Bonaire Day 7

July 8, 2011
 
We had every intent of getting up and doing a dive in the morning, but Tim said he thought he would skip it because his one ear was getting a little tender and he did not want to push it.  Eric and I then decided to skip the morning dive also as I did not think we would be able to get all of our days activities done if we did a dive anyway.
 
So after breakfast we went down to the office and settled up our bill at the Bellafonte and then returned the three full dive tanks and weights back to Dive Friends and checked out there.  After that we headed out for our day-long tour of the island.  
 
First we headed to the Donkey Sanctuary.  The last time we were in Bonaire was in 2009 and they had been telling us that they were going to have to move because they were too close to the airport (for security reasons).  This was the first time we had seen their new facility.  They really have a nice store and palapa set up for taking a picnic lunch or having a cool drink in the shade while enjoying the breeze.
 
We drove all around the santuary and must have petted 100 donkeys.  They actually run along side your car and chase you down (hoping you have food to give them).  They will stick their whole head in the car for attention.  We went up on the viewing tower they have built that gives you a birdseye view of the area.  They now have a wetland area for flamingos too, a new tortoise area, and a new iguana forest.  
 
After the Donkey Sanctuary we headed on down the road to Lac Bay and had lunch at a beach bar there and watched the windsurfers in action.  After lunch we walked down the beach a short distance and then headed back to the car to continue our tour.  We continued our drive on around the south end of the island, past the lighthouse, slave huts and salt pans and headed for downtown to do our T-shirt shopping.  
 
However, we first had to stop into the Gelateria downtown to have a sweet treat so we would have enough strength for our shopping adventure.  Eric was looking for another diver dog T-shirt, but we did not have any luck finding one.  Tim ended up getting a shirt and I also got a shirt.  Then we headed on down the road to the other end of the island.  We drove along the coast and by Goto Lake (where there are supposed to be flamingos) but we did not see a single flamingo.  We were also looking to photograph parrots and/or iguanas, but after our experience in 2009 we had pretty much decided that was a losing proposition (and it was again this time also).
 
We drove through the town of Rincon and then back toward downtown.  We had decided to try Pasa Bon Pizza again (our third try), but we decided to get there early this time so we could make sure and get a table.  We ended up getting back into town a little after 4 p.m. so we decided to go ahead and gas up the rental car and then stop by the Bellafonte real quick and drop some stuff off before we headed to dinner.
 
We got to Pasa Bon Pizza right about 5 p.m. and we were the first customers to be seated.  I'm glad we finally got to try them out.  Their pizza and garlic cheese bread was EXCELLENT—the best pizza we have had so far on the island.  Since we were not going to be able to take any leftovers home, we thoroughly stuffed ourselves, but boy was it good.  
 
We waddled our way out of the restaurant and headed back to the hotel to begin packing for our early morning flight home on Saturday.  Tim had to keep pointing out the fact that it only took him a few moments to pack.  Needless to say, it took us a bit longer to pack all of our stuff.  
 
We had a fabulous trip.  We were all sad to see it come to an end.  Eric and I enjoyed having Tim along—he made the trip a lot of fun.  Plus I enjoyed having another person to haul my gear around for me.  Tim was a big help when it came to getting us in the water and getting all our camera gear in the water safely.  No one ended up falling down on our shore entries or exits this trip.