportation. Despite being so near, Bonaire does not have direct flights from South America, however you can connect with Avianca, Copa Airlines, Gol, Lan Colombia, SBA, Aserca Airlines, Surinam Airways, Insel Air via Curaçao or Aruba. Connections from Mexico directly to Bonaire are available via Houston with United Airlines. My choice of travel to get to the gorgeous island of Bonaire was cruise ship, the stunning Carnival Sunshine. I enjoy just having to unpack once, going to bed each night and waking up in a different part of the world, for me personally, cruising is my number choice for travel. The sea is in my blood as I do have Navy personnel in my family, I mean what's life without a little vitamin sea right.

Carnival Sunshine docked in Bonaire

Two facts I found incredibly interesting were that one the US dollar is the official currency in Bonaire. Two, because of Bonaire’s own water filtering system, tap water in almost all houses and hotels is clean and perfectly good for consumption, this saves a lot of money on bottled water and of course saves the environment by producing less waste. So now that you know how to get to Bonaire, what currency you'll need and what language they speak, now what is there to do.

Bonaire has incredibly beautiful reefs and marine life, making scuba diving and snorkeling incredibly attractive. Tours are available either through your cruise ships's shore excursion desk or from tour companies in Bonaire itself. What a stunning location to pick up diving and take up lessons. Most of the locals have a passion for the sea, being very active in marine life conservation. The Bonaire National Marine Park which was established in 1979, is famous for its active management of the island’s marine resources and in 1992 was one of the first dive destinations in the world to introduce admission fees for scuba divers. The park boasts 6,700 acres of reefs, seagrasses and mangroves. The coral reef begins at the water’s edge and extends seaward for up to and around 300 meters . The park is also home to an astonishing array of marine life including , turtles, manta rays, dolphins, eagle rays, octopus, moray eel, sea cucumber, and whale shark. Just to name some of the abundance of fish that can be found, the blue tang, parrot fish, angel fish, grouper, seahorse, butterfly fish, spiny lobster, sergeant major, scrawled file fish and frog fish. So unless you are afraid of our underwater friends, you could definitely spend days getting lost in the underwater paradise. If the deep wonderful depths of the open ocean aren't your thing, not to worry, Bonaire is just as spectacular on dry land.

I love Bonaire.... can you tell

As an animal lover and Vegan, it makes me sensationally happy when I find out that even in the most remote corners of the globe, there are people doing wonderful things for animals. In 1993 Dutch Nationals, Marina Melis and her husband Ed Koopman, established a donkey sanctuary for sick, wounded and orphaned donkeys. The Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire. The primary focus of the Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire is to offer a sheltered, protected life to all the donkeys of Bonaire. At this moment there are more than 400 donkeys living in the Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire. They are provided with food, drinking water and medical care and have plenty of room and freedom. Please visit the sanctuary if you have time and offering even a small donation goes a long way to helping with donkey rescue.

Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire

First thing I wanted to do in Bonaire when I got off the cruise ship was walk along the coast line to get to Spice Beach Club, a local had recommended it to me when I stepped off the ship. I was told it would be about a 30 min walk which sounded great to me, I love to explore new places. I met some wonderful people from all over the world on my ship, another reason why I love cruising is meeting like minded people from every corner of the globe. Being on board for a few weeks really allows friendships to form. I set out with my new friend Monique from Chicago, USA and Erica from Victoria, Canada to find Spice Beach Club.

I am ready to find Spice Beach Club

Monique, Myself and Erica

We didn't make it very far before we decided to have a cocktail to energize us for our 30 minute walk, we are on holiday so it only felt like the right thing to do.

The nearest beach side bar from the dock

After a delicious cocktail each that only the Caribbean can serve up, we headed along the coast for about 30 minutes until we reached the much talked about Spice Beach Club and it did not disappoint. Everyone was there, funky island music was playing, ice cold tropical cocktails being served, comfortable beach beds right by the crystal blue water, hot sun beaming down and friends from around the world, this was a paradise like no other.

Spice Beach Club, first thing we did was relax on the sea side beds

It is located at the Eden Beach Resort, just outside of town, the beach, the pool, the beach bar, restaurant and lounge bar form the incredible Spice Beach Club. Spice Beach Club is open daily from 7am to 11pm for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Besides from just being a restaurant and beach side bar, Spice Beach Club also boasts great live performances from artists, bands, comedians and DJs performing on their main stage.

New cruise ship friends at the bar

Ces from Panama

Blair from Toronto

Bernie from Ohio

Corey from Texas

After quite some hours, the girls and I decided it was time to head back to our ship before it sailed away without us, even though staying here longer was definitely tempting, the promise of new exciting places to visit the next day was enough to prompt us to walk back into town.

Gorgeous European Architecture on the walk back into town

A few political signs put up next to the cruise ship dock from a time of conflict now long passed for this happy, peaceful, fun and welcoming island.

No matter what you end up doing here, whether it be to suba dive, snorkel, visit the donkey sanctuary or just relax by the beach with a tropical cocktail. I encourage you to explore this intensely culture rich island that the Caribbean forgot. I hope you have enjoyed my blog on visiting Bonaire, thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more adventures with you, until next time, Vegoutt Everybody!!