Bonaire

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

When we booked this cruise I was excited that Bonaire was to be one of the ports included on the itinerary. The first thing I did after making the cruise deposit was to contact Woodwind Snorkel to book a tour. I had done this excursion in 2013 and was amazed at the beautiful coral and abundance of fish and sea life that we saw. One of the best tours ever! I even have a framed photo of a turtle that we saw and used another of my turtle pictures as the photo on my Visa credit card. 

This was an actual photo taken when I snorkeled in Bonaire in 2013.
I used a photo editing program to make it look like it was done in colored pencil.

The Eurodam docked early as Bob and I watched on the bow camera TV station. I was disappointed to see that the ship was at the north pier which meant a longer walk to get to where we would board the catamaran for our snorkel tour. Some sort of cargo ship was docked at the southern pier and it looked like they were unloading sand into big dump trucks to haul off the ship.

This is the ship that was docked at the south pier.

Since we had such an early start we had ordered room service for breakfast. When we filled out the menu Bob filled in that there were two of us ordering and then proceeded to put an ❎in the box next to each item we wanted. For me it was the All American Breakfast which had eggs, sausage, bacon and hashbrown potatoes. I added a piece of toast and some sliced fruit and coffee. Bob ordered a bowl of Raisin Bran. No regular milk was on the menu so he requested soy milk. Also some yogurt and pastries. Luckily I had gotten up before my alarm went off. I had requested the breakfast be delivered around 6:45 but it was 6:25 when we got the knock on the door. I assume we should have specified a number next to each item (rather than the X) because we got double eggs breakfasts, double fruit and double toast. 

We met Jon and Michelle at the end of the gangplank at 7:20 and began the walk to the Divi Flamingo Resort where we would board a catamaran for the tour. The distance was further than I wished we had to walk, but we still made it there before the meeting time of 7:45 am.

There were quite a few people signed up for the tour, including a few from our ship plus others who were staying on the island. When we boarded the catamaran, we had the choice of sitting in the front or the back. They suggested not going inside the cabin because it would be stuffy and make people more prone to sea sickness.

Michelle and I waiting for the tour to begin.

The narrow walkway around the cabin was hard to navigate,
especially when the boat was rocking & rolling!

The four of us headed to the front part of the boat which was no easy feat. The walkway around the cabin was narrow and I was afraid I was going to lose my balance but I made it. Immediately after we left the dock, crew members came around and offered everyone something to drink and then started checking for who would need snorkel equipment. Jon, Michelle and Bob had all of their gear. I had my own mask and snorkel, but asked to borrow a pair of fins. Everyone was divided up into several small groups and assigned to one of the crew members who would lead the group while snorkeling.

Calvin, our group leader

Getting to the first snorkel stop took about 30 minutes of rough sailing. On the way we spotted large schools of flying fish jumping out of the water in unison. It isn't uncommon to see flying fish, but I had never seen so many together! 

When we reached the snorkeling stop near the island Klein Bonaire ("Little Bonaire in Dutch) we made our way to the back of the boat where we put on our snorkel equipment and jumped into the water. The water was fairly deep which made it more difficult to see the coral and fish near the bottom. After not snorkeling for six years, I felt claustrophobic using the mask and snorkel. I managed to keep up with the others in our group but was disappointed in the coral condition. It was not the vibrant coral that I remembered from the last time. 

When we got back on the boat we headed to where we would have the 2nd snorkel stop. On the way the crew came around serving sweet breads and fresh fruit. Michelle and I both decided to stay on the boat at the next stop so Jon and Bob went in without us.

The wind speeds had increased as the morning went on and the ocean swells as well. When everyone was back on the boat, the crew came around serving the hot lunch that was included in the tour. This was an Asian noodle dish which was quite tasty but nearly impossible to eat in the wind. Since we were sitting in the front of the boat, we were taking the full brunt of the wind and every time I tried to take a bite, the noodles would fly off my fork! It was very frustrating but eventually just became funny! I was sitting right in front of the mast and by the time I was finished eating 80% of my meal was stuck to the boat. Dessert was a small piece of chocolate cake that I did manage to get into my mouth.

Noodles were flying everywhere!

When we got back to the dock I showed our group leader my credit card that had the photo of a turtle taken on my previous tour. He admitted things have changed in the last 12 years and that the coral was not in great shape anymore.  😞 We paid for our tour and walked back to the ship.

The Eurodam had a lot of distance to cover to get back to Ft. Lauderdale by Saturday which meant we left Bonaire by 3:00 pm. The guys went to play pickleball and after showering I met up with Michelle in the art center for the "doodles class". The location on deck 11 at the front of the ship made for a great place to watch as the ship sailed away from Bonaire. While we were there the captain made his daily announcement and mentioned that the norovirus cases were diminishing and were down to single digits. That was reassuring and hopefully meant that all of the precautions were paying off.

Kralendijk, Bonaire

When Bob and Jon finished playing pickleball they met us in the Crow's Nest and we played a round of the card game, Hand & Foot before going back to our cabins to get ready for dinner. It was Dutch Night in the dining room but rather than going with the traditional dishes, I ordered Bami Gorang which was a spicy noodle dish (my second plate of Asian noodles for the day!) It was borderline spicy for me, but I ate it and enjoyed it! 

The "Orange Party" was scheduled for later in the evening by the lido pool and many people had donned their orange attire for dinner. (I wish I had taken a photo of the sea of orange clothing in the dining room!)  

The main theater entertainment was the second performance by Island Magic, the steel drum band. This time instead of classical and show tunes, they performed music by popular artists such as John Denver, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, etc. I enjoyed the music, but was tired enough that I had to fight to stay awake.

Cruise director, Valerie, introducing Island Magic

Island Magic...our neighbors on Deck 4! 😉

None of us were interested in attending the Orange Party so instead we played one more hand of our card game and then called it a night.