Day 12: Monday, March 12 ~ Bonaire

(Eddy’s pronunciation: bon – EYE – ree)

One of the main reasons we picked this itinerary was the chance to visit the ABC islands.  Located outside of the hurricane belt in the southwest corner of the Caribbean Sea, the ABC islands offer a very different vibe than the other Southern and Eastern Caribbean islands which I have visited.  Bonaire is known for having some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving in the world, and ranks #2 for snorkeling in the Caribbean (Belize is said to be #1, and yes, I am secretly hoping to take a Western Caribbean cruise at some point to experience Belize first hand!).  In fact, 85% of the people who visit Bonaire are there to see the marine life.  They have a marine park that is protected, and I knew I wanted to see it for myself.  Woodwind Bonaire is one of the top rated snorkeling tour companies on the island. They were very easy to communicate with online, and I booked us on the 4 hour morning sail which would visit 2 sites in the marine park for snorkeling, and included lunch and an open bar for $65 USD per person.

Here is today’s daily schedule:

While we ate our room service breakfast on the balcony, we could see that we were in for another windy day in paradise.  I was really hoping that when we cruised all this distance west yesterday, that we would get into a new weather pattern, but we could already tell that it was super windy in Bonaire today.

Woodwind sent us detailed instructions on where to meet them the morning of our tour.  It was a short 5 minute walk to the right as we exited the cruise port, and we had pretty views of the ship along the way.

We were instructed to meet outside the Divi Flamingo Casino at 8:20am.  It was very obvious where we had to go, especially when we saw this big sign:

We arrived about 10 minutes early, and the guide was there waiting to greet
us.  Unfortunately, he came bearing bad news… Due to the extreme winds, he had to cancel our tour for today.  He said he had cancelled all of his tours for the last 5 days, and he would probably need to cancel tomorrow’s tour too.  I can’t even describe how disappointed I was at that moment.  When he cancels a tour, he loses a lot of money, so I knew he didn’t make this decision on a whim and conditions must be really bad if he needed to cancel the tour, but I was so disappointed to miss out on snorkeling here. Not many cruises visit Bonaire and who knows if or when I will be here again.  While we did go snorkeling on a few other islands throughout this cruise, I always knew that snorkeling in Bonaire would be the highlight, and now I wasn’t going to experience it.  Even now, several weeks later, I am still sad to miss out on that opportunity.

Meanwhile, it was now 8:15am and I had no idea what we should to today!  I did not research any back up plans because it never occurred to me that the tour would be cancelled.  Someone asked the guide if we should take the water taxi to Klein Bonaire to snorkel there off the beach, but the guide did not recommend that because it is a barrier island with no protection from the wind, so the conditions would not be safe, plus the water would be too churned up to see anything anyway.  As we walked back towards the ship, we saw a few tents set up with vendors selling island tours, golf cart rentals, and water taxi tickets.  In lieu of twiddling our thumbs on the ship all day, we spoke with a few of the vendors offering tours of the island to see what our options were.  I really did not like booking a tour like this.  As you all know, I am used to doing extensive research, reading reviews on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic, and making an educated decision on how to spend the day with no pressure.  I did not know how to tell if these vendors were a scam, or offering a good deal, or if the tour would be any good.  Had this happened in Antigua, we probably would have opted to abort the mission completely and retreat back to the ship haha  We were surprised to find the vendors in Bonaire were very easy to work with.  They explained what they had to offer with no pressure to book right away, and they didn’t mind when we walked away to think about it and speak with other vendors before committing.  We spoke with 3 vendors offering island tours for about 3 hours, costing $25 to $30 USD per person.  One had a 12 person van, one had a large open air bus for 15 people (I think?), but we opted for the vendor with a small minivan holding just 6 guests with air conditioning and free wifi for $30 per person.  The guide, Justino, said we would visit the whole island to the south first, then to the north, and we would spend some time at the beach.  He showed us these maps to highlight the stops along the tour:

It was only 8:30am and the tour was due to start at 9:30, so we paid for the tour and Justino gave us a receipt and said to meet him back at the tent in an hour.  I was wearing a long sleeve rash guard in anticipation of a day on a sail boat with no shade, so we went back to the ship to get changed.  The security guards who scanned our seapass cards were quite surprised to see anyone reboarding the ship so early!

Back at the cabin, we got changed into tshirts and shorts, repacked our day bag to ditch the towel and snorkel gear in exchange for our cell phones from the safe to make use of the free wifi in the van.  We still had about 20 minutes to spare, so we walked around the area near the cruise port until it was time to meet Justino.

The Eclipse looks so pretty in the early morning sun

This looked like a great photo opportunity, but there was no one in sight to take the photo for us!  Just imagine that we are standing next to those flamingos haha

We returned to Justino’s tent just as he found 2 other couples to join us on the tour, so the 6 of us walked over a block or two to where his van was
parked.  The van had enough space for the 6 of us to sit comfortably, and we were all happy that the AC was very strong and had individual controls to adjust it. Justino also had bottles of water in a cooler in the trunk that we could have as needed, plus he had space back there to stash our bags for the day.  We were on the road by 9:30am, and Justino immediately started giving us lots of facts and information about Bonaire’s history.  Bonaire is a tiny island of only 112 square miles, located about 60 miles off the coast of Venezuela.  Formerly part of the Netherland Antilles, it became a legal “municipality” of the Netherlands in 2010, when the Netherland Antilles was dissolved and Curaçao and Aruba became autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

On our way to our first stop, we drove past this brand new resort with brightly colored buildings.  I think he said it is a Courtyard by Marriott?

The colors of the water were so beautiful… too bad we won’t get to swim in it!

Our first stop was at the salt fields. Justino explained that they harvest the salt here by collecting water from the Caribbean into a series of huge ponds, where the sun and wind work to evaporate the water, leaving behind crystals of salt.  One of the characteristic features of salt produced by solar dehydration is the size of the resulting salt crystals. Unlike “rock salt” from underground mines, salt obtained from “natural” processes like solar dehydration produces much larger crystals of salt, which can be used in water softeners, swimming pools, dinner table salt, de-icing roads in the winter, and more.  There is a special algae which thrives in this salty water, which reacts to turn the water pink in color, making it a really interesting site to see.  

Mountains of salt piled up, waiting to be processed

Justino found some crystals of salt for us to look at.

Proof that we were here!

It is hard to tell because my hair is tied back in braids, but it was extremely windy out here.  Justino has an app where he could look up the wind speeds and he said it was 30mph, but I thought it felt like more than that.  We had to really brace ourselves and keep a wide base of support to avoid being knocked over!

After a few minutes of taking photos and looking around at the salt flats, we piled back in the van to drive to our next stop, just a few minutes up the road- the slave huts.  These huts each housed 7 or 8 people (notice the size compared to our van… they were tiny!)

Justino explained that the slaves used to work at the salt fields all day, and they returned here to sleep at night.  They were fed just one handful of food for the entire day of work, so I can imagine how grueling that life must have been, especially in the hot Caribbean sun.  We spent a few minutes walking around, looking at the huts, and admiring the beautiful view.

Inside one of the huts

They used a color coding system to identify the groups of slaves.  We were at the homes of the White Slaves, but there were also other groups with other color names.

This marker on the main road indicated that we were at the section for the white slaves

Justino lined us up to pose for a fun photo looking through the window and door of the hut

There was no sand on this beach, just beautiful stones and shells that were worn away from the sea.

 A few other tour groups arrived as we were getting ready to leave

Once we were all settled back in the van, we drove back the way we came, going north passed the cruise ship, to drive through the downtown area of Kralendijk.  We didn’t get out of the van here, but DH and I decided we would come back to walk around here later this afternoon.

I thought it was funny that they call their post office the Flamingo Express haha

We drove along the coast, admiring the views and the new upscale houses and hotels.  Everything was very green, and there were tons of cactus in between the trees and bushes.

Justino explained that there are hundreds of sites where you can go scuba diving in Bonaire.  Because the road which circles the island is so narrow, there isn’t a lot of space to park your car, so they have these cross walk signs to keep the divers safe. I thought this was really funny…

Our next stop was the 1000 Steps.  No, there are not 1000 steps here.  I think it was more like 70 steps haha  Under water, the steps continue and create one of the best scuba diving spots on the island as the plateaus and drop offs repeat and create a beautiful underwater world.  We spent about 20 minutes here, with time to walk down to the beach and take some photos.

These yellow painted stones mark all the dive spots around the island.  Most are named for the person who discovered the site, but this one has a more specific name.

Another rocky beach

 The ocean eroded the side wall of the hill, mimicking the steps under the water

I can’t imagine walking back up all of these steps, lugging scuba gear!!    

One last view of the beach.  This was really a beautiful spot!

Next, we continued driving north towards the town of Karpata.  There is a large protected nature reserve at the northern end of the island which is home to hundreds of flamingos.  Justino passed around this poster to show us that flamingos are actually white in color when they are born, but they feed on shrimp which turns them pink.  The older they get, the more shrimp they eat, and the pinker they become!

After a few more minutes of driving, I looked out the front window to see this:

It was a beautiful lake and home to many of the flamingos.  Justino pulled off into a parking area so we could get out and observe the view from an overlook point.  It was nearly impossible to capture the flamingos on my camera because we were quite far away, but I could see them with my naked eye.  If you look very closely in the lake, the tiny pink spots are all flamingos!

We continued driving around the lake to get a closer look at the flamingos.  Justino said we had to keep a safe distance so we couldn’t get too close, but at least we could see them clearly now.  I think it was lunch time as they kept ducking their heads under water to eat. While I have seen many flamingos at the zoo or in enclosed animal habitats, this is the first time I have seen a flamingo in the wild, and I was thrilled!

As we approached the lake, Justino said that there is this little yellow bird who always lands on his side view mirror whenever he drives through here.  Sure enough, as we were slowing down to watch the flamingos, the yellow bird found us!

It was really cute- he kept peering down to look at his reflection in the mirror, then getting confused and thinking it was another bird so he flew into the mirror, then he went back on top for a second and started the process all over again.  This went on for several minutes, until he realized we were driving further and further away from his nest, so he gave up and flew away.  Justino said the same thing happens every time he comes to this lake, always with the same yellow bird.  How funny!

Last few glimpses of the flamingos as we drove off towards our next destination…

Next, we drove further inland towards the town of Rincon.

We pulled up to the Cadushy Distillery, where they make cactus liquor.  They usually charge $5 per person to take their tour and sample the liquors, but it was included in the $30 price we paid for our tour.

They took us to a shaded area at the back of the property and offered everyone a sample of the cactus liquor.  This is Justino serving the samples… he made a silly face when he saw I was taking his photo haha

I thought it tasted kind of sweet, but I liked it.  

We watched a short film about the process of making the cactus liquor.

After that, we had a few minutes to walk around the grounds, use the rest rooms, and sample the other flavors of liquor.

This cute bird was hanging out in one of the trees… Maybe he turned green from drinking too much cactus liquor??

Some photos of their grounds…

Sign for the restrooms

There is a bar area set up where they offered tastings of their rum, whisky, vodka, and a few other flavors of liquor.  I tried a few but didn’t really like any of them. After everyone had their fill, we piled back in the van to finish off the rest of the tour.

We passed this big yellow church, but I don’t remember what Justino told us about it.

Lots and lots of cactus everywhere we looked

We continued driving a little further to see views of the waves crashing along the shore on the north side of the island. By now, it was 12:15pm and the tour was due to end back at the ship at 12:30pm but we still had not gone to the beach.  Justino asked us if we wanted to be dropped at the beach or the ship. I had assumed the beach stop was included in the 3 hours of the tour, but it appeared to be in addition to it. It was still very windy so we didn’t want to be blasted by the sand, and we were hungry for lunch now anyway, so we decided to skip the beach stop and just asked to go back to the ship.  The other 2 couples in the van had the same plan in mind, so that’s what we did.  We arrived back at the cruise port area promptly at 12:30pm.  Overall, I think it was $30 well spent and it was nice to see the island of Bonaire, but I know the snorkeling tour would have been way more enjoyable and memorable had the weather cooperated.  

Back on the ship, we went up to the buffet for lunch. I tried the made-to-order stir fry station because it is only available for lunch on port days.  It was very tasty and made for a nice alternative to the pasta station which I had already eaten several times.

At 1:30pm, we ventured back off the ship to walk around the town.  It was pretty small, spanning just two or three blocks, but there were a few shops, galleries, a brewery, and a few restaurants along the water.  

The sun was beating down on us, and even though we were wearing hats, it was still very hot, so we only lasted about half an hour before we returned to the ship.  On the walk back along the water, we spotted this little guy crossing in front of us.

Back on the ship, we went up to the Sunset Bar to admire the wonderful views and cool off with a cold drink.  Bonaire is a very flat island, so the view from deck 15 of our ship was incredible!

I ordered a Blue Hawaiian and this is what the waiter brought me… it looked like the cactus liquor from Cadushy! Haha Usually these are frozen blended drinks, so I guess this was the on the rocks version?  No worries, it was still cold and refreshing, which was what I wanted anyway!

I think this island out in the distance is Klein Bonaire.  There is supposed to be great snorkeling out there, but I didn’t see anyone snorkeling today (not surprising given all the wind!)

At 3pm, we went over to the Sky Lounge for today’s round of music trivia.  They just did general music trivia today so there was no specific theme.  DH and I just played on our own team, so we did okay, but didn’t come close to winning. The views out the windows of the Sky Lounge are always so pretty!  Unfortunately, the glare off the windows makes it hard to take a good picture, but I wanted to post this for anyone who is booked with Woodwind because it shows where we met our guide this morning.  Do you see the first pier coming out into the water that is closest to the ship?  The one with the building on the end with the reddish brown roof?  We met our guide on the sidewalk right next to that pier, so you can see it is not a far walk at all.

After trivia, we went back to the cabin to get ready for the evening, then went down to the Martini Bar for a drink.  Now that it was week two of the cruise, I had a feeling for which martinis were my favorite, so I ordered the Blue Wave again, knowing it was tropical and refreshing.

While I was sipping on my cocktail, I re-read today’s daily schedule and noticed that they were having a tapas and sangria event on the lawn at the Sunset Bar, and the Passion Duo was going to perform during sail away.  We wanted to go upstairs to watch the show, so I started to walk towards the elevators with my martini glass, but the bartender stopped me.  He said he had to transfer my drink into a highball glass and then I could take that with me wherever I wanted on the ship.  I guess they don’t want their special large martini glasses disappearing all over the ship, but I didn’t mind at all because this made it easier to walk with the drink and not spill it! Haha

When we got up to the Sunset Bar, we saw that they had set up blankets and little tables on the lawn for the event.

There was a nice spread of food set up in a buffet with breadsticks, cheeses, meats, and veggies.

At the end of the table, you can see 2 big silver bowls- that’s where they had the sangria.  They served it like punch from the bowl, but they were charging $10 per glass and it was not included in the beverage packages, so I just stuck with my martini.

The Passion Duo was set up in the corner of the bar, performing a set of acoustic songs.

It was such a nice event, and made for a beautiful ambiance as we sailed away from Bonaire.  I really loved hanging out at the Sunset Bar as the ship sailed away, and having this event at the same time made it even better!

Once we were far enough out to sea, we went back to the cabin for a few minutes, and were just in time to catch the sunset!

Looks like a few others were out on their balcony to observe the sunset as well.

After the sun dipped below the horizon, we went downstairs to take our nightly photo.

Then, it was time for dinner.  This menu was another one of the new ones for us, and it featured a few things that looked really good to me.

Maine Lobster Ravioli- This was soooooo good! Had I known, I would have ordered 3 or 4 plates to be delivered as my entrée!

Cured Atlantic Salmon

BBQ Pork Spring Roll

Sauteed Duck Breast

Dessert Menu

Chocolate Lava Cake (this is DH’s plate, as it is meant to be served)

I asked for mine without the ice cream and bananas, so Pinto brought me 2 cakes!  Winning!

We were done with dessert by 8:10pm (Pinto and Jose must be the speediest MDR waiters on the ship, just how we like it!!), so we had time to go watch the evening hot glass show.  The Passion Duo had a busy night as they were performing here as well.  The gaffers stayed pretty quiet, so instead of listening to them explain what they were doing as they worked, we listened to The Passion Duo playing some music.  

We stayed for about half an hour, then went downstairs to catch tonight’s
performance by Jeri Sager.  She is a Broadway actress who started in Evita, Les Mis, Cats, and Fiddler on the Roof.  She has a big belting voice and performed a great show, singing an assortment of Broadway classics.  I apologize that these photos came out embarrassingly bad, but it’s the best I could get from the back of the theater…

At 10pm, the Eclipse singers and dancers performed a little show in the grand foyer called Groove.  It was supposed to features songs of the 60’s, but the songs weren’t actually from that decade.  Instead, they were 60’s themed songs like “Welcome to the 60’s” from Hairspray and the theme song to Austin Powers.  You need to arrive early if you want to get a good spot to see the show, especially since you are not allowed to sit on the stairs since they use them as part of the performance.  I thought it was a lot of fun, especially being so up close to the action!  I guess this is how people feel when they gets seats at the front of the theater for the main shows haha

Singing “Welcome to the 60’s”

There are no lyrics to the theme song from Austin Powers, so they only had the dancers performing.  In case you don’t know what I am talking about, this is the theme song: 

As you can see from all the people lining the railing upstairs, the show was very well attended.  It lasted about 20 minutes, then they invited everyone to join them on the dance floor.  We took that as our cue to leave, and went back to the cabin to rest up for tomorrow in Curacao!

Step Tracker Daily Total:  12,467 steps; 4.703 miles