Bonaire (Caribbean Netherlands)

Destinations

Visa & entry

eu passport	Dutch citizens enter visa-free (Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands). For other EU/Schengen nationals, general visa-free entry applies for up to 90 days per 180 days — Bonaire is explicitly OUTSIDE the Schengen area and EU customs territory, so this is a separate entry regime from mainland-Netherlands/Schengen rules, not an automatic extension of them.
us passport	Visa-free entry, up to 180 days per 365 days (per infobonaire.com, same allowance as Dutch citizens).
uk passport	Visa-free entry; general non-Dutch/non-US allowance is up to 90 days per 180 days (per infobonaire.com).
entry or eco taxes	Mandatory Bonaire visitor/tourist tax: USD 75 per person aged 13+ (2025/2026 rate), USD 10 for children up to 12 and for former-Netherlands-Antilles residents with a valid cedula. Payable online in advance (from 7 days before arrival) at the official site tourismtax.bonairegov.com, or on arrival; QR code valid 30 days from first use (covers island hopping/re-entry within that window). Sources explicitly warn other 'lookalike' payment sites charge extra fees and are not official. Separately, an airport departure fee of USD 33.40 applies (cash or card; American Express NOT accepted) per Wikivoyage.
notes	Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (the 'BES islands' / Caribbean Netherlands) are a special municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands but sit outside the Schengen area and EU/Dutch mainland tax and customs regimes — do not assume mainland Dutch/Schengen rules apply directly.

Money

currency	US Dollar (USD) — official currency of Bonaire since 2011.
card acceptance	Not comprehensively verified this pass; the one specific data point found is that American Express is NOT accepted for the airport departure fee (Wikivoyage), suggesting Amex acceptance is less universal than Visa/Mastercard generally.
scams	Car break-ins are a reported issue while owners are out diving/kiting — Wikivoyage explicitly warns never to leave valuables in a parked car.
cash tips	USD cash is the local currency itself, so no exchange-rate friction for US-dollar tips.

SIM & internet

notes	No mobile operator names could be confirmed from the sources fetched this pass (Wikivoyage's Bonaire page and infobonaire.com's entry-requirements page both lacked telecom details). Candidate operators from general/prior knowledge (e.g., Digicel Bonaire, TELBO) were NOT independently verified this session and are deliberately omitted rather than asserted.

Insurance

kite excluded by standard policies	Presumed true generically; not verified for a Bonaire-specific insurer.
recommended	Given Bonaire's remote-island status and dive/watersports focus, evacuation-inclusive travel insurance is a reasonable general recommendation, but no Bonaire-specific product or requirement was verified this pass.
evacuation note	Not verified this pass. General/prior knowledge suggests Hospital San Francisco is the main hospital on Bonaire and that serious trauma cases may require evacuation to Curaçao or Aruba, but this was not confirmed by a source fetched this session — treat as unconfirmed.

Health

tap water	Safe for drinking, per Wikivoyage ('perfectly safe... although bottled water is readily available').
emergency numbers	911 (per Wikivoyage).

Driving

road safety	Drive on the RIGHT. No traffic lights on the island. Speed limits: 40 km/h (25 mph) in town, 60 km/h (35 mph) outside town (Wikivoyage).
4x4 contexts	Washington Slagbaai National Park's ~34 km of roads are rough and require an off-road/4x4 vehicle or mountain bike (Wikivoyage). This park is on the island's northwest, separate from the main Lac Bay kite area, but relevant for general island exploration.

Regulation

kite rules national	Bonaire National Marine Park charges an annual USD 40/person fee (per Wikivoyage) that explicitly covers diving, snorkeling, AND kitesurfing — this is a notable, directly kite-relevant finding: kiters using Bonaire's waters (the main spot, Lac Bay, sits within/adjacent to the protected bay and mangrove system) are implied to need this marine-park fee, though the source did not spell out enforcement mechanics for kitesurfers specifically.
protected areas	Bonaire's entire coastline falls within the Bonaire National Marine Park; Lac Bay (the main kite spot) borders protected mangrove areas. Specific kite-launch zoning or mangrove-protection rules affecting kiters were not independently verified this pass beyond the marine-park-fee finding above.

kite rules national

Bonaire National Marine Park charges an annual USD 40/person fee (per Wikivoyage) that explicitly covers diving, snorkeling, AND kitesurfing — this is a notable, directly kite-relevant finding: kiters using Bonaire's waters (the main spot, Lac Bay, sits within/adjacent to the protected bay and mangrove system) are implied to need this marine-park fee, though the source did not spell out enforcement mechanics for kitesurfers specifically.

protected areas

Bonaire's entire coastline falls within the Bonaire National Marine Park; Lac Bay (the main kite spot) borders protected mangrove areas. Specific kite-launch zoning or mangrove-protection rules affecting kiters were not independently verified this pass beyond the marine-park-fee finding above.

Calendar & costs

currency	USD

Open questions

Mobile/SIM operator names, eSIM availability, ID requirement for SIM purchase, Starlink status
ATM networks, fees, and card-acceptance detail beyond the Amex note
Tipping norms
Hospital standard and medical-evacuation infrastructure/pathways
IDP requirement for rental cars
Whether/how the USD 40/year marine park fee is actually collected from kitesurfers specifically (vs. divers/snorkelers) at Lac Bay
No cost-of-living index data found for Bonaire (Numbeo has no Bonaire entry) — beer/meal/coffee/rent prices remain unverified
Yellow fever / dengue / zika vaccination and seasonal risk specifics

Sources: bonaire.com · bonaire.com · infobonaire.com · en.wikivoyage.org · numbeo.com