By Bill LaBarge (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #251) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 7:56 am: |
Here is the latest entry from the Belnam Watchdog Blog: Please be aware!
|
By Bill LaBarge (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #252) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 11:09 am: |
Apologies to the Belnem group. They do not want this information shared. I can't understand why, but you folks will have to find another way to know what is going on. They have decided that only folks in Belnem should know, so I will not be able to give you any more information. My regrets...
|
By Eric M. "CamMan" (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1090) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 11:11 am: |
By "attempted" I'm assuming you mean it was not successful. Could you elaborate on what thwarted the attempt? I mean the cat's out of the bag on this one anyway.
|
By Jeanine wants a tribble. (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #9757) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 1:02 pm: |
Actually, they have decided that only people who own property and live in Belnem know what is going. People who visit and stay in Belnem are not allowed to join the blog.
|
By Bill LaBarge (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #254) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 2:32 pm: |
Having been duly reprimanded for my
|
By Antony Bond (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #669) on Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 5:05 am: |
I would hope that it is the not the owners of rental properties who choose not to share the areas crime problems with the rest of the community for fear of losing income.
|
By dfwtravler (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #202) on Friday, May 14, 2010 - 5:20 am: |
Antony
|
By lisa z (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #417) on Friday, May 14, 2010 - 3:06 pm: |
Well then, the moral of the story is.....Do not rent in the Belnam area.
|
By Lloyd Haskell (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #556) on Friday, May 14, 2010 - 3:59 pm: |
Is it me or is Bonaire losing its "innocence"
|
By YucatanPat (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #445) on Friday, May 14, 2010 - 5:13 pm: |
yup, and the day I have to bars on the windows of my condo, the next day I sell it!
|
By Vince DePietro-www.bonairebeachcondo.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2994) on Friday, May 14, 2010 - 6:23 pm: |
[yup, and the day I have to bars on the windows of my condo, the next day I sell it]
|
By Jim Early (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Friday, May 14, 2010 - 8:44 pm: |
Vince, its funny how people's perceptions of things differ. Here I am sitting in my home on St. Croix (no bars on my windows by the way)thinking I wish I would have started reading this board before we booked our trip to Bonaire in June. No doubt we have our own crime problems here but in the past when the issue of crime came up, a typical response by our friends here was that "crime is an issue anywhere in the Caribbean". To that I normally responded "not on Bonaire". Now, after reading this board for a couple of weeks, I see that I was evidently full of crap. My wife and I vacationed in Bonaire several times a year throughout the late 80s and 90s and thought we had a pretty good grasp on life in Bonaire. We originally planned to move there but eventually decided it was just too difficult for someone from the US. We looked around and discovered that St. Croix was the ideal spot for us and have never regretted our move here. But Bonaire was our first love and we always placed it on a pedestal when comparing it to other islands. While I am still looking forward to our first trip back to Bonaire in 10 years, I am now wondering if I really want to do any shore dives and risk my vehicle being broken into, which would ruin the experience. I never worried about it before but now...And purchasing full insurance for the vehicle? I have never done that anywhere in the Caribbean but now I am thinking it might be a good idea on Bonaire. Anyway, back to my original point, I always felt perfectly safe on Bonaire in the past but now I am concerned about the petty crime affecting my vacation. Here on St. Croix I feel pretty safe and don't really worry about petty crime, although it certainly happens.
|
By Fid Chinoy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #181) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 12:04 am: |
The people who keep droning on about crime on Bonaire need to get some perspective.
|
By Molamola (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #756) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 1:13 am: |
If I were to do a shore dive, leaving the vehicle, I'd leave the windows rolled down, and some cookies for any thief. Owell! Stuff happens in isolated places.
|
By Antony Bond (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #670) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 5:58 am: |
Fid.
|
By Antony Bond (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #671) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 6:12 am: |
Whoops! Double post........
|
By Vince DePietro-www.bonairebeachcondo.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2995) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 6:28 am: |
Whoa Jim, relax... Admittedly, it's been more than 10 years since I set foot on St Croix and also St C was a lot easier to get to from the states than Bonaire back then. I owned there for over 5 years in the 80's and vacationed there a lot longer and was involved with promoting tourism to the island.
|
By Bill LaBarge (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #255) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 7:25 am: |
I may be one of those considered "droaning" on... I will say this.... I was on Bonaire for two weeks... I did shore dives every day... we leave nothing of value in the trucks and leave the windows open.... we even had a cooler for some cold decompression syrup.... nothing touched.... never had anything stolen in 38 yrs... I will continue to dive Bonaire and feel very safe walking around at ANY time... the new issues need to be address and not kept in the Shadows.... when I went to St. Croix... there were bank robberies and drive by shootings.. We went to a softball game and one of the locals asked us if we were crazy... I was so used to Bonaire I thought we'd be safe.... and we were... but the shore diving in Bonaire is soooooo much better than St. Croix... so my mantra droan is.... I love Bonaire....
|
By Lizard0924 (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #433) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 12:18 pm: |
Fid is right about needing perspective. Bonaire is a pretty safe island. On our last trip I had no qualms about jogging solo in the early morning hours. I would never do something like that in Jamaica (or even many areas of Seattle for that matter).
|
By Jim Early (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 12:57 pm: |
Hey Vince,
|
By Vince DePietro-www.bonairebeachcondo.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2996) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 1:33 pm: |
Jim.. I have no doubts that you will have a great vacation on Bonaire! A little caution goes a long way. I know what you mean about diving. There are days I don't even dive, & others when one-a-day will suffice. If you haven't been on the island in 10 years, a construction boom started approximately 6 years ago. So you'll notice many changes I'm sure. I can tell you unequivocally that the quality of the food in the restaurants has dramatically increased from the old days.
|
By Neil Harvey (BonaireTalker - Post #46) on Friday, May 21, 2010 - 6:20 pm: |
Several years ago after our first visit I was upset with the local blogers saying that crime does not happen on Bonaire. But now I think the crime blog has gone to far the other way. It seems to me that people are out there doing there best to make Bonaire crime capital of the world. Lets face it US citizen you can't go any where in the United States where crime is not higher than in Bonaire. If you drove your car and parked it with the windows down it would not be there when you got back and the insurance company would be doing a thief report on your stupidity. I look forward to our next visit coming soon and I will follow simply rules to reduce my chances. And if I catch someone that wants something of mine more than me then I will be more than happy to take them diving.
|
By Ron (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #208) on Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 9:06 am: |
Neil this sort of thing does not happen here. Lead travels much faster than a rock.
|
By Daniel Ray (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Thursday, June 3, 2010 - 8:44 am: |
Wow, I always thought of bonaire as safe and secure, i am doing a family vacation on the Island and now I am rethinking this. I no that there is crime anywhere you go but boniare was a safe place. I hope that all of you stay safe.
|
By Vince DePietro-www.bonairebeachcondo.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3051) on Thursday, June 3, 2010 - 9:28 am: |
Daniel..Welcome to BT. I for one have traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean for the last 30 years. Notwithstanding some of the tales of woe which you read here, truth be told Bonaire is one of the safest islands in the entire region.
|
By Eric M. "CamMan" (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1166) on Thursday, June 3, 2010 - 10:41 am: |
Daniel, I second Vince's info. There is crime everywhere. The crime on Bonaire is very low grade compared to most places and it is fairly easy to avoid if you take some minor precautions. As a recent Bonaire visitor, I definitely would not discourage anyone from going there for a vacation.
|
By lisa z (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #422) on Friday, June 4, 2010 - 3:29 pm: |
We just spent 2 weeks on the island. We stayed at the Bellafonte and felt very safe.
|
By lisa z (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #423) on Friday, June 4, 2010 - 3:30 pm: |
Forgot to mention. Not only will I return to Bonaire, our next trip is already planned.
|
Visit: The Bonaire WebCams - Current Bonaire images and weather!
The Bonaire Insider - the latest tourism news about Bonaire
The Bonaire Information Site, InfoBonaire
Search Bonaire - Search top Bonaire Web sites