Our Caribbean cruise from Barbados

Today we are on Bonaire, the first of the three ABC Islands. After breakfast, we went to the Lumas Bar, the meeting point for our 'Mangrove Tubing Safari with Swimming Stop' excursion. We were a small group of 12 people, which corresponds to the maximum number of people per boat.

On the way to the buses, there was of course a short photo stop with the photo team. Then we continued to our vehicle. It was an old Unimog from the German Bundeswehr. The inflatable boat was attached to a trailer. We climbed up onto the vehicle using a step ladder. On Bonaire, it was very windy, and the wind while driving was intense. Since I didn't have sunglasses on, I had to squint my eyes frequently. Hats should also be taken off in advance, otherwise they will fly away. The ride to Lac Bay didn't take very long.

There, the boat was unloaded and launched. In the meantime, we put on our water shoes. We were not allowed to take our bags on the boat. The items were locked in the box of the trailer. From our point of view, it was not secure, as we could see a large hole in the bottom of the box. One man complained loudly about it. The guide noticed it, but since he only spoke English and couldn't understand him, he asked if there was a problem. The man, however, chose not to say anything anymore. Then everyone received a life jacket, and the guide showed us how to get into the boat.

Everything went well, no one fell into the water. Then we drove along the beach towards the mangroves. When we arrived there, we drove about 300 meters inside, and then the guide stopped the boat and turned around. He told us something about the mangroves and that he was not allowed to go further with the boat. Hmmm... we had imagined it somewhat differently. It was somewhat disappointing. Then we went back to the beach.

There, the guide told us something about the large mussel piles and the different types of mangroves, until another man appeared and informed him that his boat was drifting away. He hadn't secured it properly. He left us and went out to the boat with the man and then let himself be towed back to the beach. When he returned, the Unimog had already arrived with a new load of guests. The guide said that we should now drive back to the ship with it. We asked about the swimming stop? No more time for that. Well, great. Lac Bay was really beautiful, we would have loved to go swimming there. But we went back.

On the way back, we saw a few flamingos and some houses with fences made of cacti. That is supposed to keep away foreign animals. All in all, it was an excursion that was not worth the money. We cannot recommend it. It's better to take a taxi to the beach, you get more out of it.

After lunch, we walked into town, Kralendijk. It's within walking distance. There is a market with souvenirs and, of course, many colorful houses. The shops already had nice things, but really expensive. Our fridge magnet, which we had bought in every port so far, was normally $3 to $4, and here it was $8. We met the couple from the forum meeting and arranged to meet them in the evening. We went to the promenade, where there was a huge flamingo figure made of various plastic parts (shoes, dolls, etc.) put together. It looked really cool.

Back on board, we found two loungers by the pool. We cooled off in the pool first. Then we had cocktails... mostly non-alcoholic ones... because they were also very tasty... and then a crepe with cherry sauce. Very delicious.

I had already pre-booked a relaxation lounge at sunset for 5:15 p.m. I had also googled in advance when the sunset would be there. We had booked the lounge for 2 hours and also received a bottle of water and wine and some snacks. The lounge cost 29€. You have to pick up the key for it at the spa reception.

The lady from the spa brought us to our lounge together with a bag containing the drinks and snacks. She left the key there, of course. We were actually planning to make ourselves really comfortable there, but it didn't work out at all. We got a lounge with a view towards the land side, and it was so windy there that everything flew away. There was no sun there either. After 15 minutes, I started to freeze, and my husband went back to the spa and asked for a lounge on the other side. After about 45 minutes, we were able to switch to a lounge on the other side. It wasn't windy there, and we had a view of the sun. We enjoyed being there with snacks and a glass of wine, watching the sunset. That's how it should be. My husband finally understood that this was exactly what I had booked. He wanted to ask later why we had been given a lounge on the other side in the first place. As the ship was leaving at 7 p.m., we watched the departure from up there. That was really great.

Afterwards, I went to the cabin to get ready for dinner. My husband returned the key to the spa. He mentioned the issue with the lounge again. They had no idea and didn't know what to do about it, and in a somewhat snippy manner. My husband didn't like that at all and wrote a written complaint. Later, we received a call saying that they would only charge us half price for the lounge. We thought that was fair, as we had only enjoyed it for half the time.

After dinner, we met the other couple as planned and went to the theater where the crew show was taking place tonight. We were a bit late and only got standing places. You could really feel the ship's movement there. The show was great.

Afterwards, we went to the Abtanz Bar to have a drink. We even danced a little. It was fun, but we couldn't stay long because we had an excursion planned for Curaçao tomorrow.

Next up is the report about Curaçao