Karel’s has been in the same family for four generations, sits on a pier in the middle of Kralendijk, and has no beach whatsoever. The water is directly under the floor instead. Nobody on Bonaire seems bothered by the naming. It opens at eight in the morning and does not close until midnight, which covers the Bonairean breakfast crowd, two eggs with pastechi or repa di pampuna, fruit, toast and a mimosa, plus the happy hour crowd and everyone in between. The pier is also where the water taxis leave for Klein Bonaire, the uninhabited island offshore with the best beach in the country, and where the little red BonSea submarine ties up. Get a table on the edge and listen to the sea working underneath you.
