Introduction - Adventure Guide to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao - page 9

ished and flowering plants appeared), during a time when the earth's tec-
tonic plates were still jostling into position.
Solid rock forms their bases and creates a rolling terrain that peaks in low
sedimentary rock hills. The highest is Curaçao's St. Christoffelberg at
1,230 feet. Originally, the three islands sat considerably lower in the water
than they do today, and coral reefs formed around their rocky core. When
later shifting caused the islands to lift higher out of the sea, these reefs
were preserved as underwater protective barriers. Today, they are a color-
ful habitat for fish and a playground for scuba divers.
The leeward side of each island developed sheltered rocky coves and small
sandy bays. A long stretch of fine white sand spread out along Aruba's
western shore. The islands' windward coasts were swept bare by steady
breezes from the east, and rough Caribbean currents hammered the
shores into craggy lines of cliffs and caves. Today, all-terrain buggies
bounce over inland sand dunes, and four-wheel-drive vehicles conquer the
rutted dirt paths that cut through the islands' desert-like countryside.

Salt For Fun & Profit
Bonaire and Curaçao have salinas , or salt pans, vast areas of
muddy saltwater that were left behind early in the islands' forma-
tion when the sea receded from the land. These barren, marshy
spots caught the attention of Dutch explorers early in the 17th
century, when huge amounts of salt were needed in the Nether-
lands to preserve fish.
For more than 350 years, salt has been harvested from these salt
pans, first by slaves, then by paid laborers, and finally by workers
using modern machinery. Visitors to the islands are often sur-
prised to come upon white mountains of processed salt waiting to
be loaded onto container ships for export.
Some of the salinas are now protected habitats for native and mi-
grating birds. The salt flats of Pekelmeer on Bonaire and Jan
Kok on Curaçao are home to colonies of pink flamingos as well as
dozens of other species.

Climate
Summer never ends here. The temperature difference
between June and December or midnight and noon is rarely
more than four degrees either side of 82 F. A dependable cool-

ing trade wind blows from the east, and fewer than 22 inches
of rain fall anywhere on the three islands during a year.
Since the equator runs about 12

°

to the south, the sun is strong, especially
between 11 am and 3 pm, and visitors enjoy morning sunrises and evening

°