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Whats on Bonaire: The last Beach Tennis Tournament of 2019
Come watch or join in for some Beach Tennis Tournament fun!
The final ranking Beach Tennis Tournament of 2019 takes place the weekend of December 14th and 15th 2019 at Spice Beach Club. The tournament can fill up fast so register early. Anyone can participate and all are welcome!
- What: The final Doubles Beach Tennis Tournament of 2019
- Who: Everyone is welcome to play at all levels. Sign up for your correct level: Fun, Intermediate or Advanced
- Mens doubles Saturday December 14th.
- Women’s doubles Saturday December 14th
- Mixed doubles Sunday December 15th
- Registration fee: $15 for one day, $25 for both days
- How: sign up here
If you don’t feel ready for a tournament yet, come watch and support the athletes! Main sponsors of the event include Amstel Bright, La Terrazza Food and Wine, It Rains Fishes Restaurant, and Luciano Ice Cream Factory.
Not ready to compete?
Or if you haven’t yet done so, give Beach Tennis a try. It’s not complicated to learn and lots of fun. And what a wonderful way to combine some physical activity with your beach vacation. The courts at Coco Beach stay open all day until 9pm and are open to the public free of charge. Racquets and balls are available at Coco Beach to borrow or you can purchase a racquet through Beach Tennis Bonaire’s website. Courts stay open all week but Wednesdays are generally reserved for League Play.
If you’re new to the game, try Beach Tennis Bonaire’s organized training sessions. Join trainer Paco every Thursday night from 7 – 8 pm for a Fun training and from 8 – 9 pm for Intermediate training. Lessons cost $5 each week.
By the way, Beach Tennis Bonaire just turned the big FIVE. That’s right. The first Bonaire Beach Tennis tournament took place in November 2014. Here is a little look back on that historic moment!
First Beach Tennis Bonaire from stills ‘n’ stories on Vimeo.
Places to Stay on Bonaire
The Lazy Tourist’s Guide to Shopping for Gifts on Bonaire
The lazy tourist’s Guide to Shopping for Gifts on Bonaire
Lazy, eh? Don’t get me wrong. I love shopping but I don’t particularly love shopping for gifts on Bonaire nor do I want to spend my vacation doing so. Get me out of the gift shops and out/in/on/around the Caribbean SEA! But… someone is feeding the fish, someone’s getting my mail… I may even have left a child or two back home. They’re going to need something to ease my guilty mind and tanned body… So here we go with the lazy tourist’s guide to shopping for gifts on Bonaire.
Van Den Tweel Supermarket for easy gift shopping on Bonaire
Of course when on Bonaire I always make a trip or two to the grocery store to load up for the week (or the month…) Conveniently nowadays the grocery store IS the lazy tourist’s gift shop. The folks back home will never know.
I snapped the pictures in this post at Van Den Tweel supermarket located on Kaya Industria about a mile or so from my apartment at breezybonaire. Choose from mugs embossed with glossy Bonaire Scenery, liqueurs – TikiBon Brand, or beer – Bonaire Blond brand, made and bottled right here on Bonaire. Other options include postcards, calendars with colorful Bonaire art and photography, a pretty good variety of local sea salt of both the edible and the spa treatment variety. Scenic photographs ranging from postcard size to just barely fitting in your suitcase also make great gifts or better yet, souvenirs of your trip. For friends that have actually been to Bonaire before some grocery bags with Bonaire scenery will remind them of their own visits to the island.
Food products to bring back from Bonaire as gifts
You can also get more creative by touring around the supermarket and looking for Dutch or Bonairian food specialties to bring home. When I’m on Bonaire I usually come back to the US with at least 8 or 10 packs of stroopwafels (A type of waffle cookie filled with caramel often served heated up). Unfortunately those are becoming more common in the US and as such, slightly less interesting as a gift idea. Still they are inexpensive, pack easily in your suitcase and pretty much a delight to anyone receiving them. As an aside – if you buy them before getting on the plane, store them in the refrigerator until time to pack up and go home.
To be honest, although simple, easy and yes – lazy, these ideas appeal to me more than t-shirts or little trinkets. If this isn’t your cup of tea there are a large variety of gift shops on Kaya Grandi, the main road in downtown Kralendijk. You’ll find t-shirts, key chains and Bonaire mugs. Try to avoid downtown when a cruise ship is in port.
What to do on Bonaire: Land Sailing
Land Sailing Bonaire: An outstanding windy adventure
As an experienced windsurfer I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about land sailing. My thoughts were – why, why, why? If you fall off your board while windsurfing on Bonaire you fall into some turquoise pool like water – or as my family calls the color,”Lac Bay.” At worst you’ll swallow some salt water and maybe a little pride. If you fall off of your “Blokart” while land sailing you hit dirt, earth, cactus, rock, rock and more rock. I was scared.
So why risk it on wheels? And if windsurfing is as challenging as it is then how could one possibly get this right and not get hurt?
How to Land Sail?
Well, it turns out that land sailing is a lot like going go-carting. Anyone can do it. On Bonaire Land Sailing’s website they advertise it as “fun, fast, safe and easy!” Control of the sail is a lot like control of a gas pedal. A handlebar shaped wheel steers the blokart, unlike a windsurf board where you have to steer using sail technique. And then a pulley controls your speed. The more you pull, the more wind you expose to your sail and the faster you go. The wind on Bonaire blows steadily in more or less the same direction and the land sailing course is designed with this in mind.
You speed around the same track over and over and you always have wind in your sail – you just control the amount by pulling on a rope. Some real life human help (with a smile) awaits you at the sharpest turn where power goes out of your sail and you may need help getting moving again or making it around that one tough turn. The wimpier you are – uh…me… the more help you need because you’ll slow waaaay down for the sharp right and need help to speed up again.
The people running the show are fun, friendly and laid back. You’ll get a good explanation of what to do, how to sail, how to start and stop and what not to do prior to starting to sail. The lesson lasts about 10 minutes. Everyone gets a helmet, seatbelts and gloves to keep a good grip on things.
What can go right and what can go wrong…
My daughter, age 10, got distracted at one point and managed to go straight over the middle of the course, over all that rock and earth I was just mentioning. I am not sure the people working there even noticed. I also had a bit of a hard time at the end of my course and sort of crashed… It hurt. I’d counted on my windsurf expertise but instead I think my fears got the most of me. Despite the crashes and burns it was an exhilarating ride and we WILL be back.
The kids loved it. This makes the list of kid-friendly Bonaire activities and will certainly win you some points with yours. You do need some wind and it can’t hurt to make reservations in advance. When we were there we only saw 8 blokarts, making reservations all the more meaningful. Fun, fast, safe, easy… well, for some of us. Some went fast, some stayed safe, some found it easy and we absolutely all had fun!
Details, details…
- Location: Road to Rincon beside Arawak Center on the East Coast of Bonaire
- Hours: Open Monday to Friday from 1 – 5pm and weekends and holidays or by appointment starting at 9am
- Reservations are encouraged but you can drop in M-F 1-5pm
- Number to call for reservations +599-786-1572
- price $30 for 30 minutes, $50 for an hour and $60 if you need a ride from your accommodation on Bonaire, $350 for the entire track if you are hosting a special event or have a large group
Where to stay on Bonaire
