Bonaire - Facts

Bonaire Facts for Sailors

• Bonaire together with Aruba and Curacao form the ABC islands. They are the three western-most islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, with Bonaire being the easternmost. It is now a special municipality of the Kingdom of The Netherlands and Kralendijk is the capital city and main port.
• Bonaire has a population of just over 20,000 people and the official language is Dutch while Papiamentu is the native language spoken on the island.
• The official currency on Bonaire is the US dollar. For more info see General Info – Money.
• Bonaire uses Atlantic Standard Time (AST), UTC-4.
• Bonaire has a warm, dry (though humid) and windy climate. See Weather for more details.
• With its stunning underwater scenery, Bonaire is ranked as one of the top three dive spots in the world, and the whole island is a protected marine park.
• Consequently, only marina berths and moorings are an option - no anchoring is permitted.
• Bonaire is changing. What was once a relaxed island with a slow pace of life (much less densely populated than its neighbor Curacao) is now developing with a myriad of construction and high fees for visiting yachts to match. Watersports are very popular on the island and if you are a diver, the high Fees are perhaps worth the convenience to great dive sites.
• For visiting sailors, the attraction also lies in the better than average repair and service facilities. See Yachting Essentials for more details.