Okay I guess I’ve been putting this off long enough but I been pretending to still be there! We left Denver for an overnight stay in Miami on February 23. Almost had a heart attack when confirming from DIA our direct to Bonaire flight from Miami on ALM the next morning. She told me the flight had been changed and we would arrive Bonaire via Curacao about 9 p.m. After she realized I was very upset she put me on hold and came back and said everything was still the same; we would arrive Bonaire direct from Miami as previously scheduled! Whew! Well, WE DID!! We arrived in Bonaire on the 24th with no ALM problems.

Britt,a staffer from Buddy Dive, was at the airport to pick us up and she brought us directly to our room. No checking in at the front desk until that evening just so we could get our rental to go cruising. Next morning we checked in at the dive shop for our orientation, got Lisa set up with her check-out dive for Monday and Tuesday and then the rest of us went on our orientation dive. I have been certified for a long time but hadn’t done any diving to speak of (snorkeled a lot), but with the wonderful and patient husband I have it was very easy getting back into things. With the gradual entrance into the water and nice sandy area at Buddy’s dock I was able to get wet at my own pace and actually dove with confidence at 70 feet! I saw a baby moray, which I really wasn’t ready for and he kind of surprised me! Ya know what I mean!!

That evening we went to KARNAVAL! What a fun time. We met a local lady by the name of Jeannine who told us that after the parade we should go down to the Mona Lisa Bar. We did and what a fun time we had. We carried on and danced, danced and danced with everyone including a guy named Alex. Well later into the evening he asked where we were staying and it winds up he is one of the dive masters from Buddy’s who had been off the previous two days, explaining why we had not met him there. Anyway I was really looking forward to KARNAVAL and it lived up to my expectations. Some of you locals might remember our “krewe”; we were wearing Mardi Gras T-shirts and Mardi Gras colored Dr. Seuss hats! I would like to say hello to the lady in the banks balcony who said she was a New Orleans native but now lives on Bonaire. Yes, I am jealous!

On Monday and Tuesday while Lisa was doing her checkout dives with Lisa from Buddy Dive, Mike, John and I went shore diving. Mike and John had never done shore diving before (only diving in Belize, Grand Cayman and Cozumel) and we all loved the freedom of diving at our own pace. Of course we picked the ones with easy entry. My first dive other than Buddy’s was the Andrea I, which was really easy entry and exit and parking was right there. I am not good at identifying sea life yet but I can tell you I saw the biggest barracuda of my life that day, a big school of bright blue colored fish, which were very pretty and a scorpion fish. We did also see a lot of other sea life and I wish I could have identified them all, but I was really interested in making sure I could do this after all these years. We did stop by the Street Cam that afternoon and I signed the guest book, but I could not get John and Mike out of the truck to wave. Old-sticks-in-the-mud! BTW, the Richter house is very easy to find.

Over the next few days Mike, John and I went shore diving, except for the morning when Mike and John went on a boat dive and I hung out at the pool waiting for Lisa to finish with her checkout. We went to Windsock for Lisa’s first dive after being certified and discovered she could not equalize any deeper than 20 feet. We immediately went to shore and went to the doctor that afternoon where the doctor, I believe Dr. Schrader, diagnosed her with a middle ear squeeze. He put her on antibiotic eardrops, nasal spray and double doses of Sudafed. She finally cleared two days later, which was our last day for diving. She was rather upset that she finally got certified and then could not dive. But at least she got to do some diving, which included Pink Beach and Karpata. Pink beach, or should I say white coral beach, was a very easy entry. Karpata is an easy entry but the surf can make it a bit tough. Count the waves and then go in when the waves are at their slowest. We rented an underwater camera from Buddy’s on our last day and found one of the anchors at Karpata and did some underwater photography. We haven’t gotten the film developed yet so don’t know how good, or bad, we were at it.

The island itself is very dry and arid but really interesting. I could not get over the size of the cacti. We cruised the entire island in two days. We did the southeast shore the day Lisa discovered she couldn’t equalize. We drove on to Lac Bay where we found Sorobon (spelling?), but did not enter!!! We could not believe the difference in the two sides of the island. The east side is very rocky and the surf is unbelievable. I think this is where everything coming from the Atlantic is washed ashore. Everywhere you looked there were flip-flops, tennis shoes and plastic any things. The ragged, razor-sharp rock formations were really neat where the surf has pounded them down.

The north side of the island is Goto Meer and Washington-Slaghbaai and wished we had done some diving up that way. But too late, we were already into our 24-hour no dive to fly time. So we rode around the flamingo habitat and on the inside of the park.

Mike and John went on a night dive one night so Lisa and I went to the Chibi-Chibi for dinner, which was great, and then on to the Divi Flamingo Casino. We both donated, but had a great time. Alex even showed up there and played a while.

We had dinner at It-Rains-Fishes with a beer chaser at Karole’s, Zeezicht and several nights at The Dock of the Bay at Buddy Dive. All meals were excellent and the service was great! For your folks who think the service is slow in Bonaire, don’t even think about going to Belize. And in Belize the food isn’t so great either. But don’t get me wrong, I love Belize and the island and its people more than make up for the food and service.

We mostly ate in our condo for lunch or just skipped it totally since we had a big breakfast every day, which was included in our Buddy Dive plan. We brought ham and turkey and all the fixings with us in an ice chest, which, I believe, since it is for your own consumption is okay to bring to Bonaire. Of course was had a lot left overs and told the maids to take it all home with them at the end of the trip, including two unopened bottles of wine.

Our ALM flight out of Bonaire was 3 hours delayed which we did not find out about until we had already turned in our vehicle so we had to hang around the airport for four hours which was very tiresome. We had planned on having a night out in Miami that evening but we were too pooped. We had dinner and then crashed. But you know, if that was all that happened, NO PROBLEM!

Well there you go. In summary, we had a wonderful time in Bonaire and would like to thank all of you in Bonaire for sharing your island with all of us high-landers who need to get away to the REAL PARADISE! This won’t be our last trip there.

Susan, Mike, John and Lisa

Susan - OK, you are the person I need to ask this question: We also fly from Denver to Miami (this Weds. 3/21!)and spend the night there before going on to Bonaire. I had thought to bring sliced meat for lunches in a cooler w/cold packs (no water leakage), but thought the overnight in Miami (plus the fact that we do have to fly to Bonaire via Curacao w/ a long layover), would rule out flying w/meat and having it keep. What did you do w/it in Miami and how did you get it to keep? I know we could get ice and probably have it keep overnight, but how to refresh our cold packs so that it lasts through the next day of long travel?

Any one else w/ideas? (I did not make it through more than a year of Girl Scouts - and that was too many years ago, anyhow.) ;o}

Does anyone know what the limits are for bringing in fresh food and alcohol? A cooler full of frozen meats would go a long way as would a few bottles of wine.

As much as you can carry, as long as it's only for personal consumption :-)

Jake

Nancy: You want the meats on Bonaire,not before? Whole large joints rather than slices will stay at temp. better I believe.Esp if thoroughly chilled.Frozen would be better. ie a whole frozen raw turkey takes about 1 hr per pound to thaw in a fridge.Not sure if cooked would be different. But its mass is I think, the important thing.

I just wanted some lunch meats, but since they don't have much mass, they may not keep in the time it will take us to get down there, so we may go with some frozen mass instead - maybe steaks??

Folks do that all the time too. Keep in mind when you overnight in Miami that you can restock the ice in your cooler too... (just make sure that every package you have in the cooler is water tight though :-)

Jake

I'm guessing that wherever you purchase the steaks can vac pac them for you too. A heavy vac pac stock should be pretty impervious to fluid transmission. Plus, maybe the hotel would agree to put your whole cooler inside one of their big walk-in freezers. Doesn't hurt to ask. Wish you good luck.

Two other helps are to put any ice cubes/pieces in
Ziploc-type bags to contain any water, or to use the
permanently sealed 'chemical ice' packs.

I have packed vegetables and frozen meat (a roast and
lamb shanks) in a hard-sided American Tourister
several times, wrapping the food in plastic and
zip-bags and then clothing. The roasts acted as the
'ice'. Even when the baggage, coming from New York,
was delayed to the last flight of the night by ALM the
meat was still frozen solid. Surely it would have been
fresh, if not frozen, the next day. Most aircraft baggage
areas are quite cool if not cold. Luncheon meat should
stay fresh if carried this way.

Frozen food packed in a cooler that was cooled inside
before packing and is not opened until arrival should be
fine even with an overnight in an a/c room. You can
always experiment over the expected time interval at
home before the trip.

I also have carried lobster down live by putting a
chemical ice pack at the bottom of the carrier, then a
towel and wrapping the lobster in a damp towel kept
damp. (I am allowed into my daughter's house only with
such like in hand!)

Hey! We have all the lunch meet, steaks, veggies and various foods available here. The prices may be a bit higher, but not enough to have to schlep all those extra cooler and take a chance on having them be delayed. Send me your list and I will check out the prices for you

We find that the meat prices in Bonaire are very comparable to the States. Certain items are even cheaper, and in our opinion, much better. We tend to save our packing space for more speciality items that are not so readily available on the island. (ie., spices, sauces, mixes, munchies, etc.) Also, there's no problem with these items if luggage is delayed/lost a few days.

example: 2 kilo bonless chicken brasts nafl 7.40 or around $4.00. New york strip steak (okay you have to buy the whole piece, but they slice it for you...nafl 22 per kilo...$12.00. Good All beef hotdogs, 8 pack nafl 6.00 around $3.75. Frozen one pound lobsters (from Canada) nafl 15 about 8 bucks. You have to know where to shop...just ask around and you can save the room for New York times papers, Bagels, and good lean pastrammi!

As Michael said a while ago, he is willing to take and
dispose of any of the whole piece of steak that you have
left over at the end of your stay. Selfless community
interest, of course. :–) How about rib roast of beef? Lamb
roast?

Frozen 'Maine' lobster???!!?? I know Michael is from
NYC, but please.... There they put tomatoes in clam
chowder so you can see the real level of good taste. And
you can see the bias: NY Times, bagels and
pastrami--not even lox!!??!!

Isn't it wonderful: here we are talking about foods to bring
to Paradise?

Yes, save the room for other goodies. Yes, save the room for other goodies - my new mantra. Thanks everyone for great tips - again.

Michael, get a grip. You have been away too long. Anyone who would ask for lean pastrami would have it on white bread with mayo,you should forgive the expression.....

Hey...I forgot. A Loaf of good sour rye, a few half sours, some deli mustard... Glenn FYI we have smoke salmon for denmark (I know...almost lox) and I buy staning rib roasts all the time from consales. I do apologize for the tomato in the Clam chowder!

OK, so we are left w/o lox, lamb and red onions? Is the
meat from Consales frozen at any time before sale?

You buy it frozen.

The only fresh, fresh meat available most of the time would be goat and the very occasional pig plus a few chickens. A babysitter's father works at the butchers and he says he almost exclusively works with goats.

We packed our ice chest in the morning before leaving Gunnison with "blue ice" in Ziplocks. They lasted until the following morning in Miami where we re-packed the Ziplocks with ice. We actually double Ziplocked the ice. We had no problem with leakage and the meat was still cold when we got to Bonaire. The first thing we unpacked was the ice chest. If you have room in the ice chest it also helps to insulate the inside with newspapers. It was really handy having our ice chest with us on the shore dives packed with water, cokes, beer, etc.

What about using "Dry Ice"?

Barry,
first of all say hi to Shelly.
Dry Ice is a very dangerous product if not handled properly. I don't know if someone off the street who is not involved within the food service industry would be able to purchase dry ice. Whenever we ship products or our manufacturers ship to us with dry ice--the package must state on the outside all over the place that there is dry ice in the box. I believe in the state of Mass. it is illegal for a person to even carry dry ice in their car.
Other than finding out about all the rules and regulations-- Dry Ice works like a charm.

As far as I know you are not allowed to take dry ice on a commercial airliner.

Barry,
oooooooooooopppppppppppsssssssss.
I meant sherri!!

You mean Sherry.lol We can buy dry ice in our grocery stores here in Colorado and it is usually packed in brown wrapping paper so handling in not a problem. The trick with dry ice is to keep stuff cold but not frozen put the dry ice in the bottom of the cooler and your goods on top, or if you want to keep it frozen, put goods in bottom and dry ice on top. I can't say anything about carrying on an airliner but it would be interesting to check on.

Aquaman

As I read through these messages I tend to agree -leave the food stuffs at home and pack other more important essentials. Then I think - hey our group is worried about their margarittas (I dont drink them - I do wine). Anyways we are planning on doing two things - first packing several bottles of good quality tequila (snobs that they are), and second taking a container of prepared margaritas. All this so the 3 others travelling have their margs when we stand on the edge of the water and toast to a great trip. (LOL) I just have to figure out if I take a bottle of wine with me so I have something until we can get to the liquor stores

re dry ice
I agree with Jan. Most airlines consider dry ice
to be "hazardous goods" and require special
labeling. The problem with dry ice is that it
doesn't melt, it "sublimes" (changes directly from
solid to gas). In a tightly sealed container, this
can cause a build-up of pressure and rupture the
container. In addition, while C02 is not toxic,
sublimation of a large amount of dry ice can
displace air in a closed space (eg, a cargo hold)
and cause suffocation. You may recall the event
in Africa about 15 years ago when a big bubble of
C02 burped up from a volcanic lake and suffocated
hundreds of lakeside villagers in their sleep.

Also, dry ice is so cold that I have had it crack
regular plastic ice chests. Easier to stick with
water ice or frozen chemical packs (or frozen
sides of beef as suggested above!)

Ok it's Sherry--(sorry about that) I'll remember the Y-- All kidding aside-- I would rather buy my meats and groceries on Island. Even liquor-- with what one would save is it really worth to be shelping it around--( but than it depends on what part of the country you live in) In New England everything is high---Including the snow banks--------SURE WISH I WAS BACK ON BONAIRE!!!!!!!!!!
If you do use dry ice-- a stryofoam cooler works best-- It allows some of the gases to escape--and make sure you handle it with gloves-- wouldn't want you to burn your fingertips off. What a way to spoil a vacation.

We always bring a cooler with frozen favorites and pack everything solid. The airline always ask if I have dry ice in the cooler, I thought your not allowed to transport dry-ice in the baggage section on planes.