Bonaire is the last of the “ABC Islands” we’ll visit. It’s the smallest, both in term of land area and population, encompassing around 112 square miles1 and ~21,000 people.
The downtown Kralendijk piers appear to have space for one large cruise ship like ours and then perhaps another one for much smaller ships a bit to the north. The effect of not having mass cruise ship traffic makes the island feel like it runs more at my speed when compared to places like Aruba, Curaçao, or San Juan. The entire island can be traveled by golf cart2. Vehicle traffic through Kralendijk never seemed too bad. Electric scooters are easily found and available to use via a mobile app. Given the “vibe” here, in hindsight I wish I’d had the chance to thoroughly explore the island.
Before my son’s ankle injury we had a land sailing excursion planned. We canceled that for all four of us and didn’t see any excursions to replace it with. He stayed onboard with his friend while the other three of us wandered through Kralendijk for awhile.
In the late afternoon, our 5:30pm departure was delayed by about an hour due to two people needing to leave by ambulance. For each of the ABC Islands we’ve visited, I’ve researched them as a place to possibly “snowbird” to. One of the benefits of Bonaire – its smaller population – is also one of the primary drawbacks when it comes to the availablity of medical care.
After the ship departed Bonaire Sherri and I celebrated a milestone at Murano, the ship’s premium French restaurant. I had the second best Dover sole I’ve ever had3; the rest of the meal was fine for a premium dining experience.
Footnotes
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Or a little less than 3x the size of the Walt Disney World property in Florida. ↩
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This is what the people who rent golf carts tell me. ↩
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The first being at the Bull and Bear Steakhouse at the Waldorf Astoria resort in Orlando. ↩