Bonaire

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Geo: 12.1508, -68.2787

We arrived in Bonaire under the cover of darkness. From our balcony I can see that we are moored in the small harbour of the main town, Kralendijk. Pronounced kral-en-dake. Small boats bob gently upon the clear Caribbean waters, Frigate birds ride the gentle winds that blow across us and over to Klein Bonaire, a small uninhabited island that sits a small boat ride away to the west.

We are only here from 7am to 2pm today and already people are leaving the ship to explore the island and the marine life that inhabit its surrounding waters. Although I enjoy snorkelling I would need a specialised mask because of my eyesight, or at least a pair I could wear over my glasses. As I don't we opt for an exploration of Kralendijk itself.

We breakfast first before heading ashore. We take some pictures of Serenade from the pier before heading into the town proper. We can tell this won't take too long as the town is very small. A small craft market has sprung up in the ships shadow. We stroll around and are amazed at the quality of some of the wares. Hand crafted jewellery, beautiful photos with frames of driftwood, hand painted palm leaves in the shape of tropical fish. There are no hard selling persistent hawkers we have come to expect on other Caribbean islands so it's a pleasant experience. From there we walk along the main street and back out onto the waterfront. We follow this for a short while. Even from here we can see a variety of marine life. Colourful parrot fish swim close to the shore as well as long pencil fish and other plainer looking fish.

We find a small bar that sits at the end of a small pier and enjoy some coffees as we watch the world go by. Locals and visitors turn up not by car but by small motor boats that they tie up at the pier and grab at table at the bar. All very chilled. It's certainly too hot and humid to do anything other than at a relaxed pace. We head back into town and venture into some gift shops, always on the lookout for a bargain or something that catches our eye. We come away empty handed but sure we will find something on the other islands we are visiting.

As its heading for midday we head back to the ship to grab an early lunch. The Windjammer is busy as usual but we find a table easily enough. Today's lunch is a salad followed by a pork curry which is very good. Once done we head to deck 5 with our books and read for an hour and also watch our fellow cruisers return from their tours.

We cast off a little after 2pm and slowly pull away from Kralendijk. We head southward at first, marvelling at the size of the salt mountains at Bonaires southern tip. From there we turn easterly at 18knots as we head toward Grenada our next port of call where we are scheduled to arrive tomorrow lunchtime.

We meet Angie, Bill, Ron & Lorna for some early drinks at the Schooner Bar before heading in to Giovannis for dinner. We have an excellent meal. We share Caprese Salad followed by a small pasta dish each. Mine is a penne with shrimp and scallops in a tomato sauce, which is very tasty. Peter's is Parpadelle with mushrooms and ham. Our main courses are fillet of Sole for me and veal tenderloins for Peter. We are jealous of each others choices but enjoy immensely. Peter follows my instructions and orders the Tiramisu for dessert. A wise choice.

We walk out of Giovannis stuffed but happy. We head back to our cabin as we intend to watch a late night movie on the big screen on the pool deck at 10.15. the Hunger Games, Mockingjay Part 2. I didn't particularly enjoy part 1 but figured the finale might be better. Not to be though. I had just got settled on a lounger when a member of staff came around to advise the big screen was not working but they were screening the film on Channel 24 on our cabin TVs. Hardly the same.

Instead we head to the Vortex nightclub which is very quiet. The clientele on this sailing are more likely to enjoy a tea dance than a rave and so we finish our drinks and head back to the cabin. Serenade continues her way through the night towards Grenada.

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