Bonaire is 50 miles north of Venezuela and next to Curacao.
Location of our Sand Dollar condo
Our Sand Dollar condo is oceanfront - in the middle of the west coast. It is directly east of Klein Bonaire, a primitive island Bonaire owns. The reefs of both Klein AND Bonaire are protected as national marine park.
Flamingo International Airport in Kralendijk, 10 minutes from our condo. It's pink - like the flamingos that inhabit the island.
Arriving at Bonaire's Immigration check-in at the airport.
Downtown Kralendijk, Bonaire's capital city.
Downtown Kralendijk
Dive shop downtown Kralendijk
Oceanfront retail and Karel's Bar on the sea.
Gift shop
Brick walk along the Caribbean in downtown.
Oceanliner docked at Bonaire's harbor
Ocean liners dwarf downtown.
Bonairian celebrating Karnaval
Karnaval Parade in Bonaire
A great Karnaval outfit!
Young fellows watching the parade.
Fabulous!
Happy iguana.
Nancy greets a wild donkey as Vann watches from our pickup truck. Donkeys roam the island.
Cacti planted as fence are VERY effective in keeping out goats, donkeys
Another cactus fence
Parakeets. They're always in pairs.
Caracara, a raptor.
Iguana on our sea wall.
Troupial (like a Baltimore Oriole)
Native flamingoes
Road on west coast to northern dive/snorkel sites
Yellow rocks mark the dive/snorkel sites.
Entry to Thousand Steps - the 70+ steps feel like a thousand when you climb them with your dive tank!
View from Thousand Steps
Cairns marking a dive site entry from shore.
Cacti above turquoise water
Green moray eel
Huge Purple Tube Sponges
Turtle swimming freely
Sand Diver posing
Tarpon under the pier and thousands of silversides
Tarpon - HUGE
Smooth Trunkfish approaching a tube sponge.
Orange Spotted Filefish (note the cardinalfish hiding under coral)
Honeycomb cowfish and vase sponge
Hawksbill turtle
Scrawled filefish
Four-Eye Butterflyfish
Tiny black seahorse in 10 feet of water
Larva stage of juvenile Smooth Trunkfish
Adult Smooth Trunkfish
Adult Smooth Trunkfish. I like those critters.
Gray Angelfish - somewhat unusual
Seahorse
Peacock flounder
Scorpionfish
Spotted Scorpionfish with its "wings" extended.
Butterflyfish
Goldentail eel
Flamingo Tongue Snail
Laura-fish by giant sea fan
Balloonfish - Note the opalescent eye.
"Forest" of Christmas Tree Worms
Mating Squid
Pedersen's Cleaner Shrimp among corkscrew anemone
Purple tube sponge
Spotted Moray Eel greeting us.
Larva stage Spotted Trunkfish.
Adult Spotted Trunkfish
Anemone
Lettuce Sea Slug
Yellowline Arrow Crab
Banded Coral Shrimp
Peacock Flounder on the prowl. He's coming at me!
Ocean surgeonfish
Tarpon cruising by
Yellow grouper
Fireworm
Yellowhead Jawfish emerging from sand.
Yellow huts occupied by slaves and the obolisk marking their location at the sea.
Yellow slave huts in south
Vann and Laura inside a slave hut. My, what a small room!
The lighthouse at the southern end of Bonaire.
Made from washed up stuff!
Windsurfers on Lac Bay in the east.
Cargill salt piles and salt "fields" from the air
Piles of salt, ready for loading
Cargill mines salt from Bonaire's salt beds on the southern end of the island. This salt goes worldwide to clear ice and snow from highways.
Windmills pump water into salt fields
Iguana
Caracara
Slagbaai, former harbor, in the National Park
I told you NOT to go there!
I'm outta here
Flamingo in southern Bonaire.
Let's have a party!
View from Sand Dollar condo complex
Our studio apartment is upstairs.
Our studio condo. View from entry
Our kitchen. Why dine out?
Our living room/bedroom
Our dining room/entertainment center
The bar and kitchen
Our porch furniture and VIEW!
Bonaire mocking bird perched outside our condo screen porch.
Bananaquit on tree outside our Bonaire condo.
Iguana on our sea wall, followed by his/her friend bringing up the rear.
Sand Dollar's tank lockers and walk to our pier.
Our seaside lounge chairs. Ahhhhhhhhh!
Our pool.
Lover's Ice Cream shop. It's right in front of our condo complex! Yum!
Spotted Eagle Ray
Blue Grunt
Juvenile Queen Angelfish
Adult Queen Angelfish
White Spotted Filefish
Sea Horse
Intermediate French Angelfish
Yellow Lure Frogfish
Baracuda.
Diver Vann hiding in the sponges
Trumpetfish
Glasseye Snapper with a Black Bar Soldierfish.
Batwing Crab
Christmas Tree Worms
Octopus
Juvenile French Angelfish
Pair of Intermediate French Angelfish
French Angelfish cruising.
Pair of Adult French Angelfish
Spotted Moray Eel
Jolthead Porgy - My what BIG lips!
Green Moray Eels are making a come-back
Schools of fish hanging out at a pier
Red Lipped Blenny
Hawksbill Turtle - Look, Mom. I'm Flying!!!!
Long Spine Squirrelfish
School of Striped Grunts
Green Turtle just cruising along.
Vann in perfect balance.
Laura going with the flow.
Balloonfish with the opalescent eye.
Pair of Spotfin Butterflyfish.
Entrance to Yenny's compound where she sells her folk art. Yenny's welcoming party.
Some of the folk art Yenny makes and sells.
Yenny's fan club.
Captive flamingo
Parakeet in the wild.
You don't say! (Braying free-range donkeys.)
Yellow Long Snout Sea Horse
Ghost Anemone at night
School of Bogas
The dreaded Lionfish. If they were not so invasive and prolific, they'd be fascinating.
Honeycomb cowfish. It had just changed colors to this blue hue. Amazing.
Ocean Triggerfish
Peppermint Basslet.
Rock Beauty. what a colorful fish!
Spotted Eagle Ray. Wow!!!!
Baracuda. We met one on nearly every reef.
Longspine Squirrelfish. Huge eye. Very shy.
Pretty reef scene.
Black Grouper. They are making a come-back.
Giant anemone. Lovely scene.
Coney. See the black freckle on its lower lip?
Blue Chromis
Sharpnose Puffer. They are quite cool.
Glasseye Snapper hanging out under a ledge.
Vann inspecting a purple tube sponge.
Squadron of Squid.
Flamingo Tongue - a destructive but lovely creature.
School of Surgeonfish form a raiding party.
White Spotted Filefish with his "horn" exposed.
Goldentail eel raising up from the coral.
Chain Moray Eel emerging from the coral.
Purple Sea Lettuce. Very cool looking.
A pair of honeycomb cowfish. WOW!
Goldentail eel.
Purple vase sponge.
Cubera Snapper. My, what sharp teeth you have!
Cubera Snapper has a ramora getting a free ride on its belly.
Black and White Crinoid.
Brittle Star on a purple vase sponge.
Starfish that managed to work its way to the surface of the sandy bottom.
Slipper lobster.
Bandtail Puffer.
Juvenle Queen Angelfish. They are SOOOOOOOOOOO cute!
Squid
Goatfish noodling around in the sand.
Porcupinefish coming to kiss my camera.
Longsnout Butterflyfish
Bouquet of purple tube sponges
Jacknifefish. VERY cool fish. Looks like the Juvenile Spotted Drum.
Juvenile Spotted Drum - not to be confused with the Jacknifefish.
Spotted Drum
Midnight Parrotfish. These guys are BIG!
Kaduski Cacti cluster at the entrance to a pet park.
Bonaire's castle.
Anyone for some soccer?
Yes?? What do you want? (Wild goats roam freely.)
GOAT JAM! Goats roam freely on the island. They don't notice our truck.
Huge surges from Hurricane Thomas overwashed our pier - October 2010.
The "Wild" Side of Bonaire - the east coast - during Hurricane Thomas' passing to the north, October 2010.
Pair of Flamingoes. They hang out in the salt flats of Bonaire.
Kite boarding in southern Bonaire
Squid at night.
We came upon this Caribbean octopus on a night dive.
The Caribeean octopus showed his "ass" as he swam away.
Same Caribbean octopus - turned blue before my eyes.
Queen Triggerfish Juvenile. A rare sighting.
Juvenile Blue Tang
Intermediate Phase - Blue Tang
Adult Blue Tang
Peacock Flounder on the move
Peacock Flounder
Peacock Flounder eyes and mouth
Same flounder seconds later
Green Razorfish - cool looking fellow
Longnose Seahorse
Parrotfish all wrapped up in special secretions for sleeping.
Chain Moray Eel emerging from hiding.
Sharptail eel on the move
Osprey with a needlefish (dinner) in his talons.
Flamingo Tongue - destructive but beautiful creature.
Spotted Eagle Ray in "flight"
Ringed Blenny inside a tube sponge.
Spotted moray emerging suddenly from a purple tube sponge. How the heck did it get into that tube?
Sunset from Sand Dollar
View from our Bonaire condo porch. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Rainbow visible from Sand Dollar
