Port Rating:

Rincon, Mangazina di Rei, the second oldest stone building on Bonaire, and the view from Seru Largu. We also learned something about life on the island.

After the tour we enjoyed strolling around Kralendijk. We also looked for a geocaches.

Island Tour Rating:

Quick review: excellent tour guide named Gwen who spoke very clearly, informatively and was entertaining too; a so-so ride on a semi-submersible boat, very fair, equitable way of off-loading the bus (alternate sides getting off first at stops), and good stops. Naturally the stops could have been longer. Too much time for the boat part.

The tour began with a visit to the California lighthouse.

We were readily able to fulfill the requirements of the virtual cache there by taking a picture of me with GPS in hand, and the lighthouse in the background.

Then came the drive to the Palm Beach resort for the first of two boat rides, one to take us to the semi-submersible boat, and of course the ride on the

semi-submersible boat. We were there over an hour. About half that would have been fine, I think. To our surprise, the water was kind of murky, there were not all that many fish. The story about the ship was kind of interesting, it had been brought from Germany with the captain choosing to stay in Aruba rather than go back for the war.

Next came the drive to the Casibari Rocks. Here we were able to "find" the Casibari - Hooiberg earth cache.

We only had 20 minutes here. People were given the option of climbing the stairs to the top of the rocks, or not. Of course Jerry and I did it. Parts of the trail and steps up were uneven, and at one point involved bending and fitting through a short tunnel. It was pretty neat, actually. On top there are fantastic views all around. The way down was definitely down. Long, steep steps, but again really great.

Last stop on the tour was the Natural Bridge. This is where the largest stone arch had collapsed in 2005, and now there is still what they call the Baby Natural Bridge.

We found the location and took a picture of me with GPS in hand, and the bridge in the background.

At both the California Lighthouse and here there had also been caches with containers, but there definitely was not enough time to search for them while on the bus tour.

We got to see in the distance an abandoned gold smelter: the Bushiribana ruins. The tour did not stop there, which was too bad.

Back at the ship, Jerry and I had a late lunch, then eventfully did a little shopping in the souvenir shop. We walked int town a little. We agreed it was too late to go look for a cache.