CARIBISCH NEDERLAND - Bonaire / Boneiru

Bonaire ,( Dutch: Bonaire, , Papiamento: Boneiru,) is an island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is Kralendijk, located near the ocean on the lee side of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC islands, located 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of Venezuela. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, the ABC islands lie outside Hurricane Alley. The islands have an arid climate that attracts visitors seeking warm, sunny weather all year round. Bonaire is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination because of its multiple shore diving sites and easy access to the island's fringing reefs. A short 0.80 kilometres (0.50 mi) west of Bonaire across the sea is the uninhabited islet Klein Bonaire with a total land area of 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi). Klein Bonaire has low growing vegetation including cactus (Papiamento: kadushi), with few palm trees near the water and is bordered by white sandy beaches and a fringing reef. The reefs, beaches and on-island reserves located on both Bonaire and Klein Bonaire are under the protection of the Bonaire National Marine Park, and managed by Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA).

Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the country's dissolution in 2010, when the island became a special municipality (officially, a "public body") within the country of the Netherlands. It is one of the three BES islands in the Caribbean, along with Sint Eustatius and Saba. An 80% majority of Bonaire's population are Dutch nationals, and nearly 60% of its residents were born in the former Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. The name 'Bonaire' is thought to be derived from the Caquetio word 'Bonay', meaning 'low country'. The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling to Bojnaj and also Bonaire. French influence, while present at various times, was never strong enough to make the assumption that the name means 'good air'.

Bonaire is fringed by a coral reef which is accessible to divers from the shore along the lee side of the island (facing west-southwest). The entire coastline of the island was designated a marine sanctuary in 1979, an effort to preserve and protect the delicate coral reef and the marine life that depends on it. There are more than 350 species of fish and sixty species of coral living in Bonaire's reef. Boulder Star Coral (Montastraea annularis) is the most common coral, according to a 2011 survey. In 2011, biologists discovered a new species of of jellyfish in Bonaire, the highly venomous Bonaire banded box jellyfish, tamoya oboya.

Bonaire is also famed for its flamingo populations and its donkey sanctuary. Flamingos are drawn to the brackish water of the island's lagoons, which harbors the shrimp upon which they feed. Bonaire is home to one of only four nesting grounds for the Caribbean flamingo. Located in the Pekelmeer in the southern part of the island, no human entry is permitted in this sanctuary. In the 16th century, Europeans introduced sheep, goats, pigs, horses and donkeys on Bonaire, and the descendants of the donkeys, goats and pigs roam the island today. Bonaire is also home to the ecologically vulnerable yellow-shouldered amazon parrot, Amazona barbadensis. 

The three public bodies of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba started issuing postal stamps after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010. The islands form a separate postage region under the name Caribisch Nederland (English: Caribbean Netherlands). The first stamp issued showed the maps of the three islands. Stamps of similar design were issued in the other newly formed postage regions of Sint Maarten and Curaçao. The value of the current stamp is denominated in Netherlands Antillean guilders, but is expected to be replaced by US-dollar denominated stamps in 2011 when the legal currency of the islands changes. As of June 2011, new stamps are being issued by Post in US dollars. As of January 2014, Flamingo Communications N.V. has taken over postal services on the BES islands of the Dutch Caribbean. Since 2014, stamps are inscribed with the names of the individual islands.

These two airmail envelopes sent from Kraledijk, capital city of Bonaire Island in Caribisch Nederland.  Recently they started to issue many thematic stamps which is attractive and informative. The covers sent on 24 07,2017, and I received on 18 August 2017.

After 2014, The postal service of Caribisch Nederland is taking care by FXDC, a private company. They issue separate stamps for each Island - Saba, Bonaire and St. Eustatius. The country code is same for the three islands - BQ. FXDC use Blue barcode label for registering letters provided by UPU.