Snorkle & Land tour info for Klaas Bakker and the Woodwind trimaran?

[luxlady]

Based on info posted on this Board, I have been trying to contact Klaas Bakker and the Woodwind trimaran for possible tours of the island. I am with a group sailing on SilverSea Whisper this December, and we are spending the day and evening in Bonaire. Based on the great reports of these two tour operators, I would like to contact them about our group. I have emailed both of them at the addresses I have, and have not received any reply. Does anyone know if Mr. Bakker and the crew of the Woodwind are still in operation??? I would appreciate any up to date info, including any new email addresses or website info.

Thanks everyone! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

Glenda Madrid

[barbados]

Have you tried these two:

[email="info@woodwindbonaire.com"]info@woodwindbonaire.com[/email]
or

[email="woodwind@bonairelive.com"]woodwind@bonairelive.com[/email]

Don't know which is current but perhaps one will work for you!

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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[B]Barbados, one happy island, mon[/B] [img]http://home.internetcds.com/~barbados/flag.JPG[/img]

[BCHappyGal]

In Bonaire definitely go with Klass!!!

Klass gave us a most memorable tour when we visited Bonaire in January 2004.
Klass has an a/c van that seats 8 passengers.
Klass is a retired professor of botany - from Holland originally - but who has lived for years on Bonaire and really loves the island - so you really learn all about Bonaire.
Klass loves to take his guests snorkeling and actually goes into the water with you to show you the marine life. Remember to take water shoes with you as the coral really hurts the feet! Also wear your swim suit as there are no change facilities on the beach.

Try Klaas's e-mail [email]klaas@telbonet.an[/email]

If you don't hear from Klaas (I couldn't reach him ahead of time either) just walk from your ship out along the dock past all the taxis and you will find Klaas parked right at the end of the taxis which is the corner where the road turns onto the dock. I made myself a sign with Klaas's name on it and walked right into Klaas.

Make sure you use Klaas and please say hello from Ann & Ross (from Surrey BC Canada) and Fred (Ann's Dad)(from Quebec)

You will really enjoy your time on Bonaire. We spent so much time with Klaas that we did not have any time to shop in the shops but they also looked very quaint & interesting.

Ann

[luxlady]

Just want to thank you BCHappyGal for your recommendation. Yes, I have been in touch with Klaas, and he seems a great choice for our group, combining snorkling from the shore with sightseeing on the island. We are probably going to take a ship-prepared lunch and go for the whole day. Its our last stop before returning to Aruba on the SilverSea Whisper, and we are excited about it. I have been to Bonaire before, but not for many, many years. It is a very interesting island....

thanks again, Glenda

[discogirl]

He seems like a great person to tour the island. What is the best way to get to the island. Should I take a cruise to Aruba and then take a smaller ship to Bonaire?

[url="http://www.summitcolorado.com"]http://www.summitcolorado.com[/url]

[barbados]

Here is a link of all the cruise ships that visit Bonaire with the dates and ship names.

Find it [URL=http://www.infobonaire.com/cruises.html]HERE.[/URL]

Of course you could always Island-hop from Aruba or Curacao. These short flights are around US$120/pp round trip and take 20 minutes.

It's a great little island! :)

[smallads]

If you are reading this Klaas hello from NY. It was a pleasure spending the day with you on our 12/27/05 visit via QM2. Just to let everyone know, if you want an educational and complete tour of Bonaire, Klaas is your guy. We snorkeled with Klaas, saw the forests, parrots, and were given an "inside" review of the island as Klaas has been resident for 18 years. He drove us EVERYWHERE. Pink flamingos, mountains, east, west, north south. A true perspective of life on Bonaire. If anyone has a chance to allow Klaas to escort you around Bonaire, he is a kind man with extensive love of the land. Don't be suprised if it takes him a few days or more to respond but he is MOST reliable. We enjoyed our visit to Bonaire, and came away with great memories. His email is [email]klaas@telbonet.an[/email] Arthur K. from Long Island NY

[luxlady]

I feel I have to respond to the previous poster's glowing review of Klaas. We engaged Klaas for a private half day tour to include snorkling on our stop from the SilverSea cruise on Dec. 12. Klaas had emailed me that just a couple of weeks previously his van had been broken into to while he was taking a party snorkling. All of their belongings were stolen, and his van's windows were all broken. When he went to the authorities to complain, according to Klaas they refused to listen and bodily through him out of the police station. He has the photos from the local newspaper to prove it. He agreed to take us anyway, and had his van repaired.

Our experience with him was very negative, and he is a bitter, bitter man who is very eager to get off the island. Yes, he pointed out the various flora on the island, but his views of the native people, the Dutch government, and the various government policies is extremely negative. He believes the drug smuggling up from South American through the ABC islands has become rampant, and is responsible for the widespread lawlessness. He was reluctant to stop for snorkling because of the possibility of the van being vandalized once again. He said he had requested security, but it was not forthcoming. So, we did not snorkel. Plus, his endless trip through the scrub and bad roads of Bonaire was so long, we would not have had time to snorkel anyway. If we did, he insisted one of our group needed to stay with the van. We did not see parrots, and saw very, very few flamingos - perhaps because of the recent rains.

He would like to leave the island, and I get the impression the government would like to see the last of him. However, he can't afford the kind of house he would like in Amsterdam after all these years on the island, and so he feels "stuck". He also said the snorkeling was no good anymore anyway, due to the hurricanes wiping out the beaches. His frustration with life on Bonaire is very very apparent, and his attitude definitely made this a tour to forget, and left a very bad taste in the mouths of our group. I told him when we left that our tour with him made me never, ever want to come to Bonaire again.

I had been to the island twice more than 20 years ago, and had very fond memories of the beautiful snorkeling and the laid back nature of the natives and of life there. Klaas told me to keep my beautiful memories of the past, and to not return. I guess nothing stays the same.

I don't know why our experience was so different from yours, Arthur. Perhaps because it was about 2 weeks after our tour and he had had time to think about his attitude and realized that he was driving people away. I don't know. But I think people should know what they are getting in to with Klaas.

glenda

[canadagal]

Thank-you Glenda! I too was on that tour with Klaas and I can sum it up in one word boringggggggggggggggg! It was one of the worst shore excursions I have ever been on in my entire life and I can actually say by the end of the tour that the 5 of us who are very laid back naturally were beginning to lose our patience with the negative diatribe that this man was feeding us. He wanted to make one last stop somewhere and all 5 of us yelled out in unison, "No, don't stop we just want to go back to the ship". What a terrible introduction to a country and he is certainly no ambassador to Bonaire. Actually if Klaas continues on in this manner I fear one day that they may just find his body out in the salt flats because he messed with the local government once too often. They already injured his arm (it was in a sling for a while) when they threw him out of the police station so you would think that he would keep his comments to himself and not invite anymore trouble upon himself. But no, not Klaas. He was spewing like the geyser at old Yellowstone. I think he showed us the worst parts of the island and I really have no desire to ever go back to Bonaire and I can honestly say that is the first port that I have ever felt that way about. I'm sure that Bonaire must have some nice spots and interesting things but Klaas certainly does have a knack for making you not want to ever set foot on Bonaire again. How things could change around so dramatically in just three weeks from our cruise is a mystery and I am not doubting the other persons report. It just has me scratching my head as to how can this be the same person we are talking about. He saw a man that has a love of the land and we saw someone that hated Bonaire and was too vocal about it. Strange indeed!
Pat

[1particularharbor]

We were on the Noordam 3/2004 ...and our visit was wonderful...we opted to take a land tour via HAL and it was great....the Captain was on the tour with us :)...the island is beautiful..our tour guide was very good, informative with a definite love of the island as she was born there and love her island...we found Bonaire to be friendly and very clean..I would recommend the HAL tour of Bonaire ...we are looking forward to our return.