The excursion I was most anticipating on this trip was a kayaking tour of a mangrove forest in Bonaire. It was lovely—an informative and fun tour guide named Kim, lots of sunshine and a nice breeze to keep us from getting too hot, paddling along through tunnels of mangrove roots that open into hidden lagoons and ultimately the protected lake that sustains the forest. Unfortunately, I have no photos. I don’t have a waterproof camera, and I didn’t think to ask if it would be possible to bring a camera with me on the kayak, so I left my good camera on the ship. It turns out that the tour company loans out dry bags, so I could have taken the camera long. Oh well, the kayaking will have to be a memory that Mark and I share only between ourselves. You can look at some of their photos on their website.
After we returned to the ship from our kayaking adventure, we had a quick lunch and then went for a walk in the town, Kralendijk. (Don’t ask me how to say that.) Again, most of what was available to us were touristy shops—less bling but still a lot of low-end stuff—and again, it was really hot in the sun, so Mark gave it the obligatory hour and then headed back. I stayed out for a little while longer and got some nice shots of flowers and in the town. I never made it to the town center, though, because our stay on Bonaire was shorter than our other two stops, and I didn’t want to run out of time. (It didn’t seem to bother some other people, though. We were supposed to be all aboard by 4:30, but at 4:45, some guys were still sauntering in as if they didn’t have a care in the world or 3,000 people waiting on them to cast off. If there hadn’t also been an excursion arriving late, I think the captain might have left without the stragglers.)
Here are some photos of Bonaire. Of the three islands, I would most like to investigate this one most. Funny how that is since I’d never heard of the place six weeks ago.
Nature:
City:
(I loved this folk art hanging on the wall around someone’s yard!)
Where the two meet:
[Editor’s note: This is my last post. The return journey was uneventful other than hanging out with the guys we met—including two new ones from Mississippi, Kevin and Steve, who were hilarious—and finishing up Krakatoa, which was fascinating and informative but didn’t succeed in conveying the sheer horror of the explosion and the people who lived (and died—more than 36,000 of them) through the event.]