BONAIRE – Kralendijk 12 09.426N 68 16.841W
There is no anchoring permitted in any of Bonaire's waters. Overnight stays are only permitted on the moorings buoys off the town of Kralendijk (USD10 per night). There are other mooring buoys around the island but these are only for day use when diving/snorkelling. We were about middle in the row of buoys, in about 8.5m of very clear water, you can dive or snorkel off the boats! To the north (left) there were about 15 going all the way along to the marina entrance, they are in single file along the shallows in shore. To the south (right) towards the town there are two rows of buoys, the ones closest inshore seemed to have a depth of around 3 metres, they are only just in front of the 2nd row and very close to the beach. Only the buoys with 2 little floats and 2 lines are the correct ones. You need to have 2 lines to attach, one for each float. Night arrival is reasonably straightforward, just keep nudging up towards the land very slowly until you can see the line of boats then try and find a free mooring. Just to the left of our waypoint were two regular looking mooring buoys which were picked up by boats doing night arrivals, just leave first light and get a proper one before you are spotted! Most boats prefer to be away from town as there are a couple of late night bars, especially at the weekend. There are a couple of dinghy dock options. Karels Bar is set over the water and you can tie the dinghy up (they have the late night music) but you really need a stern anchor and remember NO anchors. We paid USD10 a week and got a key for the dinghy dock at the “marina” with about 10 berths outside It Rains Fish Restaurant. Get key from Henk, in a yellow house with wooden shutters about 3 to the left of restaurant.
Checking in is along the waterfront to the south, fruit stall on the way, keep walking till you see the Douane (Customs) Building just before gated off area. One stop, open 7am – 7pm daily, no charge, all crew must be present, quick and easy. Tourist office is along this end of town. one block back. They were extremely helpful and we organised our Total Car Hire through them. Total came and collected us from the dinghy dock and took us to the airport for the paperwork. Small car USD$58.00 (USD is the currency of Bonaire), we used USD10.00 petrol for one day. There really isn’t much to see on the island but still interesting to get out and about for the day. Most of the shops are on one street, one block inland from water, running parallel – there is not much here, but does have Digicell, Banks, ATM’s etc on this street. There were pay wifi signals available at anchor, also found one unlocked but not reliable, we went daily to Lilly’s Ice-cream and Coffee Parlour they had free internet at good speeds, on street going inland called Kaya L D Gerharts I think. Keep walking past here to big supermarket on next corner, if the boat/plane has arrived then produce was good. Budget Marine are also in the back here. There is a laundry (not self service) out by the stadium and another couple of supermarkets, they are a fair distance, saw them when we had the car, be ok to bike to but quite a way to walk. We had an exceptional meal at La Guernica, on the waterfront to right of dinghy dock, mains around USD28 (normally over our budget but we had been in the boonies for a couple of weeks and spent no money!)excellent food, service and setting.
You need a Marine Park Permit, USD10 to snorkel or USD25 to dive, think it’s valid a year. We got ours from the Yellow Submarine Dive Shop, its on the waterfront heading north towards the marina, not surprisingly it's in a yellow building and has it's own dock (totally dinghy unfriendly unless you are an acrobat). The snorkelling was the best over on the little island Klein Bonaire, fair run in the dinghy but worth it. Need to tie dinghy to a mooring and swim in. Water (US.10c per gallon), Diesel (US1.09 per litre) and Petrol (US1.52 per litre) available along at big marina, north at end of mooring buoys, you need to pay for your buoy here, either dinghy down or walk.
To read our full blog update on Bonaire and see the pictures click here
There is no anchoring permitted in any of Bonaire's waters. Overnight stays are only permitted on the moorings buoys off the town of Kralendijk (USD10 per night). There are other mooring buoys around the island but these are only for day use when diving/snorkelling. We were about middle in the row of buoys, in about 8.5m of very clear water, you can dive or snorkel off the boats! To the north (left) there were about 15 going all the way along to the marina entrance, they are in single file along the shallows in shore. To the south (right) towards the town there are two rows of buoys, the ones closest inshore seemed to have a depth of around 3 metres, they are only just in front of the 2nd row and very close to the beach. Only the buoys with 2 little floats and 2 lines are the correct ones. You need to have 2 lines to attach, one for each float. Night arrival is reasonably straightforward, just keep nudging up towards the land very slowly until you can see the line of boats then try and find a free mooring. Just to the left of our waypoint were two regular looking mooring buoys which were picked up by boats doing night arrivals, just leave first light and get a proper one before you are spotted! Most boats prefer to be away from town as there are a couple of late night bars, especially at the weekend. There are a couple of dinghy dock options. Karels Bar is set over the water and you can tie the dinghy up (they have the late night music) but you really need a stern anchor and remember NO anchors. We paid USD10 a week and got a key for the dinghy dock at the “marina” with about 10 berths outside It Rains Fish Restaurant. Get key from Henk, in a yellow house with wooden shutters about 3 to the left of restaurant.
Checking in is along the waterfront to the south, fruit stall on the way, keep walking till you see the Douane (Customs) Building just before gated off area. One stop, open 7am – 7pm daily, no charge, all crew must be present, quick and easy. Tourist office is along this end of town. one block back. They were extremely helpful and we organised our Total Car Hire through them. Total came and collected us from the dinghy dock and took us to the airport for the paperwork. Small car USD$58.00 (USD is the currency of Bonaire), we used USD10.00 petrol for one day. There really isn’t much to see on the island but still interesting to get out and about for the day. Most of the shops are on one street, one block inland from water, running parallel – there is not much here, but does have Digicell, Banks, ATM’s etc on this street. There were pay wifi signals available at anchor, also found one unlocked but not reliable, we went daily to Lilly’s Ice-cream and Coffee Parlour they had free internet at good speeds, on street going inland called Kaya L D Gerharts I think. Keep walking past here to big supermarket on next corner, if the boat/plane has arrived then produce was good. Budget Marine are also in the back here. There is a laundry (not self service) out by the stadium and another couple of supermarkets, they are a fair distance, saw them when we had the car, be ok to bike to but quite a way to walk. We had an exceptional meal at La Guernica, on the waterfront to right of dinghy dock, mains around USD28 (normally over our budget but we had been in the boonies for a couple of weeks and spent no money!)excellent food, service and setting.
You need a Marine Park Permit, USD10 to snorkel or USD25 to dive, think it’s valid a year. We got ours from the Yellow Submarine Dive Shop, its on the waterfront heading north towards the marina, not surprisingly it's in a yellow building and has it's own dock (totally dinghy unfriendly unless you are an acrobat). The snorkelling was the best over on the little island Klein Bonaire, fair run in the dinghy but worth it. Need to tie dinghy to a mooring and swim in. Water (US.10c per gallon), Diesel (US1.09 per litre) and Petrol (US1.52 per litre) available along at big marina, north at end of mooring buoys, you need to pay for your buoy here, either dinghy down or walk.
To read our full blog update on Bonaire and see the pictures click here
