Last night Royal Princess set an easterly course across the Caribbean Sea until we reached the Northern coast of Curacao before altering to a more southerly course where the Captain is hoping to making a final approach to Bonaire at approx. 6am to pick up the local pilot and berth at the Kralendjik Cruise Terminal.

Woke at 6.30am to the knocking noise in the ceiling near the entry door of our cabin, this we reported on the first night in D608 and it still hasn’t been fixed. Only happens late at night and in the early hours of the morning, which is most annoying, thank god for ear-plugs.

Royal Princess has now docked at the cruise terminal and being on the port side we have a magnificent view of the capitol Kralendjik and Bonaire. We will only be here from 7am to 1.30pm before setting sail at approximately 2pm. Today is partly cloudy and temperatures being so far around 26⁰C on the cruise but you still need your hat, sunglasses and sun cream.

Bonaire is world-renown for its pristine coral reefs, diving and snorkelling, which Richard is hoping to do if time permits. Seeing we had a disastrous tour with AB Taxi and Tours last time we decided to go straight to Café Di Mari to catch up with emails and anything plus if we have time we hope to do a private tour of the south and east of Bonaire at Lac Bay skimming along each side of the bay is the mangrove forest, one of the best preserved in the Caribbean. Here below the sparkling surface are large areas of sea grass, which filter the waters and help keep it so clear. Because of this inviting environment, queen conch, lobster (crayfish to us) and seahorses make the bay their home.

Time was against us and Richard couldn’t go across to the turquoise water of the national Marine Park an island less than a mile from Bonaire, you can see it from the cruise ship. The island is surrounded by an almost continuous reef, where the park is home to 30 varieties of soft corals, 50 species of hard coral and 200 different rainbow-hued species of fish. But one did fit in a quick walk down the main street with the usual Duty Free Shops.

Getting tired of the Love boat theme every time the cruise ship leaves a port and we only have another hopefully four more times of hearing it. Seeing the battery on my new Canon camera are low I now use my old Sony camera till we get to St Thomas to retrieve the battery charger that the Indian owner of Royal Caribbean forgot to put back in the camera box. Still haven’t received a reply back from them regarding the missing battery charger.

Late lunch then watched Stevie Wonder on the big screen on Deck 16 before going back to our cabin/balcony looking over the deep blue ocean of a gentle swell. The grand Mardi Gras Party is taking place in the Atrium Piazza tonight so we had an earlier dinner (15 minutes) good we now know the Head Supervisor.

Lot of excitement tonight with the Mardi Gras Decks 5, 6 and 7 of the Atrium have the Mardi Gras theme lucky we found a vacant table in front of the Gelato Bar. That was a waste of time seeing people on the three Decks round the Atrium were jostling for a position to view the show. If you can’t lick them join them so everyone sitting in front of the Gelato Bar stood in front of the other people taking photos and videos of the passengers who had been learning and rehearsing to play the drums, steel pans and others doing the Flash Mob dance. Was very entertaining watching the Royal Princess Showband play Dixieland Jazz first then followed by the New Deal in the Mardi Gras theme.

Bit of a swell tonight so could be in for some bad weather.