Hi folks,

I am coming to Bonaire in March for the first time. At that point I will be in the thick of my marathon training. I am wondering about the best place to run.

I am staying pretty far south, near Punt Vierkant (sp?). I see there is a nice road around the island but I gather that is a bit narrow to be out running on?

I will be looking for pretty long distances... 20-30km.

Thanks,
-Tom

The road to Sorobon is usually fairly quiet and pretty straight (so you can see traffic coming), then maybe a loop around the south end back to Punt Vierkant. The east side from Lac Bay south to Willemstoren Lighthouse is fairly quiet as well, but pretty narrow. You would get the most traffic from Red Slave area north back to Belnem, as you run past Salt Pier and all the southern dive sites.

You might want to drive it first to check for distance and the hazardous areas, but that would be a nice loop.

Have a great stay !!

I agree with KOB, especially since you are staying in Belnem. The route is flat as a pancake; I don't know if you need hill work. The wind is good resistance work though. Yes, I would drive it first though (good suggestion). You could also run the north route loop: run past "hotel row", through Sabadeco, past 1,000 Steps, road becomes one-way, hang a right up and over the "spine" of the island (killer hill) to Rincon, and there are some rolling hills home until it flattens out again. I assume you are going early in the morning to avoid the heat and sun. It doesn't get light until about 7:00, FYI. Be very cognizant of the cars, some don't cut you a very wide berth regardless of whether there is a car coming toward them or not.

Some folks opt for hill run up Seru Largu..Really great training for uneven ground runners..

tom, if you are going to be on the road to sorobon, check the cruise ship schedules. taxi traffic on that road can be insane if a ship is in...they take their fares to the beaches at jibe city and the windsurf place. we ride that route early in the morning and if a cruise ship is in we start riding at about 7AM and ride clockwise so we are off that road before 730. it's about a 30km round trip from belnem to sorobon to the lighthouse and continuing on back to belnem. kate's right...it's flat but the wind will give you a good workout.

Good on ya for keeping up the training while on vacation! I assume you're not diving too much, they say too much exercise can increase DCS chances.

I've never been to Bonaire but will change that in 2012. My running question is about critters. Some islands have problems with feral dogs and such (Grand Turk was awful) that'll chase runners. Are there any problems of this sort on Bonaire?

Now, as a bonus, if you get too tired maybe you could commandeer a friendly donkey...!

Chase, there are loose dogs, but more so in the denser residential neighborhoods. Never had a problem down in the Belnem area.
Tom, I agree with Pat 1000%. There are days where I wouldn't go near the Sorobon Road with the cruise ships in port. It's all in the timing.

ppartlo,

Thanks. Looks like I'd be OK to have at a few miles if I wanted. Running on Grand Turk would've been bad. We got chased around quite a bit on our rental golf-cart. I imagine it looked quite comical!

DS

Thanks for all the great input folks. Gives me a pretty good idea of where to do my running.

We'll see how much I actually manage to keep up with while on vacation .