KUDOS
First of all, we want to thank our fellow Bonaire Talkers for your excellent assistance in planning this trip. Because of all the tips we got by reading your trip reports and reviews of various restaurants and snorkel/dive sights, we saved a lot of time and enjoyed some experiences we’d otherwise never have had. Here’s hoping our report will help someone else to have as great a vacation on Bonaire as we had! And…perhaps we can prove that you really can have an “affordable” Bonaire vacation. We decided we wanted to stay two weeks, even if it meant pinching some pennies to do it. We will give the prices we paid whenever possible.

TRIP PLANNING
As we made plans for our 2 weeks on Bonaire, we faithfully scoured everything on Bonaire Talk as well as websites like Infobonaire, Bonairenet and Shorediving.com. We took a notebook and divided it into sections: Food/Restaurants, Snorkel/Dive sites, Accommodations and Miscellaneous. Then as we would pick up information about a certain restaurant or snorkel site we were interested in, we would make a page for it and afterwards add all the new information that we came across. Once we got to Bonaire, this became a handy reference guide, plus it will serve us well on future trips.

TRANSPORTATION
Took Air Jamaica from Atlanta via Montego Bay. No worries, mon!! All flights on time and luggage arrived when we did. Arrival flight even touched down on Bonaire 15 minutes early! Can’t beat that!! (More to follow…)

GETTING STARTED
Here are some things to look for at the airport. Just inside passport control in the baggage area to the right is a little display of all kinds of information. Especially take note of:
1) The “Bonaire Reporter” which is the island newspaper; 2) “Bonaire Update Events and Activities,” which is a small brochure listing daily activities during a two week time period; and 3) “Bonaire Nights” and “Bonaire Affair,” which are small, full-color tourist magazines for the island.

In the “Bonaire Update…” for example, there may be a bird watching tour offered on Tuesday while on Friday a certain restaurant will offer an all you can eat barbecue buffet or meal discounts. It also tells what movies are playing at the local cinema. It gives addresses and phone numbers of many local restaurants and resorts as well. The “Bonaire Reporter” will have ads for last-minute restaurant specials or discounts, have articles of local interest or events, contain ads for local businesses whose services you may need, give high and low tide times, and list free slide and video shows available on the island.

The magazines, “Bonaire Nights” and “Bonaire Affair,” contain sections on shopping, restaurants, and island activities. They contain maps of the island and/or downtown Kralendijk. They may also contain lists of free video or slide shows. And an important feature each magazine has is the island information page, which contains phone numbers for the airlines and car rentals, ATM locations, a currency exchange rate, emergency numbers, locations of gas stations and pharmacies. Also in one of these magazines was a currency conversion table that showed the exchange rate between island currency (Naf) and US Dollars--from $1 all the way up to $1,000. We tore it out and carried it with us everywhere, and it was a great help.

Some of these publications can also be found at other businesses on the island, but the airport had everything in one place.

LODGING
We stayed at “Travellers Inn,” built a year ago by Jesse Thode, a native of the island. He has studio apartments located in a quiet, residential neighborhood about a 3 or 4 block walk to the ocean. It is basic studio set-up. Your double bed and kitchen are in the same room. Kitchen has full stove with oven, microwave, sink, full size fridge and coffee pot. All the appliances are new. Cookware and eating utensils are minimal but sufficient. The separate bathroom has shower, sink and toilet. The bedroom A/C unit can cool the entire place (that was important in August!) It also has a ceiling fan. The television has satellite with English, Spanish and Dutch channels. It is small, spartan and could not be called luxury accommodations, yet everything we needed was there. All was new, and it was nice and clean. We got new linens 3 or 4 times during our two-week stay.

Best of all…it was the best price we found on the island—under $1300 for two weeks of lodging and vehicle combined. That enabled us to extend a one-week stay into a two-week stay. And after all…isn’t that why most of us come to Bonaire?? Jesse could not have been more helpful. We got a mini van (old but adequate with A/C) as part of our package price. Once we had a minor problem with the van lights. Jesse took the van in the morning and brought us another vehicle to use that day. By evening, we had our vehicle back--repaired! Jesse met us at the airport and took us back to the airport. So if you’re looking for reasonable accommodations to extend your time on Bonaire, look Jesse up at his website: www.travellersinnbonaire.com. He speaks Dutch, English, and Spanish, so he can communicate with most visitors to the island.
(More to follow...)

FOOD/RESTAURANTS
We love to eat, so this is a big part of any vacation we take. Anyone else like us out there?? There are very few types of foods we don’t like, and we’ve dined all over the world, sampling many different ethnic cuisines. BUT we also know good food from bad. Frankly, some of the places others had given rave reviews about had bad or so-so food in our opinion. If it tastes like someone opened a can and warmed it up, that is NOT good food to us.

We shopped at Cultimara (because it took our particular credit card) and ate most breakfasts and lunches in our apartment. There are some other supermarkets on the island that have better prices. One is the Tropical Flamingo located behind the NAPA and Budget Marine stores. If you drive slowly through town headed toward the north end of the island and keep looking to the right on the side streets, you will spot the NAPA sign about a block off the main road.

The water from the tap all over the island is pure, clean and totally safe. There is a plant on the island that takes the salt out of the sea water, and this process in and of itself makes the water there more drinkable than the water from your own city. It’s as good and as safe as bottled water. We froze tap water in plastic bottles we had brought along to take with us on snorkel trips—stayed cold all day.

The prices we give for restaurant meals are in US dollars and reflect the costs for entrées only, excluding the tip. If anything else was ordered, it is mentioned. Mostly, we requested water to drink with our meals.

Garden Café—The Deluxe Lebanese Platter is enough for two if neither is extremely hungry. That plus one iced tea totaled $22.80. Fairly tasty and a good change from other island food.

City Café—We both ordered the catch of the day (wahoo), which was prepared grilled with a tasty mango chutney sauce. It came with salad and potato. That plus an iced tea and cola totaled $33.14. It was good to very good. This place was not as inexpensive as some had rated it.

Gibi’s—The site of the Bonaire Talkers’ dinner. One of us had the grilled Dorado and the other grilled barracuda. (The ‘cuda was so fresh we watched Gibi carry it in and filet it in front of our eyes). Both were served with a Creole sauce Gibi made and came with coleslaw. A large platter of rice and fries was passed for the entire table to share. Delicious! Each of our entrées was $11.10. We enjoyed getting to meet some fellow Bonaire Talkers. We recommend this Tuesday night get-together to all BTalkers whenever you visit the island. It’s nice to be able to put faces with the names of those you chat with in the newsgroup.

China Nobo—Across the street from Gibi’s. The food was very good with some unusual, exotic flavors. We each had egg drop soup. Then we ordered sweet and sour chicken and pepper steak and a bowl of white rice each. Total was $26 for everything. Note: The owners are extremely nice. They just really need to clean their bathrooms!!!

The Rib Factory—Located upstairs in the Harborside Mall. You have a great view of the ocean if you get a table near the front. Prices here are very reasonable. We split a full slab of ribs with a baked potato and coleslaw. You can order the ribs prepared 3 ways. Being from the south originally, we chose the barbecued ribs. Actually, we didn’t expect them to be that good. We were pleasantly surprised! The barbecue was sweet just like we like it, and the meat was very tender. They have some of the best key lime pie we’ve had anywhere. Our total bill for the one full slab that we split with all the trimmings and 2 slices of pie was $19.

Zeezicht’s—We’d read on BT that this is a good place for a burger on a hot day as you can eat it inside the air-conditioned interior and have a great view of the ocean as well. That was true! Two burgers with fries were $5 apiece. (The A/C alone was worth that!)

Wattaburger—Speaking of burgers, we decided to try the cheapest burger place we’d heard about. Located on the waterfront, its prices can’t be beat. We each got a burger, shared a huge basket of fries which we could not even finish, and had a coke and an Arizona tea. Total…under $10. There are other things on the menu—some meatballs and sate--and the most expensive thing we saw was about $5. Burgers were rather small, but they were tasty and fully dressed.

Paradise Crepes—Wedged between Wattaburger and City Café. We did not actually eat there. Had intended to but just ran out of time. But we looked over the menu posted outside. Most expensive thing we saw was a dessert crepe for about $7. They also have entrée crepes. Next time…

Lost Penguin—We ate here twice, wanting to give it a second chance because of the reviews we’d read. To us, the food was ok but nothing special. Maybe we hit them at a bad time. On the first trip, we had an order of regular nachos and one of deluxe nachos. The deluxe would be enough for two if neither were very hungry. However, the taste was rather bland. It needed some salsa or something to give it some flavor. One of us ordered iced tea, and we will say the tea was very good with free refills (until the pitcher they brought was empty). The two nachos and iced tea were $14.10. The second time, we ordered breakfast, and it was better. We both had waffles—one plain and one with fruit and whipped cream. If you order the plain, try the coconut and chocolate syrups. The two waffles with one coffee and one juice was $13.20.

Carniceria Latino—(Do a word search on BT talk for specific directions to this place as it is a little out of the way but not difficult to find). It’s only open on Saturday mornings. We got a large styrofoam carry-out container crammed full of barbecued chicken and ribs for $6!!! We added a pint of coleslaw and a pint of potatoes and gravy from KFC for a great meal! We even had leftovers!

Old Inn—We purposed to come here for the rice table as one of our “splurge” meals. It was $25 a person. But when you consider how much food you get, how unusual it is and the fact that we had a full meal the next day on the leftovers, the price seems reasonable. We started out with a delicious soup, followed by egg rolls. Then they began to cart (quite literally) the food out to the table. There were probably 15 different dishes, some hot and some cold. Then there was a round tray of all sorts of toppings and snack items in the middle of the table. It was a feast!

Cappriccios—This was another “splurge” meal for us. We had eaten here two years ago and felt it was the most outstanding meal we had on the island. Perhaps we just hit it on a bad night, but this time we were somewhat disappointed. The salad was ordinary. One of us got the ravioli stuffed with pumpkin mousse. Very different and very tasty. The other got fish. Our desserts were good but not good enough to warrant the price. We ate outside and the service was rather slow. Overall, it was a good meal but not a great one. And the price was $60. Hope we just caught a bad night, as we really loved this place in the past.

Pasa Bon Pizza—We never had the pizza here, but we had read about the chocolate cake on BTalk. So we had it twice. At about $6 a pop, it’s not the cheapest dessert on the island. But it is rich and very tasty. It would definitely appeal to chocoholics (we are borderline ones). The center of the chocolate cake is semi-liquid chocolate with chocolate syrup drizzled over the top. Need we say more???

Lover’s Ice Cream—We saw this place almost daily (well…we WERE on vacation for crying out loud!! What is vacation if you can’t indulge a little??) It’s cheaper to buy the pints in Cultimara, but the cone in the store is a nice treat. (For those fans of the homemade ice cream place in Rincon, we discovered when we asked at the tourist office that it has gone out of business).

We saved our favorite two restaurants for last. Each, we felt, was superior in taste, quality, and price.

Mona Lisa bar hap menu. Several restaurants offer what they call the bar hap menu, which is a limited selection that changes daily at a reduced price. The Mona Lisa is a classy restaurant that can have some classy prices. But the bar hap gives you the opportunity to taste first-class cuisine at moderate prices. Everything we ate there was fabulous! It is only open in the evenings, M-F. We went back twice. The first time, one of us had the steak prepared in some sort of delicious sauce that included red wine. The other had an outstanding salmon dish. Both were served with appropriate vegetables and the most delicious potatoes in cream sauce. The presentation of everything was beautiful. And then there were the desserts!!! Look out—they cost almost as much as the entrees. But sooooo worth it! One of us had a passion fruit cheesecake with homemade raspberry sorbet. The other had an apple dessert with homemade cinnamon ice cream. Wow! Total bill for 1 bar hap entree and 1 dessert was around $20. We drank water; so total bill for two was $40. The bar hap entrée by itself was about $12. The next week we did it again! This time we both had a steak in some kind of wonderful sauce with veggies and those potatoes in cream sauce with cheese. For dessert the same apple creation with cinnamon ice cream and this time a mango cheesecake, again with that luscious raspberry sorbet. Same price as last time. This place is superb!

Casablanca—This restaurant gets our vote as best new restaurant on the island (since our last visit 2 years ago). We went back 3 times!!! The prices are great and the food is too! Good service also. First time we got the cheapest steak on the menu and the Chicken Casablanca and split each entree. We asked for extra salad in lieu of French fries. The meal also came with rice. Both entrees were just wonderful! The salads were fresh. Don’t know where they get that crisp lettuce on the island. Big, big portions. Total with 2 waters was $23. We saw a couple order the mixed grill for two. It came out on its own grill with more meat than we figure they could eat in 3 days. Our second time back, we both got the ribs. Great again, and that same fresh salad with rice. This meal was less expensive than the first. Third time we went there for lunch after we had deposited our luggage at the airport—our final meal on Bonaire. We tried a different steak from the first visit and the chicken breast in green onion sauce and split both entrees. Wow! Another home run! This meal was $27. If you haven’t been there, you’ve gotta try it. Let’s just hope it doesn’t become so popular that the prices skyrocket.
(More to follow...)

AN OBSERVATION/SUGGESTION
Having been away from the island for two years, we saw some subtle changes this trip we did not like. Perhaps by calling attention to them, it could become a catalyst for change?

Last summer we vacationed in Cozumel. Noting the MANY differences, we chose to not return there again but instead to make Bonaire our perpetual vacation place. But we were a little distressed to see that some of the same things we did not like about Cozumel are starting to surface on Bonaire. One of the main things is the noise factor and traffic by the waterfront at night. We observed cars and motorcycles racing down the ocean view drive at high speeds where pedestrians were walking. We’d never seen this on Bonaire before. One night, we saw a little girl narrowly miss being run down by a car full of kids out joy riding. There were no policemen or any kind of law enforcement in sight.

A second thing was the noise caused by blasting car radios/stereos, the revving of car engines and motorcycles without mufflers or with some kind of really loud mufflers (there is such an increase in motorcycles now that they are being rented on the island everywhere) Kids (and some adults too) were popping wheelies and burning rubber right in front of the oceanside restaurants where people were trying to have a nice outdoor meal. People were just circling, “cruising the boulevard,” so to speak. We sat outside eating and watched the same vehicles pass by time after time. The noise level was like being at a racetrack. And the sheer volume of traffic on this particular road was greatly increased from two years ago. If this was true in August during slow season, what will it be like in high season if something doesn’t change?

We wonder if maybe it isn’t time for a couple of traffic cops to work the downtown area at night to control the speeds at which people are allowed to drive and to also regulate the noise. A few citations for speeding, booming car stereos, engine revving and driving without a muffler would probably calm things down a lot. Don’t know if it is mostly locals doing this or tourists. It was no problem during the day—only at night. And it seemed to be worse on weekends (which led us to believe it is mostly locals). Either way, it is really spoiling the laid-back atmosphere of the island. We hope measures are taken now before this really gets out of hand and possibly someone gets badly hurt.

SNORKELING SITES
In two weeks’ time, we spent many hours in the water, trying several snorkeling sites. Our first trip two years ago, we stayed for one week and were getting adjusted to the island. We weren’t very adventurous, snorkeling mostly off Capt. Don’s pier and the Divi beach. Those were good places, but this year we decided to branch out. Wow! We made some great discoveries. There’s a whole new world of snorkeling available if you explore both ends of the island.

The second week of our stay, something weird happened weather-wise that caused lots of waves at both the extreme north and south ends of the island, so we could not snorkel every site we had planned to snorkel. We wanted to do the LaDania’s leap to Karpata snorkel, but the weather did not allow. Just another reason to return to Bonaire….

Starting on the southern end (airport end), we’ll work north:

There were some other sites further south we wanted to try, but the wind was too strong and the breaking of good-sized waves near shore told us we’d be wise to forego it for another time.

To reach most of these sites, drive along the main road and look for the painted yellow stones that mark their location. Usually the name of the site is written on the stone. Once you reach the water, look for a yellow stone in most cases to indicate the best entry point (there were some exceptions where we had to make our own decision about where to enter because there was no marker).

Angel City—We wanted to try here in hopes of seeing the double reef system, but the weather was not cooperating too well. Surf was up, and the swim out is also fairly long. We reached the buoy amidst lots of waves. Thought we might have seen the start of the second reef way down below, but the waves were wearing us out. So we went back in and drove down the coastline to Tori’s Reef.

Tori’s Reef—The entry is extremely easy here. There is a small, shallow channel where you can stand in thigh deep, calm water and put on fins and mask. Then just swim out the channel into the sea. The fish life here was abundant—both along the shore and out further.

Divi Divi Hotel Beach—Easy entry off the small sand beach. Explore around the rock pier, getting up close to look in all the small caves and crevices. Lots of fish here as people feed them. To the right of the stone pier (facing the sea) there is a small pile of rubble where fish like to hang out. Also there is a lot to see out a bit deeper and to the left of the pier. Look for the large tarpon that likes to hang out there, and don’t let him scare you. He’s not a shark!

Capt. Don’s Pier—(If access there is still allowed it’s an easy entry down the ladder). Snorkel to your right (south) and you’ll eventually reach The Cliff. Usually lots of fish here, and we have seen schools of squid. Best snorkeling is along the shore.

Andrea I and II—These are two great locations. The coral is abundant and fish are too. Even when the south and north ends of the islands are not accessible due to winds or waves, the Andreas are usually calm. In fact, when the wind was really up, we saw dive boats from the hotels anchored here as well as the Woodwind. The water entry at Andrea I is easier to us because there are rocks to sit on and don your fins, but getting down to the water is much easier at Andrea II. Just look for the yellow stones on the road and follow the subsequent yellow stones to the parking area. We saw a huge spotted ray at Andrea II, which we followed for several minutes—beautiful and graceful as a bird in flight! The best snorkeling we think is between the Andreas (if you’re a good swimmer). There are spots where you can see at least 10 varieties of coral in one location. One day around 4 pm we were in this area and saw three squid mating. We hovered over them for about 45 minutes, watching two of them flutter up near the surface, circle and chase and change colors, then come together and the female eventually made two deposits of eggs under the same coral head. Then the male turned to the other female. It was fascinating to watch. When we think “Andreas,” we think schools of fish. We never failed to see large schools of fish here.

Oil Slick Leap—Easy entry. Just don your gear and take the plunge off the small cliff. Or just at the bottom of the ladder is a small ledge where you can hold on to the ladder and don your fins. Exiting is also easy because you can climb up the ladder (just like in a pool). As soon as you enter the water you are over a reef in about 15 –20 feet of water. Our favorite snorkel is to go along the coastline in the direction of the airport (south) toward an area where there are residences with their own piers. There are some really unusual coral formations here and lots of fish. Out deeper is also good snorkeling. We saw a turtle here and followed it up the coastline and also saw several flounder.

These last two sites were our favorites by far but also harder to get to.

Wayaka II (in Washington Slagbaai National Park) Getting here is no easy feat! This is an all-day affair. We made the mistake of waiting until 10 or 11 in the morning to go. Next time, we’ll start earlier and certainly have a better vehicle. The roads are brutal! Admission to the park is $10 a person (plus the flat tire we had after we exited the park) J Take a picnic lunch and make a day of it. The roads are not paved anywhere in the park, so expect to get bumped and jolted. Just think ‘safari’ and you won’t be disappointed! Watch the map the park rangers give you, take every shortcut possible (unless you are really into ‘roughing it’) and follow the signs to Wayaka that will be on the main road as you get near the area. From the top of the cliff it looks a little inaccessible. We recommend not stopping at the first Wayaka but drive on to Wayaka II. There are stairs down to the bottom of the cliff and at the bottom of the cliff are a little (very little) beach and a small cave where you can take refuge from the sun. The beach entry was perfect and easy. After snorkeling a while, we came back on the beach, spread beach towels and pulled out lunch. That’s when the critters appeared—lizards of all sizes and colors waited to share our lunch with us. They were cute, running after small pieces of bread and taking them up on the rocks or back in the cave. After the food ran out, they all vanished into thin air. We waited to digest our lunch before re-entering the water, lying on the beach in neck-deep water and letting the waves wash over us. Ahhh…this is why we come on vacation!! After lunch, an amazing thing had happened. The tide had come in more, and the water over the reef directly ahead where it had seemed too shallow in the morning to swim over had gotten deeper. Up and over the reef we went, and there we discovered something we’d never seen in 15 years of snorkeling. We were over a solid reef that must have been larger than a football field. The water was 5-20 feet deep, and fish were everywhere! Here we saw the largest parrotfish we’d ever seen. It was 2/3 as big as us. Must have weighed 100-150 pounds. It was such a neat place the park rangers finally had to come and chase us out at the end of the day. On the way back to the entrance, we passed Boka Slagbaai where we saw beautiful flamingoes in the wild. We also saw the Bonaire parrot in the cactus plants that stood on both sides of the road like a forest of trees. We’re sure this park would be a great place to bird watch, but frankly the roads would keep us away unless we had a vehicle more suited for travel there.

Drift Snorkel on Kleine Bonaire—This was our favorite snorkel of the trip! We caught the Kontika di Amor water taxi at the pier in front of “It Rains Fishes” restaurant at 10 am. After a pleasant and short boat ride to Kleine, the operator drove the boat right up to the shore and lowered the ramp, allowing us to walk on dry ground to the beach area to deposit our lunches and bags. Then we got back on the boat, and the operator took us up current to a spot on the reef and let us out (we had our own snorkel gear, but you can also rent it on the boat). There were several of us snorkelers. We purposely hung back and let the others take off for the beach, kicking and making a lot of noise. After they had put some distance between us, we just floated with the current, didn’t kick and used our arms to maneuver. When the others were on the boat and heading back to the mainland, we were still drifting lazily toward the beach. It took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes in all. Once the ‘herd’ had passed and all was quiet again, the fish and other creatures came back. We saw 3 turtles on this snorkel and the biggest moray eel we’ve seen to this day—he was about 5-6 feet long with a head as big as a man’s neck. He led us to a giant lobster sitting up in the reef. To get the best out of this snorkel, stay by the shoreline for a while and then venture into deeper water. We also saw the only barracuda of our visit to Bonaire. He was about 4 feet long and followed us for a while. The reef off Kleine is remarkable—huge. The water can get deep, so if that bothers you, hug the shoreline more. The cost for the water taxi to Kleine was $14. If you want to do the drift snorkel it is only $2 more, which is well worth it (don’t know the cost of equipment rental). We thought this was the best snorkel trip bargain on the island. Once at the beach, there is a very rough little hut where you can get out of the sun to eat lunch. We saw some beautiful birds as we ate lunch—hummingbirds and tiny birds with brilliant yellow bodies striped with dark brown and little brown patches on their heads like caps. They were not a bit afraid of us. Like the lizards at Wayaka, they seemed eager to have some of our lunch and also some fresh water from our containers. We put the water in bottle caps we found there, and we thought they were going to try to take a bath in them as well as drink their fill. Poor babies…guess fresh water on that desert island is hard to come by. The swimming at Kleine’s beach is good, and you can snorkel too if you go out a ways. The taxi returns at noon, 2:30 and 4:30.

Ever been on a night snorkel??--We tried our first one in 15 years of snorkeling. It is WELL worth trying! We thought we might feel like “bait,” out in the water in the dark holding a light to attract the “creature from the black lagoon.” But Dee from the Woodwind put us at ease. There were 6 snorkelers in our group. Dee had us don wetsuits and enter the water from the Divi pier just before it got dark. In that way, we adjusted to the darkness gradually. The cost was a very reasonable $17 a person for about an hour and a half snorkel. We snorkeled along the shoreline and under the pier. A whole array of fish and creatures come out at night that we never saw in the daytime. And the coral changes too. We saw many lobsters, crabs, shrimp, eels, and fish new to us—like the scorpion fish. Dee found them and shined her light on each one, waiting until everyone saw whatever it was before moving on. One of the funniest things was to see a fish asleep, propped up on his side in some coral. We never knew fish actually slept! It was a lot of fun, and we recommend it to anyone who might be like we were—a little unsure of this “in the water after dark” stuff. It really is safe and worthwhile. You can sign up for the Woodwind-sponsored trip at the Divi Divi Hotel’s activities board.

There were several other places we wanted to try snorkeling, but they will have to wait for another trip. We’re still trying to find the elusive octopus. It’s the one thing on our “want” list that we’ve never yet seen. We even got up early and snorkeled trying to find one. Sorry, everyone, that we have no pictures to share. Underwater photography just isn’t our thing, so we have to paint “word pictures” instead. (More to follow...)

MISCELLANEOUS
The Tourist Information Office at Kaya Grandi 2 in downtown Kralendijk is a good place to visit. Their phone number is 7178322. They had lots of printed information and could answer many questions we had about all sorts of things on the island. They also have good island maps.

A “must” for anyone diving or snorkeling on the island is the book by Jessie Armacost, “Bonaire Diving Made Easy.” She lives on the island and says she shore dives almost every day. In the book, she details over 70 dive/snorkel sites, telling how to locate them, the best places to enter/exit the water, and the conditions under the water. (By the way, this was written after Hurricane Lenny in 1999). She rates each site from easy to advanced for divers and good or excellent for snorkelers. Most dive shops sell this book, and it costs around $12. Also…don’t miss her slide show on Tuesday nights at the Old Inn restaurant. She shows slides of fish, identifying each one and discussing some of its habits and where it can be found by divers and snorkelers.

The Bonaire theatre, “Movieland Cinema,” is downtown Kralendijk about a block away from the Cultimara Grocery Store and near De Tuin, Lost Penguin, and Rendezvous restaurants. It showed two movies each night at 7 and 9, but unfortunately, they were pretty much the same two films all week, changing on Friday nights. Cost was about $7 per person (adult—don’t know about children’s prices). Popcorn and soft drinks are also for sale there. Right next door to it is a video rental center that also rents DVD players.

Need a cell phone? Try Bonaire Access in the Harborside Mall downtown Kralendijk (where KFC is located). The Bonaire Access shop is directly across from the optical shop and also has internet access. You pay to use one of their computers according to the time you’re online. But their cell phone rentals are what drew us in--very reasonable. You can rent for 3 days or 7 days (or longer). The 3-day rental charged a $15 startup fee and the minimum prepaid phone card was $10. For 7 days the rates were $25 and $25 respectively. It sure came in handy to contact restaurants for their opening hours, daily specials, etc. If you need a cell phone to make more calls or longer distance calls, try the shop to the right of the Lovers’ Ice Cream parlor located near the marina traffic circle.

Evenings at Karel’s by the water—We don’t drink alcohol, but most days we took advantage of the 2 for 1 offerings at Karel’s Beach Bar and ordered virgin pina colodas to enjoy as we watched the sun go down. We tried to arrive about 15 minutes before sunset. What a treat to sip something cold and refreshing, sitting at a table out on the end of that pier while watching those spectacular Bonaire sunsets. While the cool evening breezes blew, we watched sail boats glide across the surface of the water while others sat anchored nearby, rocking gently in the waves. Yes, we saw the ‘Green Flash.’ But even more spectacular was one evening when the clouds were numerous in the west. As the sun went down, those clouds turned a deep brilliant golden with gray streaks running through them. The clouds changed to a light pink that grew to a darker pink. Just before darkness fell, ribbons of fiery red appeared across a sky that was a vivid robin’s egg blue. Then the colors all gradually faded into the still grey of evening. It was breathtaking! As lights from the pier began to illuminate the water below, colorful fish swam near to look for handouts. A perfect end to another perfect day on Bonaire!

WE WILL BE BACK!!!

Larry,
I loved your trip report! Thanks for sharing.
Yanagirl

I so enjoyed reading your very informative trip report!! I also try to go on a budget so that I can be on island for two weeks instead of just one so I found all your dining information very helpful. All your shore snorkeling info was very helpful as well and your description of your sunset just floated me right back to Bonaire!!!!

Larry, nice trip report and very detailed! You mentioned that City Cafe wasn't as inexpensive as some mentioned. I don't know where you live, but living on the coast of southern California, that is CHEAP for us! It's hard to walk out of a restaruant around here without paying at least 40 bucks (including a drink).

I agree about the noise factor in town. 2 years ago we didn't notice it at all, and in fact it was so nice, peaceful and relaxing in town at night. The kids cruising and racing their cars adn rice burners really put a damper on our seaside meals. I wonder what we as tourists can do to let the town government know that they need to do a little policing. Kids need to have fun, but as tourism is one of the main incomes for Bonaire, they need to realize that it has an effect. I would even avoid some of the seaside cafe's in the future just to save my ears and sanity...so business may suffer...I also agree that Casablanca is wonderful! We met Inez, one of the owners and she was just a doll

Larry, fabulous report, thanks for taking the time to write in such detail. This will be very helpful to others in the future. I vouch for your observations! Thanks for focusing on the traffic issues. The island needs to address this problem.

Wonderful report, Larry. So glad the board was of help to you in your planning and that the information actually enabled you to double your stay time! Thanks for taking the time to let us share your trip. When is your next one planned?? Carole

Larry -

Thank you for such a detailed, helpful report. We've been to Bonaire three times, but we learn something new almost every day from BT.

We, too, have noticed the increase in noisy, offensive traffic, especially along the waterfront at night. Bonaire has many positives that place it ahead of almost every other island in the Carib, and the "tranquility with civilization" is one of its most attractive.

I would repeat Cynde's question and hope that we might come up with some creative ideas.

As starters: perhaps if those who currently do not understand the damage created by a noisy environment had a direct vested interest in tourism, they would have a greater incentive to support a pleasant environment for that tourism.

Charles Poteet
Dallas

Great Report, I enjoyed reading about the restaurants... making me hungry!

Larry-
Great info, we are leaving in nine days and I am taking all this new feedback (we were there 16 months ago) with me in a series of notes. Thank you for taking the time to post your experience.

We were there in August and I remember remarking that Casablanca had a big crowd every night. I guess I know why now. I wish we had tried it, next time.

SUPER REPORT!

I too ate at Casa. three times between July and Aug. One night there was a loud large group inside the dining area. Too loud to enjoy our meal. Outside the traffic can be very noisey on the street too but gosh, the prices and the owners are wonderful..and the food. I wish they occuppied say the former Beefeaters spot or something a bit more intimate. Even the parking gets tight.

Oh well, can't have it all.



Ann

This is one of the most informative trip reports I have ever read. I am going in February for the first time, and this will be a big help. Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed, useful report.

My wife has to get the credit for doing it. She's the organizer and writer. As we said in the beginning, our hope is that others can benefit from what we've learned and have a more enjoyable time on Bonaire. It's a great place to vacation!

Larry, will you and your wife be "return" visitors to Bonaire? Carole

Yes, Carole, we just don't know exactly when at this time.

Glad to hear it! It's rare that folks who visit Bonaire once do not return again. It is such a wonderful place to be. Carole