Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

The format of Hive account@galenkp 's Weekend Engagement has changed. Instead of commenting on a choice of prompts, the ask is to post about one of them. Yay! Honestly, the comments on the WE post were getting slightly too much for me i.e. too many to read, much less interact with all of them (at least for me), and that unfortunately meant that more often than not I didn't comment at all anymore. Sorry. But with the new format... it gives me another nudge to post - double-yay!

So here we go. Of the four given choices I will answer #1:

If you could choose any country on the planet in which to spend the weekend (other than the one you currently live in) which country would it be and why?

I highly suspect that depending on my mood and the time of year my answer to this question might change. Also, there are always two very strong contenders for 'my favorite places/countries to spend time in'. Australia and Bonaire, well, the country I guess is Netherlands, Caribbean Netherlands to be precise.

For the purpose of this post Bonaire is my choice, simple by the parameters given of *spending only one weekend' there.

Source for snippets https://pinmapple.com/Pinmapple

Both are at this time of year warmer than New Jersey, in my eyes a big bonus but here are the differences.

For starters, Bonaire is only a four-and-a-half-hour direct flight away from my current home in New Jersey. Plus it is in the same time zone. That's awesome because if flights align a weekend trip would actually be possible, theoretically.

Whereas Australia is a twentyone hour, give or take - likely give - and several time zones away from here. Which basically means I'd spend the weekend on the plane back and from Oz. No bueno.

Yet if we had been given 3 weeks instead of 3 days I might have made a different choice. Galen, come on - next time give us more time! 😁

Now on to Bonaire, where exactly is it, how to get there, what to do while there, and why do I like it so much that we returned each year since 2010 (minus 2020/21)?

To start you off check out its Wikipedia page for more details. Bonaire is part of the Dutch Antilles and ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao only 80 km north off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean sea. Thus it is quite close to the Equator i.e. strong suns and south of the hurricane belt. While the temperature is in the 80s F pretty much all year round there is a 'rainy season' which is around October to December while the rest of the year it stays very dry.

Since tourism is the biggest income today everybody I ever met speaks English as well. And I almost forgot to mention that since 2011 the US Dollar is Bonaire's currency.

While all of this is great, the reason we chose to visit Bonaire over other places is the trade winds. Pretty much nonstop there is a gentle sea breeze blowing from the East, day and night on Bonaire making the strong sun and heat a lot less apparent i.e. be aware of getting sunburnt, fast.

Why did we choose Bonaire for the trade winds? Because our hobby is windsurfing for which you need... wind.

For a weekend we would certainly be staying at Sorobon Beach Resort because it is right on the best windsurfing spot: Lac Bay with knee-deep to deep waters protected from the open ocean by a barrier reef.

Lac Bay from the air - photo taken upon leaving the island:
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Who would want to lose any time on the road? Although in all fairness the island is quite small and from its capital, Kralendijk to Sorobon is only a 10, 15 minutes drive through the arid landscape. While driving watch out and you might spot donkeys living in the wild or flamingoes.

In case there is not enough wind to go windsurfing or we feel like doing something else, here are some alternatives:

Stroll through Kralendijk and its small shops and boutiques
Visit the donkey sanctuary
Take a kayak trip through the mangroves
Drive through Slagbaai National Park (only offroad vehicles permitted)
Go scuba diving or
Snorkeling

Snorkeling is definitely our favorite option as you don't have to go deep to see fascinating fish and other sea life. There are numerous signposted dive sites that usually function also as decent or good snorkeling sites. Our two favorite snorkeling sites are

Lac Bay at the barrier reef to the ocean - yes, I saw an octopus! (Check out the vid @ 1:14)
Karpata on the western coast of Bonaire - and a sea turtle!

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Since we'd only be here for the weekend, we would definitely find a nice restaurant in Kralendijk to get some delicious food and drinks while watching the sunset. A restaurant like Sebastian's is going to be perfect! Just be sure to book in advance or you might get disappointed.

And with this sunset I will leave you dreaming of the Caribbean - just like I do.
Cheers,
(Ocean)Bee