By Ken Brown on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 4:05 pm: |
Hi, all,
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By Sarah on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 6:15 pm: |
Hi Ken, I cannot cover all of the above, only the BelMar. The BelMar is a beautiful Resort, very close to Airport and Town. The ocean is just a few steps away from your room! Entry into the water is easy too.
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By Ken Brown on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 6:30 pm: |
Hi, Sarah,
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By Hazel Scharosch on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 7:13 pm: |
Ken, we stayed at BelMar last March. It is a beautiful facility with a wonderful staff. There is coral regrowth out front as Sarah mentioned, but it is mostly sand bottom. Lots of variety of fish, etc., and makes a nice evening snorkel if you are running out of time or energy. The island is not very big, and you could potentially drive to any of the good shore snorkeling spots in 15 minutes or less. Andrea I and II have really nice coral formations in 5 - 10 feet of water. Everyone on the board has their favorites, of course. We liked BelMar because it is not so close to the "big" places - very quiet and private.
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By Ken Brown on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 7:29 pm: |
Thanks, Hazel, 15 minutes doesn't sound too bad (though staying in the Hato area then would cut that down to almost walking distance, perhaps). I think the BelMar would be our choice as far as the accomodations go. It sounds the most appealing of the 4. We need to balance that with our desire to snorkel out our back door (or close to it). We've done both on various islands, and do prefer not having to hop in the car every time. OTOH, we'd like to try all the great snorkel sites Bonaire has to offer, so maybe we won't spend that much time "out back" anyway! :-)
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By Ken Brown on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 7:44 pm: |
Oops. I'm afraid I made a (pretty stupid) mistake. The rates at the BelMar *seemed* to be too good to be true -- and they were. I mistakenly used the per person rate as per room, so the actual price is 2x as much! How embarrassing .... :-(
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By Sarah on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 7:52 pm: |
Ken, you can always snorkel at Plaza anyway.. just have to pay a small fee for the use of beds.. but well worth it, in my opinion.. Hope you find a great place to stay and enjoy the snorkeling..Sarah
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By sharyn spray on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 8:00 pm: |
We've always stayed at Habitat, but for economic reasons decided to stay at Bonaire beach Villas on our March trip. it has gotten excellant reviews and is right next to Habitat. We looked at them the last time we were there and were impressed for the price(their price is perwk not pp. If corals are what you need to see, don't miss Karpate and Margate! You also might want to consider a trip on the Woodwind to Klein, great coral there also, as well as abundant fish.
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By Ken Brown on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 8:14 pm: |
Hi, Sharyn,
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By J Rushman on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 10:51 pm: |
Although the island is not large, the "15 minute or less drive to any of the shore snorkeling spots" is an understatement. I am not a slow driver (wouldn't survive in NJ if I was!), but the road along the shore up to Karpata is narrow and winding. It's still a beautiful drive and worth the trip just for the scenery. (And you'll need to stop at Lovers Ice Cream for the mandatory vanilla shake before the drive and that will add a few more minutes for the drive!)
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By Ken Brown on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 12:23 am: |
Probably the "15 minutes or less" was from Belnem to the general Hato area (I'm guessing here, obviously). Stretching the guess even further, then, I'd say Hato to Karpata might take another 15 minutes (not counting stopping off at Lovers Ice Cream - thanks for the tip, sounds *great*! :-).
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By Meryl Virga on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 12:41 am: |
My pic is Belmar....looks good check out their site...check out their rates they are haveing specials between May and Dec. With packages that include airfare'hotel'and car rental
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By Laurie Kennedy on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 8:59 am: |
Hi, We just returned from Bonaire Beach Villas and absolutely loved it. As soon as we woke up the first morning, we went snorkeling right at our villa and were amazed. It was great! There is a path right on the ocean that takes you to Capt. Don's and Lions Dive (less than 5 min walk) which both have restaurants right on the water. We liked having our privacy, but also being able to walk to breakfast, etc. Also, the owner and his asst. are really nice and helpful. You should also check out the following snorkeling/dive sites: Ole Blue, 1000 Steps, Andrea and Karpata (sometimes the water is a little rough at Karpata so go early in the am). We dove and snorkeled at these and enjoyed both. Have a great time. We are already planning a return visit.
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By Glen Reem on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 1:10 pm: |
One snorkelling 'site' no one has mentioned is the stretch of shore south of Something Special, down almost to the Town Pier. The water is calm with little or no current, there is ample flat sand bottom and the water slopes up to the shore, unlike north of Sand Dollar where the shore is a cliff and the water is 6-8 feet deep at the cliff. There are many juvenile fish around things on the bottom and the usual drop off. My granddaughter id'ed about 8 species of fish in 12" of water at the shore where there was a tiny ironstone 'dropoff'. At SS, there is often a school of baitfish.
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By Ken Brown on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 2:22 pm: |
Something Special is on my list of sites to check out (with a note of "lots of fish, very calm, little or no coral"). Sounds like it agrees with your description! I had no idea about the areas north of the Sand Dollar, though. We're more comfortable having a place we can "flipper" to in a minute or so, where we can stand up if we need to. (While we've snorkeled for many years, my wife never learned to swim, so ....) I hope not all of the great spots to the north are like that. But if they are, we'll deal with it. If we can get in the water, we can get out, so we should be able to identify a comfort zone around the exit point that we can explore.
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By Dave Krause on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 3:24 pm: |
My wife and I went to Bonaire for snorkeling only last June so you may experience similar weather conditions as we did on our trip.
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By Glen Reem on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 8:25 pm: |
The main thing the first time is to explore the coast and find the area(s) you enjoy.
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By Meryl Virga on Friday, February 8, 2002 - 12:19 am: |
Something Special is a wonderful dive...always lots of weird stuff down their...I also like Andrea II,,,because of the large parrot fish so close to shore...but you have to be careful with the staghorn coral. Their are so many sites doesnt seem like a long ride to any!
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By Antonio Ferrer on Friday, February 8, 2002 - 6:44 pm: |
Does anybody know how the Sand Dollar is doing? Two years ago it ssemmed to be recovering, but lately it apparently vanished from this board!
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By Glen Reem on Friday, February 8, 2002 - 8:22 pm: |
Antonio,
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By Antonio Ferrer on Saturday, February 9, 2002 - 11:37 am: |
Thank you, Glen. I feel silly! There was a whole discussion going on before my very eyes and I missed it! I am sad with the news
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By Glen Reem on Saturday, February 9, 2002 - 2:26 pm: |
Don't be sad!!! Keep the faith. The result will be good!!!
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By lonnie hoover on Tuesday, February 12, 2002 - 4:05 pm: |
Ken, of the four you have narrowed down to, the best, hands down is the Black Durgon Inn. I have stayed there many times, and prior to that a number of other places. The Black Durgon has a lot of desirable qualities including: very clean comfortable, though certainly not fancy, rooms at a very reasonable price, which includes a great breakfast. The covered patio(about 20'x60') comes within 10feet of waters edge, and the view from there, or anywhere on the property is fantastic!! They have a 60' pier which is great for swimming, snorkeling and especially diving. They also have an nice dive building near waters edge and the pier. The owner (Al) and staff are very tourist friendly, however no one will get in you way there. If you like independence and seclusion this is the place for you. The place is very relaxing, laid back, quiet, with hammocks, large shade trees,bbq grill, horse shoes, table tennis, small boats(free to guests) and a up close view of the sea that is unbeatable on Bonaire. Contact Al at:blackdurgon@bonairelive.com. Most of the guests at the Durgon are multiple repeats. I'm sure you will enjoy it too.
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By Ken Brown on Tuesday, February 12, 2002 - 5:33 pm: |
Lonnie,
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By lonnie hoover on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 1:27 pm: |
Ken, I'm not sure whether the last response went through to you or not. Please email be at lrhoover_2000@yahoo.com. I will be glad to pass along additional info on the Black Durgon Inn.
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