The red star on Bonaire’s flag has six points.
The star is part of a design adopted on 11 December 1981, when Bonaire was still within the Netherlands Antilles. It appears inside a black compass on a white band separating blue and yellow fields. The blue represents the surrounding sea, while the yellow evokes the sun and landscape.
The six points are traditionally linked to Bonaire’s original six villages: Antriol, Nikiboko, Nort Saliña, Playa, Rincon, and Tera Korá. The compass reflects the island’s seafaring population and its connection with navigation. The star’s red colour is also associated with the people and their unity.
A common mix-up is counting the compass directions rather than the star’s points. The compass has four directional arrows, but the star itself is explicitly six-pointed. Bonaire celebrates Flag Day each year on 6 September.