Great Combi North/South tour with Voyager Bonaire Tours

[Trish Traveler]

We were delighted to have chosen Voyager Bonaire Tours for our visit on the Celebrity Equinox, November 2022.  I had researched a bit ahead of time, but wasn't sure if we would want a tour our last port day, so we didn't pre-book.  Jennifer did answer all my questions ahead of time online and let us know if we still wanted to book the day of arrival we could check in at their tour tent at the port to see if they had availability.  Leaving the port area you turn left to find a row of colorful tents which offer various certified tours.  (If you are  at the other pier, you would turn right).  You can easily see the row of tents from the ship before getting off.  That is where we found them.

 

We were happy to find them and join a tour with just three other ladies in a clean, air-conditioned van with working seatbelts.  Lourdes was our terrific tour guide with Jack doing a great job driving some narrow roads and tricky detours (due to road construction and some recent heavy rain and flooding of some roads).

We were on the 3 1/2 hour Combi North/South Tour which began heading out of the colorful city north to our first photo stop at beautiful 1000 steps.  Stunning view of the beach and blue ocean water.  Continuing on we reached the highlight of the tour for us which was Goto Lake to view the wild flamingos.  Such a pretty overlook with many flamingos to be seen and photographed.  What a fantastic sight to behold!

 

Continuing on we visited the town of Rincon for a stop at a small museum to self-tour a typical old furnished Bonairian home.  There was also a few craft vendors, a snack bar, and restrooms available.  All along the way Lourdes gave us interesting facts about Bonaire, its history, flora and fauna and whatever we happened to see or ask about.  We even saw some of the wild donkeys and many goats and chickens.  We had a mix of sun and clouds this day but were lucky just a few raindrops along the way.

 

As there had been some flooding, we wouldn't be able to travel all the way south to the lighthouse, so Jack offered us the magnificent view from the top of Seru Largu.  You can see most of the island including the salt mounds in the south and our cruise ship in port.  There is also a lovely Christian monument up here.

Heading back to the south side along the ocean with beautiful views, we reached the salt flats and mounds for a photo stop.  You are even able to take a sample chunk of salt with you provided on the side of the rode by Cargill.  It was interesting to learn about the process and see the pure white mounds.  Normally, the salt flats are more pink in color, but the recent heavy rains faded them out. 

 

Last up was the somber slave huts.  Such a beautiful view of the calming cerulean water was such a contrast to the sad history of this area, but so important to remember. 

 

Back to the port in Kralendijk where the tour ended.  We were very happy to have chosen this tour and felt we saw most of the highlights of Bonaire for a short cruise port stop.  Lourdes and Jack were great tour guides and shared so much about their beautiful little island.  I would definitely recommend touring with them on this affordable, quality tour!

 

We had a little port time left, so we strolled the little colorful town, craft market and the few shops in the port area.  Surprisingly, there are no public bathrooms right at the port, but it is a short walk to the ship so you could just hop back on if needed.  There are a few pretty restaurants/bars at the port including the photo ready Umbrella.  There is also a visitor information booth and a taxi stand.  We had previously snorkeled the amazing reefs on out last visit to Bonaire, and someday hope to do that again, but we definitely wanted to see and learn more about the island of Bonaire.  

[cruising_rocket_scientist]

Did you stop at each of the places or did you just drive by? Our excursion fell through and we are looking for another adventure. Wondering if this will fit the bill. We are in port from 8am to 11pm, so we have a lot of time to fill.

[ssawjo]

Following this post.  Just wondering what the cost was per person.  Thanks.