by Stephanie Cooke with photos by Luciano Rangel Lopes
We crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean on our Moody 376 last year and have now spent a few sailing seasons in the Caribbean. But it seems that everywhere we go, we miss Carnival and national days by a day or two. We missed Carnival in Grenada by less than a week last year as we had to fly back to work. This year we missed Carnival in Martinique as we had to collect our cats that were being flown out to St. Lucia and could only pass by longingly. We missed Carnival in Dominica by arriving two days late for the same reason.
We’ve been feeling pretty unlucky about our timing. So imagine how serendipitous it felt when after arriving in Bonaire in April 2023, on our way to customs, we walked past the iconic Greenpeace boat. Arctic Sunrise loomed large and green with that inimitable white font plastered across the entire side. We couldn’t stay long to look at it right then; we had to go and clear in. But we were excited to rush back to take a few photos before it departed. As we were waiting in the customs office, a young woman walked in wearing a Greenpeace T-shirt. We simply had to ask her about it. She told us that she was a local Greenpeace activist. Excitingly, she informed us that an Open Boat would be held the following day and we could actually take a tour on board!
A large share of the motivation for our transition onboard our sailing boat was environmental. Two pull factors were living a lower impact life and living closer and more in tune with nature. Like many, we have been growing increasingly alarmed at the impacts of global warming around the world. Yearly record-breaking temperatures, flooding, wildfires, coral bleaching; the list goes on.
I thought there was reasonable environmental awareness in the United Kingdom. But as we sailed around the Windward Islands last year, I realized quite how far behind these countries we are. Everywhere we went, there was a highly visible environmental consciousness. There are murals painted by local artists and schoolchildren about marine life. There are projects led by local people to restore mangroves and keep beaches clean. The bus services are outstanding and there is a lack of the hugely wasteful consumerist and disposability culture that we have in the UK. The contribution to the increase in global temperatures is so little in the Caribbean, yet these islands will suffer far more than we will and have far less economic capacity to withstand its devastating impacts.
The next day we excitedly headed to the dock to have our tour onboard the Greenpeace boat. Seventeen people representing sixteen different nationalities are currently living onboard, although the boat has the capacity for up to thirty six. It was inspiring to see what an international effort it is and the support they are giving to amplify the voices of the hard-working activists on Bonaire. We heard first from a veteran French activist who told us about the history of the ship, Arctic Sunrise. Built in 1975 in Norway as a sealing boat, we were told that Greenpeace had to conceal its identity in order to buy the ship from the sealing company! As an ice breaker, Arctic Sunrise is very hardy for all different conditions, although we were told that she has a tendency to roll. Much of the function of the ship involves conducting environmental research as well as being used in protests. In the case of Bonaire, she has arrived in support of legal action. Arctic Sunrise is Dutch registered and together, seven citizens of Bonaire and Greenpeace are suing the Dutch government for failing to protect them against climate breakdown.
The next stage of the tour was up the steep stairs to the bridge. It’s rather bigger than a sailing boat cockpit! We were given a talk by a Peruvian crew member, who explained about the navigation equipment and night watches. Interestingly they have an old school speaking tube that can be used to communicate with people on deck just above. Onward we went to the stern of the ship where we heard more about the actual problems facing Bonaire and what Greenpeace is doing about it. One of the big issues relevant here relates to climate justice, highlighted by the large Climate Justice Now banner on the side of the ship. Climate justice aims to highlight the imbalance of climate breakdown impacts, elevate the voices of the marginalized and grassroots campaigners, and ensure that responsibility for alleviating the effects is firmly placed on those nations or corporations who play the greatest roles in contributing to it.
From the perspective of the young local activist who spoke with such passion to us, the concept of climate justice is core to the environmental issues facing Bonaire and the reason why they are suing the Dutch government. Unlike its neighbours Aruba and Curação, Bonaire is part of the Netherlands. It’s a special municipality, as are the Leeward islands of Saba and St. Eustatius. It is governed by both the Dutch government and its island executive council. Therefore, they argue, the Dutch government has the responsibility to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis in Bonaire equally with the mainland Netherlands itself.
Yet this is not happening. For example, the Netherlands has coastal protection plans, but Bonaire does not. Bonaire has a tiny population of fewer than 20,000 people. Its contribution to the climate crisis is negligible. Yet as a low-lying country with many jobs dependent on tourism due to its coral reefs, it is at huge risk of devastating economic effects on local people.
In addition, its salt and fish exports are also threatened due to rising sea levels, increased water temperatures and ocean acidification. As the activist explained, the impact of the climate emergency on the island cannot be separated from issues of social justice. For instance, the minimum wage in the Netherlands is based on the cost of living, but that in Bonaire is not, and already 40 percent of Bonaire’s residents live below the poverty line. These inequalities are only set to worsen unless drastic action is taken to halt global temperature rises and to ensure those most affected are protected and compensated.
We were deeply moved by the plight facing Bonaireans, but also heartened by the good fight they are putting up and by the solidarity shown by this international pressure group to the tiny island. This feeling was magnified by our experiences enjoying Bonaire’s natural wonders. Bonaire is famous for its amazing diving, but I didn’t know that above, the ground is equally stunning. They are working hard to keep it that way. Every visitor must pay a US$40 nature fee, even to swim off your boat. This is steep, but in the case of Bonaire, it really is being put to good use. The nature fee is paid to Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA), an organization founded in 1962 which administers the island’s two nature reserves.
Created in 1979, the Bonaire National Marine Park is one of the oldest marine reserves in the world. When we went scuba diving, we saw first-hand the extensive measures that are being taken to prevent the spread of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). All scuba equipment must be disinfected after use; you are warned against visiting diving sites in different parts of the island on the same day; and the spread of the disease is mapped. There is also an app for scuba divers and snorkellers to report further cases.
Washington Slagbaai National Park covers a remarkable fifth of Bonaire’s land area and is host to incredible amounts of wildlife. The nature fee includes unlimited entry to the park and allows you to swim, snorkel and dive in the protected waters. It doesn’t only protect biological wonders, but also Bonaire’s geological and cultural heritage. We waded in beautiful bays, goggled at the immensity of a million-year-old huge boulder that was hauled onland by an ancient tsunami, and wandered in the ruins of an abandoned lighthouse overlooking a bay full of shipwrecks. (Aspects of Bonaire’s cultural heritage are at risk from rising sea levels, including colonial-era slave huts constructed in 1850 for slaves collecting salt.)
The bird life is also spectacular; we saw huge numbers of flamingos, pelicans, herons and royal terns in the saltwater pools and some obscure and colourful tropical and songbirds in the freshwater pools, including the large-crested caracara warawara, the yellow warbler and the lora. We saw lots of different types of lizard, including the blue whiptail lizard, and plenty of iguanas, which are very tame here compared to the nervy ones we have fleetingly glimpsed in the eastern Caribbean. We also climbed Mount Brandaris, the highest point on Bonaire. At only 241 metres, it is not exactly Himalayan in scale. However, because Bonaire is so flat, the views from the top are truly remarkable, with a 360-degree panorama of the saltwater lagoons, the pink salt flats, the dry little hillocks known as serus, and the ocean all the way across to Curação.
We wish the Bonaireans good luck in their court case; just a couple of weeks after we left, a ‘letter before action’ was delivered to the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte. This letter stating their demands is a requirement under the Dutch legal system as a final warning before a court summons is issued. The islanders are doing a lot to try to preserve their incredible biodiversity, but they can’t stop sea level rise on their own. We departed Bonaire two days before the Dia de Rincon, a cultural festival that attracts people from all over the world. We had to get to Curação to meet another work deadline. Next year we’ll try to be more organized and time our landfalls to Carnival. In the meantime, we’re very glad we chanced to time our visit with that of the Arctic Sunrise. Solidarity!
Stephanie Cooke and her husband, Luciano Rangel Lopes, have cruised Matusadona, their liveaboard Moody 376, since departing England in August 2021. They chronicle their adventures via the blog The Black Sprayhood (theblacksprayhood.com).
