We had the bug to go diving in the tropics during the Christmas
holidays. Continental Airlines was inaugurating service from
Houston to Bonaire, so we booked our flights and went (amazing
what free mileage tickets will induce you to do!) It was about a 6
hour ”overnight” flight from Houston, so we arrive a bit tired (and
maybe just a little cranky), ready to begin our adventure.
Bonaire is just a 116 square mile rock that juts out of the Caribbean
about 60 miles north of Venezuela. It is part of the “ABC” islands
– Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.
Bonaire is part of the Netherlands Antilles and like the other islands
in the group, was granted full internal-affairs autonomy in 1954,
however, the Netherlands is still responsible for its defense. It
has a population of 18,000 - nearly half of whom live in the capital
city of Kralendijk.
We enjoyed the tiny little downtown Kralendijk area. There
is a pretty expansive national park there, but otherwise there isn’t
much to do on Bonaire except dive. There aren’t any meaningful beaches
on Bonaire. The coastline is all rocks – but that’s one reason the
diving is so good. The water is clear because there is no
sand to make the water murky.
Santa gave me a fantastic, professional digital camera while we were
sitting in the airport in Houston, so here are the inaugural photos.
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