Remko de Zeeuw, Dutch freestyle windsurfer, who currently competes at the PWA freestyle event on Bonaire, prepared a little spotguide for all of you to give you the necessary infos, what the Lac Bay on Bonaire is about.
On the east side of the island Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles you will find Sorobon beach at Lac Bay. This bay contains steady winds, blue waters and perfect windsurfing spots for all levels! The bay can be very shallow and the wind blows in between 10 and 25 knots most of the time. Sails in between 5,4 and 4,7 are the most used sizes. It´s warm all over the year and the wind is relatively stable. Many of the world´s best freestylers train at the bay or even live next to the top spot.
Spots in the Lac Bay on Bonaire.
1– Here you can find some nice bars, beaches and the rentals centers. For storage and rental you can go to: www.jibecity.com.
On the website is a webcam with a view on the water and the actual wind.
2– These shallow waters and sandy bottoms are great for beginners to start windsurfing.
Also good for flat-water freestyle and nice pictures.
3– A little fishing harbour is placed here. The pier creates a short area of perfectly glassy water and another great photo spot.
4–Â The blue water of Lac Bay has some good chop for freestyle training and slalom.
Some days you can see beautiful sea turtles and other sea life.
5– The mangroves, a large area of flat water that is perfect for freestyle.
6– When conditions are there, just outside the riff you can find some waves for jumping.
Remko de Zeeuw himself in the Lac Bay.
Davy Scheffers, who spends many weeks over a year at the freestyle lagoon.
In the north part of the island is a nature park named: Washington Slagbaai National park.
The entire south part of Bonaire is in use of salt extraction. Large and shallow lakes are used to evaporate water and win salt. These lakes are the homes of many flamingos, which are worth a visit.
KRALENDIJK
In Kralendijk you will find many restaurants and local food bars. There are some café’s to go out at night, sometimes famous DJ’s show up. All the nightlife is locate at the boulevard, that views on ‘little Bonaire’. Little Bonaire is an island that you can visit with a water-taxi.
LOW BUDGET
In Bonaire it is possible to go on a ‘low budget’, still the flight ticket are most of the time quite expensive. The costs of food are comparable with the prices in Europe, the local snacks and supermarkets can provide you with a cheap dinner. A car can be useful to visit the island and gives you the opportunity to go sail early in the morning and stay late at night. Hitchhiking, when you don’t have a car is easy.
WHERE TO STAY
To find an apartment or studio for several months can be hard, the best way is to ask local people, windsurfers and search on the internet.
THE WIND
The ‘wind season’ starts around January and runs till about July. Most of the time the wind is stronger in the morning and afternoon! The wind is most of the time between 15-25 knots. The average (freestyle) sailor will use sails between 4.2 and 5.7. The best website to see the forecast is www.windfinder.com. (Search: Lac Bay/Sorobon)
To give you an idea about the equipment. I am 80kg and bring one board, 100 liter freestyle. Two sails, a 4.8 and 5.2 (my light wind freestyle sails). Of course there are days that you can use a smaller or bigger sails size, but most of times this works for me!
WEBSITE REMKO: www.remkodezeeuw.tk
© continentseven.com 2011, Remko de Zeeuw
nice review Remko…
when I recovered, I’ll visit you in bonaire as soon as possible 😉
nice review! Well done