Bonaire cruise port: what to do in 4 hours
Your ship is in port for 4 hours or so? Once you subtract getting off, the way back and a margin before all aboard, you have roughly 2 to 3 hours to enjoy. This is what a 4-hour stop makes possible.
Best use of 4 hours
- Kralendijk waterfront (1.5 h, at the pier): Pastel buildings, small shops, the fish market and seaside cafés, all within a few minutes of the pier.
- Donkey Sanctuary (2.5 h, 15 min away): A drive-through sanctuary caring for hundreds of the island's donkeys. Popular with families.
- Shore snorkelling (3 h, 10 min away): Bonaire is famous for reefs you can reach from the beach. Anyone entering the water in the marine park needs a nature fee tag; tour operators usually arrange it.
- 1000 Steps (3 h, 15 min away): A limestone staircase (closer to 70 steps than 1,000) down to one of the island's best-known dive and snorkel sites, north of town.
- Flamingos, salt pans and slave huts (3 h, 20 min away): Drive the flat south: pink salt pans, white salt mountains, the historic slave huts and, often, flamingos feeding in the shallows.
- Klein Bonaire (4 h, 15 min away): The small uninhabited island opposite town, reached by water taxi. No Name Beach has fine sand and excellent snorkelling. There are no facilities: bring water and shade.
- Lac Bay (Sorobon) (4 h, 25 min away): Shallow, turquoise lagoon on the east coast. Windsurfing school, beach bars and guided mangrove kayak or snorkel tours.