Bonaire is only about 20 miles long by 5 miles wide, and we’ve been pretty much determined to cover every inch of it while we are here. Each weekend we rent a pickup and head out to find a new dirt road. I have to give kudos to the Bonaire tourism board, because it isn’t often you find a place criss-crossed with well-marked off-road truck trails leading to interesting little roadside diversions. It suits our style well—nobody else on the road, we can go as slow as we want, and yet we don’t have to worry about figuring out where we’re headed.
This is one of those stops that, from here on out, will likely serve as a punch line to inside family jokes. No disrespect intended, but calling this place a “park” or “museum” seems like a bit of a stretch. It’s a WWII US military camp set up to protect oil. The site was basically gone, except for a few mounds of concrete floor, but archaeologists went through and found any other bits and pieces that were around (think clothes hangers, and glass bottles) put up a surprising amount of informative signs over a few acres of land, and proceeded to try and preserve this bit of history for those of us who would stumble across it later. Good on ’em. We did our best to read and learn, but by the time we left we were all kind of like, “What the hell was that?”
Our kids love a windward beach because there will always be random junk washed up on it. They ran off on this beach for a while and came back beaming. Lowe had found a hardhat. Awesome. And then, miraculously, Ouest found one a few feet away. Those were two happy kids.
For the life of us, we could not figure out what this structure was. There was a stove, a couch, a couple walls, some random wiring. Was it a homeless camp, or a spot where a bunch of silly teenage boys decided to just drag random beach detritus to set up as an art installation?
We had been driving dirt roads for a while looking for a shady spot to have our picnic, when our road spit us out just a mile from the National Park entrance. Finding shade on this island is not easy, so we hit the park again. They’ve got a nice area set up at the entrance complete with tables, shade, and a Baleen whale once impaled on a cruise ship on its way in to port.
Have we mentioned the donkeys?
There were two of them on this stop. The smart one who came right down to eat carrots and bread, and the frustrated one who stood at the top of the hill behind him kicking, stomping, and snorting.
A hillside view over Rincon.
Putting the hard hats to good use.
Finally got my new Bumfuzzle lid the other day. A guy who wears a hat 99 days out of 100 should have his own branded hat, don’t you think?
15 Comments on “A Bonaire Day”
I would where your hat proudly, will they be available?
Yes, we will get a few extra this summer to ship out.
I second that, would love purchase and wear a “Bum” hat. Great opportunity to teach the young Bum’s marketing 101. Here’s hoping!
Awesome! And yes, they will be shipping them out from Minnesota this summer.
Loved the neverending landside diving spots! Hopefully the coral has recovered from one of the storms? Mitch , maybe?
As always, goodonyas! Wonderful memories ❣️ are being made forever forming the trajectory of their lives!
S
Coral is looking pretty good and healthy. The pristine water with the limited number of cruisers here makes a huge difference.
I’ll have to explore some more of Bonaire and its dirt roads the next time I come out. A strange spot indeed.
For sure! The East Coast is my favorite.
Yes – would love to buy a hat! I’m missing the “campfire” lately! Have to get back on. That was my camp you raided – hope nothing is missing! JK (obviously)
Just so you know it wasn’t my kids that broke the clock on the stove. ha ha
Love the new hat Pat! Cheers
The picture of the donkey is priceless. If that isn’t a look of smugness….
Poor other donkey wanted to come down too but just couldn’t get the nerve.
Hat!
Yuppers! We’ll have a few extra to mail out this summer.