I’m actually talking about that physical paved walkway that borders the seafront here at Kralendijk, or more precisely at Playa Abou.  I am not talking about going for a walk in a French fashion.  The only problem is that the promenade is not actually called that.  It’s called Kaya J.N.E. Craane.  So who the hell was he?

The Promenade

I did lots of research on the internet and came up with nothing!  So the web may have the information buried away, possibly better accessible in Dutch or Papiamento, neither of which are my strengths, but I couldn’t find it.  So I asked my local friend who has been here for a long time.  Craane was a local boat builder, nicknamed Kachi.  Its nice that the road is named after him but it could have been called Promenade J.N.E. Craane rather than just Kaya like most of the other streets.  I think he would have been more special.

Anyway, why am I talking about this road?  Mainly because I have started to adapt to a more island life style.  Instead of driving quickly to get anywhere, you should divert your journey, just to drive really slowly down the seafront as often as possible.  Today I felt I really it had it cracked as the bicycle in front of me at the start of the promenade, was parked under a tree at the south end waiting for me to catch up.  Previously I would have been fuming as it is difficult to overtake.  I also proudly looked in my mirror and found that I had acquired a convoy of 5 cars behind me, not complaining, just keeping station.

So what’s to see on the promenade?  Sadly, as it is such desirable land, it has very few older houses inhabited by island born people.  There are 1 or 2 left, becoming dwarfed by Apartment blocks (only 3 stories tall here but that is high).  Sadly, the older houses which were always in the family, perhaps of lesser means, now attract high property taxes due to their location.  So the temptation for developers to make a fast buck is being encouraged by a taxation system that drives families to sell.

My friend, of the local knowledge, used to live in an older house on the seafront, before the promenade was built.  It looked so different and so simple a way of life back then (25 years or so ago).  I still find the island very calming and peaceful but it must have been so different.  The number of cars on the island has massively increased and providing a beautiful seaside road just encourages us to drive down it, albeit slowly.

During the day, there is always some traffic, most I am sure just taking in the sights as I have learnt to do.  But come the evening, it gets congested!  Whole families will pile in their cars and just cruise along the seafront.  But then we have the loud ones!  These are either souped up drag motor bikes, quad bikes doing a wheelie or just bloody annoying scooters (mainly on 1 wheel) screaming along like a demented hair dryer.  Whatever, the type or form of transport, they share the common ideal of wanting to see and be seen on the seafront.  So for a couple of hours around sunset, it busy and noisy, especially at the south end.

So reserving a seafront table at the few promenade restaurants can be a mixed blessing.  You can watch a beautiful sunset but have difficulty in sharing words with your companions.  Luckily, the wind is mostly offshore, so traffic fumes and burnt rubber are quickly whisked away, giving the pedestrians a whiff of your expensive dinner.

The promenade has a good walkway along the front, only broken by a few slipways to launch the local small fishing vessels or dinghies from the Regatta.  All sorts of people can be found here.  Especially in the morning and evenings, local women will often walk in pairs trying to combat the evils of good living.  There are also those more determined, and often a lot skinnier, who will pound up and down the seafront in the latest lycra.  There are tourists, especially when we have a cruise ship parked at the south end, who will be dressed in socks, sandals, big hat and sunscreen, carrying cameras.  Then there are longer term residents, probably winter birds, walking hand in hand just loving the moment and the view.

Apart from the sunset madness, it is almost always very tranquil.  This is the sheltered side of the island and the yachts, both resident and touring, are anchored close inshore.  These, together with the local fishing boats, make a beautiful scene.  But on odd occasions, especially in the wake of a hurricane or tropical depression, we can get a wind reversal or a surge coming from the North or West.  Suddenly the waves will crash on the seafront, the yachts and fishermen leave their moorings and seek shelter in the marinas or behind Klein Bonaire, our baby island just over 1 km offshore.

Most times, people take action in good time.  On a few occasions, people will get caught, a boat will come ashore and get damaged.  We had 2 such episodes recently.  Hurricane Matthew brought seas from the North but only damaged the expensive houses!   Then a tropical depression, with a full moon and high tides, just a few weeks later, brought a vigorous but short lived set of waves more or less onto the promenade.  This was less expected and a few boats got damaged.

Of course, excitement on the promenade drew crowds.  It may have been only 08:00 in the morning but there were queues of traffic lining up to see the sights.  Everyone who has  been here for a few years immediately starts drawing comparisons to Hurricane Lenny (1999) or Tropical Storm Omar (2008) and the amount of damaged caused by them.  Omar, I understand, was particularly troublesome as it formed to the North West of us, spun around, coming south and closer to us, before powering off to the North East.  This is the complete reverse of normal behaviour.  So our normally sheltered side was fully exposed.

So what does the promenade offer me.  I used to eat in the seafront restaurants but not for some time.  I drink every Friday night at Canti Awa (beside the water), I have more recently been fortunate to go sailing on a friend’s yacht, moored just offshore.  The skipper, lives at the seafront, and opposite his house the promenade makes a bend to accommodate a tree.  This is a special tree, festooned with old flip flops, bottle openers etc, shading a couple of tables, where Yellow Man, our skipper, and his friends hangout at the end of the day.  We normally join him to help empty our cool boxes after an afternoon or evening on the yacht.  So the promenade is also my embarkation point.

But most of all, it is the road to drive very slowly along, waving to people, taking in the beauty of the sea, looking to see if anything has changed.  And then counting cars in the rear view mirror!!