DAY 8--KRANLENDIJK, ISLAND OF BONAIRE

Historical/Background Info:
        Bonaire lies just 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela (NNE of Caracas) on the continental shelf of South America, so geologically, it is a part of South America.  It is a small island (only 114 sq miles)in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea.  It is a Dutch island that is part of the “ABC” island group consisting of: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.  We are docked today at it’s capital city, Kralendijk.  The island’s population is approximately just 17,400.
        The earliest inhabitants were the Caquettio Indians who came by canoe from Venezuela around 1000 AD.  Spanish conquerors showed up here in 1499 but decided in 1515 that the ABC islands were worthless so forcibly deported the natives to work as slaves in the Santo Domingo copper mines.  In 1526 a Spanish commander was appointed over the ABC islands and he introduced livestock from Spain to the islands and even brought back some of the deported Indians.  Seems the Spanish thought that Bonaire could be a cattle plantation worked by the native Indians.  Starting in 1623 ships of the Dutch West India Company started stopping here to obtain meat, water, and wood.  Of course the Spanish and Dutch did not get along so fought from 1568 to 1648 in what is called “the eighty years war”.  Bonaire was conquered by the Dutch in 1636 and built Fort Oranje.  It became a plantation of the Dutch West India Company.  At the same time nearby Curacao became the center of the slave trade.  During the early 1800’s the British gained control of Bonaire but the ABC islands were returned to Dutch control in 1814.  During the 1800’s the island was a government plantation.  Most of the land was sold in 1867 and was controlled by two large landowners which caused a great deal of suffering.  As a consequence, many people fled to Aruba, Curacao, and Venezuela.  During WWII after the Germans invaded the Netherlands, Bonaire became a protectorate of the US and Britain.  We built an airport which was used an Air Force base.  After the war the economy here began to develop and salt pans were used to dry salt water to produce salt for export in industrial uses.  An oil terminal was opened here in 1975.  Oil from Venezuela is stored and shipped from here.  There are refineries on Aruba and Curacao.  In 1951 the first hotel was opened and tourism has been the dominant industry here ever since.  The island is great for scuba divers and snorkelers as the water is so clear and the visibility is over 100 feet.  Over 350 species of fish have been recorded along with 57 species of coral.  Other activities are wind surfing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, sailing, ocean fishing, and bird watching.  Over 15 cruise lines make more than 80 calls per season.
Last Night:
We joined our friend, Susanne, for a cocktail in the Horizon Lounge before dinner.  Rebecca and I dined in Compass Rose.  As always, everything was delicious.  The Food & Beverage Director stopped by our table to say hello and ask how the food and service was going.  Daniela was recently promoted to F&B and we are so thrilled for her.  We first met her on our 2012 South America cruise where she was Head Sommelier.

                                                                      Daniela

                                                                    Key Lime Pie
What We Did Today:
We docked here today at 9:00 am.  The Carnival Sunshine cruise ship arrived at the same time.

 This deck area will look a lot different tonight as it will be transformed into "Dinner Under the Stars"

                                 Market area right as I walked off dock and into downtown.

                                            This dog was taking snooze on stage.

                                                   Local guy cooking chicken.

My tour today was named, "The Washikemba Reserve by ATV".  There were 8 of us (maximum number allowed) on the tour.  First we boarded a school bus for ride out of the town.

Then we transferred to this smaller van which took us out in the desert like part of the island.  It is a very dry, flat, wind swept island.  Totally unlike the other volcanic islands we have been visiting so far.

 We finally came to the staging area for our ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) part of the tour.

                                      As you can see there are lots of cactus on Bonaire.

         Here comes the previous tour folks back.  We will be using the same vehicles.

 This is our guide for the excursion.  He was very well spoken and knowledgeable.  He is giving us a short safety briefing.  He had 3 rules for us to follow and #3 was to follow #1 & #2.

                            "Saddling up" with helmets which were quite comfortable actually.

                                                Here is "Evil Kieval" Weiler

                                           And off we go for a 1 1/2 hour ride.

              Our first stop was at the old Spelonk Lighthouse on the eastern coast of the island.

                      The lighthouse was build in 1910 and is maintained as a landmark.

 This was the land owner/lighthouse keepers house which is not being maintained as you can see.

One should not drink 3 glasses of iced tea for lunch prior to this tour.  That is rule #1.  Rule #2 is if you do find a private place to take a piss, do not piss into the rather strong wind.

 Our next stop was at a cave.  There are several on the island and this is the smallest.  The Arawak Indians lived in them back in 11th and 12th centuries.  There is writings on the ceilings but no one knows what they say.

                                         There were several hermit crabs at entrance.

                                                     Pretty greenish colors

 The paths we followed were VERY rough.  Not sure how these ATV's hold up doing several tours each day.

We returned to the ship at 4:00 pm.  This was a great excursion and I had a blast.  First thing I did upon getting back to the suite was take a nice shower.  I then spent 2 1/2 hours putting these photos on the blog.  SLOW downloading!!

 This evening was to be "Dinner Under the Stars", a buffet up on pool deck.  Well, despite the clear skies weather forecast, it started to rain at 6:30 right when it started.  I feel so bad for the hard working food & beverage crew who worked hard setting this up.  They are now taking it under cover. I ran up to take these photos.  The wind was blowing the table clothes and it was starting to rain.  We never dine up there.  We like air conditioning!!  Our dinner will be in Compass Rose as usual.

 We dined in Compass Rose and I had the baked oysters.  Ok, I had 3 orders of them as they were sooo good.

           We both had prime rib but with a shared lobster thermidor.  OMG, so good!

Tonight was "Beatles Night" with Jamie and the Jean Ann Ryan cast singing all the old Beatles favorites in the theater.  I even got into it and danced several tunes with the lovely, Rebecca.  Seemed like everyone really enjoyed it.

Ok, I just uploaded the Beatles photos onto the blog.  It took 2 minutes per photo.  I know some Regent execs are reading this blog.  This is totally unacceptable.  I am spending way too much time uploading photos on the blog.  Four hours per day is too much!  I would like to enjoy the cruise.