After much concern about not being able to make our trip to Bonaire on Nov.3, we finally made it. After reading the Bonaire Reporter which stated several issues with ALM and with the reports on this board, I contacted Amy at Caradonna Tours and said I was worried about our trip that was booked way back in May. She assured me things were still OK with our flight on ALM. After reading more bad news, I contacted her again. Still, everything OK. The Tuesday before our Saturday flight Amy called my wife and said we had to redo our flights. The good news was that American still had a couple of openings but had to leave Friday instead of Sat. No Problem, an extra day on Bonaire--$200+ per ticket cheaper also. We flew Cleveland-Miami-SanJuan-Bonaire. Everything went fine,just a long layover in SanJuan.Arrived in Bonaire at 8:50PM. Return trip was Bonaire-Aruba-Miami-Cleveland. (Read report in "Getting to Bonaire" under going through Aruba)I won't repeat it here again.
We booked a waterfront house(UltimoCas) about 7 houses North of Jake and Linda's house. The house was very nice,two bedroom,with kitchen and large living quarters and a wonderful view of the sea(and great sunsets) This was our 6th trip to Bonaire and my wife and I enjoy the solitude of being alone. The resorts are fine but after a few trips you kind of want to get away. We are only snorkelers and don't dive. Our house had a really nice beach area with access to the water through a little channel. We usually drive to different areas to snorkel but found our own little reef to be about the best area this year. We swam to Andrea1 and Andrea2 and also to the webcam one day, both very easy snorkels. This year the fish life was very abundant. Many really large Parrot fish,especially a Midnight Parrot that was gigantic. We also enjoyed Windsock and Ole Blue.
Dining: We ate at several restuarants that we like and some new ones this year. Some of them are GardenCafe,WarumKetjap,Croccotino,and Eric's(the little green kiosk across from Beafeaters. He opens about 8PM and makes the best sandwiches,FF with peanut sauce, and cole slaw, always a favorite for us. We had a BBQ gril at our house and grilled out about 3 times. We ate breakfast at home and usually made sandwiches to take with us on our trips.
We have made several friends on Bonaire since our first trip. We had a cookout at our friend's house in Rincon one evening(Chicken,Ribs,and steak)What a treat!! one of our good friends is Moogie that sings at some of the Resorts. We were invited to his house about 3 times for dinner also. Moogie and his wife,Lily, are wonderfuls cooks also. Great food and conversation. I took my token gift of Folgers coffee to Michael Gaynor and ended up working on a computer printer for him. Spent alot of time talking to him over the two weeks we were there.
We rented a truck from Netty's as we have done on all our previous trips. We had no problems. One night I thought I heard someone outside by our truck and I opened the window to look outside and was starring a donkey right in the face. He ran off and I jumped back--not what I was expecting.
All in all, it was another wodnerful trip. Fifteen days of sunshine and warm weather(just wish it would have been colder than what is was back home). Good friends, old and new, and time for relaxing before getting back home and returning to work. I now know why I always feel so bad when I get back home--PBD. I never knew it was a sickness but now I believe it.
Dean and Karen

Glad to see you had a great time, Dean. Amy is a sweetheart and will go that extra mile to make your trip easier, if necessary. She's OK in my book. The house you rented sounds wonderful. I think Joe and I will try that on one of our next trips. Yours sounds perfect as we are snorkelers, too. How did you find the house? Thru one of the Realtors (the only one) on the island? Thanks for your report. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Carole

An addition to my report that my wife just told me about...Our best meal was at Swiss Chalet. Susie is great. When we arrived there,Susie met us at the door and said" boy, you lost a lot of weight since last year, come in and let me fatten you up" We ate there 2 times and were extremely satified both times.