We only got to spend the evening here in Bonaire yesterday, the good Netherlands according to the local travel channel. It had a very entertaining spot about the differences between the Netherlands to the north and the Caribbean Netherlands.
Not much happened yesterday other than landing at the Flamingo Airport, a tour of the resort, eating and resting from out travel day .
Emily didn’t get to hear everything the guy said during our tour of the grounds, she did notice he said “don’t forget” a lot, must be a Dutch or island thing. I found it amusing when he was driving by the scooters they rent and he pointed at the scooters and said these are scooters parked here. They looked like scooters, there was a sign that said scooters but he wanted us to know they were in fact scooters.
Today we signed up for some activities, possibly scuba on Friday, a quad tour and Emily got to try out kitesurfing! We also rented a scooter for three days. We’re also looking at doing a kayaking tour of the mangroves.
After renting our scooter we took it for a spin downtown. They do lane splitting here, I’ve never been comfortable with that. I’m probably not going to be doing that. For those that don’t know the jargon, lane splitting is when motorcycles and in our case scooters get to weave trough traffic using the open spaces between cars to get to the front. It’s legal in some states. In California I seen people doing it at highway speeds. I think Iowa was considering allowing it at traffic lights so that motorcycles can get to the front. I would consider doing that as the safest place to be is usually in front of traffic. We got to see a bit of the city. We made it back without getting lost.
After lunch we took the scooter out to Emily’s kitesurfing lesson. They have a max speed of 60 km/h or 38 mph roughly. The scooter maximum is about 52 km/h. Scooter rental was $29 a day after taxes and we were told a taxi would be about $25 and that doesn’t include a tip for those inclined to do so. Scooter maybe a good option especially since they really don’t seem to have a lot of crazy traffic here.
Our ride was right along the Caribbean. It’s a lovely ride. We also got to see the salt flats and a flamingo.
It’s very interesting that all along the coast road there are places for people to pull over and go scuba diving. There are marked areas and other places it appears people are just pulling off and going diving.
The place where Emily had her lesson was a ways out from the resort. It was a section of beach were it must be extra good for kitesurfing as there were a couple different groups offering lessons. The beach was covered with kite surfers 🏄♀️ that had a hippyish vibe about it. It was cool to see all the activity going on. I will have some video of Emily’s lesson after were get back. I recorded it on a little gopro type camera, hopefully it turned out. The sun is very bright here and I couldn’t see the screen on the camera.
We did a little snorkeling after we got back before dinner. I was impressed with our ability to just go out to the beach and see so much, I will get some vid tomorrow when the lighting is better and have them as well after we get back. There were a lot of fish and some corals just in the area we were in.
We will get more pictures tomorrow as well. We have a few and we will get them posted.
The food here isn’t bad. It’s buffet style with one cooked to order meal in the main dining area. It’s open air and the drink staff are a little slow on the refills. The birds are an issue in the morning and afternoon, not at night though. They have a snack bar that’s open during the day for burgers and pizza if you want to go that route. The selection is has been good. Emily likes the idea of not deciding where to go. The all inclusive deal hasn’t been a bad.
The age of the resort is showing in places. They are currently in progress of a 5 year renovation, they have a new pool that is very nice and the construction of a new building for the check in desk and what not is under way. European/ Caribbean’s do make some interesting room choices, but still nice.
The sun here can be hot but there always seems to be a nice breeze. The trade winds offer some relief and in the shade with them it’s very pleasant. The ocean is beautiful to look at with the greens and blues.
The people here are very nice and they will tell you that the people here are very nice. I think they like to point out the obvious.
Hopefully everyone has a Merry Christmas! 🎄
Traveling with Emily! 