Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a special municipality of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC islands, 80 km off the coast of Venezuela. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, the ABC islands lie outside Hurricane Alley. The islands have an arid climate that attracts visitors seeking warm, sunny weather all year round. Bonaire is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination because of its multiple shore diving sites and easy access to the island's fringing reefs.
Traditional old houses with cactus fences, preserved in the outdoor museum of Rincon, Bonaire
Fort Oranje in Kralendijk, built in 1639
Slave huts
Royal visit of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard in 1955
Papiamento or Papiamentu is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands.
Burial site and monument to Doctor Moises Frumencio da Costa Gomez, the first prime minister of the Netherlands Antilles, with a message inscribed in Papiamento: No hasi ku otro loke bo no ke pa otro hasi ku bo, roughly meaning: "Do not do unto others what you do not want others do unto you"
Catecismo Corticu – the first printed book in Papiamento in 1837
Boo Jantje letter from 1783
Poems in Papiamento, Leiden
