I've wanted to go to Bonaire for probably 20 years. I first read about the place in a Windsurfing magazine in the mid-80s, and have had it on my list of "must visit" locales ever since. In the late 90s, a friend sailing in the Caribbean spent about a month and a half in Bonaire, and I still haven't forgiven him for not calling. Some of our other friends are now sailing in the Caribbean, and eventually making their way back to LA through the Panama Canal later this year, and I told them in no uncertain terms I would be joining them in Bonaire. High expectations to live up to! The start: We cashed in United frequent flier miles from first class LAX to Aruba, then tried making the connecting flights on Bonaire Excel (it was called Bonaire Express when I started trying to make reservations). My first posting here on Bonaire Talk made the connection with Liz from the Golden Reef Inn. Liz was great, made the flights all happen, and if we weren't staying with friends on their sailboat (and if Liz' and Ed's Golden Reef Inn wasn't fully booked), we would have stayed there. No problems getting to Bonaire (despite things I've read here). On our first full day in Bonaire, we woke up and went diving off the back of our friends sailboat (Sea Witch), which was on a mooring just off of Yellow Submarine and close to the Something Special dive spot. Despite my ridiculously high expectations, I wasn't disappointed. 82+ degree water, great visibility, tons of life and essentially uspoiled tropical diving at its finest. The only thing that seemed to be missing, was finding the sides of the tropical aquarium I was diving in! We did lots more diving (11 dives in 6 days, just over 13.25 hours of bottom time) during our trip and had a great time. The only thing missing was we never found any seahorses. The night diving was so great and easy, I was even able to convince my wife to do a second night dive. Staying in touch with home: I wanted a number our dog sitter could reach us at in case of a problem. I got a SIM for my cell phone from Michael at Chat 'n' Browse. Unfortunately, Bonaire's GSM cell service operates on the Europe frequencies (900 and/or 1800), instead of the US frequencies (850 and 1900). If you're going and want to use your own cell phone, be sure the bring the right one! Fortunately, Michael loaned us a phone while we were there. Great place for cell (and Internet) connectivity In an email exchange right before we left for Bonaire, Liz from Golden Reef asked me if I was going to the Bonaire Talk dinner on Tuesday night at Giby's house. I didn't know anything about it before, but after a little research, it sounded like fun. Giby, a local chef, hosts a weekly delicious dinner at his home every Tuesday night for Bonaire Talkers - both locals and visitors. We had a great time, delicious food, and terrific company. Putting faces to the names really made the evening special. Everyone we met on Bonaire was super friendly - probably more so than anywhere else we've been in the Caribbean. Lots of ex-pats, which surprised us, although after a week there, I certainly understand the appeal. Great food, and much more moderately priced than I expected. We went out for drinks a few times, dinner at It Rains Fishes, and each time we thought it was excellent and fairly priced. Thursday night, we went to Linda's Fish Identification class above the Yellow Submarine dive shop. I highly recommend this to everyone who gets in the water. Too bad we weren't armed with this knowledge when we started our vacation. On Friday, our last day, we rented a pickup truck and drove around the island. Even though Bonaire is a desert island, there is a lot too see. Probably too much for one day. The salt ponds are fascinating, and by the time we got to the Washington park, it was too late to get in. Next time we'll have to plan more time for sightseeing on land. We were so short of time we never even got to see Liz' Inn, which I'm sorry I missed. The only downside of our trip was the return flight on Bonaire Excel. Lots of lessons learned there, but basically, don't count on them if you have a connecting flight and want/need to get home. More details in my post at http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/29/230359.html?1120616413 Would I go back? In an instant. What would I do different? Accommodations. This is one tropical spot for diving where it looked like staying on land was better than being on the water. Accommodations looked very nice and quite reasonable. The only other thing I would do different is to be more conservative in planning our return flight, and would probably have planned to spend the night before our return flight to the US in Aruba, to take into account any Bonaire Excel screwups |