December 26, 2025

Kralendijk is the capital city of Bonaire and main port of the Caribbean Netherlands. Off the coast of Bonaireis the uninhabited island of Klein Bonaire noted for diving and snorkeling. It can be reached by the water taxi. Bonaire has been widely recognized for many years in the diving community as one of the world’s best shore diving destinations. Here is a picture of our sail in. We had an early departure for our tour so chose room service breakfast.

And here is our “home away from home”. I got this shot in Curacao.

After our time out in Curacao yesterday, we went to the gathering to greet Santa. There are some children on board (some are sons and daughters of crew members) and Santa brought them all gifts. One girl got a Disney lego set that we watched her unwrap. A nice gift for sure. We didn’t see any of the others but all of the kids seemed very happy!

Of course, we had to have our picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The entertainment team were all dressed as elves.

We had cocktails in Martinis and then had dinner in the main dining room and enjoyed it very much. I had a seafood in puff pastry crust that was delicious. I tried the plum pudding for dessert because I never had it before, but I didn’t really like it. Norm’s white chocolate mousse cake looked delicious, though.

Adam went up to the trivia while we were waiting for dessert and was joined by another couple and we all made it up there in time. Placed first, surprisingly. Those Big O points are adding up.

Our entertainment was the pianist Panos Karan. We had lunch with him on a previous cruise and enjoyed his performance then and again now. He is terrific and has performed all over the world, four times in Carnegie Hall. In 2011 he also founded Keys of Change, a charity delivering music to youth in challenging situations. He has visited over 130 countries and is drawn to marginalized communities from the Amazon jungle to Kolkata slums.

We were in port until 11 PM so the shops and casino were closed.

Today Norm and I had a catamaran snorkeling excursion. It was just wonderful. The crew was great! I saw 2 sea turtles and many varieties of fish. The coral wasn’t colorful but still interesting. We had a photographer on the boat and she got lots of pictures so I didn’t even take the underwater camera into the water. It is mostly a pain to use anyway as I tend to miss the action while trying to take pictures. The photographer could swim and dive like a fish and I think she got shots of all the snorkelers as well as the fish and turtles. I won’t get the link until later tonight so look for the pictures in tomorrow’s post.

After the snorkeling trip we walked around part of the town where some of the shops were open. Note the boat with my name!

The ship left port today at 1 pm. After lunch, I played in the blackjack tournament (didn’t win, someone got blackjack the last hand and ran away with the win). I got to trivia, which was scheduled at the same time, just as Simon was reading the last question. We placed third.

Today, Nicole Ortiz is doing a 5:30 show and there is a Blue Horizons party at 9:15. I went to the one that they had when we were on the 3 day cruise two weeks ago. It’s a fun dance party with performances by the entertainment team. I will probably go, we will see if the rest of the family is interested.

Dinner will be in Toscana, the wonderful Italian restaurant.

Tomorrow in Grenada where we have been several times before, we have a wine tasting on board and will have massages in the spa. If we still feel motivated, we might go off the ship for a walk around. We are in port from 1 PM – 11 PM.