Driving to the dive site on Bonaire one morning, I spotted a rare phenomenon along the road. It looked like a farmer harvesting a field of sparkly snow. The machine was a cross between a bulldozer and a snowplow, and the crop was glimmering white.

Where a shallow pink pond lay just days before, the plow was scooping up pristine salt from the exposed sea floor and loading it into a never-ending parade of huge dump trucks. After the dive I grabbed my camera and hastened back to the action. This is something you’ve really got to see to believe.

Bonaire Sea Salt Harvest

The southern end of the island of Bonaire is dedicated to solar sea salt production. Water is pumped into shallow ponds and allowed to evaporate, leaving a dry layer of salt. The ponds are home to many birds, including pink flamingos.

That’s not snow

As the ponds dry, an undulating border of what looks like bubble bath forms. These bubbles are sticky and salty, and they look a lot like snow that’s been plowed to the side of the road.

Near the pier where ships carry the salt away, huge piles of salt rise beside the road. Even though the weather is very hot and dry, I cannot stop thinking these are mountains of snow.

The salt piles are snowy white and twinkle in the sun like ice. I’ve always wondered how the salt ends up in those piles. Lucky for me (and you), I got to witness the salt harvest first-hand.

Sea Salt Harvest Video

Here’s my video showing the big machines at work. What do you think? Can you believe this is salt, not snow?

I’d love to hear what you think about this. Please leave a comment below.

Booking.com

Thank you to these websites for your valuable information on Bonaire’s salt ponds and harvest:

bonaire-travelguide.com

geographia.com

tourismbonaire.com

gonomad.com

goinformed.net tips for visiting Bonaire

Click here for more of my tips about what to see and do on Bonaire.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post Sea Salt Harvest on the Island of Bonaire appeared first on Go Informed.

Just 20 minutes from the town of Kralendijk, Bonaire’s Hang Out Beach Bar offers the quintessential Caribbean feet-in-the-sand, beer-in-your-hand experience. Sited against the warm, gentle waters of Lac Bay, this true beach bar is built right on the sand, with a castaway vibe that perfectly reflects desert island living.

Lac Bay, Windsurfer’s Paradise

The Hang Out Beach Bar is part of Jibe City, home-base for windsurfers who come from around the world to sail in Lac Bay. Even Disney couldn’t create a more perfect spot for windsurfing. Not only does a steady wind blow into the bay all day long, but the water is like a bathtub – 82 degrees and only around knee-deep with a soft sandy bottom.

The conditions in the bay make Jibe City a great place to try out windsurfing, even if you’ve never been on a board before. Rentals and lessons are offered all day long, usually with no advance appointment needed. Or just wade out and watch the sails go by.

Jibe City also has a great little surf shop, if you want to pick up a souvenir or need basics like sunglasses or sunscreen.

Booking.com

The Hang Out Beach Bar

The bar is just what you’d picture – slightly ramshackle, with few walls and lots of sand. The Dutch staff at Hang Out Beach Bar speaks excellent English, and probably Spanish and Portuguese too. (Bonaire gets lots of South American tourists. Most restaurant workers seem to be able to switch between languages with no hesitation).

Amstel Bright, brewed on Curacao, is the house beer, just order a “Bright”. Or try another local favorite, Polar, from neighboring Venezuela. It’s pronounced pole-arr. We suggest ordering your beer in an ice-filled bucket.

Another house-favorite at Hang Out Beach Bar is the sangria. So refreshing on a hot day (and what day isn’t hot on Bonaire?). Your sangria will arrive in a big beer pitcher with a very big straw. I do recommend sharing, but you’re on vacation so that’s up to you.

Food at Hang Out Beach Bar

On most days, the bar is open during the day until around sunset. The menu features sandwiches, salads, and always a delicious burger of the day.

On Thursday nights, the bar stays open for a very special dinner event. It’s called the Table BBQ and it is not to be missed.

Cook Your Own Dinner at Hang Out Beach Bar Table BBQ

At the Table BBQ, each table receives a hibachi-style charcoal grill hot and ready to go. An all-you-care-to-eat meal, the Table BBQ includes steak, ribs, hamburgers, and fish, for you to grill at your table. Salad, rolls, and baked potatoes complete the dinner.

We have enjoyed the Table BBQ several times, and have found the quality to be consistently good. The ribs are especially delicious, and the fish is fresh – usually it’s fabulous fresh tuna. Everything is served family-style, meaning a big plate of meat arrives and everybody can cook whatever they want. It is also truly all-you-can-eat, servers will keep offering food until you ask them to stop.

And did I mention the price? The Table BBQ is just $27.50 for adults, $15 for kids (up to 14).

If You Go To Hang Out Beach Bar Table BBQ

The Table BBQ is only on Thursday nights, it’s best to make a reservation. Also, be aware the BBQ can be canceled if the weather gets too windy. The open grills tend to throw sparks around in the wind – an issue even on relatively calm evenings – so I’d advise you to seat your toddler at the upwind end of the table. The upside of the grill in the breeze: the smoke seems to keep mosquitoes away.

And bring your appetite, there is a lot of good food!

Virtual vacation

We Share Bonaire has created this enticing video about the Hang Out Beach Bar. I guarantee you will want to visit when you see this.

And you can see what’s going on right this moment at Jibe City with this live webcam. That’s the bar in the left-hand corner of the screen.

Contact Hang Out Beach Bar

Here’s the link to the Hang Out Beach Bar’s website.

More Bonaire Tips

Click here to read all my posts about the island of Bonaire, including other restaurant reviews and shore diving tips.

Curated information from all over the web can be found on my Bonaire Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/goinformednet/bonaire/

The Fujifilm XP90 is my new favorite travel camera. Find out why here: Why I Love My New Fujifilm XP90 Waterproof Camera

This post contains affiliate links. What are affiliate links?

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post Jibe City Hang Out Beach Bar Bonaire appeared first on Go Informed.

I have a confession to make. On my last trip to Bonaire I fell in love. With my camera.

I didn’t expect it to happen. I just wanted to take some pictures underwater. But after a few days I knew we had something special. That this camera is destined to preserve memories in a way I never imagined.

Product reviews aren’t the usual purview of this blog, but after just a few sessions with the XP90 it became clear that this is probably a camera a lot of you guys would love too. Shockproof and waterproof, it’s ideal for theme parks, beach vacations, and everything in between.

Editor’s Note: This post was written in 2016. And I still really do love this camera. The latest model from Fujifilm is the XP130 – you can find it on Amazon here.

Beautiful point-and-shoot pictures

I am far from a technical photographer, but I do like to take a lot of photos and look for the shot to capture a place or time. The XP90 has about 20 shooting modes, ranging from underwater to snow to sports. Or you can just leave it in its automatic Scene Recognition (SR) mode and let it choose the best way to shoot. Most of the time I shot in SR mode with great results.

Access to the shooting mode options is just a click away in the main menu, I found it was easy and quick to change modes, even when I was already in the ocean snorkeling.

Fabulous Underwater Images

In the water, the camera’s display is easy to see. I shot a lot of photos of Bonaire’s incredible undersea world. Here are just a few.

Incidentally, these photos have been sized-down from their original resolution so it doesn’t take all day to load this website. If you’d like to see them, and more, in their full glory, visit my Bonaire Flickr album.

Booking.com

Sunset Mode

I think it was the first few sunsets we spent together that really sealed our fate. I’m always frustrated shooting sunsets – with most cameras the colors just don’t look as vivid as my eye sees. Or maybe I just don’t know how to take sunset pictures to get that perfect shot. Luckily the XP90 does.

Maybe my old camera had a sunset mode and I never figured how to get to it. Getting into sunset mode on the XP90 couldn’t be easier, which is probably why I decided to try it. I will never take another sunset photo with my phone again, not if the XP90 is around. Forget about running your photo through a filter afterwards to try to get the colors right. With the XP90’s Sunset mode, you’ll get the picture you want in real time.

None of the photos in this post have been touched, except to size down the resolution. This is how the camera captured them. (Except for the shots of the camera itself, which were taken with my iphone and needed a little doctoring up).

Easy to Use

A bunch of other factors sealed the deal for me. For one thing, the XP90 turns on fast. I tend to keep my camera turned off to save the battery, which can sometimes mean missing the perfect shot. With this camera, I found I could hit the power button and shoot with no hesitation.

The menu is straightforward, making it easy to change modes or other settings on the fly. And the menu options are in plain English, so you don’t have to guess what it is that’s being changed. For me, this gave more freedom to try something new, like shooting in 16:9 ratio.

I may never go back to 4:3. But if I want to, it’s just a couple of clicks.

Video

Speaking of simple, switching to video is literally a one-button job. The record button is right next to the power button on top of the camera. Just hit this, then the shutter, and you’re shooting video.

Here’s what snorkeling in Bonaire looks and sounds like. (Or View on YouTube).

And here’s video of the amazing sea salt harvest on Bonaire.

Super-Easy to transfer photos from the camera to your smartphone or tablet

One of the usual drawbacks to shooting with a stand-alone camera instead of a phone is accessing and sharing the pictures. Not with this camera.

I loaded the Fujifilm Camera Remote app on my ipad and my phone. The camera makes its own wifi network between itself and the phone or tablet. (Don’t ask me how this works, it just does. You do not need to be near any other wifi for it to work, really!) Just select the photos you want to transfer from the camera and boom, they’re on your device.

Great camera for theme park trips

Besides being the perfect camera for my Bonaire snorkeling adventures, I can’t wait to take the XP90 on my next theme park trip. No more worrying about getting it wet at Universal! Plus Fujifilm says this camera can survive a 5.8 foot drop (a claim I thankfully have not tested), so I will be less worried about banging it around on a bumpy ride like Kilimanjaro Safaris.

More info and stats

Amazon is a good resource for all the details about the XP90. Here’s a link to their FujiFilm XP90 page.

Here’s the Amazon link for the newest model of this camera, the XP130.

To see an album of some of my favorite photos from Bonaire, all taken with the Fujifilm XP90, visit Flickr here.

Comment below: Where would you like to take your XP90?

This article contains affiliate links. What’s that?

Save

Save

The post Review: Why I Love My New FujiFilm XP90 Waterproof Camera appeared first on Go Informed.

After dozens of shore dives on Bonaire, we’ve come up with a standard bag of supplies to bring for every dive. No matter where you dive, or if you snorkel, everything on this list will make your outing more comfortable.

Don’t tempt thieves

In our excursions on Bonaire and in Hawaii we’ve never had anything taken from shore, but we also don’t leave anything of value behind. If you’re not taking it in the water with you, and you’ll be sad for more than 5 minutes if you lose it, don’t bring it along.

Leave car doors unlocked when you go into the water and take the keys with you.

Trucks make the best dive vehicles

If it’s an option, choose a pickup truck for your island vehicle. Wet gear rides perfectly in back, and the tailgate makes an ideal loading shelf for your tank and BCD.

On Bonaire, we recommend AB rentals, for their friendly service and competitive rates. Unlike at some other destinations, we always pay for full insurance coverage. We drive the truck straight out to the dive site and like having the peace of mind in case something goes wrong.

Booking.com

What to pack in your beach bag

Here’s a look at our typical shore dive supply bag

Water

Bring at least one bottle of water for each diver/snorkeler. We buy bottled water at the beginning of the trip, write our names on the bottles, and refill them. I keep them in the fridge so they’re cold when they go into the bag.

A waterproof container for keys

At the very least, you’ll have car keys and a room key or house key to keep safe while you dive. We use a small container like this one. I carry it around my neck in the water (under my rash guard so it stays out of the way). It keeps things safe and dry, and can hold several keys and cash or a credit card too.

First aid kit

At the very least, you should have some bandaids and neosporin along. Even though it’s taboo to touch anything on the reef, it can be easy to get scratched up on entry or exit.

Another good thing to have along is a small container of vinegar. Vinegar counteracts the sting from a jellyfish or coral much better than seawater can. (Of course if you have a serious sting you should consult a doctor).

Sunscreen

Don’t get burned when you’re out of the water. Bring some sunscreen so you can re-apply when you get back to shore.

Towels

Drip-dry works pretty well in warm climate but it’s always nice to be able to dry your face and cover the car seat when you’re wet.

Cheap sunglasses

Don’t worry about losing your favorite Maui Jim’s (my favorite too!). Bring a pair of cheap sunglasses to wear to the dive site. You can leave them in the car care-free.

Essential equipment: dive booties

What to bring scuba equipment-wise is a whole other topic. But we do recommend that you use open-heeled fins so you can wear booties. Almost anywhere you go, you’ll be walking over rocks or coral, or at least hot sand, to get to the water. Booties are a real foot-saver for shore diving and snorkeling.

Are you planning a trip to the island of Bonaire?

Consider a coral restoration dive! Here’s my post about diving with Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire.

Save

The post Six Things to Bring When You Go Shore Diving and Snorkeling appeared first on Go Informed.

Karel’s Beach Bar in Kralendijk

If we only had a few hours to spend in Bonaire’s town of Kralendijk, Karel’s Beach Bar is where we’d go. Situated on one of the town piers, this bar and full-service restaurant boasts an unmatched view of the harbor, sea, and town. Order a bucket of Heinekens and watch parrotfish swim around the pier.

The service is friendly and the food’s good. And you can even catch the water taxi to Klein Bonaire from here.

Karel’s Beach Bar: Kaya J.N.E. Craane, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Booking.com

This post contains affiliate links.

The post Bonaire Restaurant Round-Up: Karel’s Beach Bar appeared first on Go Informed.

Gio’s Gelateria in Kralendijk

On the island of Bonaire, our favorite ice cream shop is Gio’s Gelateria. Located right on Kralendijk’s main drag, this cute euro-style cafe features two dozen flavors of delicious fresh-made gelato.

If you’d like a special treat, order a cup of coffee here. Even if you just order a $2.75 shot of espresso, it will arrive on a silver tray accompanied by a sample scoop of gelato and a little dish of whipped cream.

Gio’s is a great place to cool down, and a nice stop for long-term visitors and cruise ship day-trippers alike.

Gio’s: Kaya Grandi, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Booking.com

This post contains affiliate links.

The post Bonaire Restaurant Round-Up: Treat Yourself to a Scoop of Deliciousness at Gio’s Gelateria appeared first on Go Informed.

Discover the Magic of Gardening Underwater

When You Help Restore the Reef

If you’re looking for a truly unique underwater experience, a way to give back to Mother Nature, and a really cool PADI Specialty Certification, Bonaire’s Coral Restoration Foundation has a job for you.

The island of Bonaire is truly a diver’s paradise. Warm seas, beautiful coral, and abundant sea life provide a wonderland of adventure for underwater explorers. Consistently ranked as one of the top shore-diving destinations in the world, Bonaire features almost 100 dive sites within its surrounding marine park. And it is home to some of the world’s only coral nurseries.

Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire

Managed by Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) Bonaire, the coral nurseries are maintained by a tiny staff and a lot of volunteer divers. Volunteers don’t have to be locals – in fact most are visitors to the island who receive training on the spot. CRF offers several options for visitors looking to help out, and you can earn a PADI Specialty Certification while you work.

Bonaire’s CRF operates from the Buddy Dive Resort. Monday nights at 6:30 you can stop by the resort beach bar to hear an informational talk by one of the CRF staffers. It’s a fascinating perspective on what’s going on underwater in the Caribbean, and beyond. Plus you can meet the CRF team and find out more about how to help out.

PADI Coral Restoration Specialty Course

For certified divers new to coral restoration, CRF offers the chance to earn a PADI Specialty while helping the baby coral. Most weeks they offer a 1.5 day course based at Buddy Dive that includes three training dives, some classroom time, and (yes, I know you’re on vacation) homework. The entire course costs $220, including air and weights and usually at least one dive on Klein Bonaire. Generally the classes are held on Tuesday afternoon (classroom + one dive at Buddy’s Reef), and Wednesday all day (classroom + two dives at various locations).

If you’d just like a short introduction to coral restoration, you can choose to do only the first afternoon session of the specialty course for $65. You get the start of the classroom training and one dive at Buddy’s Reef, and there’s no homework. But you won’t get the specialty certification and you’ll miss the second day which is pretty spectacular.

Booking.com

Underwater Gardening

In the course you’ll learn about the decline of the world’s reefs and what’s causing this destruction, and then you’ll get to do something about it. CRF is experimenting with methods to collect coral fragments, nurse these fragments into larger specimens, then divide these new corals and transplant them to beds around the island. It is literally underwater gardening.
Although coral is not a plant – it’s a collection of tiny animals whose skeletons build up a reef – in many ways it is plant-like. One thing scientists can do with coral is to take clippings (don’t try this at home) and transplant them to a new location.

CRF has created several coral nurseries on Bonaire. Often referred to as ‘coral trees’, the nurseries are tree-like structures made of PVC piping, at a depth of about 10-15 feet. Small coral fragments are attached to the tree and the corals grow here until they are ready to be transplanted to the reef. Coral restoration divers protect these babies by removing predators and algae.

The divers also attach the baby coral to the tree – underwater!

Even if you just do the afternoon class and dive, you’ll be put to work helping the little corals on the trees.

Restoring the Reef

On the second day of your restoration training, you will likely have the chance to take some of the baby corals from the nursery to their new home on the reef.

Corals are attached to rocks and man-made structures in various ways.

By the end of the day you will have lots of experience planting and managing these new corals. And you might even see a seahorse!

Coral Restoration Specialty Certified Divers Return Again and Again

CRF Bonaire has had a great success in their efforts so far, thanks in large part to divers willing to spend vacation time helping out. More than half of the transplanted corals survive, and they grow fast. So if you plant some coral this year, you can come back next year and see how much it has grown.

Once you have your coral restoration specialty certification, you can come back and help out anytime. The CRF has daily and weekly dive packages for certified restoration divers, and they dive most every day.

Contact Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire

For more information about diving with Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire, visit Buddy Dive’s website at: http://www.buddydive.com/en/coral-restoration-foundation-packages/coral-restoration-foundation-packages.html

You can also follow Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coral-Restoration-Foundation-Bonaire/349062175239706?fref=ts

Some of the world’s most incredible coral reefs still thrive in Indonesia. Here’s my post about Wakatobi Dive Resort.

This post contains affiliate links.

Save

The post Diving Into a Volunteer Vacation on the Island of Bonaire appeared first on Go Informed.