Bonaire

We don’t arrive until noon and I had ordered breakfast for this morning. It is nice to take our time today.  Bernie gets coffees and I stay in waiting for housekeeping to arrive as our safe is acting up again.  Twice this trip it has been locked up preventing us from opening it.  Housekeeping supervisor attends to us quickly and fixes the problem.

Our voice mailbox does not work either.  It did not work last cruise either (different cabin). This time we did mention it to them.  Usually not a big issue but our friends tried to call and leave a message yesterday that they could not.

Today we are renting a golf cart ashore so we can go all around the island and stop when we want and snorkel, swim and sun tan.  The company we have booked the golf cart with is Bonaire Cruisers Golf Rentals.

We actually dock early and we wait for the crowds to head off first.  I am guessing we were off around 11:30.

When I reserved the golf cart I was told to meet the representative at the tent areas to the left of the new pier. He was very helpful with directing all of us the office which was a five minute walk away.

They require you to have a driver’s licence and be 19 years and older. You have to leave a $100 deposit and pay the $90 rental.  We paid with credit card. Grabbed a map, got our cart and we are off. 

The cart was easy to drive, room for two people and a bit of storage in a basket. Note it is very windy when driving so make sure you have everything closed or tied down.

We head the North route first stopping along the way for pictures.

We stop and snorkel at a spot. It was necessary to bring water shoes as the rocks (which are actually broken coral) are hard to walk on.

We drove up to lake Gato and took pictures of all the flamingos.  

On the way back we stop in the other town on Bonaire (Rincon). We stop occasionally to give some of the kids Canadian tattoos.  Amazing how no matter the language kids love the temporary tattoos.

When we arrive back in Kralendijk we notice a lot of the roads are closed off.  Today is the kids Carnival parade.  So driving thru the town is a bit of a challenge but we manage.  Thankfully it is a Sunday.  Locals are lining the streets waiting for the parade to start.

We drive past the airport and the beach there called Windsock that we once snorkelled at and really enjoyed.
  

The nice thing about having a golf cart is you can stop wherever you want and get out easily and back on the road.  Even just pulling to the side of the road to take pictures is easy.

We go all around the South End and it is just after 5 pm when we return the cart.  Again some of the roads were blocked off when getting back into town but staff from the office were driving ATV around the town and helping us get back thru the road closures.

Overall we really enjoyed the golf cart and the freedom it gave. Getting to see the entire island was what we wanted.  We have been here around ten times prior and we have seen parts of it but this time we saw it all.  

The next time we would probably see less but stop and snorkel more.

Back on board we head to the cabin and shower and get ready.

ice sculpture for Superbowl

Tonight is Super Bowl and a lot of venues are hosting parties.  Club 6, Vista Lounge, Movies Under the Stars (which was the busiest).  Lot of tailgate foods, drink specials and games.

But we are not football fans so we enjoy the tranquility of the rest of the ship.  We get some wine in Vines and meet up with Dylan and Ben and decide to see if we can get into the Crown Grill.

No problem.  We are sat at a booth.  It is 8:30 and the place has a sprinkle of tables.

The meal was amazing!  And the company even better.