B is for Bikes

We all know that the Dutch have a sensibility about transportation and bicycles.  In the Netherlands, more than 1/2 of all trips within cities are taken on a bike rather than in a car, taxi or bus.  A bike can be ridden a in a suit or dress with heals while carrying a load of groceries in a basket.

Things are a little different on this municipality of the Netherlands.  Although Bonaire is relatively flat and small, the roads were built first for cars, not bikes.  Also, the heat makes it difficult for riding long distances.  But that didn't stop us from renting bikes to ride to the town of Rincon.

We rented our bikes from Rolf, a Dutch man who started his mobile bike rental company 6 months ago.  We called him and within a hour, his yellow van arrived with a variety of bikes, mountain and Dutch bikes.

We rode north from Kralendijk to the town of Rincon.  Once we left the capital, the traffic lightened up a lot and it was very safe.  Many drivers would wave as they passed.  Most of them were divers that we would catch up to when they parked at the dive sites along the western side of the island.

 It was a blazing hot day.  Fortunately, we were able to stop at 1,000 Steps Beach to snorkel and have lunch.  There were really only 109 steps (Dempsey counted).  The beach was mostly coral, so it wasn't the build-a-sand-castle, hang-out-on-the-beach kind of place, but we did get in the water (briefly, the waves were a little big here and it was hard getting in and out... the kids were not fans).  While we were eating lunch, this iguana came over to check out our back packs.  He stayed for a while.  Maybe he was waiting for a handout?

Rincon is nestled in a valley, so there was a huge hill to ride up  and over to get there.  With a 55 pound kid on the back of my bike, I only made it about 50 yards before I had to walk.  She walked, too.  Obviously.  She was a good sport about it though.  It probably took 20 minutes to get to the crest.  But the downhill was fuuuuun.  When we got to Rincon, we went to a market and guzzled down some sodas and a bag of Cheetos.  We weren't sure what kind of place we would find for lunch (lunch #2) until we found this Chinese restaurant.  The eggrolls were huge, the sweet and sour tasty and the vegetable fried rice hit the spot.

At the top of the hill before the descent back to our side of the island.

 Looking to 1,000 Steps beach where we had lunch earlier.

 The ride back to Kralendijk seemed to go by quickly.  We stopped a few times for a water break, to pick up or fins and snorkel gear that fell out on the road from our bag and take in the views.  As we rode past 1,000 Steps, there was a huge iguana that had been flattened by a passing car.  We hoped it wasn't the same one we had met earlier on the beach, but I have a sinking feeling it was the same one.  Poor guy.

Tuckered out!

The B in the ABC's

Back in early fall, we began making plans for our December vacation.  We wanted to find a place with a little something for everyone... scuba diving and snorkeling, wildlife, plenty of time in the water and outdoors.  My mom suggested Bonaire, the least known of the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.  The more we looked into it, the better and better the idea seemed.  Netherlands Antilles, here we come.

Located in the southern caribbean about 50 miles off the northern coast of Venezuela, the island is relatively flat and dry.  All of the waters around Bonaire have been protected since 1979 and are calm and great for swimming and diving.  We stayed in  the capital of Kralendijk.  About 16,000 people live on the island, so you can imagine the capital doesn't have a big-city feel.  


The original inhabitants of the island were indigenous people called Caiquetio from Venezuela who went to the island about 1,000 years ago.  When the Spanish arrived in the 1500's, they called the island "las Islas de los Gigantes", or the Island of the Giants because of the Caiquetio were a very tall people. The Spanish didn't see any commercial or large-scale agricultural use for the island.  Instead, they enslaved the indigenous people and shipped them to the Island of Hispanolia (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) where they were used on large plantations.


In 1621, the Dutch established the Dutch West India Company.  The Dutch and Spanish fought over the island for nearly 80 years and in 1636, the Dutch conquered the island.  The British took over for 2 brief periods in the early 1800's.  During this time, the settlement of Playa was built, now known as Kralendijk.  This diverse history has led to diversity in language as well.  The official language of the island is Dutch.  However, the most commonly heard language is Papiamentu, a mix of creole, Spanish, Dutch and bits of English.

Kralendijk sits in the southern half of the island directly across from Klein Bonaire, an uninhabited island.  Washington Slagbaai National Park is to the north and world class wind surfing and kiteboarding on the eastern side, notably in Lac Bay.

Kralendijk