Bonaire: Why so many visitors want to move to this secret island
Sometimes it only takes one visit to convince visitors to pack up their belongings and move to Bonaire permanently.
Susan Davis lived in Chicago her entire life before taking a scuba diving trip to Bonaire in 1988. Just four years later, Davis kissed her American life goodbye and bought a one-way ticket back to the Dutch Caribbean island, where she now works as a bird guide.
She’s not alone.
In the 1960s, Bonaire had a population just less than 6,000, but this more than doubled to 15,000 by 2010. Today, about 23,000 people call Bonaire home, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), which has been providing information about the Netherlands for more than a century.
“It is not difficult for an American citizen to move to the island, but patience is required, as it is a standard paperwork procedure,” says Rolando Marin, the information officer for Tourism Corporation Bonaire. “The positive and peaceful vibe of the island gets tourists hooked.”
First, a little background.
Bonaire, pronounced “Bone-air,” is located just off the coast of Venezuela, and it’s one of the three ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands; Aruba and Curaçao are autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Bonaire is just 111 square miles (287 square kilometers), and you can drive around it in three or four hours.
Bonaire is known for its scuba diving, but unless you’re Dutch or an avid diver, you probably haven’t given the island much thought. But it’s more than great diving that’s persuaded new arrivals to drop their former lives and move to a sparsely populated island.
Sometimes it only takes one visit to convince visitors to pack up their belongings and move to Bonaire permanently. Susan Davis lived in Chicago her entire life before taking a scuba diving trip to Bonaire in 1988. Just four years later, Davis kissed her American life goodbye and bought a one-way ticket back to the…