We had decided to take a combination tour that would show us the North and South side of the island.  We selected Voyager Bonaire as our tour company.  Our tour guide, Eddy was very informative, funny, and totally down to earth – someone we could certainly hang out with at the local pub.  We packed a cooler, hopped in the dinghy and headed to shore for our 8:45 am pick up.  As we climbed into the air conditioned van, we met our tour mates, Selena and Maria who are from the Netherlands (they speak Dutch and English).

We started our tour heading South and the first stop was the Salt Flats.  Salt is one of Bonaire’s main industries so it is not surprising that the tour guide stopped at the flats.  They have several pits (evaporation ponds) that they slowly fill with water.  Within a week, the combination of the brine shrimp and bacteria in the ponds turn the water purple (a true purple color), as the water cools and the wind blows, foam forms on the side of the ponds and I swear it jiggles with the wind!  As the water evaporates, it leaves behind industrial salt that is not edible at this stage.  They are huge salt crystals which are moved into piles that form gorgeous white mountains.

Salt Flats week 2 turn the water purple

Foam caused from bacteria bi-product

Cool salt crystal

Young magazine video shoot with Mustang at Salt Flats

Back in the 1800’s slaves used to manage the salt flats by hand, but now they have a huge conveyor belt and heavy machinery that does the work.

After we left the Salt Flats we came across the first set of “slave huts.”  They had three sets that were marked by color: red, white, and orange.  Basically, as the salve ships came in to port, they were directed to one of the three areas to drop off the slaves.  Eddy told us that 2-3 people slept in each hut but he believes the number to be closer to 7-8.  They were remarkably small and bare.  Hard to believe that one person slept in each one let alone 7-8.

Slave huts

Matt at door and me swing him thru window

As we drove around the southern tip of the island we came upon Pekelmeer Flamingo Sanctuary, which is one of four areas in the world where Flamingos breed.  The Sanctuary is located on the vast salt pans at the southern end of the island and home to over ten thousand flamingos.  Unfortunately we could not see very many from the road, but I was able to capture a baby and its mama.

Mama and baby Flamingo

The Willemstoren Lighthouse is still operational and warns traveling boats of the many reefs on the south side of the island.  The ruin to the right used to be the home of the caretaker of the lighthouse.  It has not been maintained well, but the basic structure is still standing.

Willemstoren Lighthouse

Lighthouse caretaker house

The last stop on our southern island tour was Lac Bay which is home to Jibe City, the windsurfing school.  It is a totally laid back atmosphere, casual, easy going group of people that have created this amazing community to teach people how to windsurf, SUP and more.  In addition to the school, they have a restaurant, massage area, sun bathing area, free wifi, and small store.  This is definitely a place we could hang out for a few days.  The professional instructors are champions.  In fact, Bonaire is home to four of the world’s top windsurfers, so you learn from the best.  Lac Bay is only a few feet deep and is a few miles to the closest reef so beginners have a huge area to practice on without any danger.  We met several of the champions as Eddy seemed to know everyone.

Jibe City Windsurfing Sails

Windsurfers learning at Lac Bay

​Stay tuned for more on the Northern part of our tour.