We pulled up to Bonaire at 7a and would depart from the island at 1p, which my husband and I were fairly upset about because we like to spend a little more time on islands and who in the world can get up early enough to be off the ship at 7a!

Bonaire is one of those Caribbean islands that is not quite a tourist trap.  It still has some of its own charm, but has made a few strides to provide the extensive shopping that most cruisers require.

Right outside the port, there were a number of taxis waiting to take you on 2-hour tours to the north side of the island, the south and to a beach for $25 per person.  There were bikes you could rent for $15 and these cute little two seater cars (with a scooter motor) for $75.  Those things were pretty neat, but the guy rented the last one as we were walking up.  About a ¼ mile from the port, there was a small straw market (but not a bad one) with tables set up for local vendors to sell their wares and art.  I would say that 1/3 of the tables contained nice things – glass art, jewelry, watercolors – and then there were your standard $5 items – jewelry, stuffed animals, magnets, and other cheap stuff.  There was a small strip of shops; again, some that catered to the nicer crowd and some for the bargain hunters (there was a vendor that kept yelling Liquidation Sale!).

Closer to the ocean, there was a nice boardwalk that probably went on for a mile or so.  Along it, there was the beautiful, turquoise ocean.  Coral, not beach, lined the boardwalk, but there were tons of fish and small boats that had anchored along the way.  On the other side of the street, there were some shops and houses.  Again, this place is not overrun by tourist traps and that's what we loved.  A guy walking behind us on the boardwalk kept complaining that the place “had about as much charm and sophistication as a box car” or that the boardwalk “obviously wasn't planned by a professional” because  the palm trees weren't equidistant and the benches weren't made of teak.  For us, come just the way you are.  The fact that they DIDN'T have big, glitzy tourist trap places made it that much better for us.  He couldn't stay there for 6 days, but we could have stayed for 6 months.

On our walk, we did see that there were water taxis to Klein Beach, which is an uninhabited island within view of Bonaire.  There were 2 hour trips, but unfortunately, we didn't have time.  After we walked around for a few hours, we were at a loss because we didn't have enough time to go anywhere far, but we had pretty much covered what was there, and 1030 was a little too early for beers.  So, back on the ship to watch us leave a very beautiful port and one which I had wished we had more time in.