Greetings All! Happy to report that Bonaire was wonderful and all three of us had an exceptional time. We flew Air Jamaica and they came through for us. No issues going to Bonaire and only a slight delay coming home.

Day 1: Check out dive at the beautiful 18th Palm reef - nephew comes up and says "that was awesome, when can we do it again." Much improved from the incident in the Keys when he ran out of air and would only say "I'm never diving again." Thank you Bonaire for bringing my nephew back to diving! We headed off to dive Angel City and The Lake - both were fantastic, but we got a little over zealous and got to see the bow of the Hilma while supposedly diving Angel City. Dinner was at Casablanca where we ordered the Mixed Grill for three....I think they meant for 10. Yummy!


Day 2: Began diving at Oil Slick Leap - should say began with a series of jumps, leaps and flips, followed by the giant stride. Also dove The Lake again, perfect! Dinner was at Stiflers and if you want to see the burgers, go to the dining post on the restaurant. Let's just say if you leave there hungry you must have a tape worm! It was fabulous!

Day 3: Started off at 18th Palm and ended up in our first bait ball - wow!!! How do you describe that? Also dove Andrea I and The Cliff - found our very first octopus at The Cliff. Whoohoo! Ended at Oil Slick - saw a great moray eel and found a sea horse on our own for the first time. Great day of diving to be followed by dinner at Gibi's! Yeah! Here is the funny part, we ran into a bunch of BTers at Oil Slick and we all were going to Gibi's. (We missed Theresa though, maybe next time we will hook up.)

Day 4: Boat Dives: Hilma Hooker and Captain Don's Reef. First time diving the wreck and I don't know who was more in awe of the three of us, but everyone enjoyed the wreck. The afternoon was spent visiting with the Donkeys at the sanctuary. They are so very special. Dinner was at Richards - lobster, sunset, and chocolate lava cake....could it get any better?


Day 5: Start at 18th Palm again and find two bait balls! Dive there in the morning if possible and go in at the Tipsy Seagull. It is an amazing experience. Went to Windsock and Alice in Wonderland. Found my first Rock Beauty (actually counted 5 of them) at Windsock. Found my first black sea cucumber at Alice in Wonderland. Dinner was at Pasa Bon Pizza. They were out of the fish pizza but their sausage is spicy and delicious!

Day 6: Oil Slick for some more flips, leaps, and diving. Found my first Blue Parrot Fish. Then our final dive back at Windsock where we got to see mating Cowfish - what an experience. I couldn't believe how blue the female turned (now I really want a uw camera). We looked at diving Margate Bay and 1000 Steps but the conditions were not optimal. Our final dinner was at Wil's Tropical Grill. What a way to end the trip. Everything was great from the empanadas to the fish chowder to the marlin to the snapper....


Day 7: We had a late flight so we spent the day at Slaagbai. Wow! Next time we will go for an entire day.





All in all, an excellent trip.

Good report Jeanine, Sounds like all had a good time. Ya logged a bunch of dives and ate some good food. Now it is time to come home and rest.. Thanks for sharing.... AJ landed in Chicago about 11:30 - 12 pm? September 04 they told us we would land at 8:38 pm and we landed at 11:30 pm. I asked about the change in MB and was told AJ has never landed in ORD at 8:38 pm. Only one flight lands in Chicago and it is always 11:30 pm. Ron

Wonderful trip report. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for my Claritin darling..it was great to meet..HUGS

Greetings Ann! Yes everyone...we met the wonderful Ann Phelan on our trip (and many other BTers). We are very jealous of her beautiful new home. Every time we drove past her place on our way to dive, we waived - even if we didn't see her out on the lovely porch. We couldn't help ourselves, Ann and her family (pups included) were just so nice! So glad to have met you Ann, hopefully we will have the chance to meet again.

Hi Ron! We had a goal, I wanted to hit dive number 50 in Bonaire and actually made it to 51. I was so happy. The shore diving is excellent there. When we got delayed in MB, it was a blessing in disguise. We landed 7 minutes after the MB to Chicago flight was supposed to have taken off. They told us that all of the storms raging through the midwest was why the flight was delayed in taking off for Chicago. Interesting that they told you they never land at 8:38. I wonder if anyone has ever been on that flight and arrived when the itinerary said they had. Hmmm....very interesting indeed!

What time did you land in Chicago Jeanine? Ron

I don't remember exactly, but I think it was about 10:30 or so. We left MB at 6:15, was supposed to be a 3 hr 37 minute flight, but we hit some serious storms and flew around them which slowed us down a bit.

Good pictures! Love the one @ Casablanca and Stiflers!

Jeanine, it's so nice to hear you and your family had a great time on Bonaire! Love your pics!!

It's good to see the flamingos back in their regular spots...they were in different areas in the Park in June...Joe (my hubby) figures it was because of the PH levels being elevated in the water after all of the heavy rains all winter and spring. The higher PH levels can drive the shrimp away and therefore, the flamingos went away for a while, too. They were in newer brackish waters in different spots which were harder to find when we were there.

Planning the return trip, yet??!! Carole

Thanks for the report Jeanine - thanks for taking the time to write it. You did a great job! I'm off to check out the dining.... Yumm!!!

Hey Jeanine, great report and pics! Thanks for posting!

Jeanine, many thanks for a great report.

Nice pictures!!! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Jeanine for a great report! Now I'm hungry! Dives and good food...priceless!

Man, I can't wait to go to Casablanca...carnivore that I am...45 days!!..great report Jeanine! Thanks!

Jeanine,
What a dummy I am Jeanine, great report nice pictures we ordered that same special which seem to be all over the Island Combination Platter of meat and our whole table of 12 ordered actually 6 couples at Casablanca's when it came out we laughed and laughed and ate off of it for days.

Jeeanine
did you get to dive Rock Pile, that was cool, very bumpy current could hardly get on boat its on the south side of Klein Bonaire, but so much to see.

PS Jeanine you were saying gibis which I Knew, but thought you meant chibi's as I ask around the Island know one seem to know it, only chibis so when I got home and look thru some brochures I saw Gibi's in it. We will meet one day I promise..

Hello Theresa! I actually dove Rock Pile last November. No notes in the dive book about waves, but we did find two hawksbill turtles there last time. I miss Bon already!

Hi Jeanine! I'm one of the BTers you ran into at Oil Slick. We enjoyed the dive so much we came back a few days later.
Enjoyed talking to you and Wes and meeting your nephew. Great to hear that you made it through the week without any "stinging incidents"!
We didn't get to Gibi's that week because we took a couple we had met at Gibi's the previous week (brought by Liz & Ed) on their first night dive (Calabas reef). We had a fun dive with them. Hello to Richard and Buff if you're checking the Board. Anxious to hear about your stops in Curacao and Aruba. I'm betting you wished you had stayed put on Bonaire!

Hello Linda! Glad to hear from you. It appears that Oil Slick Leap is a fantastic place to meet BTers. We met you and yours on Monday and had to return (repeatedly) because my nephew loved it there. On Tuesday, we met Nancy, Benjamin (and their two boys); as well as Seb and Mare at Oil Slick - the Tuesday group all made it to Gibi's. We missed you there, but hmmmmm....diving or eating? That is a very tough choice! I think I would have chosen diving too if that were an option for me. We got to meet Ed and Liz at Gibi's - hi to them!

I was so thankful to not have gotten stung by anything! It was hot in all that gear, but well worth it. Bonaire diving is the best!

Jeannie, great report! Other than the problems with the Plaza, it sounds like you made the best of it. Please let us know what kind of response you get from them. For the price you pay at the Plaza, they should have moved you to another room...

Hmmm...never had the Sampler Platter at Casablanca...I love their filet..I think the sampler platter is in order in Oct! LOL! Cam...I'm with you, bring it on!

Now is that a platter for one or two or three or four, etc.
What exactly or roughly is on that platter.

Believe it or not, that was a platter for three. There was chicken, pork chops, ribs, a couple of different sausages and a couple of different steaks. The composition changes a little each time. We had leftovers for the entire week, so I suggest going to Casablanca early in your trip.

yeah but that big black sausage churizo I didnt not care for that part yuk.

Theresa, the big black sausage is blood sausage. We asked; and I agree with you. The rest of it was good though.

Smack does not like the blood sausage either, HA, more for me.

Ron, That meal (platter) could be for one person, if that person likes a lot of leftovers:-{)}

Tom, I'm with Smack on the blood sausage thing...ick!

I'll be sure to ask them to keep it off the platter, my Mom, an 80year old French Canadian, used to make it and I could not even stand the smell. Thank you for the response.

(Message edited by ron57nie on August 19, 2005)