Bellafonte Chateau de la Mer Bonaire

... abundant coral at Karpata and Red Slave, the rugged countryside, accidentally finding the nudist resort near Jibe city, our hotel, Coral Paradise, and the nice hosts.

Next time we come: Rent a house with friends and bring Dori. Visit the Donkey sanctuary. Go on a night dive or snorkel (or both!) Dive more. Find the fruit boat.

... tried to call them, but that didn't work, so we hopped in the car and asked a bunch of people until we found the place.

Turns out we got there in time. Rusty joined us in the morning for a refresher and then went out on a boat dive in the afternoon. Two sweet girls were in my class with me. Claire and Haley, the oldest of 5 kids, were 12 and 14 years old. They had been snorkeling ...

... juvenile spottet drum, store baracudaer, flere forskellige moræner og smukt farvede svampe samt koraller på pillerne. Lidt vildt var det dog også - godt vi havde guide med :-)

Derudover har vi lejet en bil og på det nærmeste kørt øen tynd. Bl. a. var vi på rundtur i en stor nationalpark, hvor mange flamingoer flokkedes tæt ved os. Sidst men ikke mindst fandt vi en skøn lille strand, hvor vi nød det tyrkise vand i fulde drag.

Saa staar den da for alvor paa daaaaaaaas! Vi har faaet en super lejlighed med direkte udsigt til det caribiske hav ca. 15-20 m vaek. Det er helt perfekt! I dag tog vi en baad til "Klein Bonaire" som er en ubeboet oe der ligger en 30 min. sejltur fra Kralendijk. Her er den fineste strand og vi snorklede rundt mellem en masse fantastiske fisk, og saa ellers hjem paa altanen til oel, chips og solnedgang.... aaaah livet er god til os.

... running off the three of us! 

From there we went to the Washington Slagbaii National Park.  This is located at the northern end of the island.  We drove through on the park’s dirt road, looking at a bazillion cacti and lizards.  There also are flamingoes!  They nest and feed here on the island, which is apparently one of only two Caribbean nesting sites.  We ate a picnic lunch on one of the beaches in the park.  The surf on the north end ...

... taking our gear apart, Paul’s tank with all of the gear still attached fell off the back of our rental truck.  Didn’t really think much of it at the time.

With the loss of Paul’s albuterol inhaler the other day, we figured we only had one more dive for the day.  We decided to go back to our favorite site, Tori’s Reef, since it has an easy entry and amazing fish ...

... activities for tourists are shopping around the port, snorkeling/diving (some of the best) and kayaking. We took an excursion through Princess cruises ($75). It was aprox 3 hours. We were taken on a small bus to the Mangrove area in Lac Bay. http://www.mangrovecenter.com/ From there we were given a brief educational lecture about the Mangroves and subsequent ...

... of the hot weather, Bonaire has for decades been a major producer of sea salt. It is also the home of pink flamingos.

Shaped like a rough crescent, the island is quite small being 24 miles long and 7 miles wide at its farthest point. There are 15,000 inhabitants on the island. The official language is Dutch, English and Spanish are widely spoken. It belongs to the Netherlands. The island ...

... encore une fois brûlant... de retour au quai pour rencontrer ma guide de snorkeling, je vois Mariette installée sur le pont promenade! Elle descend un peu pour voir mes achats (T-shirts...), et attends avec moi. A 15h00 Renée, de Renee Snorkeling, me rencontre comme prévu sur le quai. Renée est une dame probablement dans la cinquantaine d'Afrique du sud. Elle habite Bonaire depuis 19 ans. Elle et feu son mari sont parti de Cape Town pour faire ...

... beach, so we go ... side seeing. Did not expect that, did you? There is a nature park in the north of the island. It is not far but the roads are very bad here. We drive all the way up, to discover that: the park is closed due to rain. OK, it did rain but not bad. What do you do but drive of. We drive to the west coast and go for a stroll. Hi, little guy: a lizard, they are everywhere! Dr T checks out the caves. And the cacti. An Aloe cactus plant: mind you: they ...