The Adventures of Podge & Tubbs

Today was to be the day when Podge found the ideal tour for The Duchess, it was an excursion to view the Bonaire Flamingos and the Salt Flats of Bonaire (Picture from BonaireSeaSalt.com), a journey through the lush mangrove preserves towards the beautiful south-east of Bonaire. To be honest, I suspect Debbie had no real interest in the Salt Flats as her primary interest was seeing the pink flamingos. 🦩

As luck would have it, our tour didn’t actually start until11:30 so a relaxed breakfast it was 👍 before gathering our stuff and heading ashore to meet our ‘Rasta Bus’ with natural air conditioning (no glass in the windows).

Our journey took us past Salt Pier down to the southern end of the island. While exploring the shores of Salt Pier, We didn’t actually go on to the salt pier but in the distance we were able to see lorries etc, collecting and loading the salt but, The Duchess had her eyes on the ground and espied a lovely piece of rock which would look nice back home with her garden collection of other rocks and stones (don’t ask). The rock was subsequently secreted into her bag and we made our way back to the bus. As we set off further south, our guide casually mentioned that collecting rocks, fossils, etc, from the beaches of Bonaire was highly illegal. This worried The Duchess immensely though His Podgeness thought it hilarious. So worried was The Duchess however that she immediately took her contraband back ashore and replaced it as discreetly as she could after which His Podgeness announced to all on the bus that the contraband had been returned, for which His Podgeness got a thick ear, again (poor Podge). Before leaving however, we spotted a number of Scuba Divers, or whatever they are called, walking out of the sea and onto the beach (not something one normally see’s).

Our journey then continued around the islands southern tip spotting many flamingos on the way (which pleased The Duchess) before heading back across the island, passing the airport, where our guide proudly announced that when not a guide, he was actually a fire fighter at the airport. After that, we were eventually dropped off by the Pier Mall from where His Podgeness deftly guided The Duchess away from Diamonds Forever and up into town where we had decided to look for somewhere to eat. It didn’t take us long. We came across Number 10 and we just knew that this was the right place for us.

After a plate of Tuna / Salmon open sandwiches (I’m not sure if that’s what they’re really called) and a couple of nice cold beers we headed back to the ship, stopping on the way to espy a turtle who was swimming in the rocks right next to the walkway. The Duchess was convinced it was stuck on the rocks and needing rescuing though Podge did manage to convincer her that the turtle was in fact ok: Let’s be honest, we all know that The Duchess just wanted to hold the turtle. Fortunately, a passing local convinced hee=r that it was all ok and that in fact the turtle was often seen there.

Back onto the ship and back to our cabin for a a bit of R&R until sail-away. Then we made our way to the Crows Nest for a couple drinks. As we’d eaten at lunch time there was no need for dinner. And then it was bed time. 🥱🛌😴

Step count – 8135 🥴