This Pride of  Barbados bush was among those attracting hummingbirds to the gardens around Sorobon on Bonaire.

 Looking around at the folks waiting with me at Newark airport for the midnight flight to Bonaire, it was apparent that all of us were headed for an island quite a bit different than many of the others in the Caribbean. Instead of resort sun dresses and high heeled sandals to showcase pretty pedicures, most of my travel companions wore jeans,  Tshirts and sturdy footwear. They knew we’d be welcomed by a desert island, not a palmy beach lined shore, where coral outcroppings and cactuses demand sensible shoes.  I traded robins, squirrels and white-rail deer for flamingos, wild donkeys and iguanas when I left Northeast Ohio for Bonaire.

 

We'd forgotten to bring carrots when we encountered this wild donkey who approached our car seeking a handout. The animals remain from the days when they worked at salt production on Bonaire, 

I’ve heard Bonaire called the Galapagos of the Caribbean — not far wrong when you include the many parrot like birds, interesting bats, and abundant sea life that awaits on its reefs. It’s a sleepy island, without a single traffic light but now has three service stations.

This sweet little trunkfish  seemed to be posing for my underwater pictures. They blow into the sand to uncover their dinner, which they suck up through their puckered lips.

It had been six years since I last visited and seeing what was new was at the top of my to-do list. Two years ago Bonaire became like a state of Holland as its neighbor islands, Curacao and Aruba, opted instead for greater independence.  Since then the U.S. dollar has been adopted as Bonaire’s official currency but since most goods on the island come there on twice daily KLM flights  from Amsterdam,  purchases reflect those prices in euros. Property owners, such as the friend I stayed with, claim that prices have increased dramatically in the past two years. But reasonably priced produce is brought by boat from Venezuela, 50 miles away, and yummy beef comes from Argentina. 
Sorobon is one place that’s changed since I was last on the island and I wanted to check it out. It’s on Lac Bay, on the opposite side of the island from Kralendijk. Jibe City, known by windsurfers throughout the world, is right next door. The two properties are just about the only things at that end of the island.
When I was last there Sorobon was a nude resort and as much as I wanted to experience its beach I wasn’t comfortable doing that. But now it is a family resort and clothes are needed.

These men are about 70 yards off shore at Sorobon where even the windsurfers beyond them enjoy the shallow water protected by a reef. The ropes protect the sea grass, a habitat for turtles.

 Bonaire is not an island known for its beaches but the beach at Sorobon is world class... a long stretch of snowy white sand and water so shallow a child could walk into the sea for a hundred yards and still not be more than waist deep in water.
 It’s a perfect place for a family with accommodations in 28 pretty seaside cottages, each air conditioned and with its own fully equipped kitchen. My friend and I had a lovely lunch at the beach restaurant there and walked through its gardens where hummingbirds flitted among bright tropical flowers.

 Tranquil describes all of Bonaire but Sorobon is REALLY quiet.   Most everyone comes to the island to enjoy its diving and snorkeling so most visitors are out in the water by day and exhausted from the activity and the sunshine at night, when there’s very little night life.   I’m an early-to-bed early -to- rise type who loved every minute of my week there.

I've been all over the world writing about travel for The News-Herald and I'm often asked about my favorite place.

I love a lot of places, but "Underwater," is probably my most frequent answer. I enjoy scuba diving and snorkeling more than almost anything else, although I rarely have an opportunity to indulge while on a travel writing trip. I'm a Pisces (of course) and to help me celebrate a recent landmark birthday my daughters and my nephew collaborated to buy me an airline ticket to Bonaire, one of the greatest underwater destinations in this world. My late brother had a winter home there for more than a dozen years so I've been there before and even introduced friends to this 24-mile long desert island just 50 miles from the coast of Venezuela.

 Last month I stayed a week with a friend  who bought a condo there after I introduced her to Bonaire about a decade ago.Some things have changed  in the six years since my last visit. Some of the near shore coral has been bleached by either storms or over development,  but it's still the underwater paradise I remember. Reefs encircling the island come close to shore so it's possible to step into the shallow water, lie down on your stomach and peer through a snorkel mask at colorful orange and yellow sponges and corals, parrot fish, sergeant majors, angelfish, squirrel fish and lots more. Go with a sharp-eyed native or someone like my friend Karen and you' ll likely spot octopuses, eels, lobsters and many more underwater dwellers.

My fellow snorkelers, all Scientologists from the ship Freewinds,  prepare to enter the water from the Woodwind.

On my March 19 birthday we booked a snorkel trip aboard the Woodwind, a sailing vessel that took us to the uninhabited offshore islet of Klein Bonaire where sea turtles are known to dwell. We arrived on time but had to wait for a group from the Freewinds, a cruise ship that was anchored nearby
at the port of Kralendijk.

The Freewinds, it turns out, is owned by the Church of Scientology and is where followers of  founder L.Ron Hubbard get much of their training during cruises that a make a circuit among the islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire. That these are people of faith was underscored for me by the fact that several of them didn't swim but had booked the snorkeling experience anyway. Our guides provided them with flotation devices and they seemed fine, although they were obviously not very accustomed to being in the water. My friend and I got kicked a few times before we learned to hang back from our six-person group.

A free diving guide heads toward the bottom to point out something for the snorkelers hovering above.

This young Hawksbill turtle became my first underwater photo.

Each group was accompanied by a free diving guide who would dive down to point things out. The water was crystal clear and about 10 to 15 feet deep for most of our snorkel. The guides probably kept us at that depth so those not familiar with being in the water wouldn't walk on the reef and destroy coral that took a hundred or more years to grow..






 

Seeing an endangered Hawksbill turtle was the best creature I saw that day. I also got to use the underwater function on my camera so I could show you, the folks at home

 

 Even though I promised my husband I wouldn't work on this trip, and  my sharp-eyed friend was watching to make sure I didn't take notes, to me an after-the-fact blog doesn't really count as work.There's lots more I can tell you and if your comments indicate to me that you are interested, I'll share more about Bonaire and my birthday trip.