trip report Dec 19--Jan 3..


First, endless thanks to everyone on this board for providing great information!!! Our first trip to Bonaire was fabulous and we will be back.

AIRLINES: Our flights from Seattle were on Delta and connected to Air Jamaica. All were on time and smooth. No problems at all. Air Jamaica was great. Haven’t had such nice flight attendants in years--people seemed to be enjoying their work. also High praises to Air Jamaica’s sales manager in Curacao. We had a 5 hour layover in Curacao on our return. No place to check luggage. A generous employee let us leave our luggage in her office. We were able to spend the afternoon shopping and enjoying lunch in Willemstad. Needless to say I have generated letters of praise to her and her boss!!

ACCOMMODATIONS: We (four of us) stayed at the BelMar. Our first 10 days were in a 2 bedroom ground floor condo that was excellent. When I made our reservations in August there was only one unit available for our last 3 nights--the Penthouse! We decided to splurge rather than end our trip early or try to find another location. This was a disappointment compared to our ground floor unit. It is definitely in need of a remodel as paint/wall paper was peeling, the master bathroom cabinets were separating and several appliances were not working, refrigerator leaking from the back and pooling in front of the bathroom. the ocean view was spectacular--but the open living space also gives you an unobstructed view of the other penthouse and vice versa.

The staff were all very nice and helpful. We did unlimited shore diving and were very pleased with the dive shop.

FOOD/RESTAURANTS:

We love to cook, ---shopped at Cultimara some (bring your own bags or sacks), but preferred More for Less and the Warehouse. Used our VISA card at all locations without any problems.

Did eat at a number of restaurants and here are our reviews/experiences (3 meat lovers and one vegetarian) :

LOST PENGUIN: hours were 8 am --2 pm. great Belgian waffles, club sandwiches, fish and chips, and a good Greek salad. Good coffee (espresso). service/staff very good too. We found their prices very reasonable. We ate there 3 times.

CASABLANCA: the first night we arrived we ate there. Food was excellent. Huge portions, freshest interesting salad too. (vegetarian in the group got the “extra plate”--for US $7 included excellent salad, fries or baked potato and rice. ) Took about 1/2 hour from ordering food to getting it. Prices very reasonable for the quality and amount of food. We went back again. Food was still excellent however it took an hour from ordering it to getting it.

RIB FACTORY: very good. Chicken, ribs and catch of the day. Vegetarian had a quesadilla which was judged to be very good. Service was very good. Everyone liked it enough to return a second time to get take out

CITY CAFE: maybe we were here on an off day--it was mediocre. Was not busy and we were seated next to the big rock at the entrance. Service was disjointed (3 different servers none of whom seemed very interested in taking our orders or answering questions.)
Portions were small, and food seemed bland. Catch of the day was a big disappointment.
Added to this was the arrival of 2 families with 4 kids I would guess to be in the 7--8 year range. The families sat in the middle of the restaurant and the kids just ran free--hiding under tables, running around, climbing up and down the rock next to our table. So much for atmosphere....

did use their internet service which was great.


GARDEN CAFE: biggest disappointment. Our vegetarian was really looking forward to some great middle eastern fare.... the mixed vegetable plate was found to be very bland, and portions very small, cost expensive. Others found the catch of the day to be small portion and bland and very expensive compared to the other restaurants we sampled. (the catch of the day here was the same price as the Mixed Grill for 2 (actually should be 4!) at the Casablanca
The restaurant also does not have any fans--so the mosquitoes were a problem (the server tried to help the situation by putting a citronella candle under our table and putting a can of Cutter’s bug spray on the table.

GIBIS: the meat eaters greatly regretted that the vegetarian in the group declined sitting down to a meal of fries while everyone else would have been eating the goat stew.
so we opted to all cook at the condo....next trip the meat eaters will definitely eat here.

DIVING/SNORKELING/DAY TRIPS

thanks for the suggestions of books BONAIRE DIVING MADE EASY by Jessie Armacost, and SNORKELING GUIDE TO MARINE LIFE by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach. We found both of these books to be very helpful

2 of us are divers, the others snorkelers. for the most part we often went to the same sites with the exception of Hilma Hooker.


The Woodwind Sail and Snorkel was excellent. Dee and Ulf run a first class trip. Highly recommend it even for divers.


Washington Slagbaai National Park was also an excellent day trip. We stopped at Wayaka II for some snorkeling. The Jellyfish made this a short event. We then headed to the Harbor where we ate out picnic lunch and played in the waves. The flamingos were close enough for us to really observe with binoculars. Great experience.

Also recommend exploring the area south of Lagoen where the blow hole is. What a contrast to the west side. Huge surf and like being on the moon...

PLACES WE DOVE/SNORKELED--all excellent (BTW I brought my 3 mm and never used it. A skin worked fine for me and I am normally cold. other diver wore a shorty)

Did 2 night dives at the Belmar and saw lots of interesting fish.
Tori’s reef
Andrea 1 and II
Oil slick leap (no rock marker), thanks to the photographer who told us about the huge puffer fish in the cave just behind the ladder
1000 steps
Karpata
Ol’ Blue
North Belnam

We actually went to these places several times because they were so great and easy for the 4 of us. Also there were 3 days where the waves were large and crashing (breaking parts of the dock at the Belmar) making the southern sites too rough to dive/snorkel

We never did spot sea horses or frog fish. Saw so many other things..turtles at Karpata, large tarpins and barracuda at Hilma Hooker, large grouper, tarpin and several large puffers at 1000 steps....my favorite are the squid.

One day we also went to Lac Bay and tried Wind surfing--a first for all of us. Took a lesson and then had a great time. We were all surprised that we actually were able to stand up!

Went back another day and rented a board for 2 hours that we all took turns using.

New Years Eve we went to BuddyDive’s. We were looking forward to dancing and arrived at 10 p.m.--but that didn’t really get going until after midnight. The fireworks were fabulous!!

CAR RENTAL: AB rentals. We had one of the trucks and had no problems. (We also did not have any towels, or tevas taken when we went diving)

thanks again!

Great trip report, Nhumey!! So glad to hear you and your group had a great time. It's hard NOT to fall in love with Bonaire. Now you will suffer through PBD...Post Bonaire Depression....the only "cure" is to book the next trip and look forward to the day you return! Carole

Nhumey,

Thanks for the trip report!

Big ED

Great report! I can't wait to go one day!

Loved your trip report Nhumey!!! How was the weather? What was the rain/cloud/sun situation?

Sounds like you had a fabulous time. Thanks for the report!

Nhumey, thanks for the report. We will certainly use many suggestions.

How was the water visibility? Did the rain perturb the viz?

During our trip we had sun, clouds and rain, wind and no wind. but it might be raining at Belmar and not at the Northern dives sites, Was very easy to find out through the dive shop where to go. Or just drive the 15 mins. and take a look. For a few dives the visibility was affected on entry and exit (North Belnam) but once we dropped down it was not.

The day we went to Washington Park we drove back along the East coast. big surprise--there was a wind reversal that day and the normally choppy Eastside dive sites were like a lake/ no wind at all! (the wind surfers were not happy). then as we drove up the southern sites on the west side it was very choppy.

Never a problem to find a good place to dive

Nhumey

Thanks for the great trip report!

Sorry to hear about the Garden Cafe - Patty is a vegan and loves the food, and Raja is a great host... I'll pass along your thoughts when we go in two weeks...

Carl