June 7, 2005.
I just returned from my first trip to Bonaire for windsurfing on Lac Bay. For the record I'm not affiliated with any windsurfing business or any interests on Bonaire. Except for my personal experiences I have no bias. Here are some random thoughts:
Summary: its the ONLY destination windsurfing resort for me (I've sailed Hatteras, Cape Cod, Miami, Aruba, BVI's, St John, St Lucia and the Grenadines, and Lake Arenal in Costa Rica.
The site: There are two vendors on Lac Bay. Roget's and Jibe City. Roget is well established now having closed his Aruba site and moved his operation to Lac Bay over the past few years. He is on-site everyday and takes an active interest in his customers and anyone else who wanders in off the beach. I didn't rent from him because Sailboard Vacations seemed to suggest Jibe City. We had never met but Roget treated me like an old customer. They are next door to one another and the equipment is a little older than Rogets but I found it perfectly acceptable and in good repair. The staff is Jibe City are fine. The difference is that they are employees and Ernst (Jibe City's owner) is rarely up front but prefers to hang out at his house in the back. Employees just aren't as motivated as owners so customers don't get great service at Jibe City. I like being able to pick wander through a loft and pick my own sails but its a great help if a staff member comes over and helps with my selection and then hauls it out to the beach for me. I don't know what their hesitation is about engaging their customers. They're either 1) lazy; 2) shy; 3) unknowlegeable the sport 4)uninterested or 5) working on their next careers but they don't volunteer to help. If I have to ask for their help they've pretty much lost me at that point. I'll just get it myself and not bother them. This is bad because 1) I begin to feel like I work for them and 2) their equipment gets knocked around by a newbie. There is no formal equipment sign out and at 5pm Steve closes the office and leaves for the day allowing you to sail all night if you'd like. Since they don't know what equipment is out they don't know who hasn't come in so don't look to them for help if you get blown across the bay, get injured or otherwise need them to come looking for you. They have no way of knowing that you're overdue. Roget does use a sign out which is more formal (perhaps a hassle) but it has a good purpose. Also, if you sail into Jibe City and leave your board rigged on the beach they'll likely pick it up and put it away before you can finish lunch and stop them so stick your booties in the footstraps to as your "be right back" sign. I've told people I'm coming right back only to find that someone else didn't get the word and then I have to collect a board and a sail take it to the beach and re-rig. Ernst needs to get back in the game if he wants to keep his customers happy. A good week of customer satisfaction training would really help his staff but in the end the owner sets the tone and positions the business to compete or fail (Ernst that giant sucking sound isn't good news!). In the future I'll go to Rogets.
Equipment-I think they both have pretty equal stuff. Its relatively new often with the placed in service date prominently displayed on it. They use a lot of twin skeg boards and I really liked them. Lots of single skegs too as well as training boards of all sizes, race boards etc. I never had to wait because someone else had the board I wanted.
Beach Food-both places are right next to each other with a 20 yard walk between the two beach bars. The Jibe City bar is rented to a Dutch guy who has restaurants in the Netherlands and visits Bonaire several times a month. He is very friendly and engaging. His setting is relaxed with a driftwood bar and mostly sand floor. When he wasn't working the bar tender was a disinterested teenager who seemed happy to have customers standing there waiting for his attention while he talked to his friends. That is easier to take after the first beer but when you need that first bruskie at the end of a hard day its tough to wait. Needed: more training to ween the kids from their self absorption. (I know I sound pretty self absorbed too but hey I'm on vacation and I'm the paying customer)
Lac Bay-its a big lagoon which is closed on the ocean side by a low lying reef. The breakers are clearly visible so it looks like a bay and not a lake and that makes for a nicer, ocean beach kind of feel. The bay is shallow except for one 10-60 foot deep channel that runs 50-200 yards wide and across the entire bay on the north end from the mangroves out to the inlet. Non-jibers and non-water starters can easily avoid the deep water and still have 2/3 of the bay to sail. I met one couple who goes to Bonaire to sail because the wife doesn't swim. If you're sailing across that deep water section you eventually hit shallows again for 50-100 yards until you're in the trees. The mangrove trees do have a wind shadow extending out from their shore so its not entirely sailable over there. The bottom on the mangrove side is sandy and muddy. the bottom on the other side is sand and shells with no real coral heads anywhere but one or two spots that are marked (sort of but adequate). There is a tide and the tidal range seems to be much less than 12". Most of the time water depth is no problem and you'll never run aground. In the shallowest places you can drag bottom until you get up on a plane. When the wind really blows more water comes into Lac Bay making it deeper. Weird lunar cycles can occur that make the bay shallower but that seems unusual according to the repeat customers we met. And we met a lot of them. Bonaire generally seems to attract repeat customers. Most are divers but even the windsurfers include folks who have been coming every year for 2,3 as many as 8 years. Talking to divers at the airport we met many who had been coming to Bonaire for 20+ years and were always mad at themselves when they went to other Caribean islands and were disappointed. They are quick to tell you that it hasn't changed much except for a few more good restaurants. Sailing is done in two tacks out and back paralell to the beach on one side and the barrier reef about 300 yards on the other side. Lengthwise a run from Jibe City/Rogets to the far mangroves would be about a mile (based on my recollection not a precise mapped measurement). Its a big bay and it easily accomodated the biggest crowd we had which was 25 boards on a particularly windy Thursday afternoon in June. BTW I was told that the sailing at Margarita is done in an area that is 20% as big as Lac Bay with really limited shallows for non-water starting. Ted, the 73 year old pro level veteran we met on his 8th trip to Bonaire says that Lac Bay is shallower since the hurricane they experienced 5 years ago. It didn't cause me any problems but then I like knee deep water better than waist high or deeper water. You can practically sail from the beach where the rental shops are located so its not a long wade out to clear sailing. If its crowded and you want to walk to the outer line of boarders you'd probably walk 50 yards in shin/knee deep water. Sailing in you can go right to the beach at the shop.
Crowd control-when we sailed there were between 2 and 20 other boards on the water; more as the wind blew stronger. It never seemed crowded. The reach out and back from the shops is more crowded at the shops because of the beginners and the trick/freestylers who practice and show off in front of the bars at Jibe City and The Place (Roget's). There is a good turnout of local kids sailing and they are well mannered, serious sailors who range from beginners who will ask for your help to experts (disconcerting when they're only 14 but they are pros!). I wore a helmet the entire time but I was the only one. At 50 I really don't care what I look like as long as I can still sail when I'm 80. I saw a couple of lifejackets and the Americans all wear lycra sun shirts (I recommend long sleves) but everyone else wears as little as possible. (oh yeah, there is a nudist colony right next to the rental shops on the beach. Its separated by a 10 foot high wooden fence that runs 30 yards out into the bay to give the naturalists some seclusion. I guess you could see something if you looked but I didn't notice it. If you have kids who would freak out at nudity I wouldn't worry about it since its very much out of sight.
Kids-OK let's talk about kids. I have 3 teenagers so I know the concerns parents have. I've always travelled with them. When my youngest was 5 weeks old she went to Europe for a month. They have school now and can't make some trips. I also know that adults without kids accompanying them don't want to be surrounded by brats. I saw lots of kids mostly younger than school age because schools are still in session in early-June. The kids seemed happy wading and playing on the beach (one of the few real beaches on the island actually since most of the shore line is rock and coral). Some were learning to windsurf. Rogets had more dedicated and engaged instructors. Kids can tell if you like them and it seemed to be mutual at Rogets.
In fact I heard Steve at Jibe City send a beginner to Rogets rather than to one of his guys. I don't know why but it struck me as odd. If your kids need a pool and waterslide to keep from whining or otherwise being a good citizen of the beach, they'd better stay back at the hotel. Roget is running some kids camps so contact him directly. If shade is important to you there isn't much on this beach since it has only two palm trees. Good thing the KLM crews like the sun (oh yeah and the occassional topless tanning; I'm sure the kids won't mind, they have to learn about Europeans someday!) I didn't see any umbrella rentals so you might bring your own. Roget has a pretty good business of renting beach chairs to non-windsurfers who want to be at a beach (beaches are rare in Bonaire). He also runs a shuttle bus for the KLM flight crews to encourage their patronage and that is a good idea. (down boy, the Dutch crews are as mature as American crews but they are also friendly and a good addition to the scene). Kids probably make up 20% of the population at Lac Bay and most are preschool. After them the demographic swings north as most windsurfers are at least over 40 if not over 50. I felt young at 50 (and foolish since most everyone older than me was a really good sailor too).
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By Warren Dahlstrom (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - 4:09 pm: 
