Caribbean Court 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.

This was the day that Linda had cleverly scheduled herself to start the PADI Open Water Diver certification course at the Carib Inn. Unfortunately, since we got in so late the night before, we had no time to orient ourselves. We had no idea where the Carib Inn was, what time Linda was supposed to be there, and whether we were going to be able to stay awake for any extended period of time ...

... 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.

Today is our last day in Bonaire.  It is also Paul's birthday.

We had a leisurely morning and then headed off to the northern end of the island. We started out on the western coast, checking out the rough entrances for the dive sites along there.  At one site, Karpata, I angered an iguana by getting too close to it (I hadn’t noticed he was there) and he chased us all back to our truck.  It must have been quite a site to see a moderate-sized ...

... Again, this dive site is incredible!

We then got all of the dive gear washed, cleaned up ourselves, and rested at the condo.  The rest of the afternoon consisted of trinket shopping and a wild-goosechase attempt at finding a blowhole on the eastern coast of the island.

Tonight we had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Cactus Blue.  Emily and I had very tasty grilled 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 ...

... a few minutes, a rainbow could be seen in the background. The houses are painted in bright colours

Along the shore, she pointed to us various points of interest such as sights as Devil's Mouth which is a big hole in the mountain. Another sight was 1,000 Steps which are actually steps leading down to the ocean. A lot of divers use these steps.

The ocean along the drive was a majestic ...

... quelques photos et comme je m'apprêtais à la filmer, une chaloupe à moteur est arrivé et elle est plongée. Mais comme l'eau est tellement claire et limpide, on a pu la voir descendre jusqu'au fond! Comme l'Emerald s'éloignait des côtes de Bonaire, je ne pouvais que penser à trouver un moyen d'y revenir... cette île est bien différente des autres, pas vraiment le rêve de bien des touristes, mais pour moi aussi ça ressemble bien à un petit ...

I left you for the last of boring days in Curacao. We spent them doing all our administration, some shopping and swimming. AND: we are going to Singapore and Australia: Dr T booked!!! We leave Belgium the 17th of September. Hans takes us to the airport. We have a birthday coming up, so we go to the post office at the airport. 'Express, please.' 'Cannot, my scanner is broken. But you can go to another post office.' Sure, we will take a taxi to the city ...