Oh where to begin. How about bonaire is the best. This is the first vacation my husband Dean and I have been on where we were already planning when to return halfway through our trip. Hoping to return in January. I guess I'll start with getting there. We have experienced many bad trips when you travel its a crap shoot! We left JFK 12:30pm AA/AE to San juan then to bonaire expecting a complete nightmare trip and it was seamless. Everything ran on time, pleasant flight, no lost luggage, it was probably the easiest trip we have ever taken. in anticipation of arriving at some ungodly hour we asked the lovely folk at buddy dive to have some provisions for us in our unit upon arrival. However we were sitting down to a lovely dinner at 9 pm at Lions Den after checking in to a very comfortable unit at Lions Dive now part of Buddy Dive. We used most of those provisions during our stay. Dean has always wanted to get scuba certified being the water bug that he is, windsurfing being his thing in particular. And I am pretty much terrified of the ocean. I enjoy to sit poolside with a book and a frosty drink. He has however convinced me to snorkel on several other trips St Martten, BVI. and once in the water I do enjoy as long as I have a safety vest of some sort. He did the padi course, doing the paper work and pool instruction here in NYC and did his 4 open water dives in bonaire, where better to become certified? It worked for him and he is hooked and spoiled I'm sure. He also did 5 boat dives after his certification. Shore diving is on his agenda next trip as well as windsurfing at sorobon. I snorkled around the resort 3 days and really enjoyed myself. Any recommendations for good not too deep snorkeling spots would be appreciated for the next trip for me! And I really enjoyed sitting by the beautiful pool which I pretty much had to myself because everyone is diving, and everyone I met at Buddys poolside, staff, and everywhere else were friendly wonderful people, bonaire is truly a wonderful gem. Dining was a total hit. Our favorite by far was Mona Lisa, with amazing atmosphere and fresh fish, but every meal was wonderful. Lions Den, Rum Runners, Chibi Chibi, Stifflers, Zee Zicht, and a nice find I hadn't heard about on this site was Barracuda Club in front of the Sand Dollar. We met the owner Frans and were very impressed, he is planning to upgrade his menu which is already nice to something a little more upscale. That was a nice alternative if you wanted to get a drink a little later and the Lions Den closes at 10pm. Barracuda stays open until 1 am and is such a short walk from Buddys. We were sorry to miss Richards and Bistrot de Paris, hopefully we'll catch that on our next trip with a slew of other restaurants we didn't have time to try. NYC dining is quite expensive and we found all restaurants to be extremely reasonable. Sunsets can't be beat!!! In summary bonaire was paradise to us and our 10 days flew by like a blink of an eye. We can't wait to go back again. As a first timer and non diver i would encourage everyone to give bonaire a try, wonderful people, gorgeous ocean, it's now our number one vacation spot. oh and Gibis on Tuesdays has to be on our list next trip. Sorry this is so long but there is just so many good things to say! Again thanks to all on BT for helpful info you are all great special people and share a love for a special island. I feel lucky to finally have experienced it! I will post anything I have forgotten as if this isn't long enough!
Kristin
P.S. if you click on Scott and Gale's Photos part 2 you will see me and dean snorkeling at buddys dock, i got such a laugh out of that!! oh and why is pbd so painful? can't seem to shake it!

Good Morning Kristin

I enjoyed your info on Bonaire & I know you will be back ----looking forward to your pictures

Enjoy your week/end

Kathy from Danvers

Kristin, you are hooked, but good!!! Join the Bonaire addicts...we all share the same addiction and love for Bonaire. She is a wonderful place to experience and enjoy.

Glad to see you are planning your next trip, already...that helps out with the PBD.

Welcome to BT and to our love affair with Bonaire and her people! Carole

Nice report Kristen! Glad to see you had a wonderful time! My daughter and I really enjoyed Lions Den last year!

Kristen, glad you enjoyed Bonaire! You are a true addict...everyone always starts planning their next trip before they get on the plane to go home!