Hello Bonaire Lovers!!

Well, my husband Alex and I had a great time at the Black Durgon Inn for the last 2 weeks of January. This was our first trip to Bonaire and um.......NOT our last :-)

We flew AA/AE from Calgary and had no troubles with delays or luggage and we were very happy with the extra legroom on the bigger planes.

The Inn

We arrived at The Black Durgon Inn late on a Saturday night, and thanks to the postings of some other Bonaire Talkers, we knew not expect much in the way of a big welcome. We picked up our truck at AB and drove to the Inn. We made our way in the dark to a room that seemed to match the description of the one that AL, the owner, had told me to look for, and when we entered and turned on the lights we found our key on the dresser so we knew we had found the right one. The Inn is very basic, but our room had a queen size bed, plenty of room for us and our stuff, a very nice hot shower and a great view of the water. There is daily maid service and bath towels and face cloths are supplied. We took our own beach towels. The spectacular thing about this place is the location. It is right on the sea. There is a great dock and good diving on site, and plenty of great places to sit in the sun or relax in the shade. There are beach chairs and hammocks, and a gaggle of hilarious birds, lizards and iguanas that enjoy visiting at mealtimes. We looked forward to the breakfasts that were prepared for us every morning, and we also made a great deal of use of the communal waterfront kitchen. It was our good fortune to be at the Black Durgon along with some delightful people from the Netherlands. We dove together a lot, and made a habit of getting together for Happy Hour where we'd swat mosquitoes, yack about the day, drink Amstel, munch on chips and plan our dinners down by the water.....hmmmmmm what's the word I'm looking for?..... oh Yeah..... HEAVEN!!


The Bugzzzzzzzzz

Like most people who have been to the island recently, we fed the mosquitoes and no-see-ums, but it didn't really matter to us. We covered up at night, and used various bug repellants, and kept our anti-itch cream close by...not bad enough to keep us away :-)

The Diving

Catherine is the dive instructor at the inn, and she was great about getting Alex and I back in the groove after a year away from it. We had never been on a dive without a guide so she took us out a few times before we ventured out on our own. It was so nice. We both LOVE the freedom that shore diving offers. We dove twice a day. The visibility was not as good as usual from what I understand but we still loved every dive we did. We were very bummed when our camera malfunctioned though. We have an Olympus C5060 and it pretty much just went bonkers. It would either do nothing or it would start flipping around thru all sorts of modes and not let us do anything that we wanted. Luckily our new pals got lots of pictures, and they'll be sending copies to us.

Sailing

Catherine arranged for a day of sailing for all of us. Not exactly sure who the operator was, but we got on the boat at the Plaza hotel, It was owned and skipped by a great guy named Bert, and Andrew was the fellow in charge of all the rest. We sailed along the coast and then over to Klein Bonaire where we snorkeled and then were treated to a wonderful BBQ and cocktails. It was pretty much perfect. One of the first totally rain-free days on Bonaire in a while. The wind was up, the sun was out, and the only clouds in the sky were fluffy and white, not heavy and grey. :-)

Shopping

We did most of our shopping at Cultimera and the Warehouse and found everything we needed for some pretty serious night of cooking. What am impressive selection of meat and produce(especially right after the shipments arrive) and condiments for all sorts of exotic cooking. I found the prices very good too. We also picked up goodies at The Sand Dollar grocery store which was very handy, and we enjoyed checking our emails at Chat N Browse.

So there you have it! We loved Bonaire, and would go back for sure.

Cheers Everyone!

Barbara Wilson

Nice report Barbara! Bummer about the camera, hope they fix it OK.

(Message edited by seb on February 8, 2005)

Thanks for the report Barbara. I agree with your description - heaven! We always have the room above the kitchen area with the little balcony, and consider that 'home'! So Catherine is still there?! We looking forward to seeing Al, Doris, and her in July!

Thanks for the happy and reassuring report. Sorry I mislead you about the washcloths, but I trust it didn't put your baggage overweight (just joking).

Gail: What are you doing staying in "our" room? But we won't be staying there during our visit in a few weeks, because our adult daughters will be joining us, so we have the room next door which becomes a suite when the sliding doors are opened. At least, I think it's next door, but Al isn't totally clear about where our room is located - says our daughters' room is in the southwest corner, but that's where "our" room and your "home" is located, unless I'm wrong, which has never happened, of course.

David

Hey Guys,

Hate to break it to you, but that is OUR room now. :-)
I hope that you all have a wonderful time!

When you go back you'll see some new work done on the dive cage. The only time that my crazy husband takes a break from work is if I book a vacation away from home. He has a very busy art studio......anyway, he was talking to Al and the guys working on enclosing the back of the dive lock-up area, and he realized that there was some welding that needed doing, so he offered to make the door. hee hee- I have pictures of him amid the sand and palm trees sporting a welding helmet and with sparks flying everywhere. Al was pretty pleased with it, and Alex was happy to help out.

Say hi to Doris, Al, and Catherine for us!

Barbara

Boy, I know how that goes Barbara. When Al had wiring problems in the cage, John was right down there with him trying to work it out. Must be a guy thing! I love to walk around each year and see what 'new stuff' is there each year! Al sure stays busy!

Well, at least we all know which is the most popular room! David, The one back to back to it that opens on the street side has a door that opens to the room right next to it. That'll be a nice set up for you. You'll have access to a street side door and water front door! (A lot easier on hauling the luggage in and out)

July is such a long time away!

Gail:

Those are the rooms that I thought we would get - I've wandered through there when they were vacant. But I would say that the streetside room behind our joint favorite room is in the southeast corner of the inn, not southwest as Al wrote.

I guess I'm a slacker. The only things I've done for Al are to bring down sneakers for Doris (to replace ones that Al's dog chewed up) and a breathing mask, and to write up simplified directions for the new, split unit air conditioners. I hope my directions, which I emailed to Al after our last trip, made it into the rooms.

Catherine is a new addition since our last trip in 2003. Is she permanently at the inn?

Barbara: Was your Klein Bonaire sailboat the Woodwind? I've been thinking about going on it.

By the way, I emailed Al recently to confirm exactly where our rooms would be and to ask if he needed us to bring anything down, but I never heard back from him. I think I'll send him a copy, in case my original message went astray (maybe the dog ate it).

David

Hi David,

Our sailboat was not the Woodwind. I am afraid that I can't tell you much about it other than it was Fabulous!! Catherine made all arrangements for us so she can fill you in on all the info. Yup, she is on at the inn full time. She is there to help out with the divers mostly, but we ended up spending a good deal of time socializing with her as well. She's a real sweetie.


Barbara

Dear Gail, Barbara & David,

What are you talking about, that's our room!! Great isn't it? We'll be there in four weeks to admire your handiwork - counting the days. Good to hear nothing has changed at Al's, we wouldn't think of staying anywhere else. Thanks for the report!

Well, well, well, such a popular room! I wish that bed was more comfortable! We've gone for the last 5 years, every year with a large group, and often there's no newbies in our group. So everyone wants their favorite room. Our first year there, we were street side, but every year since have gotten the balcony room. Sometimes I even put my room preference on my deposit check! My husband loves his balcony and says he won't go if he doesn't get his room back! (Fortunately, we don't have to put that to the test!)

Hi again guys,

Let's hope that we're never all there at the same time. That bed might get a little uncomfortable with 8 of us in it :-)

Barbara

Hi,

These are the Dutchies.... !

We are the guys that had the most brilliant time with Barbara and Alex but also the ones that had a brilliant time with Sandy and Toby March last year. Each time we go to see Al at the Black Durgon we end up with another addition to our friends-around-the-world network.
The mutual interest in good food, beer, salsa and diving was our true connection.

Thanks to MSN messenger we stay in touch and discuss what to do with the serious cases of PBD (post Bonaire depression).

Next year we will go back to the Black Durgon and enjoy Catherine and Al's company.

Best
Julie & Charley

Hi Julie and Charley!
Hope to see you at Al's March 2006!
Toby and Sandy

Hi All,

Checked the photo's, the boat we were on was the "Wind Song"

cheers

Charley

Thanks for sending the boat name, Charley. I'll ask Catherine about it when we meet her THIS SATURDAY! (Not a moment too soon. It's snowing here in Boston now with the temperature in the 20's F.)

David

Toby and Sandy:

I think you're arriving at Black Durgon as we leave on the 12th of March. Too bad, it would have been nice to a meet you.

David

David....

!!!You are so Lucky!!! Have a great trip...looking forward to the report. You too Toby and Sandy...

Alex and I are still suffering from big time PBD.

*sigh*

Barbara

Barbara,

Thanks for the good wishes. But you already had your good time in Bonaire, so I don't have too much sympathy for you on the plains in Calgary. (Where my wife and I and her Calgary aunt once had lunch up in the Calgary Tower, and somehow it was expensed to a consulting job that one of my colleagues had. A complete boondoggle, but I think the statute of limitations has expired by now. Alas, the aunt also.)

David

David,
Are you flying through San Juan tomorrow? If so, maybe we'll see ya. If not, maybe we'll cross paths sometime in the next couple weeks; we're at Sand$ 'til the 16th.
36 hours, 28 minutes 'til scheduled landing!

Chet:
Not thru San Juan, but via Montego Bay, Air Jamaica willing.

David

David:

I hope that our paths do cross soon. We look forward to meeting you too! We look forward to hearing how much fun you had while you were in paradise. As I write this you are settling down to a breakfast courtesy of Al and enjoying the surf...perhaps contemplating where you will dive today... 13 more days for us!

Barbara:

Thanks for the your note! Hope your PBD is easing a bit.

Sandy and Toby