Well, here’s my trip report. I figure it’s only fair that I make an attempt at this since I used BonaireTalk to assist me with planning my trip this year.

Well, of course we had a great time. In my opinion, who couldn’t have a great time in Bonaire? We arrived to Bonaire via Air Jamaica which was the quickest route from Atlanta to Bonaire. I’m not sure if it was my imagination or not but the seating seemed far more cramped than other plans that I have flown on. Other than that, the flight there was fine. The flight back was another story, over an hour delay sitting on the plane in Jamaica and they also had some sort of problem with the food so none was served on the return flight. But who really cares about this part, right?

To our surprise, we arrived to find everything soaked and filled with puddles. My wife found this especially funny since I had just finished explaining to her that Bonaire was not prone to rain or storms in August and we had nothing to worry about with the Hurricanes milling around the Caribbean. Guess I was wrong. Evidently, I wasn’t the only one wrong since I heard a few other people explaining the same fact to their children, families and friends.

We rented the usual 4-door pickup for our transportation needs. This year I used Avis since the price was fair and they were the only one that would reply to my emails this year. The truck was great, clean and fairly new.

After obtaining the truck, we checked into Hamlet Bonaire which is located right next door to Captain’s Don Habitat. The rooms were clean, the service was friendly as well as helpful and the location was perfect for us on this trip. All of the email messaging that led me to choose this location was prompt and responsive. On another note, I had posted a message asking if any one had any experience with Hamlet Bonaire. One of the responses that I received advised not to rent a one bedroom stating that it was too small. Despite that advice, I did rent the one bedroom studio and found it to be more than adequate. It was far larger than the suggested “hotel room size” and accommodated two people with luggage and dive gear easily. I also liked the fact that each room comes with a safe. There’s also a “house” dive there that is a pretty convenient starting point and check out dive.

Our unlimited shore diving was handled by the Photo Tours shop next to Hamlet Bonaire. The service at the shop was very friendly and the tanks were always full and easily accessible. What more can you ask for? While on the trip, I learned that Photo Tours had three separate locations but I never got around to asking if you could pull tanks from all three locations (something I’ll have to find out for next year). The young couple that was working on our last day was especially friendly and I enjoyed talking with them about the diving we had been able to do while on the island.

The greatest thing about Bonaire is freedom, specifically diving freedom. After securing, transportation, accommodations and tanks we were able to start enjoying our vacation with nothing else to worry about. We immediately loaded up the truck and started diving. Over the seven days we did eighteen dives, two of which were with Larry’s Wildside Diving. Although visibility was a little lack-luster, we felt we were very fortunate this year in what we were able to see while diving. We saw more eels than we could count, nine turtles, thirteen eagle rays, and one dolphin (which gave my wife a mask flooding smile). The dolphin was at red slave for those of you who are curious.

Diving with Larry’s Wildside was great; we did a two tank boat dive with them that covered a wall dive and White Hole. Larry and Martin were very professional and I was pretty impressed with the boat. Martin was also nice enough to borrow our camera and take a couple of pictures of me and my wife diving. During the dives we saw numerous tarpons, turtles, eagle rays, southern sting rays and a pretty good size green moray eel.

As for eating, there is no better lunch than the Lunch Catch of the Day at the Old Inn. Last year, we at there two or three times during our trip; this year we at there for every lunch we were able to make. The fresh catch is absolutely awesome and comes with French fries and a salad that is unbelievable (for the record, I would pretty much kill to find out how to make the salad dressing or where to obtain it). In terms of Dinner/Supper (depending on where you’re from), Casa Blanca was our favorite this year. Huge portions, great food, outstanding service and great atmosphere are just some of the reasons to eat there (did I mention the huge portions?????).

I know this turned out to be rather lengthy so I’ll go ahead and end it. For what was suppose to be our last trip to Bonaire, I’m looking forward to our upcoming third and “final”??? I’ll post some pictures as they become available and a few other smaller supplemental reports. In the mean time, thank you to those who helped me when I was planning this trip.

Mike

Here's a few pictures.

Mike, I thank you for your post and pics.

So happy that you had a great time.

Tom

Mike, nice report and pics! Thanks for posting! That is the longest tail on that eagle ray WOW!

Mike, great report! Is that a frogfish with the Angel third from the bottom?? Nice shots. So glad everything went smoothly and was "uneventful" for you and your family. Let us know when you do book your "last" trip! LOL. Carole

Wonderful Report! I love the photos, I agree with Barbaram that is the longest tail I have ever seen on a ray!

Thanks for the compliments, here's a few top-side pictures to go along with those. Sorry about the rather small pictures, my photo-editing software isn't working properly for some reason???

Carol, if there's a frog fish there, you saw it before me. I can't even find them in my own pictures

good pics...

(and maybe a return visit) ;)

whatever,

Mike, thanks for sharing your trip and pictures with us. I love the Angel fish shot!!

GREAT PICTURES AND THE EAGLE RAY LOOKS LIKE THE SAME ONE WE SAW AT TORI'S REEF IN FEB. AND IT IS THE LONGEST TAIL I HAVE EVER SEEN. WE ONLY SAW ONE HAS ANYONE SEEN MORE THAN ONE.
YOU NEED TO COME BACK TO BONAIRE AS YOUR PICTURES SHOW YOU LOVE THE PLACE AND NEED TO VISIT OFTEN

Great pictures!!! Thanks for sharing!

Super good pictures. Thanks!