Thursday, February 16, 2006


This is the tiny island of Bonaire in the Caribbean. My family has visited that place a couple times, mostly due to the fantastic windsurfing that the island offers. As you can see, the ABC Islands (Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire) are rather dry and desert-like, which is quite a change from islands farther northwest like Tobago and St. Lucia. Those islands are covered in dense, tropical vegetation. The funny blue areas on the southern end of the islands are shallow ponds that are part of the salt harvesting operation on the island. Salt water is flooded into the ponds where the water slowly evaporates, leaving behind the salt. Take a look at your salt container the next time you use it to see where your salt comes from.