Heading Home... Sort Of

Well, my week has blown by at jet speed. I know I haven't had much time to post about Bonaire, but there's been precious little time to open-up my lap top. And in the time I had free, I tended to just fall asleep. All I know is I've been incredibly impressed with the level of conservation, both marine and terrestrial here on this tiny island. People love and protect their natural resources here and it's a model for the rest of the world. I'm looking forward to returning to Bonaire as soon as I can, and next time perhaps for a real holiday.

I leave this afternoon, but don't get to come home immediately. I have to overnight in Montego Bay, Jamaica. On Sunday, I fly to Los Angeles for yet another overnight before returning home to San Francisco. Yeesh! But before I finish packing, here are just a few final pics of my land tour of the southern part of Bonaire. We started at the salt works. Salt is Bonaire's only export. There are massive dehydration fields that use windmills to pump increasingly saline seawater from one field to the next. Solar energy does the rest.

Before automation, someone had to shovel the salt into piles and then onto transport ships. And the slave trade touched even this remote island. Slavery was abolished on Bonaire in 1863, but these slave huts remain along the southern coast as evidence. Men slept three or more to each hut. On Fridays, men could walk back the 15 or so miles to the town of Rincon to be with their families.

Bonaire is a true desert island. Check out the colorful desert skink in the image at the top of the post. Cactus line the roads throughout the south and locals have figured out ingenious uses of cactus as fences. Just try and jump this fence! Apparently locals learned this trick from the Arawak indians, the original inhabitants of Bonaire. By the way, those cute goats are stand-ins for the terrific lunch of goat stew with rice and fried plantain I enjoyed just moments before taking this pic. Maybe they smelled a relative on my breath.

At Lac Bay, we found mounds and mounds of conch shells. Conchs are protected here on Bonaire, you can't collect living specimens or even remove shells. They are, however, harvested seasonally for food and these piles are evidence of the fishery efforts.

Another view of Lac Bay. Being the windy, east side of the island, lot of wind surfing takes place here.

Finally, I was honored yesterday to be a guest at the graduation ceremony of three new STINAPA national park rangers. They will be responsible for education, monitoring, and enforcement of all regulations for the land and marine parks. The governor of Bonaire presented each new graduate with their official ranger badge and certificate. It was awesome to be there and see the pride in the faces of these young men. Congrats!