Mangrove by Solar Boat

[English_in_Spain]

Has anyone been to Lac Bay/National Park to the Mangrove Forest?

 

We are looking at a ship's excursion (HAL) and I believe it uses Solar Powered boats to sail through the waters there.

 

By searching the internet I found Kayaking there but I am afraid we are well past that sort of thing now :(.

 

We are not sure whether to go for this excursion or not.

[uffe]

Try this one:

http://www.mangrovecenter.com/

Something there about a solar boat.

[English_in_Spain]

Thanks for your reply

 

That is what we want but this company does not do it on a Sunday (which is when we will be there). There is not much information on there about the boat itself.

 

We are looking at a ship's excursion and just wanted to find out a bit more about the tour and to get opinions of anyone who has been

[uffe]

Thanks for your reply

 

That is what we want but this company does not do it on a Sunday (which is when we will be there). There is not much information on there about the boat itself.

 

We are looking at a ship's excursion and just wanted to find out a bit more about the tour and to get opinions of anyone who has been

 

It could be a "new" tour? Maybe you should send them a mail?

[rosegrower]

We have booked this HAL tour for our cruise in January. I can give you a report when we get back since your cruise is in May. We, however will not be there on a Sunday.

[English_in_Spain]

We have booked this HAL tour for our cruise in January. I can give you a report when we get back since your cruise is in May. We, however will not be there on a Sunday.

 

Thank you - that would be great. I wondered if they were open boats or if there was any shade. I hate sitting in the sun for long periods.

[rosegrower]

Our HAL PCC gave me a number to call about this tour to get more information than what is in the online description. The person I spoke to read me a description and said it was a covered boat. I will post about it when we return. I have also seen some of your other posts about buying wine in these ports and if I find any good places, I will let you know.

[English_in_Spain]

Our HAL PCC gave me a number to call about this tour to get more information than what is in the online description. The person I spoke to read me a description and said it was a covered boat. I will post about it when we return. I have also seen some of your other posts about buying wine in these ports and if I find any good places, I will let you know.

 

That would be great - thank you.

[lotro]

I contacted the Mangrove Center to inquire about their solar boat excursion. Princess is charging $59 for a 2 hour excursion. This place advertised a one hour solar boat trip for $25, but they wouldn't book direct when a ship is in port. Hate when that happens!!

 

We took a mangrove tour in Isla Margarita and loved it...not sure how this one would compare.

[rosegrower]

My DH and I took the Mangrove Boating tour from HAL. The boat is NOT covered, it is a wooden skiff. It was overcast that day with some spotty rain showers so we did not get hot. The tour tickets tell you to wear suncreen and a hat and insect repellant. We did not see any bugs. Bonaire has strict regulations for their mangroves and only 8 people are allowed to go at 1 time and the motor is battery powered. We rode to the site in a van and saw countryside and some flamingos on the way. He stopped at one point so we could get a good flamingo picture.

 

We arrived at the site at low tide, but we still had to wade thru water to get to boat. Our guide advised us to remove our shoes because the salt water could damage our shoes. If I had known, I would have worn my water shoes bought on sale at Wal-Mart for this. I wore my expensive hiking sandals so I took them off, DH had some inexpensive Wal-mart sandals on and so he left his on. I wore capri pants and had to roll them up so shorts would be best. We had a couple probably in eighties on this tour and it was difficult for them to step up into van, wade in water and very difficult to get in boat. The male guide, my DH and another man in our group helped them get in and out of the boat but it was challenging and took awhile. At times on the tour, you have to bend low or to one side to avoid the branches. We did really enjoy this tour! It was so peaceful and we saw lots of fish and birds. Our guide was excellent and explained the mangrove systems in detail but not boring. If anyone has any questions, I will check back so I can try to answer.

 

 

ALSO for English in Spain who was asking about buying wine in ports. There is a store very close to the ship called Bonaire Gifts. It is listed on the map you get on ship for shopping. It has wine for sale. I saw some starting at $8 and up. They also sold bottled Cokes, Sprite etc which were much cheaper than buying the cans on board. I did not have the chance to shop much in Curacao but in Aruba, right in the port building next to the ship, there was a wine store that had wines for $12. It was doing a good business, both times I walked by. Hope this helps!

[English_in_Spain]

Rosegrower, thank you so much for reporting back on this as you promised. You are a star :).

I hope you enjoyed your cruise. We are looking forward to ours.

[rosegrower]

I was glad to do it as there is a lot of conflicting information or none at all! We did enjoy our cruise. It was our first 10 day and we would liked to have stayed longer! I am going to do a review sometime this weekend after I finish the laundry and buy some groceries.

[darkenstormy]

My DH and I took the Mangrove Boating tour from HAL.

 

Thanks for posting this information! I'm taking the same tour through Princess this October. Your post will continue to help others in the future - so thanks again!

 

And thanks to CC for enabling forum searching for members... ;)

[PatriciaF]

We are signed up for this too with Princess in November. Thanks for the info, especially about the shoes.

 

Did you really need the mosquito repellant?