Cyndany Lodge 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.

... 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 ...

... we enjoyed a spectacular vista of Klein Bonaire, the southern part of the island and the port could be seen in the landscape with our rising ship.

We made our way back to the ship at 12:00pm. The ship left Bonaire at 1:00pm. It was a short visit but I was happy having had the pleasure of touring the entire island. As for the landscape, it has a little bit more hills than its neighbour ...

... salt industry. Many were rounded up and are now cared for in a special preserve. Others graze on the open land, still wild.
-- Reclaiming salt from the ocean was a big industry in the 1800s and is still carried on today.
-- Slaves lived in tiny huts while working on the shore then traveled great distances to be with their families back in the towns on the island.
-- Fences constructed of cactus which is very plentiful dot the island.

... pris un taxi pour nous rendre à une plage publique en avant-midi. Et comme nous sommes vendredi saint, il s'agit d'un long week-end pour les gens de la place. Plusieurs en profitent donc pour aller faire du camping sur la plage... En effet, les autorités permettent aux habitants de faire du camping sur les plages publiques... La plage est belle mais comme c'est assez venteux, il s'agit d'une plage parfaite pour ceux qui veulent faire de la planche à voile. Aux ...

We are at our diving site around 10. It does say difficult entry and exit but well, we can handle it. NOT!!! Coming out, the waves are tossing us back and forth, like balls in the ocean. At a certain point in time, when the water reaches your waist, you have to stand up, take off you fins, put on you flip-flops and walk to the shore. We stand up. The waves are pulling us down. Again. And again. I see Hubby is doing better than me. I do not manage to stand on my feed ...

... No more Alke office at the airport. There USED to be one but ... . Very unsuccessful so far! Check-in OK. We wait for our flight. And wait. It is past the departure time and the gate flick from 'on time' to 'departed'. Help! No, it did not leave yet, it is delayed with an hour. We wait. And wait. It is past the delayed departure time and the gate flicks from 'delayed till...' to 'departed'. No panic this time. We leave 1,5 hours late and 40 minutes ...

... president calling the Americans allsorts but when we went to change the station he was on every one of them !! I am off to the airport and on the Caracas and Lima tonight. There have been some problems with a Columbian visa so I am changing the plan a bit and going to Lima for a few days, then Quito where I will apply for the visa and will spend the three week wait, going to the Galapagous islands, the rainforest and learning some Spanish ...