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Bonaire thoughts?


Lovestotravel

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We will be on FOS in May 2020 and doing the ABC islands, plus St. Marteen.  Thinking of doing excursions on Aruba (ATV tour) and St. Marteen  (Speedboat tour) for sure.  Any thoughts on not booking anything for Bonaire and just finding non-excursion activities to do on our own?  In other words, would that be a good island to not formally plan anything for? Think we will do the same for Curacao. 

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16 hours ago, Lovestotravel said:

We will be on FOS in May 2020 and doing the ABC islands, plus St. Marteen.  Thinking of doing excursions on Aruba (ATV tour) and St. Marteen  (Speedboat tour) for sure.  Any thoughts on not booking anything for Bonaire and just finding non-excursion activities to do on our own?  In other words, would that be a good island to not formally plan anything for? Think we will do the same for Curacao. 

Which sailing are you on in May?  I am on FOS departing May 31st.  We have yet to book anything so far.

 

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Bonaire is great for snorkeling and (especially) diving. Less to do in Bonaire than any other stop on that itinerary. Not much in the way of lazy day beaches and there isn't much to the town of Kralendijk. You might want to think of that port day as an opportunity to enjoy the ship with less crowds.

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Bonaire is an amazing place to dive or snorkel....but if you decide to do either, I strongly recommend you do it from a boat rather than from shore.  The beaches on Bonaire (the ones I’ve visited, anyway) are strewn with dead coral and rocks.  It’s just not what we know as “pristine” beaches.  Under the water ?  Beautiful.  The beaches...not so much

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We did a diving excursion in the morning and self explored on our own after lunch.  The town area is small with a few shops.

We had an 8pm sail away that allowed us some later afternoon beach time with a sunset.  The beach isn't big and it's very rocky in the water but it suited our purpose.

Coco Beach:

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We got off the ship and the local taxi company was offering a 2-hour tour for $25/person. We chose the south island option that took us to the salt flats, the slave houses, the light house, past flamingos and wild donkeys and included an option for time at the beach to extend the tour with no additional cost.  We had a sweet driver and really enjoyed the tour.

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11 hours ago, twangster said:

We did a diving excursion in the morning and self explored on our own after lunch.  The town area is small with a few shops.

We had an 8pm sail away that allowed us some later afternoon beach time with a sunset.  The beach isn't big and it's very rocky in the water but it suited our purpose.

Coco Beach:

fh5OjYw.jpg

Beautiful pics! 

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8 hours ago, mrp4352 said:

We got off the ship and the local taxi company was offering a 2-hour tour for $25/person. We chose the south island option that took us to the salt flats, the slave houses, the light house, past flamingos and wild donkeys and included an option for time at the beach to extend the tour with no additional cost.  We had a sweet driver and really enjoyed the tour.

That is a good idea.  We did like the idea of seeing the Flamingos, so weren't sure how to do that without an "excursion". 

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On 10/25/2019 at 7:41 PM, Lovestotravel said:

That is a good idea.  We did like the idea of seeing the Flamingos, so weren't sure how to do that without an "excursion". 

If you love flamingos, you might consider getting a room at the Renaissance Aruba right by the port.  They have a private island available to guests that has a small (5-7) flock of wild flamingos who have figured out that living the rock star life on that island is very, very good for them. LOL!  They are very comfortable near people and the island is absolutely amazing!!  This isn't my site - but it's one that I used while researching our day there.  https://www.myfoodandhappiness.com/5-reasons-to-visit-flamingo-beach-aruba/

They do offer day-of day passes, but only if the resort occupancy is below some magic number (they want to ensure the island is not crowded and crazy). For us, we decided it was worth reserving a room for the night to ensure we had access.  We noted on the reservation that we were arriving around 9am via cruise ship.  it was a pleasant surprise that the room was ready for us (although if it hadn't been, it would not have been an issue, all we had was our standard beach day bag.

Another benefit - our room was ready when we were done at the island, so we all stopped and used the full-size, normal shower. which was such a treat after the tiny ship-board shower!

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