The port stop for today is the city of Kralendijk in Bonaire. We are not scheduled to arrive until 12:00 noon due to the distance we had to travel from Grenada. The “all aboard” time is 6:30 PM, so the stop is not very long.
It was nice to sleep in a little after having gotten up quite early for yesterday’s stop in Grenada. The winds were blowing a little harder this morning when we did get up and look outside. However, it was nice and sunny, no rain in sight.
After eating breakfast in the buffet, we headed back to the room to gather up our snorkel gear to be ready to go ashore as soon as we got clearance. We are doing a tour today with a group called Compass. It is a mall group tour on a sailboat, sailing to a snorkel spot and back. With the additional wind, the sailing should be great, but it might impact the visibility of the water for the snorkeling.
Since we ate a late breakfast, we opted to skip eating lunch right before we got off for the tour. As we approached Kralendijk, we passed some large white piles of salt on the southern end of the island of Bonaire, which is known for its salt production.
We were able to get off of the ship at a little past 12:00 noon, and headed to the small areas of tents set up for the tour groups. The pier was really short, so it was about the shortest walk to get off of a ship we have ever had. We met up with the Compass Tour representative, Whim, who is from the Netherlands, as are many of the people on Bonaire.
Since we were not scheduled to leave until 12:30 PM to head to the sailboat, Whim told us to visit some of the vendors in the nearby marketplace while he was waiting to gather up the remaining people in our tour.
We walked a couple of blocks to the marketplace and looked at some of the items for sale by the local vendors. At 12:30 PM, we walked back to the our group area, and met up with the remainder of our group of 14. Apparently one couple, who were friends with another couple on the tour, had cancelled due to illness, so our tour guide, Whim, was trying to find a last minute replacement from the passengers on the ship who were passing by the tour tents. Finally, at 12:45 PM, a replacement couple joined the tour. Then, we all walked to a waiting bus for a short five minute ride to the sailboat, which was at a dock in an all inclusive resort.
We all boarded the sailboat, which was about 40 feet long, and had plenty of room for the group. There were two other assistants for the tour, one of which was all ready on board when we arrived. We waited about ten minutes for the other tour guide to arrive and we headed out of the small marina at the resort.
The wind was still blowing quite hard, so the sailing was going to be good. It was interesting because the main sail was smaller than normal for the boat, it did not go all the way to the top of the mast. I suppose that it is enough sail for a slow and comfortable ride, but the boat would have really moved along today if the sail had been full size.
We sailed along the waterfront for about an hour before we tied up to a mooring buoy at the snorkel location. I had thought we were going over to a small island across the bay from Bonaire called Klein Bonaire, but we did not. Klein Bonaire was supposed to be the area with the best snorkeling. I am not sure if we were supposed to go there, or, because of the winds, the tour guide opted to go to another location, which was more protected from the wind.
In any case, the snorkeling was pretty good for a windy day, the visibility was good, but not excellent. We were able to see a lot of different fish, and several sea turtles, and a small octopus. We snorkeled for a little over an hour, and then got back on board the Compass sailboat for the sail back to the marina. The wind was even stronger for the return sail, so it made for a good sailing experience.
They served us some small sandwiches consisting of brie and tomatoes, as well as some fresh made tuna fish sandwiches. They also served beer, sodas and some rum punch. We tried the beer first, once again, as we had seen on a lot of the islands, the beers were in really small bottles, maybe .3 liters, I forgot to look. After the beer, we switched to the rum punch, it was much better.
We arrived back at the marina about 4:30 PM, and said goodbye to our hosts. We boarded a small bus for the return to the port. We shopped a little more at the marketplace, we had seen a couple of items from earlier that we wanted to purchase.
Then we headed back to the ship to get a late snack from the International Cafe, just a couple of small sandwiches to tide us over until we went to dinner later in the evening. We ate the sandwiches on the balcony and had some refreshments while we waited for the ship to leave at 6:30 PM. Apparently, there was one couple missing, so we were late leaving. The ship sent a security person out to the port entrance, and in a short while, we saw a taxi speed up the port and let off the two missing passengers, who were running the short distance to the security gate at the dock.
Everyone looking out from their balconies mockingly cheered and clapped as the late passengers were walking to the ship escorted by the ship’s security person. Sometimes it is hard to understand how over 3,500 people can make it back to the ship on time, and two can’t.
We finally left the pier at about 7:15 PM, heading for Aruba. We showered and got ready for dinner in the buffet. It was an Italian theme in the buffet, and the food was quite good. Once again, we were too tired to go to the dining room, and nothing on the menu had appealed to us enough for the longer duration dinner.
We did not stay out long since we need to get up tomorrow at 6:00 AM for the stop in Aruba. The ship is scheduled to arrive at 7:00 AM, and we are taking a city bus to a beach on the northern end of the island for some snorkeling. We want to give ourselves enough time with the uncertainty of the bus departure schedule, but knowing that they leave on or near the hour, only one per hour.
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