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Bonaire
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Bonaire is located
50 miles (80 Km) north of Venezuela and 86 miles (94 Km) east of Aruba,
well outside of the hurricane belt.
The island is about 160 km² in surface, with a population of little more
than 12.000. The timezone is GMT - 5:00 hours,
Atlantic Standard Time (AST) The official language of Bonaire is dutch. On the streets and in many companies however, people speak mostly papiamentu. This language is sort of an assembly of Spanish, Portuguese en a hint of African languages. The language was born on Curacao in the seventeenth century. Dutch conqurers used to trade slaves from their base on Curacao. Papiamentu was developped by the slaves to communicate among each other without the dutch rulers knowing what was said. |
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Being a Diver's paradise, Bonaire offers an immense diversity of marine
life dispersed over more than 80 beautiful dive sites and of course in the
open sea. Life among the many sites include an abundance of corals and
many forms of ground life such as lobsters, shrimps, eels, nudibranchs, anemones and
much much more. Swimming life around the many reefs include over 350
kinds of fish, turtles, jellyfish, rays and dolphins. On the east coast,
one will have the best chance to view sharks in their natural habitat. All the dive sites are marked with a yellow stone, holding the name of the site. Some of the sites can only be reached by minimal standards of a pick-up truck or even by boat (Klein Bonaire). On Bonaire, you can also find some wrecks to dive upon. The best would unanimously be the Hilma Hooker, a 213 feet cargo ship lying at a depth of 95 feet. The wreck is inhabited by many large tarpons, barracudas and some huge green moray eels. |
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But the beauty does not only live under the water surface. One of the
most prominent inhabitants of this tropical island would have to be the
flamingo. These birds trotting around the island always inspire awe.
Bonaire also offers several bird watching spots, where you can admire
parrots, hummingbirds, trupials and many more. On the ground and in many
trees, you can find iguanas of different kinds. In the bush you have a
great chance to encounter goats or donkeys and once in a while, even a
bore is sighted. Some of the best spots to view animal life are the salt lakes on the south of Bonaire and Goto lake for the flamingos and the National park Washington Slagbaai for practically anything on Bonaire. |
 
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| The default outlet power here is 127 Volts AC at 50Hz. This doesn't really match either European (220V, 50Hz) or U.S. requirements (110V, 60Hz), and while both European and U.S. outlets are visible in most Bonairean houses and apartments, it's not always clear what voltage the outlet has, so check this with the owner or realtor. |
To call Bonaire from the
U.S. or Canada, dial 011-599-7xx-xxxx. 011 is the
International access code, 599 is the country code for
the Netherlands Antilles, 7 is the city code for Bonaire. Calling Bonaire from Europe or the rest of the world, you would dial 00-599-7xx-xxxx using 00 for the international access code. |
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