My husband, Ron, has asked me to pass on a couple of questions.

First: Does anyone know of a source for the history of Bonaire? He is particularly interested in the original indian occupation, the Dutch settlement, and the WWII years. He suspects the original snorkelers in Bonaire waters were U-Boats. (*.*) He would like to know details on U.S. stationing on island and where the casualties listed on the monument at the pier saw action.

Second: When we were surfacing from a dive a Windsock last week, we were witness to a high-speed, low-level buzzing by a Royal Netherlands Navy P-C Orion patrol plane. Is this a regular occurrence, or were we just lucky?

Thanks your your help. My husband is a history and airplane afficionado.

My question: When did the first donkeys arrive and how? They are just the sweetest things. They loved the apples we fed them. I'm not so sure Irene liked us bringing them on the grounds of Belmar, but we were in love with those soft noses. (*.*)

Thanks again,

Viv

Regarding above message, Make that a Royal Netherlands Navy P-3 Orion patrol plane. Boy am I in trouble for that typo!

Viv

Viv

All I can add is that Captain Don's Habitat - Site - was used as a camp to hold German POWs and Curacao supplied most of the fuel for the Allies war effort.

Hi Viv,

For Bonaire's history you could check the following address: http://www.geographia.com/bonaire/bonhis01.htm (I've been searching for this subject as well). Or, just type the words "history" and "bonaire" into Google (http://www.google.com) and see the results.

Leo

Brian,
The internment camp used to be on the site of the Divi Flamingo.

Marion

Thanks, not sure if I misunderstood what Captain Don said or if that bit was not in his 85% true category.

Thank you all so much. I'll pass on the information. I took a peek at the page and it even told me about the donkeys.

viv

PS: Anyone know about that P-3 Plane?

This site will probably tell you all you want to know about the plane:

http://home01.wxs.nl/~p3orion/

Vivian
I found a site centered on Netherlands P3 Orions at http://home01.wxs.nl/~p3orion/ Its not specific to the Netherlands Antilles but does have a lot of info. I have seen Netherlands military airplanes at the airport, but not the Orion. In about 30 visits to Bonaire over the last 20 years I don't remember any signs of US presence, except a Coast Guard boat a few years ago. I'm sure Michael G will know more about that however.
Mickey McCarthy

Vivian,

The plane should be a regular occurence, or their spending our tax dollars/guilders/euros on other things.

The Orions belong to the Dutch navy, or usually located at Valkenburg Airport here in the Netherlands. Since the Netherlands Antilles are part of the Dutch Kingdom, thier is a small military presence in the neighbourhood, I think on Curacao. The deployment would include a fregat and I think the plane is part of it also. It is mainly used for the war on drugs, but that might be another story on this site...

Mark

The Dutch P-3's are based at the Curacao airport (on detached duty from home in the Netherlands) as part of international drug interdiction activity: they patrol the southern Caribbean to identify likely drug carrying vessels and to track as required for intercept by surface vessels. A frigate also visits Bonaire on occasion--local basing at Curacao reasonable, as Mark said. I have not seen an Orion (P-3) around Bonaire in several visits but have seen them on the ground in Curacao.

Re German's internment location: as Marion said, the location was in buildings where 'Divi Flamingo' is now. Don's relation is that his 'first on Bonaire' dive op was in those buildings--not where Habitat is now. I don't believe any of the original buildings are still at the Flamingo site.

Re snorkelers around Bonaire: the first were most likely Hans Hass and friends who were there in the fall of 1939 at the outbreak of war in Europe. His book 'Challenging the Deep' (as published in the US, or 'To Unplumbed Depths' in England and as 'In unberührte Tiefen' in Germany, all around 1971) has an interesting description of free diving then around Bonaire and Klein and Curacao as well as his experience at being interned and then returned to Germany/Austria. (Anything you can read of his about early underwater exploration is truely fascinating--he was several years ahead of Cousteau in all but living at depth.)

Hello again,

Thanks for all the information. I hope to pick up the book by Hans Hass. Should be quite informative.

Anyone know anything about the US being there during WWII? Did see the Eleanor Roosevelt memorial across from Town Pier.

By the way, that P-3 that buzzed us was only about 50' above our heads. Really very impressive.

Viv

I wonder if the P-3 was reported for being in the flamingo-protective 'no fly zone'??? Somehow doubt it.

I have read a relatively short history of Bonaire somewhere but can't for the life of me figure out where. Will post the info if I find it. It included the story behind the ER plaque.

Thanks Glen,

Are you serious about a flamingo-protective 'no fly zone'?

We saw a lone flamingo when we had dinner at the Plaza one night. Also saw several fly by while on our balcony at Belmar. They are beautiful.

Viv

The no fly zone is for real. Also the Short History of Bonaire is out of print and I am currently try to see someone get funds to republish it. BTW. The US has an AWACS that patrols for drug smuugglers. Lots of infrastructure is being built in Curacao to help in the drug war.

Michael,

Do I understand correctly that basically all of Bonaire is a low altitude no-fly zone, including a distance out to sea? Thus no private planes buzzing about or helicopter sightseeing flights?

If you recall the history of the island when they had an air show quite a few years ago that buzzed the sanctuary and devasted the nesting birds and caused them to depart for a number of years. Yes, there are choppers and small planes but a number of areas are definetly off limits. If anyone wants to know the specifics, I can call om Monday and find out.

On our October 2000 trip, we saw several cases of questionable flying on the part of the Dutch P3 Orions. First was as we approached Curacao in the AA 727. I watched a P3 cut across our flight path, AT OUR ALTITUDE, less than 1/4 mile ahead of us.

Second was one day when we were at Windsock after a dive. A P3 appeared to be doing a touch and go, but only had one landing gear down. They were about 5 feet off the deck before pulling up.

I guess they need some practice. Previously, I'd never seen the planes in the air. They were all just parked at the Curacao airport.

Oh, and when we landed at Curacao that time, we ran over something part way down the tarmac. I asked a guard at the airport about it, and it turns out it was a landing barrier which can be winched up across the tarmac. I presume that also was for the P3 Orions.

So, do they find many submarines? That's one of the roles for that plane.

Daniel,

I'm sure my husband would have enjoyed being on your flight when the P-3 cut across your flight path. He is ordering a book entitled "The U-Boat War in the Caribbean" which claims to be the BIBLE for the Caribbean theater, available from Amazon.com. Hopefully he will learn a bit more about Bonaire's role in WWII. If you are interested in U-Boats, there is a website entitled www.uboat.net.

Viv

Dan,

The military outside the US is much more 'flexible' in their flying than US forces. The landing gear incident also might have been a low pass to let the tower or other ground people check out a landing gear malfunction. A low pass is common practise if the gear-down-and-locked lights don't all glow a bright green.

One year when I worked at Raytheon, Bedford, on the hill I watched from the roof as the RCAF aerobatic team practised for their part of the Hanscom airshow. One F-86 used the building as a pylon, not much more than 100 yards away and below the level of the roof. Must have been exciting in the houses he flew over--just. No one did that in the airshow on the weekend--our teams always fly down the center of the runway. A year or so later, Raytheon banned all people from the roof on show day even though the planes stay far away--much conservatism in the US.