Geoffrey and I had not been back to Bonaire since December, 2002. We'd had health issues, job issues, and generally not the greatest time of it in 2003; getting to Bonaire just wasn't to be.

So when Geoffrey, recovered fully from two surgeries, landed a contract job starting in March working for the State of Massachusetts, and with me already working (and checking the Air Jamaica website daily for airfares to Bonaire), we knew we had to go for it.

I haven't finished a web page yet, but it will be coming. Meanwhile a not-so-short synopsis:

Getting there: We took advantage of the Holiday Inn/Logan Park and Fly package, staying overnight, leaving the car there, and taking a shuttle back and forth to Logan Airport. This was great, and really worth it for us.

We also decided to upgrade to First Class on Air Jamaica (it was $170pp each way, available at the desk only; yes, we splurged). That was cool - they serve MUCH better Champagne (Moet and Chandon) in First Class than they do in Coach! The flights, both to and from Bonaire, were completely hassle free.

Getting through Security at Logan was particularly fun for Geoffrey, what with the implants. He was looking forward to setting off the alarms - yes, he's a nerd - but the agents all took it with good grace. they've seen them before, after all - and they all joked about it, while still making very certain that it was what it was.

It rained the day we arrived, just before we arrived. The streets were flooded, there were some parts that were under 4-6 inches of water as we drove to Captain Don's. Then it didn't rain again until the day we left, and then only for 10-15 minutes. Go figure.

Jack Chalk and his whole staff at Captain Don's were once again exemplary - Jack is a great guy, and the people working for him are all top-notch. From the desk staff to the dive masters, all are helpful and friendly, and really make you feel welcome. As return visitors (admittedly hard to forget, too) we got hugs from just about everyone, welcoming us back. Special mention should be made of Netto, Chris, Sherman, Karen and Jenni... I feel like we're all old friends at this point. The newer divemasters, Jonathan and Ron, are also very helpful and good fun to be around. I may have forgotten someone, but if I have it's my failing and not theirs. It stinks getting old!

The rental truck was... indescribable. It groaned and grunted, creaked, rattled and moaned, more than I ever have heard any vehicle, even some of the clunkers I had as a teen. Nevertheless, it got us where we were going, and we managed not to have any vandalism issues. The people at AB were helpful and, aside from the condition of the truck (which didn't bother us as long as we weren't charged for its condition as if WE caused it, and we weren't) we have no complaints.

Still, I think it might be time for AB Car Rental to put ol' 2440 down - it's the merciful thing to do.

Diving? The usual: outstanding. With his new hips, Geoffrey had to be a bit careful at times but it was the first time in a long while for him to be diving pain-free. We dove a bunch of times just in front of Captain Don's - it's easy, and never ceases to provide us with something great to see. Among the standouts: juvenile queen angel, juvenile french angel, a very large green moray, huge porcupine fish, the biggest baracuda I've yet seen in Bonaire. And that's just off the top of my head.

We also did a number of shore dives (Angel City, Hilma Hooker/Alice in Wonderland, Something Special, Andrea I and II), with no disappointments - whether it was great coral topology or wonderful reef denizens, we saw something to take our breath away in every dive.

The same holds true for the boat dives we did: Nearest Point, Ebo's Reef, Jerry's Reef, and Forest. Even where the reef was still a bit beaten up (the Lenny aftermath), there was evidence of new coral growth and always amazing fish life.

We did have digital camera problems: The Sony had been experiencing fogging problems, which I originally had thought was because (last trip) I'd been setting up in a humid room, then going into the colder water.

This time I was freezing myself in our room getting the temp/humidity way down before sealing it up, but it still fogged - we figure the housing needs some work, maybe a gasket on a button is letting in some moisture. It never floods, but fogs up enough to make the photos unuseable (I of course take a few with it fogged, thinking that the reason why it looks so bad in the viewfinder is because I'M blind! )

Geoffrey was using the Olympus (we got a new C5050 before we left) - I haven't had the nerve to try it yet, it's so much more complicated than the Sony, it scares me. Geoffrey offered it to me a number of times, but I declined.

It worked great, but... the memory chip Geoffrey bought (a high speed one, 512M) died the day before our last diving day. All of a sudden, "Disk ERROR!". Who'd a thought? And what a pain. We'd only gotten the one, because it was pretty expensive, and we had the RoadStor to do daily CD backups so we knew we weren't going to run out of space. There still was the 32M it came with, but the disappointment about the other kind of took the wind out of Geoffrey's sails when it came to taking photos, so he didn't bring it along on the next couple of dives.

So, some dutch girl got a great photo of my frogfish, (alright, maybe not mine, but no one pointed him out to me, I FOUND him, ya hear??? :D) but WE didn't - sigh! At least I (and everyone else on the boat) know/knew that I found it and showed it to them. I was kind of hoping the girl would give me a copy of the photo, but no matter how much I hinted, she wasn't picking up on the hint. Sigh.

Meanwhile, I'd stopped taking the Sony out, but decided to try it once more with a silica pack in it (I had to really trim the thing and it was still a very tight fit - there isn't a whole lot of excess space in that housing). That sort of worked, and I got a few more photos our last diving day, but it still ultimately fogged. Sony WILL be getting a call.

Not Diving: Because I have hip problems too (yup, we'll be a bionic family at some point when I can't stand the pain any longer) we didn't go into town for Carnival, although if things were different, I would have really liked to. Standing around for hours is not fun for me though, and I didn't want to take the chance of not having anywhere to sit. Maybe next time!

We did get an invitation to visit, and so visited, Captain Don at his kunuku. It was a lot of fun to visit him ("Everything you see here - I built everything here out of stuff I got out of the landfill!"). He and Janet are amazing.

We also tried to go to the Donkey Sanctuary, but unfortunately didn't realize it closed at 4PM. I hung a loaf of bread on the gate (I couldn't find carrots anywhere) - hopefully, Marina found it and was able to put it to good use.

For the rest: We ate out a couple of times. De Tuin, which we both love; and Bobbejeans with Jake and Linda, and Seb, and where we met a bunch of other BT'ers. That was the night of the Sex and the City final episode, so yes! We did get to watch Carrie and Big get together for ever and ever, on Bonaire.

After dropping our checked in luggage off at the airport on our last day, we went back to town and had our final meal at City Cafe. I have to admit, that was a big disappointment - the food was mediocre at best.

Other than that, we either ate light (I'd brought Fuji apples - I really like them - and cheddar cheese, and "gorp", and a few other snacky like things; we'd also stopped at the Warehouse and picked up a case of Amstels and some other stuff), or ate at Rum Runners, which, besides being extremely convenient (the "house restaurant" for Captain Don's), is quite good.

And when we weren't eating or diving, we were happily doing nothing: either at the Deco Stop bar (indulging in some yummy alcoholic island concoction) chatting with our fellow divers and waiting for a green flash (we saw 2), or in the comfort of our own room going through the photos of the day, or sitting outside on our room patio with a book and some of our adoptive "room kitties", while watching the sun set and basking in the warmth and the breeze.

So, to put an end to this: we had a WONDERFUL time, and hope to be going back again in October, and celebrate our 5th anniversary there.

And yes, PBD has hit.

Susan,
Thanks for sharing your trip report. Sounds like you both had a wonderful trip.

Susan,

Thank you so much for your post it was great. I am so glad to hear you folks made it back and that Geoffrey's surgeries went well.

Great report. Now I have to finish mine.

I was looking at AJ this morning BOS to BON for $570.00 plus tax late October early November. Is that a decent fare for AJ?

Be well,
Tom

Great report! Sorry to hear about your cameras - would have loved to see YOUR frogfish! lol Still it sounds like a terrific time!

Tom, my agent says anything under $650 is good. Still, it's a guess at best I think...

Great report, Susan. So glad to see you were able to get back down to Bonaire this year. You two earned it! Geoffrie's "implants' must be working well if you were able to complete shore dives and all. That's wonderful!

The frogfish will wait for your camera to unfog....I have made him/her promise to be right in the same spot in October for your return!

If you find the time to post some pics we would love to see them....you know how we are on this board! LOL. Thanks again for the report and the good news on both of your health situations. Ayo. Carole

Tom ... grab the fare! We paid lots more than that on Air Jamaica. Granted it was Christmas week but that fare is almost half what we paid last December! Wish I could go at that time of year -- yes I would gladly give up foliage season!

$570 sounds pretty good to me, too. One thing - if you don't mind leaving or returning in the middle of the week you can usually get a better fare. We did a Thurs-Sun trip and got a better airfare than a Sun-Sun or Sat-Sat; Thurs-Thurs (or Weds-Weds) would have been better yet, but we wanted to go for longer than a week but couldn't justify two weeks. And 10 days on Bonaire may not be as good as two weeks, but it sure beats just one week!

Another thing to consider: the airline may not sell out Coach but still could sell out all the lower price tickets - I've been bitten by that little cumquat before. They'll advertize a "special fare" that only applies to a certain number of seats on each flight. Once they've sold out that number, the special fare is no longer available.

Thanks, everyone.

Actually I forgot a couple of things: we brought down a glue-gun for Annie and Mags (who came by to pick it up, and chatted with us for a bit) so there should be some cool crafts coming from that corner in the near future. It was great to see you both Annie, and I can't believe how much Mags has grown!

And about that frogfish: when everyone came around to see him, the DM Jonathan did something I'd never seen a DM do before: he "herded" a bunch of those tiny fish that swarm like gnats all around coral heads over towards the frogfish (who looked like some green encrusting sponge on a concave shaped bit of coral), essentially hand-feeding him a bunch of little fishies. It was fascinating and kind of disgusting at the same time.

Susan,
Nice Report. Thanks for posting the DMs' names. Looks like everyone is still there from last year...except Ron must be new. We arrive in three weeks and look forward to seeing our friends at Capt. Don's.

Nice report and sounds like a great trip. Good news about Geoffrey's hips. My Sony will fog if I leave it one to long, I always turn it off when not in use. You probably already know this trick. Your best best may be to get another housing off e-bay, there may not be much Sony can do for the housing. I don't think the button o-rings are servicable.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time, Thank-you for sharing your report!

Cecil,
Yeah, I'm not too sanguine on that - but you gotta try...

I didn't mention in this report, but elsewhere, a small octopus at Angel City that kept us amused for quite a while. Besides taking around 50+ photos of him, Geoffrey took a short movie (not for the bandwidth-impaired, I expect):
http://www.scamptattoo.com/movies/P2260137.MOV

You can see it's not too big by Geoffrey's hand at one point, though the perspective makes him look a bit smaller than he really was. I'd say he's about twice the size he appears.

And thanks, Eileen, Linda and Cecil. Linda, I *think* his name was Ron, I may have gotten it wrong. A big blonde guy from Aruba. There's also a dutch girl who I remember seeing there in December 2002, but I never had any dives with her so am not sure of her name.

The rest of them have been there for quite a while - I think Sherman told us he was at Captain Don's since Lenny wiped out the dive ops at Sanddollar (where he'd worked for a long time before).

I didn't see Robert or Roger, who were both there our last trip. We still wonder how some of those who have left since we started going to Captain Don's - Giovanni, Gabby, George, Juni, Ditte - are doing. I know Giovanni moved to Florida, and I think the rest are still on Bonaire, working elsewhere (though I could be wrong). But they were all both great divemasters as well as fun to be around, so are missed.

The info we received is that Robert went to Holland (he was gone April'03) and Juni moved to California this past fall. Tim opened up his own shop, Fish Eye Photo located at Sand Dollar. We visited and dove a shore site with him last year.

Susan, so glad you enjoyed yourselves again! Was thinking of you, and dreaming of my turn. Something like 97 days to go! Did you see Jeff Farris' video he posted (link) starring a frogfish?

Hi Niki,
Yes, I did. Jeez, that frogfish was practically jogging, for a frogfish!

The one I saw was similar (he had that dark spot on his back) except green.

Susan, I can't get the link to open up...is it just me or is anyone else having difficulties, too? Can't wait to see the footage!! Carole

Susan, Loved the octopus.

Carol, Do you have Quick Time installed?

Carol,
It does open up eventually. It sits for a bit looking like nothing's happening though. When it finally comes through, you should see a big blue Q, then quicktime loads it and it starts.

Let me know if you still can't get it!

I just watched Geoffrey's octopus footage, oh,boy, it's fantastic. That little guy hasn't quite mastered the art of camouflage, but he flashed a little burst which could have hidden himself if he kept it up. At least that's my take on it. They're so cool! :-)

Hi, guys....I just updated my Quick Time and it works fine, now! Thanks! Great footage, Susan....you can't really tell how tiny it is until you see Geoffrey's fingers in the frames....amazing! CArole

I started lurking on the site again as we are planning our second trip to Bonaire this June!! After less than a week from returning from San Salvador Island (Bahamas)we decided to return to the best shore diving around. The reason I decided to post is that Heather read this trip report and was laughing the whole time as this could have been our trip report from last May. For instance, Heather has had 3 hip replacements and always sets off the airport (get used to it). Next I also found MY frogfish off of the Front Porch and didn't have my camera with me. I was so happy (although Heather would say obsessed) that I returned to the site 3 more times to get a picture of it. The second and third trips were wasted as I had camera issues, like forgetting to hook up or turn on my strobe. Rookie mistakes. However I did finally get my pictures. Susan, maybe these pics of MY frogfish will substitute for YOUR frogfish.

\image {Frogfish}
\image {Frogfish}

OOPS lets try posting the pics again!




Rod

Third time's a charm...I hope





Rod

Cool photos, Rod! Mine looked like that one, thanks! Was he mid chomp in the third photo, or were there cleaning fish around?

Way outrageous froggie Rod

cheese please

Neato shot, Rod! Thanks for posting them for us to enjoy. Carole

Awesome frogfish Rod, cool series!

Thanks for the compliments. I am counting down the days until June 5th when we get back to Bonaire. We are staying at Captain Dons. Anyone else going to be there for the dive festival?

Susan, really glad to hear you guys got back to Bonaire and had a great trip. Teddy and I are going in May, after wayyyyyyyy too long since last trip (4 or 5 years now!) And Rod, awesome pics! Denise

Another "open mouth" Frogfish we saw on Klein last September, before and during:

Wow!! That's one heck of a shot, Robert!! I just love the way they "hang" on to something and look cool....way cool! Thanks. Carole

A few more.

And more.....