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Trip Reports: Liz & Ed's Trip Report - Not the Normal Report!
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2004-02-06 to 2004-07-31: Liz & Ed's Trip Report - Not the Normal Report!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Liz Ginocchio (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #224) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 9:13 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

We always read the absolutely wonderful reports on this site and sign, waiting for our next trip to lovely Bonaire. This trip came, but the diving went! This was a business trip, so here is the report. I think it will give a lot of you an idea of what needs to be done, especially if you are buying, selling property or planning a move to Bonaire. Unfortunately we did not dive, but we did snorkle a couple of times, and of course it was stunning!

Air: We took Air Jamaica from Philadelphia, arriving on Bonaire at 3:00 pm. The flight was smooth and wonderful!

Accommodations: We stayed at our townhouse the first 2 nights then moved to Bonaire Town Homes for the remainder of the trip. We rented out our townhouse so we couldn't stay there. Benny at Bonaire Town Homes was GREAT and the place was fantastic.

Day 1: Arrived, got to the villa, happy to see it. The flora and fauna grows so fast! We had bananas on the banana tree and coco's on the coconut tree! Dinner with Bob from ReMax at the Argentinan Grill..Fantastic!

Day 2: Met our renter's at our home in Republiek, great couple, house is in great shape, they have it decorated so well... Made appointment with Notaris to talk about getting our permits to move to Bonaire and start up our new Inn...Snorkled Donkey Beach...excellent, saw a lot! Bad Thunderstorm with A LOT of rain that night.

Days 3-8 Basically a blur...we were so busy, non stop meeting, setting up stuff...See below, it will help a lot of you who are thinking of or planning to move to Bonaire!

Most of the trip was arranging stuff for the new Inn such as landscaping, some construction work, arranging dive, snorkle and vehicle packages with local places. Visits to furniture stores, Bonaire Superstore, Kooymans, etc. Was able to get to Gibi's Tuesday night, there was about 20 of us and the food was great as usual.

Met with Notaris who was a FANTASTIC help. First he told us about incorporation. Bonaire has always had the NV, but now they have a new one called BV. It is like the NV, but if you have above 50.000,00 Nafl in assests you don't have to report your financials for public record. From what we understand the NV is no longer used in Holland and the BV is more prevalent. Maybe this is what they will be doing in Bonaire. We gave our info to Mr. Martaanse on Tuesday and got the BV on Friday prior to leaving. Then we went to DEZA. They are they entity that gives there opinion and recommendations to the Central Council as to weather or not a business permit should be granted. After a personal interview we were told that we would have no problem. Bonaire is short of rooms, especially in our price range. Then off to Immigration. (Note the process of seeing everyone takes about 2-4 days). First, gentlemen, you must have long pants to enter the government building. You will not get in with shorts. We had to return a second day because Ed had no long pants. They take applications for residency, work permits, etc only on Tues, Wed, and Thurs between 8am and 10am. You need to arrive very early (like between 7-7:30am) they hand out tiles with numbers on them to determine when you will be seen. They only have 14 numbers so once those are gone you are out of luck. About 10 people came and went after the tiles were given out. Basically you provide them will the information they need (2 copies of everything, then the originals after they send you a letter stating everything is ready). They then forward it to DEZA (for business for work permits, etc.
Once they notify you everything is ready you can go in person or you can designated a representative on the island to pick up the paperwork for you. You then have to get stamps, etc, so you have to go back and forth between agencies (crossing the street a few times over a few weeks, up to a month or so). From what we hear it is best to call and check up rather than constantly going down to find out what is what. It really wasnt' that difficult, just time consuming. There is a wonder lady on Bonaire who can handle all of this for you. She charges $150.00 US per person, but it really wasn't that difficult.

Well, we expect to be on the island as residents within 3-6 months, we just have to sell our house here in the states. Ed got really motivated when we got home (he is in the next room painting as I write!). The inn will be ready for business hopefully by 1 August 2004.

We really felt like tourists as far as food goes as we ate out a lot on this trip...3 x at Gibi's, The Rib Factory (fantastic), the little pizza place in the mall (excellent veggie pizza), The Argentinan Grill (Casablanca - we went back a second time for just desert, the flan is out of this world!)and Mona Lisa...the pork sate is to die for. Ed even rang the bell and bought drinks for the bar as it was our last night on the island.

Hopefully this will be our last trip report as we hope to be on Bonaire ASAP! Hugs to all! Liz and Ed

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise Kacavas (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #703) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 10:40 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

can you tell us about the inn ... location, size, etc... is it on the water? what is it near? Wishing you the best of luck!!! Denise

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Liz Ginocchio (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #225) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 11:57 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Denise,

Would love to but don't know if Jake would consider that self promotion. I definitely don't want to break the rules. Email me privately to discuss this further. You can keep an eye out as we will be advertising on InfoBonaire and as a Banner on Bonairetalk. Liz

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise Kacavas (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #706) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 12:04 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

you are right! Sorry to suggest it, glad you realized though. We won't be back to Bonaire for some months at the least so I'll keep an eye out for your advertising.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #11209) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 2:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Liz, wow, this is fantastic. Congratulations! You may also want to post this information under "Moving to Bonaire" because you have provided a lot of information that folks ask about when they are considering moving to Bon...good luck selling the house!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter (Moderator - Post #4897) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 4:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Liz,

It probably would be self-promotion if you posted it. However, I'd be happy to post the link to the current site, which I happen to know, if you think it's current enough. Nice to hear that you'll be supporting BonaireTalk and InfoBonaire, as well!

Sorry I missed you guys on Bonaire last week.

Congrats!

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter (Moderator - Post #4901) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 11:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

The place that Ed & Liz just bought can be found at http://www.travellersinnbonaire.com

Good luck with it!

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3581) on Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - 12:19 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks, Jake. Good luck, Lizzie and Ed!! Carole and Joe

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mary Wills (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #200) on Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - 11:17 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Liz, here is a partial quote from one of your postings:

"move to Bonaire and start up our new Inn...Snorkled Donkey Beach..."

and I thought to myself -- What an odd name for an Inn "Snorkled Donkey Beach"

Then I laughed out loud and re-read the sentence.

There is a book out, a surprise best seller from the UK - Eats, Shoots and Leaves - about punctuation, the lack of it, and the confusion that ensues.

I found my glasses by the way,

Mary W

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Liz Ginocchio (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #226) on Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - 2:31 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Mary,

LOL, I was REALLY tired when I wrote the report. Actually as you can see from below it is currently called Traveller's Inn, but after we spruce it up and have it ready to rent it will be called Golden Reef Inn. Thanks! Liz

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #11221) on Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - 2:45 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I like "Snorkled Donkey Beach"...[grin]

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Faith M. Senie (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #510) on Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - 4:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

you mean it's -not- going to be called "Snorkeled Donkey Beach"??? Doggone, and here I thought that was a really eye-catching name for an inn... :-)

Faith

 


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