This was our third trip to Bonaire in four years. It was our longest stay…16 days. That was just long enough to make us miss it even more than we did after our first two visits. We WILL be going back next year.
Getting There and Back:
There is no fast way to get to Bonaire from Minneapolis, MN. It’s a 12-hour day no matter how you go. Going down we flew AA through Chicago and San Juan then on to Bonaire. Other than being long the flights were all uneventful…no delays and all of our bags arrived with us.
On the return flight we flew BonairExel to Curacao, then flew AA to Miami and Minneapolis. It’s an interesting process in Curacao…get off the plane, claim your bags, go outside and come back in to ticketing to check your bags with AA. The only negative about the whole process was the lack of any “real food” availability in the departure area...only a snack bar. None of the flights served food so by the time we got to Miami we were two hungry people. I like the later departure that BonairExel has (11:00 AM) as it allowed us to go have eggs benedict one last time at the Lost Penguin. The BonairExel people at Flamingo Airport were super. I plan to fly with them again on our next trip. And our bags arrived in Minneapolis with us.
Accommodations:
We stayed at the Belmar as we had on our two previous visits. On our first two visits we stayed in unit # 11 (second floor North end) and this time we were in unit # 10 (first floor South end). Both have their advantages…unit #10 is close to the dive shop, so we didn’t have to carry our gear very far. Because of the angle of the building, unit #11 was shaded more when the afternoon sun comes around. I also think there were fewer bugs to contend with on the second floor. They were quite bad this year…maybe because of all the rain. The rooms are clean and well stocked. We especially enjoy the nice dock out front. It provides an easy entry for diving, swimming or snorkeling with plenty of room to enjoy the sunsets. Bottom line…We wouldn’t stay anywhere else.
Food:
For the most part we ate breakfast in, made sandwiches for a few lunches and cooked some dinners…fresh fish from a local fisherman and pasta. And the rest of the time we ate out. A few of our favorite restaurants are:
Gibi’s…We made the BT dinner on March 30th. There was a good turnout that evening…close to twenty BTers there. I had the goat stew and Pat had the fresh fish of the day…very good. Thanks Jake and Gibi…we had a great time.
The Lost Penguin…Although they have a full menu of wonderful (fresh) items, our favorites here are the eggs benedict for breakfast (in my opinion they are to die for)…we had them three times and the nachos for a great mid-day snack. Ton and Renota are wonderful, friendly people. Ton, thanks for accommodating our wish on our last morning. It made leaving the island a little harder.
Pasa Bon Pizza…One of the best pizzas we have ever had. You have to try Joe’s “Catch of the Day” fresh fish pizza…outstanding.
Bobbejan’s…Only open on weekends. In my opinion, the best “take-away” on the island. The ribs and fries are delicious.
Rose Inn…Nice, quiet, out of the way place to have lunch and a couple Polar’s or Brite’s. I like their goat stew and Pat their fresh catch of the day.
Casablanca…We ordered a half order of the mixed grill for two and still had food to take home. Wonderful place and very friendly staff.
Mango’s…They make a great fresh fish sandwich.
City Restaurant…Nice place to people watch while having a few Polar’s or Brite’s.
Richard’s…We had our last dinner here. The food was good…the sunset was awesome. It is always a good place to watch the sun set.
Diving:
We booked a six day unlimited shore package through Toucan Belmar. Erika and Monique are the best. They are always willing to assist in any way they can. This was our second time to go the "shore dive" route and I think that’s what we will continue to do. We both enjoy being able to dive on our schedule where we want to. We dove:
Karpata, Ol’ Blue, Belmar, Hilma Hooker, Salt Pier, The Invisibles and Margate. Our favorites were Ol’ Blue and Invisibles. It’s hard to pick a favorite site…they are all good. That is what makes Bonaire such a nice place. As we were entering the water at Salt Pier I lost the close up lens for my camera. We did a quick search in the water but didn’t locate it. After the dive, as we were taking our gear off I found the lens on the front seat of the truck. Someone had found it and put it there. Thank you.
Transportation:
We rented a Toyota Hilux double cabin pick up (without air) from AB Carrental. It wasn’t fancy but it provided us with trouble free transportation while we were there. We opted for the Full Insurance and although we didn’t use it was worth the piece of mind having it.
Other Island Stuff:
We made our usual trip to Washington Slagbaai Park. This time we went early enough so we could enjoy the long route. Did some snorkeling and had lunch at Slagbaai. They have done a great job of repairing the buildings at Slagbaai. You wouldn’t know it was the same place that it was a year ago. And the museum at the gate is fixed up real nice as well. We had a great day…little hot and dusty but fun.
The first Sunday we were there we went to La Cai for the music and dancing. We had the most wonderful time listening to the band and watching the people dancing. Some of them certainly gave new meaning to dirty dancing.
One afternoon we took the road to Lagoen in search of the cave drawings. After passing Spelonk Lighthouse it was very difficult to find the road. As we were about to give up and turn around we found the cave. It was worth every wrong turn we made. It’s just too bad that people are defacing the drawings. If it keeps up, at some point you won’t be able to see them. What an adventure.
Some people may not find this interesting…we watched them harvest the salt at the Cargill salt flats. It was the first time we were able to see the process. It is amazing how much salt there is once the water is gone.
We attended the christening of Larry’s new boat. It was like the who’s who of the island. I only wish Larry would have gotten the boat earlier or that we were staying longer. I wanted so much to do a “wild side” trip with him. I’ll just have to wait until next year.
Michael’s Chat N’Browse is like an oasis. We used his computers to keep in touch with our son and friends. After we were on the island for a week we finally rented a phone from Michael as well. Should have done it sooner. Next time it will be one of our first stops. Thanks Michael.
Mike & Pat Jones
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By Mike Jones (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 10:22 am: 
