The last of our Caribbean calls, Bonaire was arguably the best from some viewpoints, namely that it seemed cleaner and with zero graffiti, colourful buildings and a reasonable range of adjacent shops, plus an attractive wharf/quayside.
Once again, we woke to find we were already tied up at the dock. Movement whilst at sea is often so minimal, you really have no idea whether or not you are moving. Only at tender ports, when they are lowering the lifeboats, do you get woken by the noise of whirring winches. The township on Bonaire where the ship moored is in fact Kralendijk (definitely Dutch!) and after our usual leisurely breakfast, we had planned to meet Sue and Darryl down in the atrium.
A somewhat flustered Sue eventually appeared, having lost her cruise card. Typical timing, it was at that point that the ship’s computer system was being upgraded, so they couldn’t issue a new card… Some good work by Customer Services and Security allowed Sue off the ship anyway, with a promise that she’d be able to return OK. Darryl of course, was considering his options if she wasn’t allowed back. You’d have to know Darryl to understand that these included finding a leggy blonde to complete the journey…
Much was made of the pink flamingos in the area and we had pencilled that in as a destination. Once on shore, the tourist lady advised against it as most had already left the island, so we changed our plans. Sue and Darryl headed for the water taxi to “No Name Island” for some snorkelling and we ambled across the road into the nearest shop. The ladies in the shop were totally disorganised trying to find the right shoe to match the left that Paula liked and then they gave me the wrong directions, sending us away from town…
Having trudged around the block and found nothing, all civilisation being at the street parallel to the quayside, we settled on an ice cream which was excellent ($1.75 per scoop). If memory serves me correctly, that is considerably cheaper than Darwin.
We wandered along the main street with its colourful buildings then through the “Harborside” building to the sea front, where there were several bars. We spied Mike and Sue from our dinner table, relaxing. One bar however had a blackboard list of ‘shooters’ that included a rather derogatory description of a redhead and one with a naughty slang term that has no place on a public posting such as this, so sadly, the pic had to be edited. Just after we spied the notice, Sue and Darryl returned anyway, so naturally, Sue had her pic taken below the sign... We thought that at $8, she was selling herself too cheaply.
After our fruitless walk around the block in the heat, we returned to the ship ready for liquids and I had a welcome coffee whilst Paula played it safe with tea and a couple of small rolls.
Apparently Sue was escorted back onto the ship by a Security officer leading her by the arm – but we missed that photo opportunity.
After our 4pm sailaway, and the usual gathering on deck 11, we headed for the dining room for ‘afternoon tea’ just for a change. We appeared to be the only ones taking advantage at that late hour, so we were swamped by helpful waiters and waitresses with trays of savouries and small cakes, scones, jam and cream and pots of tea.
With one of the famous ‘Ultimate Deck Parties’ later on, Hawaiian shirts were the order of the day for dinner and the emu (Birdie) puppet made its first appearance of this trip. With the promise of the deck buffet at 10pm, I skipped dessert (as usual) but once on deck, we found that the buffet had been cancelled. Drat.
It was a bit noisy and rather warm, so after a short while, we headed for the cooler Wheelhouse bar, where just four couples had the dance-floor to ourselves.
Bed for us at 12.00, but for some, the excitement continued well into the night, so look out for part 2, as we head towards for the Panama Canal (or do we?) and another day at sea.
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