Day 86: Bonaire

So much to tell you; so little energy. That's what always happens when we've had a fun and busy day, and even moreso when that day's been spent in the water. 

Our morning was at sea; our scheduled arrival in Kralendjik, Bonaire was noon. We did the usual...International Cafe for coffee and DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast with Joel and Erika. I had a goal this morning to do my nails...and it turned into a frustrating and time consuming activity. I was using Sally  Hansen nail strips in glitter for the first time; bad, bad, bad. 30 minutes after I applied them the corners were peeling off.  It was quite a disappointment after the non-glitter ones lasted two weeks without chipping, and I'll be placing a call to Sally Hansen on turnaround day to tell them all about it.  

I finished them up the best I could just before noon (three hours. I spent THREE HOURS!!), and pulled my snorkel gear out of the beach suitcase under the bed, applied at least 1/4 of a tube of sunscreen and then put a rash guard and swim skirt on over that. We were meeting Bob and Janet and Ross and Claudette to take a water taxi over to Klein Bonaire to snorkel ($20 round trip, leaves Bonaire on the hour and Klein Bonaire on the half hour). We enjoyed the best weather we've had all winter today in Bonaire, and this was the perfect day for snorkeling. The sun was bright and the wind was relatively mild (for Bonaire). 

We drift snorkeled over and over again, and on our last run saw an illusive sea turtle. 

Hungry and tired, we caught the 3:30pm water taxi back to Bonaire, and returned to the cabin to rinse the snorkel gear and shower. As much as I LOVE snorkeling on Bonaire, it leaves our cabin a wreck until everything drip dries. We were at the Michelangelo Dining Room for Dinner with Darko when it opened at 5:15pm and- joy of joys- it was Italian night!  Penne arrabiata with chicken and brocolli was the perfect meal after being in the water on a lunch-less day. We ate quickly and left the dining room by 6pm to go back on shore and take some photos of the Emerald Princess just before sunset.

Earlier in the day, we had seen some kids writing their names on the sidewalk in coral pieces. Fun!

Back on the ship at 6:30pm, we watched the beautiful sunset from the Promenade Deck as the Emerald Princess sailed... 

...and then returned to the Michelangelo Dining Room for dessert and coffee.  No entertainment for us tonight (production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie was in the Princess Theater; it's 70s night in Club Fusion)...all I want is fuzzy water and bed. 

First, though, and of interest only to future cruisers on the Emerald Princess, I must report in the demise of wine packages on this ship. They will not exist after this cruise, for how long I'm not certain. They could not keep all the wines on the wine list in stock, and passengers would get upset when, after purchasing the packages, their favorite wines were not available. I'll let you know if the packages are sold again, but if you'll be on the Emerald Princess in the near future, I wouldn't count on purchasing a wine package. 

Bonaire (continued)

Photo 1: looking back at No Name Beach on Klein Bonaire

Photo 2: the Woodwind returns from its snorkeling trip

Photo 3: the Emerald Princess in Kralendjik, Bonaire

Photos 4 and 5: Kralendjik at sailaway

A storm approaches

While I had my head underwater, G took this photo of an approaching storm. I was oblivious to it, until, suddenly, rain began pelting us. Bonaire has the sharpest, needle-like rain I've ever felt. We've been caught out in it before, a few years ago. This time, G was onshore (as were several others) with no shelter at all. He covered up with his Princess beach towel.

I continued to snorkel, totally unconcerned, and, frankly, enjoying the protection the water offered from that sharp rain, until I finally lifted my face from the water. The surface, which had just before been calm, was swelling and pushing me around. I looked back toward Bonaire and couldn't see a thing. In fact, I couldn't even see the beach. So I finally gave up and swam in

By the time the water taxi returned, the rain had stopped and the sun came back out. Everything we had with us was drenched, which, for the most part was not an issue, as we had just been in the water. But our beach towels were saturated, and we had nothing to dry off with, a particular hardship with glasses and sunglasses. Our towels must have weighed 10 pounds each. We returned right away to the ship and took long, hot showers and dressed for dinner.

Our cabin tonight looks like a laundry, with snorkel gear and wet clothes everywear. We had to lay all our money out on washcloths on the vanity to dry. It looked like we were counterfeiters.

But what a great day it was. This is the best snorkeling of the cruise, and it is among the best in this part of the world. I was thrilled.

Klein Bonaire

We arrived in Bonaire at noon (due to the distance from Grenada) and took the 1pm water taxi from Kralendjik to Klein Bonaire. The ride takes about 30 minutes. What they don't tell you (perhaps they can tell by looking at all of us carrying bags with snorkel gear that we're pretty hardy) is that you have to descend a ladder into about knee deep water to walk to the beach. Luckily, no one had any issues with that. The beach is not particularly pretty or wide, and is heavily dotted with broken coral. But the attraction here is what lies beneath the water.

Over and over again I would walk about 7 minutes down the beach, enter the water and put my mask, fins and snorkel on, pass through an opening in a wall of coral just below the surface of the water, and drift, snorkeling, back to where I started. The whole thing took about 30 minutes.

I did it four times. I love this place. The beauty underwater matches or surpasses anything above. I just can't get enough of it.

We would love to dive, but two-tank dives are costing over $100 per person. Today's snorkeling cost nothing; the round trip water taxi was $15 per person. It was a pretty good trade off.