Rather than eating at the buffet, Bob and I went to the International Cafe for breakfast. The International Cafe is located next to the central Piazza on the ship and has a coffee shop as well as pastries for breakfast. Later in the day you can grab small sandwiches, salads, etc.
The guys had a diving day planned and Laurel and I had booked a snorkeling tour with Woodwind Sail & Snorkel so when the ship docked at Bonaire, we parted ways. Woodwind had a booth right by the pier and Laurel and I checked in with them and then followed directions to walk down the road to the resort where their catamaran was docked. As soon as we arrived, the crew was passing out glasses of juice while we waited for the rest of our group to show up.
Once on the catamaran, more drinks were offered. We sailed past the Emerald on our way to the snorkeling destination…Klein Bonaire…a small island just off the coast of Bonaire.
The reef around Klein Bonaire...
Dee (the owner) and her crew made sure everyone was outfitted with snorkel gear and helped get the masks defogged. Although Laurel has her own equipment, Dee offered her a prescription mask to use which she appreciated.
Dee went through very detailed safety instructions and divided us up into three different groups. A professional photographer was also onboard who went into the water with us.
The water was quite choppy and at one point a small squall came through with a little extra wind and rain. Look closely...can you see the top of the Emerald above the waves?!
The reef around Bonaire is protected and in much better shape than most places we have snorkeled. A professional photographer was with us as we snorkeled and we had the option of purchasing a CD of her photos afterwards (which we did.) Laurel also had her new underwater camera so between the two we have an abundance of snorkeling photos!
For quite some time, we followed a turtle and the professional photograher got some outstanding shots. In fact, I picked this next photo to use on my Visa credit card!
Dee was with our group and would dive down and point out things of interest. In this next photo, she saw the school of fish and swam down and carefully "herded" the fish so the others in the group could see them.
A sea frog!
When we got back onboard we found out that when it had started raining the crew ran around the boat grabbing everyone’s belongings and putting them below deck to stay dry…how nice! As we sailed back to shore, the crew kept bringing out more drinks and all sorts of yummy snacks.
Laurel and Dee:
Once back on shore, Laurel and I walked back to the ship and cleaned up a bit. The guys hadn’t returned from their diving yet so we left them a note and headed back onshore to do a little shopping.
Across the street from the pier there were some vendors with tables set up selling a variety of souvenir items. We browsed through those and then headed down the street popping in and out of the various shops.
In the end my only purchase was salt…yes…salt. Bonaire is known for their salt production and one of the sellers had packets of table salt for sale…both coarse and fine ground. A great gift for my adult sons! At the same stand they were selling packets of bath salts. I bought several different fragrances to take home to my daughter-in-laws. Little did I know what trouble this salt would cause me later…
We were back on board before the guys returned from their diving that they had booked with VIP Diving. Bonaire is one of the top diving locations in the world and it did not disappoint!
Before going to dinner we got a few photos of the island at twilight and also Woodwind's catamaran dropping off the passengers from the afternoon snorkel tour.
The Emerald sailed from Bonaire at 7:00 pm headed for our last port…Aruba.
Bobby Brooks Wilson, feeling better after having canceled his show a couple of nights ago, entertained us in the Princess Theater.
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