Bonaire, the beautiful

Every one of these islands looks like a post card photo … and Bonaire, on March 7, was no exception with its beautiful blue water, its balmy breeze that keeps the temperature at a nice 82-degree average and some interesting-looking beaches dotted with white sand here and there.

The island, located off the coast of Venezuela, is about 24 miles long and varying from 3-to-7-miles wide, sits atop an underwater mountain and is populated with only about 17,500 residents.  Of course, with two cruise ships in port, that number of people nearly doubled with white legs, sunburned arms, legs and faces, and shorts and flip flops at every turn.  We were a part of the mass immigration that descended on the island, wandering off the ship and waiting for our tour to be called.

Located in the lower Southern Caribbean, it’s known as part of the ABC chain … Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, and is also known as “Arizona by the Sea” due to its dryness and the cacti that outnumber the palm trees.  However, the other side of the island is lush, green and hilly, but still filled with cacti.  While the island is noted for some of the best diving in the world, today we were going to take a 12-mile bicycle ride.

Our small tour bus picked us up and transported us to Rincon, the island’s first settlement that was built by the Spanish explorers in the 14^th century.  Today, many of the residents are descendants of the slaves that were brought here to work on the plantations and in the salt mines. 

We drove through a couple of gates with a faded, paint-peeling Harley-Davidson sign, and lo and behold, there were about a dozen Harleys parked inside the fence.  Where were we?  Jaz’s tour guide didn’t show a dealer here, but there were Harleys to rent.  Hmmmm.  We coulda done that, but figure no other patch would be as cool as our Easter Island patch for riding two wheels.

Our driver attached a trailer loaded with bikes, and we were off again, driving a short distance before stopping and offloading.  The guides unloaded bikes and got us fitted, and then passed out helmets.  At least they weren’t full-face.  Haha!!!  They also passed out bottled water and once everyone was ready, off we went. 

We were ready to ride.

The tour was advertised as active, with riding being on paved roads with some slight inclines.  I figured I could do this although I’d not ridden a bicycle for a couple of years.  The bike fit me mostly although it was a tad tall, but I could keep it upright.  That was a plus, although a small rock in the road was nearly my undoing when I hit it, as was the edge of the road dropping off abruptly.  I came through both with flying colors and was well on my way to going up the slight inclines.  Yep.  I was doing well, and enjoying the ride.

Yep.  Still upright.

We stopped a few times, for a water break, and to enjoy the views.  Our bus with the trailer ran as a blocker for us, and we had both lead and sweep bicyclists to take care of us.  There really wasn’t much traffic, and when there was a car our leader held up one finger to encourage us to go single file.  It’s pretty much like riding a motorcycle hand signal wise.

These were interesting cacti with the little bulbs on top.

One of our stops near the water, had me looking down at what appeared to be ground covered with broken coral.  It felt heavy when I picked up a piece of it, and it was quite unique.  The island in early days, was called “useless island” but it sure didn’t look that way to me, with a beauty that was unlike the other islands we’ve visited.

Pieces of coral?

The bikes were great but most didn't have kickstands.

The shoreline was eroded away and you could see under large rocks that jutted out into the ocean.

The inside of a kiln that was at one of our stops.

I didn't go up the steps.

Our tour was taking us to Goto Lake, a salt water lagoon, that’s home to about 20,000 flamingoes and is the island’s national symbol.  The flamingoes were well-worth some of the “slight” inclines we’d traveled as they were everywhere, puffs of pink feathers on in the water.  Most were further away from the road but there were a couple that were close enough to photograph. 

We were told this was probably a young one as he didn't have much color yet.

While we were there, a motorcycle gang slowly roared in, a gaggle of motorcycles led by one who truly looked like a biker … leather, boots and so on.  The rest were all two-up, dressed in light pants, closed shoes including some loafers (no boots) and short sleeve Aloha-style shirts.  I waved at all of them as they passed to park a little further up from our bicycle group.  No one waved back.  True bikers?  I think not!!!

The bikers of Bonaire.

From Goto Lake we went on to Dos Pos, Two Wells, that’s a drinking station for animals.  The well was working with the windmill turning and turning.  We bicycled on … passing fences made of cacti that criss-crossed one another … certainly not a fence I’d consider trying to get through or over.  Ouch!!  We saw donkeys, a number of birds and giant lizards, so with the flamingoes I felt it was a very successful trip. 

A working windmill pumps water for animals.  Some of the bicyclists poured water over their heads to cool off.

 

Kadushi cacti, that the islanders use in soup also is used for fencing.  This wasn't a fence I'd try to get over.

The inclines ranged from slight to steep, and I made all but the last one … only getting up it a third of the way before deciding to walk my bike to the top.  I had sweated and counted turns of the pedals, but had not cursed my way up to the top of any of these, and felt a feeling of accomplishment as I was not the “weakest link” on this ride. 

This was an interesting fence ... cacti and stone with graffiti.

At the top of the last hill, we could see the Village of Rincon, the area where we’d begun our journey.  And it was a long, awesome downhill ride to the bicycle shop that I was told was a Harley shop, too.  I had asked the question because I’d seen someone at the shop with a “Harley-Davidson Bonaire” shirt.  I was told they were a dealer, and I asked about shirts.  I never got in the shop, but they brought some shirts to the dock so I could get one of them.  I totally forgot to ask if they had pins or poker chips, and suspect they may not have as the shirts they had were very limited.  But I was happy with my “boy” shirt from this island.

The colored buildings in these warm countries are joyful to see.

Bonaire was even more beautiful as we sailed out of port, past colorful buildings and tall white drifts visible in the distance … not mountains of snow, but rather salt, mined and processed here in great quantities for more than 350 years. 

Yep, the old salt flats.

I should have bought some of it, but figured it would break open in my luggage, becoming a red flag for some customs official who’d think I was trying to smuggle drugs into the United States.