I've been to Sorobon about 6 times in the past 10 years. I love the place. Bonaire is a quiet, very safe island, with surprisingly good restaurants and decent prices in stores.

I'm a writer, so as I own copyright to my stories, I can paste one here that was published late in 2003 in 2 naturist magazines (one in the US, one in Canada). Hope it explains things for you guys! (BTW, I think air con has been installed since I last visited, and air connections to the island have changed.)

Going “Home” Again to Sorobon

by Bruce Bishop

It was the final night of my last visit to the Sorobon Beach Resort in quiet little Bonaire in the Dutch Caribbean. In the resort’s breezy restaurant, Sugarbird, I looked at the people sitting around my table. We had finished a nice meal and cold beverages of varying types.

These were new friends…guests who had arrived a few days after I did at Sorobon, and who now clearly had several more days of their naturist vacation ahead of them. But I had to go home in the morning. I was getting nostalgic already.

“Just remember,” I said seriously, “each of you must do the towel dance on the beach before you leave.”

The cop and his much younger girlfriend from Manchester, England, furrowed their brows. Another couple, Jean and Christina from Montreal, looked at each other and grinned. A third couple – an airline executive and his personal-trainer wife from London, grabbed their wineglasses and leaned forward.

“Now it’s nothing obscene or weird,” I continued. “It’s a way of saying you’re one of the Sorobon regulars. Like having a membership in a club. Naturally, you have to be nude. Then take your beach towel, hold it high above your head, close your eyes, and let the winds off Lac Bay flutter the towel and wash all over you.”

Dead silence. Lead balloons. A few minutes later, and after a couple of jokes, conversation resumed and branched off in various directions. I had to remember that these people were first time naturists, and the concept of childlike play had not yet entered their arena. They’d soon learn!

The Towel Dance was started by my friend Daryl and her husband Michael, a tall slender couple who enjoy life in middle America. It was a way to celebrate the clothes-free experience of Sorobon and to honor the natural attributes of the place: constant breezes, starlit skies, undersea wonders, a monstrous sun and an azure bay of shifting shades of turquoise.

He is a woodworker and cabinet designer; she a schoolteacher. We first met at the Sorobon in 1995 and they have managed to return a few more times than I have since then. The resort is addictive – there’s no doubt. Michael and Daryl request the same cabin every time they visit, even though it is one of the older chalets. But it is literally eight steps in the sand to their palapa on the private beach.

After I arrived, I quickly fell into my laissez-faire Sorobon routine. Visit my friend Rian, the manageress of the resort…meet any new staff who had been hired since my last visit…check out any new amenities offered (a bottle of chilled white wine and a basket of snacks now await your arrival in each cabin).

The next day, it was already getting to be a struggle to put clothes back on and take the complimentary shuttle bus into the main town of Kralendijk for some grocery shopping. Naturists have to eat, though, and cold beer or lemonade is a staple on Bonaire.

My first article for Naturally about the relaxation found in Bonaire was back in 1995. I can honestly say that not too much has changed since then, except the facilities have been upgraded throughout and there are more books in the lending library; more “boules” kits; and a few more ocean kayaks for guests to paddle within Lac Bay or in the mangrove swamps. The swimming in the water at the private beach is still no more than five feet deep and still has a sandy bottom. The wharf jutting out into the windsurfer’s domain next door is safe and sun-bleached. Yes, life is good when things don’t change drastically! Like cats, humans are also creatures of habit and we like consistencies in our lives.

“Have you noticed the new curtains and the hammocks?” Rian asked me when we sat down in my cabin one day at noon to escape the sun’s rays.

“Uh – yes,” I said, even though I hadn’t, as I’m the furthest thing from being a protégé of Martha Stewart. “Very nice.”

We talked about the staff and the winning smiles from Carla, Stephen, Nicole and Monique. Rian then mentioned that 2004 was being regarded as the 20th Anniversary of Sorobon – that is, when the current owner, Dolf Huijgers, bought the property.

“I’m not sure yet what festivities we will have,” Rian pondered, “but during the low season in 2004, we’ll at least have a discount on stays of seven days or longer. And somehow I think we as a resort – and our guests – could help out the Donkey Sanctuary in some way.”

Yes, the ubiquitous wild donkeys. They’ve wandered the roads and fields of Bonaire for generations, and are great to photograph (at the Sanctuary) and as tame as domestic pets. When they sleep in the centre of the roads at night, though, you can imagine the problems that occur to both the donkeys and the drivers who smash into them. Hence, a sanctuary was developed in the last few years near Flamingo Airport – a place where all the donkeys can rest, be fed and be safe.

I told Rian I couldn’t imagine how she or Dolf could really improve on Sorobon – the lack of radios, TVs and air conditioners was still a curious selling point to the property. Now that the main house (which Rian originally used as a residence before getting married and moving off-property) was also for rent, the three bedrooms and large decks of that building alone would be amazing for a group of friends or a family to rent en masse.

It was great to see Daryl and Michael again on this trip, too. Even though we live only about 750 miles apart, it somehow seems easier and more relaxing to simply arrange to meet in Bonaire in late March whenever our schedules (and money) allow. I fly into Curaçao on a charter flight from Canada, and then I get the nine-seater Divi-Divi (15-minute) shuttle flight to Bonaire from there. Michael and Daryl fly in on American Eagle via Puerto Rico – one of several other ways to get to the island.

Part of the fun of meeting friends at Sorobon is to share meals – whether they be potluck or one-chef-only, and to meet daily at 5:00 p.m. for Happy Hour. Sure, everyone could go to their individual cabins and make their own drinks, but Happy Hour is where you meet fellow naturists from around the world, and lasting friendships can develop. Rian tells me that there are now a few more Europeans visiting Sorobon (52%) than North Americans, but language is never a problem. “Hello” is universal, as is a smile and a sunkissed tan.