One of Bonaire's most famous sights is on the south side of the island. You must have seen the world-famous salt flats with the salt lakes. Accessible via EEC Boulevard, they are not to be missed. The first thing you notice are the snow-white pyramid-shaped mountains of salt with the purple, red and/or orange coloured salt lakes in the foreground. The colours of the lakes are created by algae and bacteria.
The man-made salt pans are for salt extraction from seawater. The seawater is directed to these large shallow lakes. Evaporation of the water by the sun and wind leaves only the crystallised salt. They then "harvest" the salt layers by machines. The extracted salt goes via conveyor belts and lifting belts to a large storage depot for temporary storage until a cargo ship docks. Conveyor belts and the loading terminal are used to load the cargo ships to be transported to the processing industry.
Pieter Smit was born in Arnhem and has lived on Bonaire since 2010. In his spare time, he enjoys taking photos, mainly of the Caribbean island's colourful birds... Read more…