Trail 1 - Karpata 5.5 k
Just down the hill from the Bonaire Caribbean Club, you will notice a narrow asphalt single bike track running along the shore. This is the first of several, most of which are about 100 m long and always lead you back to the main road. Take care, as these paths often lie very close to the edge of the cliff running along the shoreline. These side paths are optional as they always lead one back to the main road.
Along this
road you get a sampling of Bonaire's flora and fauna. In the morning you'll
see the blousanas (blue-tailed lizards) and iguanas sunning on rocks or
right in the middle of the road. Don't worry about hitting them - they
are faster than the most gonzo biker.
Soon you come upon Witches Hut, the small ruin of an old house where the locals say a curandero (witch doctor) once lived. Legend has it that many ghosts haunt this road. Stories abound of motorists who stop and pick up hitchhikers only to look in the rearview mirror and find that they have disappeared from the backseat.
Up and down
a few mildly challenging hills and you come upon the site of 1,000 Steps,
a popular dive site. Whether or not there are exactly 1,000 steps leading
down to the coral rubble beach and then back up to the road is not certain,
but you will definitely feel as though there are 1,000 since you must
carry your bike the entire distance should you choose to explore.
Take the Ol' Blue Nature Trail, a track along the foot of the cliffs, also used as a walking path for bird watchers. Most active during the early morning hours, the birds have claimed this area for their own. Darting in and out from the pock-marked cliffs set back from the road are a wide variety of Bonairean birds, the loudest of which are the parrots.
As you leave the nature trail, a large arch-shaped rock formation created by wind and water erosion is visible just in front of the cliffs. Known as the Eye of the Devil, this is the place where, according to oral tradition, slaves who worked too slowly were brought in order to scare them into working harder.
A coral rock
wall marks the beginning of Karpata, an old aloe plantation. Stop and
pick a piece to rub on your sunburn. It grows wild all over the island.
Land Huis Karpata is situated on your right. This old house was the office
and residence for the plantation overseers. Used in more
recent history as a marine biology
research center, the centuries old buildings have been restored very closely
to their original state. In the yard near the house gates, the large yellow,
pot-shaped structure with steps leading up to it was used to cook down
the aloe and prepare it for shipping
Across the street, take the steps down to the Karpata dive site. All along this stretch of reef are scattered huge coral-encrusted anchors lost by ships that put in here to pick up aloe in centuries past. This is also a great place to stop for a picnic and a breather.
At this point, backtrack or choose one of three alternate routes below!
