My man and I spent a wonderful two weeks on Bonaire last September. You can read about the first week here, this is a short reflection on the second week.

We stayed in a comfortable apartment located North of Kralendijk, on the ocean side close to the Bari Reef. The big advantage of this is that snorkelling in front of our apartment was a real pleasure, but more on that in a different post. Again, being ocean front means it is really tempting to go out at night during sunset and take a few (or a lot) of pictures. I just can’t get enough of that.

M240 with Voigtlander 1:4.5/15mm
M240 with Voigtlander 1:4.5/15mm
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M2 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm / Portra 800
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH

Like the first week, we also did a bit of touring the island. Although in a soft lockdown, there is still plenty to see and places to go. We drove along the West coast all the way up to Playa Frans, that is as far as you can go as the road stops here. The land is dry, so there are a lot of cactuses, but what I like best is the rocky coast with small cliffs and inlets. And the blues are just so soothing…

M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M240 with Tele-Elmarit 1:2.8/90mm
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH

We spend most of out time on Bonaire visiting places on the West coast, as that is where the easiest beaches are for snorkelling. One morning I decided to watch the sunrise from the other side of the island (it is really small, so it is only a 15 min drive by car). The landscape is a bit more difficult to approach, but I managed my way around the rocky grounds. By the way, this is the first time we were on Bonaire in September, we usually come here in Februari, and it was notably greener. Which leads to some odd variations as you see in the pictures below. I took these from a spot about 60 meters long and 3 meters wide. About 40 meters from the coast inward it was all dry rocky ground, after that it turned green quickly.

M2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50 mm / Ektar
M2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50 mm / Ektar
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M240 with Voigtlander 1:4.5/15mm
M240 with Voigtlander 1:4.5/15mm
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH

Another few sunset images (I know, but the colours!) to wrap it up. A favourite place to visit around sunset is the slave huts on the South of the island. The beach is great with pebbles, and the location with respect to the sun is great. The images with the Pelican were taken a bit further North, and the last image was taken on one of our final nights on the island from our favourite restaurant. You can imagine it was difficult to leave this place…

M2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50 mm / Portra 400
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH
M2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50 mm / Portra 400
M240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm
M240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm
M240 with Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH

 All film was developed by me in Tetenal, and scanned on my Reflecta scanner. Next up: my underwater photos from this trip, taken with the Nikonos V.

Thanks for reading!

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