Thanks to everyone who helped me out with my "Copy and Paste" question -- here's Part 1 of our trip report. (Part 2 follows in a second message, since the whole thing was longer than the newsgroup message could handle.)

My husband Mike and I recently returned from our first trip to Bonaire. We were there from September 18 – 25, 1999, and stayed at the Plaza Resort. I was fortunate to find this newsgroup shortly before we left for Bonaire, and found tons of helpful information here. (Thanks, everyone!) Hopefully my comments about our trip will be of use to others considering a vacation in Bonaire.

We tried the Air Jamaica service from Baltimore to Bonaire, changing planes in Montego Bay. What a pleasant experience! While it was a bit hectic in the Montego Bay airport, with lots of people trying to make connections to various islands, everything went smoothly and we were in Bonaire before 3 pm (with all of our luggage!) The Air Jamaica service was several notches above what we expected, and it was a real pleasure to avoid the "Customs Cattle Call" in Miami on the way home. Unfortunately, Air Jamaica only offers this service to Bonaire on Saturdays at this time.

My husband dives, and I snorkel. We chose the Plaza Resort because we’d heard good things about Toucan Diving and knew there was good snorkeling right off their beach. We had a grand suite with the laguna view… well actually, we had two of them. On the afternoon of our second day, the electricity was off in our suite when we returned from the beach. That was restored quickly, but the air conditioning didn’t come back on. Rather than wait for however long it might take the maintenance guys to fix the A/C, we were moved to another grand suite a few steps away. A security guard was sent over to help us schlep our stuff across to our new home without having to pack it all up in our luggage. So, really, this was no big deal.

A word about security at the Plaza Resort. There is a guard at the main entrance, and we often saw security personnel walking around the grounds. There was never any sign of trouble, but we did hear that if people staying at other places on Bonaire wanted to come into the Plaza for night snorkeling (or, perhaps dinner), it was best to call ahead so the security guard at the gate would be alerted. The guards wear rather fancy uniforms – khakis with maroon berets – and look decidedly military. At first they seemed a little forbidding, but we learned that they are just as friendly as the rest of the people we met on Bonaire.

The grand suite was probably more space than we needed, but it was nice to spread out. The double sinks and separate "potty room" in the bathroom were great, as was the small refrigerator. We found the Plaza Resort to be nicely laid out, beautifully landscaped, and enjoyed just walking around. Lovely flowers and a couple of iguanas. I’ve noticed that some folks have posted complaints about the distance from some areas of the Plaza property to the beach, but it was a pleasure for us to bask in those tropical surroundings.

As for the heat… I think that’s relative. We’re from Maryland, and we had a killer summer this year. Lots of days in the upper 90’s – both temperature and humidity. Bonaire felt a lot less sticky to us; in fact, we turned the air conditioning off a few times during the week. There was enough passing cloud cover throughout the week to keep us from getting totally fried by the sun. The few quick showers, mainly late at night or early in the morning, were refreshing and made the skies a brigher shade of blue. The water was quite warm; in fact, I could snorkel for at least two hours at a time before feeling the least bit chilled. This past June, in Curacao, I’d last about 30 minutes before I was shivering all over and cold-to-the-bone.

We heard the mosquitoes were bad, but neither of us was ever bitten. Not sweet enough for them, I guess.

Food at the Plaza was okay. We generally eat only two meals a day on vacation, to keep the damage to a minimum. The Caribbean Point restaurant, in the Plaza’s main building, offered only "all you can eat" buffets. Breakfast was the same each day, with a selection of fruit, cold cuts and cheeses, cereals, breads, scrambled eggs, waffles, sausage, bacon, juices, and a made-to-order omelet station. We ate the buffet lunch only once, but the selection was good: various salads, a few hot entrees, hamburgers and hot dogs. The dinner buffets had a different theme each night, and we tried "Italian Night." It was okay, but not especially Italian. Desserts were quite good, though. I should mention that we’re not big fans of buffets, other than at breakfast, and might have tried this restaurant for other dinners had there been menu service.

The Bananatree Restaurant was open for lunch and dinner, and did offer menu service. The lunch menu went on forever, but the dinner menu was somewhat limited, which we found odd. We ate lunch and dinner here once, and the food was quite good both times. However, the restaurant seemed a little disorganized, in general – almost as if they were surprised that people were coming there to eat. It didn’t appear that the Plaza was understaffed in any regard; however, things at this restaurant may have been somewhat under-supervised.

Coconut Crash is the name of the beach bar, and it’s a busy place! Sometimes two bartenders could barely keep up with the happy hour crush. There was a beach barbecue one night there, and they have a few lunch selections available (hot dogs (good), chicken nuggets (yuck), wings (good), a fish sandwich (mystery fish), fries, ice cream.) At sunset, the place was jumping. A couple of times there was live music (also had live music occasionally at Caribbean Point and the Tipsy Seagull.) Seemed like Amstel Bright was the beer of choice – very light, but quite refreshing. Beach volleyball was loosely organized a couple of afternoons by the "activities" personnel of the Plaza – we passed, preferring the water over the blazing sun, but it looked like those participating had a great time.

The Tipsy Seagull was our favorite for dinner – we ate there four times. Can’t beat this location – right out on the water, with great nighttime views of Bonaire. You can also watch the night divers and follow their lights around. The grilled fish here was excellent, especially the red snapper. Besides the fish offerings, there’s a rib-eye steak and barbecued ribs for entrees. A few salads/appetizers are offered, but no desserts. It would be nice to see a chicken entrée and perhaps a pasta, for more variety. Great atmosphere, with a bit more "energy" than the other two Plaza restaurants. At the same time, it was (to us) the most romantic place to eat at the Plaza.

We only ate one dinner "off campus," mainly because we found we were too tired after our days in the water to venture out as much as we’d hoped to. Plans for dinner at Richards were foiled by a sign at their entrance which read "Closed – Gone Fishing. Back on September 29." We had a good meal at the Green Parrot, and will try for Richards the next time we visit Bonaire.

I think one of the adjustments some people have trouble with when they travel in the Caribbean is the difference in restaurant service. If you go expecting what would be considered first-class service in most U.S. cities, you’ll be disappointed. However, if you can get your head out of the fast lane and relax, you’ll be fine. All of the restaurant employees we encountered on Bonaire were extremely friendly, eager to please, and very slow. We’ve been to islands where the service is surly and very slow, so by contrast, Bonaire is heaven! We took the time to get to know the servers a bit, and enjoyed hearing their perspectives on life in Bonaire, and getting their recommendations for snorkeling and diving sites. This fueled the conversations Mike and I would have concerning what to do and where to go, and we found the pace of our meals to be relaxing, not frustrating. It’s all in the expectations people bring with them… take your time, you’re on vacation… you’ll be back racing the rats soon enough!

We rented a car for a few days from AB Car Rentals, which has a desk in the lobby of the Plaza Resort. Got a Toyota Tercel, air conditioned. We did as everyone has recommended, and left nothing of value in the car (some stuff was locked in the trunk, like dry towels and shirts.) We left the car unlocked with the windows down, and had no problems. We didn’t hear of anyone else having problems while we were there, either, although we did see a group outside the Divi Flamingo gathered around a car whose entire wheel had been "removed" overnight.

There is an Excursions desk in the Plaza’s lobby, and a Concierge on duty during the day. A list of the excursions with prices was in our room when we arrived. Some of these trips looked interesting, but we found that we ran out of time before we could do everything we wanted. I missed out on a snorkel trip to Klein Bonaire – someone said the "Sea Cow" was out of service for some repair work. Again, something to look forward to next time we visit Bonaire.

Spent a little time in the Plaza’s casino. I got a false sense of success the first night, finding myself $100 ahead after playing one of the (too few) video poker machines. My irrational hopes of somehow winning back the cost of our trip were promptly dashed after that episode, as I managed to give it all back (and then some) over the course of the rest of the week. The casino is small, but the atmosphere is fun and friendly. There are mainly slot machines – quarters, nickels and guilders. The roulette and blackjack tables seemed to be the most busy every night.

(Report continued in new message - See PART 2)