Wingers, the inside at Sorobon is waist deep and smooth behind the reef, and Bonaire Windsurf Place teaches wing. Mornings are light, so no rush; the trade peaks around midday and early afternoon, onshore to cross-onshore. June is the pick.
Bon bini, welcome, to the Lac. Lac Bay, Lac Baai, or just the Lac if you live here, is a shallow windsurf and wing bay on Bonaire’s south-east coast, ten minutes by car from Kralendijk. A fringing reef across its mouth keeps the swell outside, and the windsurf centres stand on the white sand of Sorobon, where everybody rigs. Kitesurfing is prohibited in the Lac, so kiters drive across the island to Atlantis Beach.
The trade blows from the east to north-east, straight in over the reef, so at Sorobon it’s onshore with a bit of cross in it. Since 2017, more than eight days in ten from December to August have cleared 12 knots for three daylight hours. June is the pick, at thirty days out of thirty. Mornings are lighter, so nobody rushes breakfast: it peaks around midday. The water sits at 27 to 29°C all year, so leave the wetsuit at home.
The southern end of the bay, in front of the centres, is about waist deep over sand, so it stays fairly smooth and learning is easy. Head north and it deepens abruptly; you’ll see the edge as darker water. Beginners, intermediates and freestylers feel at home on the inside. A little to leeward, off the fishermen’s pier, the water is deep but glassy. That’s the corner for foilers and advanced freeriders, best in the evening.
Lac Cai, or just Cai, at the north-eastern tip of the bay, is where the waves are. A channel about 200 metres wide opens the bay to the sea, and no waves break in it. Start there and jump the waves on the reef. With 20 knots or more from the east or north-east the waves can reach mast height on the best days. Cai is for advanced riders: the current can be quite strong, the reef shallow in places, and nobody sails out alone.
Three centres work off Sorobon beach: Jibe City, Bonaire Windsurf Place and Dunkerbeck Pro Center. Dunkerbeck sits inside Sorobon Luxury Beach Resort and opens for windsurfing from 07:30 to 18:30. And the bay grows its own. The PWA Youth Tour came to Sorobon from 25 to 28 June 2026, its third year running on Bonaire. By then the Windsurf Akademia di Kiri, founded in November 2025, had more than 30 kids taking lessons every week. Watch the inside for a while and you’ll see where the next lot comes from.
Kiters, your side of the island is Atlantis Beach, about ten minutes by car from Kralendijk in the south-west. Kiters Paradise puts the trade there as a steady, offshore north-easterly of 13 to 25 knots over flat water. Its instructors watch the water while it is open and go out to anyone in trouble. The boat may take a while, and a rescue costs 30 dollars. Take a kite one size bigger than at home, because tropical air is about 10 per cent less dense than in the Netherlands.
Skunked? It happens, mostly from September to November, though good days still turn up. A still day is when you finally look at the bay itself, and it’s still dushi, Papiamentu for sweet. Inside the reef lie about 100 hectares of mangroves and seagrass beds the sea turtles use. The bay has been a Ramsar wetland of international importance since 1980. Paddle wide of the seagrass and give the turtles room.
You land at Flamingo International Airport (BON), near Kralendijk. Non-residents pay a 75 dollar entry tax on arrival, valid for one month, and you can pay it online before you fly. Sorobon and Atlantis Beach are on opposite coasts, so hire a car to carry kit between them; public transport on the island is limited.
Rules and safety. Lac Bay is in the Bonaire National Marine Park. The decree prohibits moving on or above the waters of the Lac while attached to a kite or similar object. It also prohibits jet skis there. Windsurfing in the Marine Park is allowed only at Lac Bay, and kitesurfing only in the entry and exit zone at Atlantis Beach. Windsurfing with a foil is currently condoned in the Lac, which is not zoned yet. Wing foiling is not named in the rules, so ask your centre. Surfing on the seagrass fields at Sorobon is not allowed; buoys and ropes mark the zones. Everyone aged 13 or over who uses the Marine Park pays the nature fee of 40 US dollars per calendar year. Motorboats may run at up to 4 knots inside the buoyed channel between Cai and Sorobon and 2 knots elsewhere in the Lac. In an emergency at sea, call the Coast Guard on 913.