Bonaire 2025 Winter Field School

This season’s focus was on a few different sites. First, we continued documenting the historic anchorage area at the white salt pan. Here, we found another 19th-century anchor and numerous remains of wrecked ships in shallow waters. We were also able to determine the extent of the anchorage area based on the presence and absence of discarded ballast stones. During our investigations, we were treated to a spectacular show when a large bait ball of fish showed up. We always pause our work for marine life!

In addition to our work at the White Pan, we started the documentation of the Mairi Bhan shipwreck site. This vessel wrecked on the northern side of the island in 1912. Our team documented its broken off masts in great detail and made a 3D model of the area. We also started the search for the Abeona, a government-owned schooner which wrecked at Klein Bonaire in 1837 with a load of building materials. While we did not find the wreck, we had a great time exploring the remote side of Bonaire’s sister island. The search for Abeona continues next season…

Maritime heritage is not just about what’s left below the surface, but also encompasses coastal structures. Under the supervision of Dr. Joost Morsink, the team documented a historic lighthouse compound on the remote east coast of the island. The lighthouse keeper’s accommodation was found to be a very interesting building, which was constructed in multiple phases. In addition, the artifacts found at the site indicate that the area was used by humans well before the lighthouse was constructed in 1907.

A final line of enquiry this season was the documentation of artifacts from underwater contexts that have ended up in peoples’ private collections. To this effect, we interviewed several divers on Bonaire, who provided us with valuable insights into all aspects of the island’s maritime heritage. We would like to thank Michael Pement, Al Catalfumo, Natalie Meyfarth, and Carib Inn for their time and cooperation.

We managed to fit an incredible amount of research into these past two weeks, but we also had a lot of fun exploring the island! We went on a tour of the southern part of the island, did a spectacular ostracod night dive, went on a tour of the Washington-Slagbaai National Park, and had a few fun nights out in town.

On the last night, we gave a presentation of our research results to the people of Bonaire. The night was well attended with about 80 interested people. First, some of our students presented the research findings through several powerpoint presentations, after which the others gave interactive presentations during a show and tell. We love sharing our stories and findings with the people on the island, and plan to keep doing so at the end of every trip. We even made it into the local newspaper!

We are not able to set up a trip like this just by ourselves. Numerous people and organizations have helped us out before, during, and even after the trip. We like to thank STINAPA for their support throughout the project, we couldn’t do this without their dedication and enthusiasm in preserving the island’s marine environment and spreading the word about its importance. Beyond the Corals and Area9 were great partners who provided us with equipment and logistical support whenever needed. Our amazing research collaborators, archaeologists Dr. Joost Morsink and Ashley Ellison, MA contributed in so many ways to make this project a success (keep an eye out, they may end up on our website soon). And then there is our amazing research team of this season, thank you to everyone for joining us and making this a great trip: Spike Hawkey, Hailey Rauch, Megan Merritt, Allison Day, Luke Willis, Spencer Bennett, Travis Himebaugh, Lucy Waller, Keegan Martin, Gavin Johnson, Alana Overbey, and Vida Jaber.