Here is a thought. With the wind generators and such coming on line and the reef health and protection championed by Capt Don for decades Bonaire is positioned to be a leader in the green movement. What a marketing opportunity for the island to adopt a plan to be "The Greenest Island in the Caribbean" within one generation!. That would mean self sufficient and green power sources (already underway), safe water, ecologically sound waste removal, control of light pollution (e.g. turtle hatchlings), vehicles that do not contribute to environmental harm, etc. etc.

Think of the marketing potential for the island, not to mention enhancing the appropriate tourist influx, improving the diving opportunities, the research possibilities, etc.

All of this could serve to benefit Bonaire far better and for much longer than focusing on increasing the current tourist, cruise ship direction.

Thoughts?????

Hi Dan. I think that is Bonaire's true future & where her economic opportunities lie. Between the wind generators being planned up north as well as the bio fuel production being planned down south to run the generators, could very well lead to Bonaire being declared the first totally green island in the Caribbean. I'm quite sure we'd all love to see it.

Excellent idea, Dan. There may well be foundation and international-agency funding available for such a goal. But I suspect we outsiders will be viewed as trying to manage Bonaire's future instead of letting them do it themselves.

In terms of the health of the reefs, the most important priority now is immediate cessation of the sewage being leached and dumped into the sea.

For example, yesterday I swam at Batchelor's Beach to find for the first time all these bubbles that looked like soap and thousands of brown particles floating along with a bloated dead fish. I remarked to a friend, "This looks like Lake Michigan in Chicago." Another resident swimming at the same time said he had been here 10 years and never seen such pollution.

Being the "greenest" is a great dream but it should start NOW with a sewage processing facility that is both environmentally and economically efficient. Or everything else will be moot points when the reefs are dead and there is no dive tourism.

SOS Campaign To Save Bonaire's Reefs
SOSBonaireReef@gmail.com

Disclaimer: I really like and agree with your ideas.

However going green costs money and I really do not see the people of Bonaire being able to afford it or will to drastically change their lifestyles to do it. Just look around our own cities for proof. There are lots of SUVs and older cars on the roads and that will not change for a decade or two. It is just not feasible for the average person to spend the extra money for going green.

To make things worse, capitalism is not geared for green. It is geared for profit. Some sort of version of socialism would have the best chance of succeeding.

If you saw Bonaire 25 years ago, you will be sick right now. Greed, over building, poor planing. It might be to late?

(Message edited by bonaire9 on January 1, 2009)

Hi Jerry. Your posting is really a matter of personal perspective. We were on Bonaire in 1985 & basically (IMHO) there was nothing there (the Green Parrot though was wonderful). The diving was great but that was it. The restaurants & any type of shopping was certainly nothing to write home about. Food expensive now? You should have seen it back then!

At the time I owned property on St Croix & thought to myself that Bonaire was nice for a week or two for diving but it certainly wasn't a destination to purchase property, invest or live there for several months.

As the island matured and the infra structure was subsequently expanded & developed; which in turn brought more restaurants, more competition, better quality & pricing, I gradually changed my original position on investing on the island.

25 years is a good stretch of time from a human perspective & things change everywhere. Were mistakes made? Yea I'd say so.
I am still optimistic and believe Bonaire has a bright future if certain things take place.

My greatest wish for Bonaire is for them to get the waste water sanitation system up & running. Admittedly, between you & me I am dismayed the new projected date for completion is 2014.

Vince, By 2014, the reefs will be for all intents and purposes DEAD! And along with it the diver/snorkeler economy of Bonaire. All of us, Vince, Jerry, Fid, etc. need to talk to every government official, Dutch and Bonairean, working on the transition, and lobby them to begin the project this year, 2009. Where there is a will, there is a way! It is time for the bureaucracy to work to save the reefs of Bonaire!

SOS Campaign To Save Bonaire's Reefs
SOSBonaireReef@gmail.com

Pauline..You know I'm certainly 100 per cent with you on this issue which I consider to be of paramount importance. I'd love to see this project begin groundbreaking this year.

We dove The lake today, having last done this site about 10 years ago. When we got out of the water, my wife looked at me and said "that was just sad".

The outer reef is 90% dead. I will never dive the site (at least the second reef) again. Our morning dive was Lac Cai. This remains a spectacular dive, but compared to a year ago there is far more coral bleaching apparent. Anyone with eyes can see the reefs withering and dying in front of us. It is profoundly irresponsible, if not criminal, to be building facilities for more and more visitors and second homes and allowing more and more cruise ships without having the facilities in place to handle the sewage and waste. If I compare Bonaire in 1998 when I first came here to today and extrapolate that decline out another 10 years, there will be nothing left for divers and Bonaire will have moved on to other types of tourism, as has already begun.

David, Please write a letter to the editor of The Bonaire Reporter so more people can read your observation and response. Everyone else, please do the same. The more PR the decline of the reefs get from a variety of people, the better.

To send: info@bonairereporter.com

SOS Campaign To Save Bonaire's Reefs
SOSBonaireReef@gmail.com

I agree with David...in just 3 years, I can detect a very real decline in Bonaire, both in the reef system and in the community. And that decline will be, and I believe is, an influence on where folks spend their money and time.

Granted, reefs are deeply injured by events like Omar, so post-Omar comments need to account for that event. But Omar can't explain the decline in deeper-water coral formations...or the generally dirty appearance of the water adjacent to downtown...

As to the community - when we drove the island on the last day, all you could see when you looked north were the massive cruise ships. They look so out of place - and they mar the natural beauty of the island, not to mention their effect on downtown. There, the road closest to the water is shut down in the mornings so that cabs and various rides can jockey for passengers. Even worse, the view from the City Cafe becomes the white metal hull of a ship rather than water, land, and sky...it is simply ugly in so many senses.

And as to voting with our travel dollars - that is also true for us, even though we did visit Bonaire. What makes it true for us is my motivation for diving there - I couldn't think of an easier dive location for my wife's first blue water experiences. We dove the bejeepers out of the Bari Reef - she saw lots of critters, practiced her buoyancy skills, and had little stress from currents. As a result, she's ready for Cozumel and other dive destinations. With all the hassles and expenses involved in getting to Bonaire, I'd rather spend the money and visit the Pacific...or spend less money and go to Cozumel (sure, they have cruise ships, too, but you're away from them when you dive...).

Selfishly, I very much hope that the island will aggressively protect the reefs and not decline into cruise-ship revenue. As many island destinations can attest, cruise ship lines have deep pockets and can finance their own storefronts/beaches if they so choose - just look at all the silver shops and souvenir shops that spring up in the wake of these ships...

I appreciate all your comments and our joint strong motivation. Some think this green movement is selfish so we can protect our own dive paradise and without consideration for the economy of the local folks. And Fid did make a good point earlier about money drives so much. It being cheaper to develop Bonaire along the current path but that is on a short term vision. BUT and HOWEVER I believe strongly that the right processes can be put into place to make a Green Bonaire that is economically far far ahead of all Caribbean Islands. A model of ecological and environmental correctness that CAN be the most profitable and for the longest term. I wish enough motivation could be developed by the right people to really continue and further develop Capt Don's excellent visions and ideas. I would not want his life's work to go for naught. It is the proper plan for Bonaire and a model from which the world can take a lesson.

Dan, We need to convince the tourist board, the hotels, the bureaucracy, etc. of your vision because many are going the opposite direction, as you see, booking even more cruise ships and letting the sewage kill the reefs by the day. Do you have any ideas for getting the business and government and community leaders on board with a green movement?

Of course, without such a movement, it will be only a short time before Bonaire is no longer #1 dive site according to Scuba Magazine, perhaps when firsthand reports like these make it into the media.

Pauline and all. Wish I had an idea. Someone might enlist Capt Don as he really laid the groundwork for much of what Bonaire is today. But I do not really know him personally enough. Maybe Jack at Habitat would be a good start? Can anyone make advances in this direction?

here is some information from Capt Don..
Calling in the Clan

Excellent Freddie. Thanks.

I would rephrase somewhat Dan's words just above about Capt Don, just so that newbies here will be sure to 'get it right'. :–)

Don laid the groundwork for the Marine Park and STINAPA, and as you can gather from his Call, is still an island leader in preserving nature.

He is dead set against the 'bad' parts of what Bonaire is rapidly becoming today.

Somewhere on BT there has been mention of solar cars for rent. Here is a view of them: http://bradtwr.blogspot.com/2009/01/electric-powered-dog-mobile.html .

Glen - thanks for the clarification. And the solar cars is a great start in the right direction. So long as they can get people and gear to a dive site I would rent them over anything else. Speed is not an issue and distance is not either. The only problem would be using these cars in the park as the roads seem too rough for them.

I sure would like to see a bunch of solar cars running around than the 4-wheelers that have become popular. Those things are dangerous!

I saw 4-wheelers for the first time last winter and I was appalled. Don't they get the connection? Tear around on muddy roads - increase muddy runoff - degrade the reefs with turbidity and silt. Not to mention how unpleasant they are to hear. Why are they allowed on the island? I suspect the answer is that they amuse the cruise boat crowd. And that, like Dan said, is a very short-sighted policy. As a long-term visitor to Bonaire (since 1988) I will always vote for green policies with my tourist dollars, but I don't count compared to all the money coming off those cruise boats.