WED OCT 13

Our last morning at the villa was bittersweet for us, but just another beautiful day for Bonaire. Joke dutifully telephoned and came up "the mountain" to check us out and collect the keys. All set to walk out the door, bags in hand, panic strikes! Jourdan can't find her CD case with 90% of her collection inside (if you have a teenager, you know thats a lot of CDs). We quickly searched the rooms and suitcases but they were nowhere to be found. Jourdan was very upset, we all felt terrible, as we reluctantly left without them.

Refusing to let this loss ruin our final hours on island we stopped in town for some last-minute shopping and lunch at the City Cafe. Great burgers and fries, a classic anywhere I guess. Wished we had found this eatery sooner! We sat there at a table close to the street, eating our lunch, and watching the Woodwind sail out to Klein with another load of lucky snorkelers! For us, it was time to head home.

Memorable quote "Next time you come to Bonaire only bring 2 dresses and 5 bikinis, that's it!" - Joke to Wendy while helping us haul our over-packed bags to the truck

DEPARTURE

At the airport, I turned in the rental and ended up having to pay for the stolen gas despite my $18.00 per day insurance coverage and the manager knowing I had lost half a days vacation running to and from the airport and waiting around. I just never got that "warm and fuzzy" feeling from Total Car and I won't use them again and don't recommend them.

We made it to the AJ check-in counter and were delighted to learn that they had the missing CD collection. That was the one small luggage item we had arrived without. Jourdan had left it in the airplane seatback pocket the day we came in, and didn't miss them until packing to go home. Seems all week she had only been listening to her 2 newest ones (Good Charlotte & Ashlee Simpson). It was a nice ending, saved the "bank of dad" a lot of money, and Jourdan learned a good lesson about not bringing everything you own on a trip. A big thank you to the nice folks at Flamingo airport and Air Jamaica.

We were impressed with the nice, air-conditioned departure lounge, and boarding time soon came. Sitting on the left window seat, at take-off I could see the entire northern 2/3 of the island.
It was really beautiful. Then we reversed direction and I could see Lac Bay (so blue) and the southern end. We flew the length of Curacao, I could see Aruba and mainland Venezuela, one of the best rides ever! And when they served lunch, I was really thankful for that City Cafe cheeseburger!

Memorable quote "Where are the palm trees? There's no palm trees here." - Scott on landing at BWI, grey skies and 52 degrees

Just a couple more things I want to mention...

I'll be sorry to see the end of your reports; they have been a most enjoyable read. Well done!

Very well written.
I enjoyed reading yr reports