Sonrisa Kralendijk

Our last day of snorkeling, and we saw an octopus! How cool. It wasn't hiding in a hole, either. We watched it launch itself from a rock, glide a few feet, and stick to the next one, over and over.<br><br>Reflecting on our favorites..... Last Bite Bakery, Gary, Linda's dive instructor at Carib Inn, pumpkin ravioli at Capriccios, diving ...

... 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. <br> <br>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 ...

... more challenging than usual.  The reef was nice, but the fish were not as abundant as they have been at some other sites.  (I think I have been spoiled by Tori&#8217;s Reef!)  Because Paul couldn&#8217;t come along at the last minute (we were in the water when he started having trouble breathing and headed back to the boat) and he had the dive computer and is our navigator, I was trying to navigate, keep track of depth, air, time, and Emily, and still take a few pictures.  We ...

... the rented underwater camera, fill up the rental truck with gas, and a return trip to the grocery store. Nothing too exciting.  We dropped off the food at the condo and went out exploring the southern end of the island.<br><br>We are staying on the western side of Bonaire near the south end of the island in a town called Bel Nem.  South of us you can find the salt pier, where they extract salt from the ocean and have large tracts of "crystallizers" where the water is ...

So this was my second time in Bonaire. The last time was back in 2000. I wanted to take Steve to experience kayaking through the Mangroves. I loved it the first time, and it didn't dissapoint the second time around.<br><br>Bonaire is part of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). Aruba is the more touristy brethern. Bonaire is small and very, very flat ...

... br><br>As for the rest of the day, we had a relaxing afternoon on the Caribbean Princess deck, eating, drinking and enjoying ourselves. In the evening, we had diner at our usual table with our beloved British friends. Afterwards, we watched some entertainment in the lobby before retreating to our room. Still have my patch behind my ear. So far so good. Lovely!<br><br>Thankful for rainbows.<br><br>Mo<br>

... seen a tiger shark in California; the south pacific had giant clams and impressive lionfish; Belize had really cool Caribbean lobsters; we saw several sea horses off of Saba further northeast in the Caribbean; and Ko Phi Phi in Thailand had amazing bubble coral and clown fish (Nemos). It's always fun and interesting. It's hard to pick a favorite dive spot, but Bonaire ranks right up with the best dive and snorkel spots I've experienced. I highly recommend it.

... like it that way. We rented a one-bedroom apartment in the small sweet town of Kralendijk which had a pool and a view of the bay and of the tiny island of Klein (Little) Bonaire. We rented a small 50 cc scooter which probably cost us about a dollar a day in gas and rode it all over the dry, desert ...

... The tour guide was fantastic, a very sweet and knowledgeable woman. She told us what it is like to live on the island, along with some personal stories. Bonaire has close ties with the Netherlands, and the official languages are Papiamento and Dutch (learned at school). The crime rate is very low - everyone in Bonaire takes care of each other like a big family, especially helping the children. Everyone in Bonaire has a job and ...

Gorgeous water! Lots of beautiful fish! All right off the back of the boat which was moored right off the shore of Kralendijk, Bonaire's major city. Thanksgiving with good friends, Karen and Jason of YOLO--and a great tour of the pretty island--with sights including pink flamingoes! All this and more made for a wondeful stop along the way.<br><br>Some other things of note: <br>-- A donkey farm and wild donkeys--Donkeys were used in the 1800s for the ...