Going home:

The week felt truncated, since we arrived at night and had to leave so early in the morning. We were told to be in the Plaza’s lobby at 5:45am to check out and catch the ride to the airport. We were also told to put our luggage outside the door of our room before 5am, so we packed late Friday night and set the alarm for 4:45am. Ugh. Naturally, when we left the room at 5:40am, our luggage was still outside the door.

I’d suggest stopping by the reception desk and getting a copy of your Plaza bill sometime during the day before your departure. At 5:45am, I wasn’t with-it enough to peruse the bill carefully. After a day or two at home, I did go over all the charges. There were several errors, both in our favor and over-charges. It appears the bottom line is very close to what it should be; however, I should have been more proactive and requested a print-out earlier.

We arrived at Flamingo Airport just after 6am and learned that all the American Eagle computers were down. This meant the agents had to do everything by hand, and couldn’t issue boarding passes beyond San Juan. Nor could they tag luggage to its final destination. Boarding passes to San Juan were laboriously written, as were luggage tags. The agents said they would fax a list of passengers to American Eagle in San Juan, explaining that we’d all have to check in with them, so they’d be prepared for the onslaught.

The hand-search of our checked luggage wasn’t a big deal. It seemed the emphasis was on items containing batteries, especially dive lights. Security personnel checked every single dive light in every bag to be certain the batteries weren’t inside. Otherwise, there wasn’t much scrutiny.

Everyone had to remove their shoes for the security checkpoint – even flip-flops. Otherwise, there were no issues here. Screeners in Bonaire definitely know what diving gear looks like in carry-on bags.

The flight to San Juan left on time. We arrived a little early, breezed through immigration and customs, then lined up at the AA service center. It did seem like they expected us. We ate lunch in the same restaurant, played a lot of rummy and read during the layover. We just didn’t have the energy to venture out of the San Juan airport. Our full flight to BWI left on time. We had chicken something-or-other for dinner and watched “Miss Congeniality 2” to pass the time. Had to wait a while for our luggage at BWI, but it was all there. We arrived home at 10:45pm.

The Post Bonaire Depression didn’t set in right away, since we had to hustle on Sunday to get Matt packed up and sent off to college. Yesterday the PBD began to rear its ugly head. The only cure for this is to book another Bonaire trip, as we’ve learned from experience. However – and it’s not easy to admit this – we might not do that until it becomes a little easier to fly there. Continental’s direct flight from Houston won’t do it for us, since it’s a red-eye with another very early departure. It would be nice to spend more days in Bonaire to help offset an undesirable flight schedule, but Mike can't take more than a week off at one time. We feel (based on reading BT reports) that we were extremely lucky with American Airlines, but the prospect of future problems combined with the lousy flight schedule may well keep us from flying with them to Bonaire anytime soon. If Air Jamaica can get back on track, we might try them again. But in the meantime, the problems folks have experienced this summer give us pause. Flying to Curacao or Aruba and taking Divi-Divi or Bonaire Excel is a possibility, but apparently not without hassles. In the meantime, we may choose to dive in other locations… at least until I can’t stand it any longer, and need a Bonaire fix.




--Deborah Campbell

Sounds like a great trip. D-23 and counting, then 10 glorious days in Bon....

Thanks for the great detailed trip report!!! I felt like I was there right along with you! I love the picture of your eel!! Most look scarry, but your pictures looked like he is smiling!

Very Cool Report! 17 Days and a wakeup.

We also heard the Plaza is listing a bit. Hope it straightens out> Always enjoyed it. But we are stuck on the Divi presently.

I really enjoyed reading your report and loved the pictures you posted. Thanks for sharing!

Great report, along with some truly great photos.

When you checked into the airport in Bonaire for the trip home, did you have to open you checked luggage for inspection by hand? I thought they took them and did the inspection behind the scenes like AJ did.
We are flying American this Oct. and have always used AJ up to this trip.
Thanks.

Yes, Joanie, we had to open all the checked luggage for inspection. There were two tables set up on the floor in front of the American Eagle ticket counter, with a security agent at each table. We hefted our bags up on these tables, and the agents went through them thoroughly. After they were finished, they closed the bags and put them in a roped-off area behind where they were standing. Then when the American Eagle ticket agent had prepared the luggage routing tags, we had to point out each of our bags to the security agent, who attached these tags. After that, they put the bags onto the conveyor belt behind the AE ticket agents.

It wasn't anything like the previous check-ins we'd experienced with Air Jamaica. To be honest, I doubt whether they did ANY inspections of the checked luggage, behind the scenes or otherwise. Although once in Montego Bay an agent went through my carry-on bag meticulously at the gate, just before I boarded the plane for Baltimore. She looked at every toiletry item, thoroughly examined my regulator and mask, and even flipped through my dive logbook and read some of the pages. She took so long, I thought I would miss the plane!

Hope this helps,

--Deborah

Deborah,
I always like to know what the routine is before I get there. Your reply was a big help. Thanks