Trip Report -2/17 - 2/24

Picture taken at Sand Dollar - Bob & Lise with Elizabeth & Mary

Just back from a one week stay at Sand Dollar Condos with our 7 yo twin girls. We had a
GREAT trip. 1st time to Bonaire...but it will not be our last! Here are some highlights of
our trip:
AIR: Flew Air Jamaica from Atlanta to Bonaire via Montigo Bay...no problems getting
down. Our flight coming home was about 1 1/2 hours late getting into Montigo Bay and
our connecting flight to Atlanta had already left. AJ paid for us to spend the night at the
Wyndham Resort, transportation to and from the airport, 2 adjoining rooms, all meals,
drinks etc. We opted to take the same flight on Sunday and spent the whole day at the
pool/beach. It turned out to be a nice extra day of vacation at no cost to us!
CONDO: We stayed in a one bedroom unit at Sand Dollar. We loved our unit. Ground
floor with screened in porch. The unit was clean and had everything we needed...nice
view of the ocean and next to the dive shop. The staff at Sand $ were very
professional....our water heater broke and was not fixed for several days...they gave us the
option to move, but decided to stay in our unit. They did give us a key to use another unit
to take showers. At check out they gave us a $100 check for our “inconvenience”. Sand
$ is not the newest or fanciest place to stay in Bonaire..There are other places with nicer
landscaped grounds, restaurants, docks etc. but we found it to be a great location and we
enjoyed the quiet, relaxed atmosphere. If money is no object then you may want to stay at
a newer property but if you are on a budget (like us!) then we felt it was a great value for
your money. While in Bonaire, we met Joan & Allen (who post on this board) they
showed us their 2 bedroom unit and it was REALLY nice. If we go back, we would rent
directly through them. (ajzale@gateway.net)
DIVING: We used the dive shop at Sand $. They were very nice and we had no
problems. We took Jerry’s Fish ID class/dive and I would highly recommend it. He
showed us many things in the water that we would not have found ourselves. We only
did one boat dive and that was to Kline Bonaire....we covered the Island on shore dives
and found that it was all great. After diving many spots, we decided that the reef in front
of our condo (Bari) was just as pretty as the others and was SO easy to just walk out our
room and jump in! I did do my first night dive during the week. The reef was pretty
quiet but it was fun. We had NO problems at any dive sites with crime, BUT we took
nothing of value in our car....we even left our sunglasses in the condo. The only thing in
the car were our T-shirts and a bottle of water. As a side note on crime...we do think that
someone was siphoning gas from our car at night. We never put much gas in the car at
one time, but we had two mornings when we came out and found the gas below the
empty mark. The last few nights we changed spots for where we parked and parked the
car near the office and had no problems.
FOOD: We ate in most of our meals...condo had everything we needed for cooking. We
brought down many items from the states and I was very glad we did, as the prices are
pretty high at the store. If you are not on a budget, I would just shop there as the stores
have a pretty good selection... just expensive. We did go out for my 40th B-day (I refused
to cook!) I wanted to go to Capriccios but couldn’t get a reservation. We went instead to
Chibi Chibi (at Divi) and it was fun. We had coconut shrimp and then the waiter brought
out a dessert plate with a little piece of each dessert they served. It had a candle on it and
everything. The desserts were wonderful. We also ate one night at Den Lamen (next to
our condo) They had a BBQ buffet and it was pretty good.
KIDS: I will not be able to say enough good things about the children’s program that we
put the twins in. It is called Sea & Discover and is taught by Caren.
http://www.seandiscover.com She is fun, energetic and full of knowledge that she
passes on to the kids. You can tell she has a passion for what she does. She will pick the
kids up from the hotel at 8:15 AM and brings them back at 12:15PM. Each day they have
classroom time and then went to a different snorkel spot. She even included one night
snorkel. The cost is $25 a day or $100 for the week. This week there were a total of 6
kids in the program and my girls LOVED every minute of it. We came home with the
addresses of all their new friends they met. They couldn’t wait for Caren to pick them up
each morning. I am amazed at what they learned. When I would snorkel in the afternoon
with them, they could identify more fish then me! Caren teaches them about fish, reefs,
conservation and just a love for the ocean and all that is in it! This is a GREAT program!
My husband and I used the mornings to dive and then spent the afternoon and evening
with the girls, touring the island, snorkeling or going to the pool. By 8:30 PM we all
dropped into bed each night!
SIGHTSEEING: We took several afternoons to wonder around the island in our truck.
We would take off on the dirt roads and go exploring. It was really fun and I think we
saw most of the island. My girls loved the donkey sanctuary and seeing the flamingos.
We were also there for the Kids Carnival Parade....it was really fun. Loud music and lots
of children dressed up in costumes. The children in Bonaire are beautiful!
BUGS: I came home without one bite! I went to Bonaire prepared with bug bombs,
repellent, and after bite products. We didn’t use any of these. Our unit did have a screen
porch and that may have helped....but I am the type that if there is a bug on the island, it
would have bit me! One of my daughters did get a couple bites on her arm one day...she
said it was when they were sitting on the beach during her class with Caren. But that was
it. Our unit did have some ants in the kitchen...but the office gave us a can of spray and
that took care of that problem.
WEATHER: Perfect! Sunny days with a nice breeze....water was a little cool...but I
wore my full 3ml wetsuit and never was cold. Sunsets are spectacular....but never did see
the “green flash” :)
MISC.: My husband attended the Wednesday Rotary meeting at Renda Vous restaurant.
He loved it. Said the 1st hour was spent in the bar and then they had a lunch meeting. He
is going to suggest this schedule to our local Rotary club back here!!!
OVERALL: WE LOVE BONAIRE! It was a great vacation and I plan to start saving my
money now so that we can go back! I want to thank all those who have posted as it really
helped us plan our trip and get the most out of it. I do need to give a warning for those
of you who are about to leave on vacation....when I got home, I came down with a BAD
case of P.V.D.S. Post Vacation Depression Syndrome.....the only known cure is to plan
another vacation soon! :-)

Here are some more photos from our trip:
Sea & Discover class with Caren



1000 Steps

Here are some more photos from our trip:
Sea & Discover class with Caren



1000 Steps


Child in Carnival Parade


Pink Beach

Oops on the photos. Looks like Bob may have eaten my cooking - I was co-chef for the Rotary luncheon here on Bonaire last week. Every so often a Bonaire Rotarian helps prepare the luncheon menu for his fellow Rotarians and guests. Last week Sara Matera (of Green Parrot fame and another fellow Rotarian) roped me in for an "American" themed lunch - tuna cassarole and cheeseburgers...

Ask Bob if he remembers a tall blonde guy with a chefs jacket on :-)

Jake

Bob was joking to me that he came to Boniare and expected some local cooking for the Rotary lunch....but instead they had american hamburgers! His Rotary meeting is in the morning and he is planning to wear shorts, T-Shirt, flip-flops and bring in a amstel beer! He is hoping to start a new tradition! hee hee (Don't think they will go for it here!)

Great report...love the photos! As we say so often, now you know why we are all hooked on Bonaire...

Thanks Lise, a great report. I was transported while reading it, but it seems I'm actually still in Oregon. Hmm.

You're so right about PVDS; I reserved our next years' return within weeks of homecoming and we're biding the time at a winter snail's pace. (Or, in Oregon, slug's pace.)

Thank you Lise. It was a most excellet and informative report. The pictures also got me into P.V.D.S. We were also at the children's carnival. How beautiful are those kids? I am already trying to talk Kathi into going back to Bonaire this summer for 2 weeks. We usually go to Europe, somewhere, but I say we can listen to Dutch people on Bonaire.

Thanks for sharing your experiences Lise. Now you know why so many of us are passionate about Bonaire.

We came home last week, and I'm hoping to find a "sell-off" flight some time in the summer. If anyone hears of one that would be reachable from Rochester NY, please let us know.

One more photo...my mom gave me these dresses for a birthday present! They have fish on them....just right for Bonaire!



PS Jake, Bob said he did remember you and said you did a great job with the lunch!

Nice report and thanks for the plug! By the way, who took that great family photo????

Oh....I should have given photo credits to Alan for the cute family picture! Thanks....this may end up being our Christmas photo if the girls don't change too much between now and December!

Great report and great pictures. Makes me wish that our trip was less than the 57 days away!

So very glad to read your report and see your family phot'os How nice to share with us. We'll help you thru the post-Bonaire blues, just stay tuned to the site, check the web cams a few times a day and whisper to yourself, Ill be back again someday. It's sounds like you all had a wonderful time!!masha danki!!

Thanks for the great info. We are leaving in 5 days for our two week trip to Bonaire with our 7, 8 and 10 year olds. I quess I've been a little tenative about placing my kids in someone elses hands for these great kid programs because of safety reasons. We live in Eastern Oregon far away from the ocean. They can all swim well in a pool. It sure would be nice though if my husband and I could scuba dive some(he plans to windsurf a lot). Is Sea & Discover a program at the Sand dollar resort? We will be staying at the Belmar and I know they have a simular program called Aqua Kids.

I believe the Aqua Kids program is through the Plaza Resort. May be more information on the website. Also, I think someone had a trip report that included information. You could do a word search on the newsgroup for Aqua Kids...

The Aqua Kids program is run by a preofessioanlly trained staff who are experienced in water safety and first aid. The program is quite reasonable. e mail aquaadventures@bonairelive.com

Our daughter Yana just spent five mornings doing an AquaKids Carnival Camp a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. And yes, it's run out of Plaza. Use the e-mail address Michael provided to get hold of Annet, who runs the program.

Jake

I can't speak for the Aqua kids program...but we were very happy with the Sea & Discover program...Caren will pick them up at no extra charge from any location. (This is not a program offered through Sand $.) They do need to be good swimmers and know how to snorkel. We have an indoor pool here in our town...and for the last few months before our trip...I took the girls to the pool and they practiced their snorkeling in the pool. One other suggestion is if you can afford it...buy them wetsuits...it really helps to keep them from getting so chilled in the water. The class time worked out great for us, we could dive in the mornings and then have plenty of family time all afternoon and evenings. My girls couldn't wait to get up in the morning and go with Caren!

Neoprene wet suits will also help them float. The kids can also use snorkel vests.