Our last day in Bonaire didn’t involve diving, as it is important to wait at least 24 hours after diving before flying as a safety measure. This helps reduce the risk of developing decompression issues from the nitrogen which accumulates in the bloodstream while breathing air under pressure. With diving off the table, we decided that we’d explore a bit more of the island by visiting Sorobon Beach, and then continuing on to the southern tip of the island before coming back to the resort.
I woke up a bit later than usual, and headed to breakfast at 7 AM. I met my parents at the buffet and we had breakfast together outdoors on the restaurant patio. We had a relaxed breakfast, as we didn’t have a specific time we had to be anywhere. While we were eating we watched a cruise ship approach the island, and due to its location and that of Klein Bonaire it looked a bit like the ship was on land - it was a neat effect. After breakfast we returned to our rooms. Todd had slept in, and decided that he was going to relax at the resort while we went for the drive, so shortly after 8 AM my parents and I got into the truck and began the drive.
Our first stop was a gas station, we were down to about a quarter of a tank from the driving we’d done during the week, and so we used this opportunity to fill the truck up. It was a smooth process, and once we’d paid we continued on. The trip took us through parts of Kralendijk we hadn’t seen yet, and after about 10 minutes we were on the Kaminda Sorobon on our way to Sorobon. There was a brief time where we had thought about driving out to Lac Cai Beach on the other side of Lac Bay, but after seeing that the road there was unpaved and had similar conditions to the trip we’d taken through the Washington Slagbaai National Park, we decided to stay on the paved road and keep going to Sorobon. We stopped for a brief moment to look out over Lac Bay at an unmarked viewpoint, which I think likely gave us views comparable to what we would have seen at Lac Cai beach.
It was a short drive before we reached Sorobon, a small peninsula which extends up into the south part of Lac Bay. It is home to the only other community of any note on the island. There was a beach at the end of the peninsula, and after parking we walked to the beach to enjoy the views. There was a lookout tower on one side of the beach, which gave fantastic views of the entire bay. The area is home to a mangrove forest which is home to a number of different species of birds, however we only saw a handful of birds while we were there. We saw a number of people kitesurfing, kiteboarding and windsurfing in the bay, the wind was a lot stronger here than we had seen on the western side of the island so it made sense there were a number of companies offering the opportunity to experience these wind-based sports. The beach at Sorobon was actual sand, which was noteworthy given the vast majority of the beaches we’d seen to this point were just coral. We spent about 20 minutes enjoying the area before we returned to the truck and continued south.
Leaving Sorobon the road remained paved, but it was only wide enough for a single vehicle. Travel in both directions was allowed, so when we encountered other cars both cars had to slow and have our right tires off the pavement in order to safely pass. As we drove south we stopped at a few points to look out over the ocean, but there was really not a lot specifically to stop and see. It wasn’t long after leaving Sorobon that the terrain changed from low scrub brush to the salt flats where the sun evaporates the ocean water and yields salt which is collected for export. A short way into the salt flats we saw a pair of old style windmills, which presumably power something involved with the salt facility.
It was a bit less than 8 km to drive from Sorobon to the Willemstoren lighthouse on the southern coast of the island, but given the state of the road and the times we stopped for photos it took us about half an hour. We stopped to take photos of the oldest lighthouse on the island, which was constructed in 1837. You can’t go into the lighthouse, so it’s mostly an opportunity to take a look at the building and the ocean. Just past the lighthouse inland of the road there is a small lake which flamingos hang out in, so we walked up a bit to get a few photos of the flamingos. I took a quick video of the flamingos, they were doing a fun little ‘running’ motion with their legs.
It was just after leaving the lighthouse that we started encountering a stream of golf carts driving towards us. The road was still a single lane wide, so the drive slowed down as we kept having to carefully pass each golf cart. It seemed like the golf carts were rented by people visiting the island for the day from the cruise ship as a way to see the sights, but it did make driving on the road a bit more challenging. A short distance after the lighthouse we encountered a set of small yellow buildings which used to house slaves which worked in the salt industry on the island. In the early days of the salt trade they would live in Rincón on the weekends, and travel down to load ships with salt during the week. While they were loading ships they’d live in these little yellow buildings. It was interesting to read a bit more about the history of the salt industry on the island; for example there were 4 piers where ships could load salt, and based on the colour of the adjacent monolith the boat would know the grade of salt they were receiving. There was an orange pillar near the slave houses; we had seen a white pillar near the current salt pier which was apparently a holdover from the original days.
After some photos we got back into the truck and continued on. The road had started curving back up onto the western coast of the island, and a short drive later we saw the Atlantis Beach where we saw a number of kiteboarders playing in the waves. It was a lot of fun to watch the colourful kits fly in the sky. We stayed and watched them for a few minutes, however it was quite hot standing on the beach so we got back into the truck and continued on. The road widened up to 2 lanes shortly after, and then we saw the Salt Pier in the distance. The salt plains on this side of the island were quite colourful - there were ponds which were a light turquoise and a vibrant pink colour. The salt was always white, but I imagine that the colour indicated the type or grade of salt which was being created?
After stopping for some final photos of the salt plains near the pier, we drove all the way back to the resort. We made it back around 11:30 AM, and met up with Todd. We had an early lunch, and then we all spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach with a book. I continued making progress on the Wheel of Time book I had in progress, and when I got warm enjoyed a cooling dip in the pool.
Todd and I stayed on the beach until 5 PM, and then went back to the room to get ready for dinner and do some initial packing. We did not have a dinner reservation, but we were hopeful we could get a table at El Bigote again so we left the resort at 5:50 PM and arrived at the restaurant right as it was opening at 6 PM. Unfortunately it was fully booked, so we had to find another option. We drove back to a restaurant near our hotel named Eddy’s which was well reviewed, unfortunately it was also fully booked. We then decided to drive into downtown Kralendijk since we thought it would be easier to find a restaurant if we could walk between the options. Luckily I had no trouble finding a parking spot near the pier, and after looking at a few choices we settled on eating at The Jungle. It was located close to the tapas restaurant we went to the first night, and inside it is styled similarly to a Rainforest Cafe. Thankfully the food was quite tasty, and everything was gluten free. While it took a bit of effort to find, we enjoyed our final dinner in Bonaire.
After dinner we stopped by Luciano for one last ice cream before returning to the resort. We returned the rental truck, and did went back to our rooms to finish packing and getting ready to leave. Once everything was sorted away I spent a couple of hours finishing the book so that I could pack it as well, and I went to bed shortly before midnight.