Bonaire in lockdown

May 10, 2021 · Bonaire, 2021

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Until the end of April, Bonaire was in lockdown because of Covid. Even on my own, lockdown was perfectly bearable, with social contact with Uli (Baradal) and Astrid and Stefan (Intrepid Bear) from Germany on one day, and Robbert and Luuke (8) and Jeanette and Jeroen (Fidelis) on another. Later Kitty and Marco (Liquid Spirit) joined in too. Strictly speaking you were only allowed one visitor, I believe, but it’s possible that a blind eye was turned here and there, by me at least. In the meantime more or less everyone got vaccinated – if you were staying on Bonaire for a longer period, that was possible. We could get good food at the supermarkets, which simply stayed open. Fresh fish was hard to get from the fishermen, as they’ve already promised everything to the middleman (and later the restaurants), but Van den Tweel had gorgeous fresh tuna.

Towards the end of the lockdown, when pretty much everyone had had their jab, my birthday turned into a busy day. At a quarter to eight there was already a knock on the hull: Marion had roped in the daughter of a friend from Harlingen for a surprise breakfast. Quickly ferried over by Uli, the three of us had a lovely breakfast together!

Still, everyone was stuck in their own “bubble”. Once the lockdown ended, I suddenly got talking to my neighbour Wolfgang (Hubbert), who had his own bubble, and to Cynthia van Hest, and lots of other sailors. Various autopilots, VHF radios and NMEA networks got repaired, or advice was handed out on anything involving wires. Robbert was a huge help repairing the mainsail; the headboard is attached with webbing, and that had torn or the stitching had come undone.

I spent a lot of time with Uli in particular: a daily chat, and we also shared a weekly rental car in which we went on various exploring trips around the island. Below are some pictures from a trip to the national park in the north.

The present-day coast; where it turns dark there’s reef (living coral); on the far right you can just make out Kralendijk in the distance.

Here you can clearly see that the sea level has dropped several times; this is limestone laid down by reefs – it’s ancient coral.

The salt lake in the park. Salt used to be harvested here; now it’s a nature reserve and a paradise for flamingos.

The famous "slave huts" where the enslaved stayed during the week; it was too far to walk to their own homes. They’ve been restored a bit sterilely, but this terrible period isn’t swept under the carpet. Even so, there is definitely some tension between black and white on this island.

Meanwhile the cosy evenings with Fidelis and 8 grew into something bigger. At the insistence of those involved, I will not be posting any photos of those here! We also went sailing several times on the various boats. Lots of sailors joined the local sailing club and sailed Sunfish dinghies right around the boat. Unfortunately it was a bit too small a boat for my awkwardly large frame, so I only watched from a distance.

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