AJ touched down at JFK at 10:05 PM Saturday,as advertised. Two hours later I had collected my luggage, cleared customs and arrived home. A nice trip, nothing extraordinary and almost completely without problems. The weather was lovely even though it was the rainy season, we saw sunshine. Got a few bug bites when I forgot the Cutters, but nothing out of the ordinary

STREET CAM:
As a new BTer, I made the obligatory pilgrimages to the web cams. By Tuesday morning we had settled in, stocked the fridge and I now had the time to go to the gate cam. Thank you Rusty & John for the captures.

Jake: Grendel will never make it as a watchdog. She will only be dangerous if the burglar is allergic to slobber. What a love! However, Blijke made the proper amount of noise for a Bonaireian defender of hearth and home.

After that I headed down to the Divi to find the notorious left coasters, Glenn & Debbie. I just had, to question them about "The Picture". Inquiring minds and DOM want to know. Glenn assured me that the camera angle made it appear suspicious, but his hand was well out in front of Debbie. Well, I had to take his word of course, but I do think it's significant to note, I was NOT allowed to dust for fingerprints.

DIVING:
Dove with the wonderful crew at Photo Tours. Because Maida, my wife, likes to visit the casinos at night, we do our diving in the afternoon. Photo Tours is one of the few dive operators that will give you two tank afternoon boat dives. This is not their normal schedule, but if you request it, they will go out of
their way to accommodate you. Since my knees started giving me trouble, the shore dives are becoming more difficult. I dove with the Pink Bus on Sunday and Monday and experienced no problem with theft or vandalism. However due to the surge and my knees, some of my exits, were far less than graceful. With that, we went with the boat for the rest of the week. From Tuesday through Thursday we hit various sites on the lee side of Klein. This gave us great viz, and an easy climb back into the boat. Didn't see anything out of the ordinary except a sand tilefish on one dive. However the coral and the standard assortment of Bonaire fish is all it takes to make me happy. Loved every inute of it. Finally got to the Reef Cam on Friday. Thanks for the pics Meryl. The 15:20 Post is
Tim and Al, two left coasters, hanging on to the
mooring block with my wife Maida in back. The
15:22 post is the geezer himself with Maida in
the background. She was anxious to go see the seahorse the divemaster said was north of the buoy. He was right, showed us two in fact.

FOOD:
A personal lament for the demise of Bon Awa Grill. Yes Josie, it's all shuttered and locked. What that man could do with a chicken and that charcoal grill are indescribable. If anyone knows if the Kip Meister is grilling chickens somewhere else on Bon, please let me
know. The best food value on Bonaire has got to be Old Inn's Kip Satay. Quantity, quality and a price of twenty guilder. How can you miss? Had an "appetizer meal" from Lion's Den. Don't know if the Cajun Calamari is authentic bayou cooking, but it sure tasted good. The grilled conch at Zee Zicht was great, but read my rip off rant before you go there. Didn't have time to go to Le Wok this trip. I'll get back there in February for some of their great food. After reading so much about It Rains Fishes, I was somewhat disappointed. I found the menu limited, and although what we had was good, it was not great.

SUMMATION:
Had a great trip. Relaxed, enjoyed the food, the dives and the people. By the way Glenn & Debbie are real good sports. I showed up at their door one morning, a complete stranger, and they invite me in, offer me breakfast and let me ramble on about Bon, diving and Lord knows what else. Nice to have met you both.

hi bob - i read your rip off rant. don't blame you for being angry at the waitress. But why the restaurant? Please send a copy of your rant to the restaurant owner. that's the only way to stop that behavior.The owner needs to get your feedback in order to stop the scam.
Hope you return to Bonaire again.
mimi

Hi Mimi,

1)I have no idea how to contact the owner.

2) I won't go back to Zee Zicht because I would probably be recognized, and I don't want to wonder what that "special sauce" might be.

3) Of course I'm going back to Bon. Wouldn't let a little rip off artist keep me away from what I consider the perfect place to relax.

Bummer about Bon Awa. However, Bob, Carneceria Latina charcoal grills both chicken and ribs on Saturdays --- absolutely GREAT.

Great trip report Bob! We were delighted that you tracked us down at Divi & really enjoyed chatting with you. So glad that the two of you had so much fun. Did your lovely wife get to try the Divi casino? I'll post or send you a copy of the "Two Studs" picture when it's developed. I'm still giggling about burglars allergic to slobber..thanks for making my day. :D!!!

xxoo

Deb.

Bob - the "Kip Meister" is located! He works now in The Beefeater - the owners from the Exito Bakery are managing the Beefeater now and they will have grilled chicken starting 11am. The opening was yesterday. They will also have their famous sandwhiches along other things for breakfast and lunch and for dinner there is a charcoal grill in the garden. Very reasonable prices.

Bless you!! Bless you!! Bless you!!