We realise two key elements to take into account when coming to Bonaire:
- There are no sandy beaches having both easy entry into the water and facilities (such as drinks and food).
- Most of the shops and activities open from 10:00 to 17:00, and when cruise boats are moored, everything becomes really crowded
Because Curaçao and Bonaire are so close (geographically and historically), we wrongly assumed we could handle our days the same way than we already did. Here, most of the things to do need advance planning, including the boat dives that may require booking with several days’ notice. Finding a buddy to go shore diving isn’t that straight forward either.
So today, we’re planning for the next few days in Bonaire. We take the opportunity to look around Kralendijk early enough, before it gets crowded by the cruise ship passengers’ land. We visit the Terra Mar museum. It’s a small museum that exposes the social history of Bonaire, from the first Indian tribes to the various colonisation stages until now. Some of the facts can be found in the national park and the salt pans, but we have here a linear exhibition of the past 6000 years.
While walking around the quay, we saw fishermen preparing their morning catch. The medium sized swordfish should have taken them a serious battle to bring back on the small boat they use. It invariably reminds me of the “Old man and the sea”, especially being in the Caribbean.
For lunch, I get my favourite Caribbean dish, the “Kabritu stobba” (goat stew). I remain in a historical mood when pirates had quite simple cooking habits. Basically, the preparation options were stew or barbecue, the main ingredient were fish or goat.
We keep looking for some possible options in the beach department, but definitely couldn’t find something appropriate around Kralendijk. We end up in the swimming pool of the resort. It was quite a surprise to see an iguana had made the same choice! I didn’t know that they fancied going into the water.
