Changes in the air for Bonaire?
It’s 2011 and a traffic signal cannot be found in Kralendijk (Kray-len-deek), the capital of the island. For that matter, the whole of Bonaire is bereft of that ubiquitous symbol of contemporary stress. There may not even be a stop sign; roundabouts abound and other intersections tend to be marked, if at all, by suggestions to “yield.”
Key West was apparently a fairly lawless place at the turn of the previous century, when Peter Matthiessen’s Mr. Watson sailed there to unload a batch of his cane syrup. By the time it was the haunt of Papa Hemingway, it was tame enough to attract a fledgling tourist industry. Today, it is Marriott and Jimmy Buffet.
We like to analogize present-day Bonaire to just post-Hemingway Key West. Apart from the restaurants, hotels and downtown shops that cater to the tourists, it is a pretty sleepy place. The tourist industry, although it has boomed in the last 30 years, is largely the domain of small operators. Corporate hotels and chain restaurants have not taken root. Unlike most other tourist destinations, the names of the shops are not international icons.
The tourists themselves differ from, say, the crowd that gathers at Aspen or dines in the formal restaurants on the world’s large cruise ships. Here they are primarily divers (though three or four cruise ships now call weekly) — a down to earth lot, with a scattering of machismos, but, more often, ordinary people taking a week or two off from their workaday worlds. Most arrive with their dive gear, a pair of flip-flops and enough shorts, swim suits, tank-tops and T-shirts to get them through their stay. Given the island’s dress code, an experienced traveler can easily stuff in a carry-on the clothing needed for a week.
What draws them, in increasing numbers, are the world-class coral reefs that surround the island and that are protected by the Bonaire National Marine Park. 
In contrast to the mostly barren surface of the island, the underwater world hosts an extraordinary coral reef landscape that teems with fish, other marine creatures and divers. 
The “Bonaire Dive Guide” lists 89 different dive sites, each with its own mooring (anchoring on the reefs is illegal) and many of which can be reached from shore.
Above water, you would not describe Bonaire as a pretty place. But it can be quaint. Wild burros roam the island. Sighting a group of three or four along the roadside is an everyday event. Herds of grazing goats, 20 or more, may temporarily prevent you from continuing to your destination.
In the 20+ years that we have returned to Bonaire on an almost annual basis, there have been changes. Today, cell phones work. For the most part, however, the changes have come grudgingly and are incremental. Shopping for a week’s groceries, if you really intend to have your meals in, still requires visiting both of Kralendijk’s “super” markets, as well as one or two convenience stores.
In the past year, however, events have occurred that suggest the relatively placid nature of island existence may change. In 1954, Bonaire and its sister islands, including Curacao and other, smaller islands, which had previously been Dutch colonies, formed the Netherlands Antilles, an autonomous government within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. After 1954, the official currency was the Netherlands Antillean Guilder. Though the U.S. dollar was widely accepted, change was normally given in Guilders, to the chagrin of North American Tourists.
In October 2010, the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and Bonaire became a “special municipality” of the Netherlands. As part of this change, the dollar became the island’s official currency and the Guilder is no longer deemed legal tender. It is widely anticipated that this change in status will bring an influx of European investors and rapid “modernization.” A large Dutch supermarket chain, with an existing store already on Curacao, has announced that it will open a store on Bonaire before the end of the year.
Our initial reaction to these changes was positive. We will no longer have to deal with unwanted Guilders and a new supermarket will ease the task of foraging for food and, most likely, vastly increase the choices available. We also dreamed that local restaurateurs would take advantage to expand their menu offerings.
Upon reflection, however, we’d rather it just stay the way it is. For a week or three, we can do without Marriott and Jimmy Buffet.
The island of Bonaire wallows in the Caribbean Sea 150 miles northwest of Caracas. From its southernmost tip to the closest point on the Venezulean coast is approximately 50 miles. It is one of a group of three islands commonly referred to as the “ABC” islands, the other two are Aruba and Curacao.
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