THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE HAPPEN UNEXPECTEDLY
“…and the best adventures were never planned as they turn out to be.”
That’s about right describing our honventure (honeymoon-adventure) in Bonaire.
Planned most of everything in great anticipation, both of us seem to have forgotten about Bonaire, thinking that it will be a packed, full itinerary trip of Aruba and Curacao, and Bonaire would be a relaxing stop after.
Showing how unprepared we are: even once after we landed at Bonaire airport, “we will walk to the hotel, it’s only a 10 minute walk,” Dennis said. (It is 15–20 minutes walk by the way, with luggage, dark roads, and plane sounds nearby. What a walk, haha)
We stayed in one of the most colorful places! The hotel was like it came out of a “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” scene, with pastel colors everywhere.
Below are our stay highlights:
Snorkeling in Bonaire
We just have to have our wishlist checked, “snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea”. We went with a group to Klein Bonaire, an uninhabited islet off the west coast of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, where the snorkel spots were. Bonaire snorkeling was not disappointing, but it was a bit ‘monochrome’ compared to the ones we’ve been to such as Raja Ampat or Labuan Bajo, due to a series of tropical storms that hit the island 20+ years ago. The corals need a long period to recover.
However, it was a great experience for me since there are shallow reef areas and walls close to shore, buttttt fairly steep drop offs afterwards. I was pretty nervous and battling with my own fear with the deep blue sea the whole time (foam floats and holding Dennis’ hand were my savior). Some of our fellow snorkelers were pro and were going downnn into the sea canyon like mermaids
We saw lots and lots of fishes, and also turtles!
Going around the island by Vespa
We didn’t rent a car, but were lucky that we could rent a Vespa on the busy tourist day (cruise ships would dock the island every single day!). So with maps in our hand (yes, paper), we followed the trail going around the island. There are only 2 main towns in Bonaire, Kralendijk (3,100 ppl) and Rincon (1,800 ppl), and the remaining area was deserted nature.
Going south, we passed by the salt pans (they are pink!) that have mountains of salt! “That’s the amount of salt you eat everyday”, said Dennis.
We also passed by a flamingo sanctuary, and cactus fields!
The wind is pretty harsh in the south, so going around by Vespa is a different kind of experience.
Flamingos in their natural habitat
So I was expecting to meet flamingos in Aruba. Little did I know that I would see them more in Curacao, and EVEN MORE in Bonaire! The best thing was that they are in their free habitat. It is magical to see them, SO MANY of them in their natural living space. There was once when we drove randomly, and suddenly arrived at this huge pond, with flamingos, and only us two.
It was beyond words.
Driving to Rincon
Since there are only two towns in Bonaire, we had to visit them all. At first, our mission was to go to this ice cream place in Rincon, but we couldn’t find it. So we ended up exploring, and found our path to the viewpoint of Rincon. Again, we were on our own.
By the way, the people in Bonaire, especially Rincon, were genuine and cute. A few times when we were driving and I’d meet eyes with people in the house garden, they would say hi with hand gestures and giggles.
P.S. I got attacked by sealice
And apparently it is common if you’re swimming in the warm Caribbean sea
It was pretty itchy and burning, but gone after 2–3 weeks, and the marks were gone after 3–4 months.
P.P.S. Dennis was also very happy about Iguanas going around freely on the island
While I was not that amused with that fact :p
Originally published on our blog: http://www.dennislydia.com/the-best-things-in-life-happen-unexpectedly/
