I think this is our seventh trip since 2001, so I'll just comment on things that seemed new or different. And “random” is the operative word. If you are looking for narrative flow, read elsewhere!
Air Travel
-Took Delta direct from Atlanta. The flight departs at 9:45 am and arrives at 1:45 pm. The 757 was about two-thirds full. You get 2 snacks and a bad movie and then you're in Bonaire. Easiest trip ever. Waited at least 30 min for our bags to appear at Flamingo, then got our truck from Poppy at Telerin and we were off (well, off after a little experimental gear grinding. I never drive straight shift except in Bonaire).
-Leaving Bonaire a week later, we found a real obstacle course at the airport. The parking lot was absolutely full and construction prevented anyone except cabs and buses from pulling up to the terminal for loading/unloading. Workers had dug a deep utility trench all the way across the front of the terminal spanned by little wooden "bridges", so that it was nearly impossible to get your bags to the terminal without dragging them through rocks and dirt. Price of progress, I guess.
-Got to the airport at 12:45 pm for the 3:05 pm departure. There was already a long line for Delta check-in, but it moved fairly quickly. On that Saturday, they were selling departure tax coupons (now $32.00) without requiring you to obtain a boarding pass first.
-The Delta flight was 1.5 hours late due to bad weather in Atlanta, so we sat in the air-conditioned departure lounge with a drink and a snack and reminisced about the good ol’ days when there was no departure lounge and we sweltered in the open ticket lobby.
-Flight back was also no problem, although a number of people missed connections due to the delay. We sailed through Immigration in record time (literally 2 minutes), but ground to a halt in baggage transfer where we waited 45 minutes for our luggage to finally appear. Luggage re-check was pandemonium, but we made it to our flight and 2 of our 3 bags actually made it home with us.
Accommodations
-We stayed at Belmar (south of the airport), as usual, and were (again) not disappointed. The office staff is friendly and efficient. The rooms and grounds are well maintained. They also do a great job with security. Gates are locked at night (but can be opened with your room key). There is an on-site security guard on the grounds every night, including Butchie (sp?) a friendly guy who has been there for years. As soon as you pull into the parking lot after a night in town, the guard immediately materializes to make sure you are somebody who belongs at Belmar and to keep an eye on you until you are safely in your room. You very seldom (if ever) hear of thefts or intrusions happening at Belmar.
-We stayed in a 2BR apartment on the first floor for the first time. The view is not quite as nice as from the upper level, but you don’t have to lug stuff up the narrow, slippery steps and there is a dedicated gear storage closet right at your front door.
Driving Around
-You certainly get the sense that there are more cars now on Bonaire. We even got involved in a couple of mini-traffic jams. Perish the thought, but could stoplights appear in the not-too-distant future?
-We rented a cell phone from Michael Gaynor at Chat-N-Browse (just north of the traffic circle, near Sanddollar). The phone worked perfectly for both local calls and for calls to and from the US. Plus Michael is a great guy to do business with.
-I am accustomed to seeing lots of half-finished structures on Bonaire. The difference this time is that lots of those construction sites actually had work going on!
-J.A. Abraham Blvd is torn up for construction from the intersection with Kaya G.F. Croes (where Cactus Blue is located) all the way south toward the Divi and the Plaza. I’m not sure what they are doing – putting in a red brick sidewalk for one thing. I suspect traffic is a mess there during the day; I only drove it at night.
-I seemed to see a lot more “Polis” in their spiffy new trucks. I don’t know if they were doing anything more than driving around, but it gave the impression of a higher police profile.
-Donkeys, on the other hand, are now few and far between. I understand most have been rounded up. In terms of donkey health and welfare, I’m sure that is a good thing, but the donkeys were always a picturesque part of the Bonaire scenery and I miss seeing them.
-There were 2 cruise ships in that week, the Queen Mary 2 (2600 passengers) and the Crown Princess (3100 passengers). It is amazing how the giant ships tower over Kralendijk. We avoided going into playa when there was a ship in port, but cruisers were still in evidence. Lots of folks out in rental jeeps and on scooters and 4-wheelers. If you are our diving, be especially careful south of White Slave where the shore road goes to one lane, but it’s still 2-way traffic. When divers or local folks meet another vehicle on that stretch of road, both parties know to pull partially on to the shoulder and give a friendly wave. The cruisers have not figured that out. Be prepared to hit the brakes and pull all the way off so they won’t have to give up the middle of the road. God help them if they meet a salt truck.
-We took the “short cut” from Karpata back to Sabadeco. While it is clearly shorter than driving through Rincon to get back to town, I’m not convinced it saves much time. The uphill portion has several spots that are badly washed out that you have to negotiate in first gear to prevent the tanks in the back from being catapulted out. Once you get on the downhill side past the antennae farm, the road condition improves.
Diving
-Buddy Dive (which operates the dive shop at Belmar) now runs a dive boat over to Belmar on Tuesdays and Thursdays exclusively for Belmar divers. It is a fairly small (10-12 divers max) transom-less Newton that is fine for the short trip over to Klein Bonaire (where this trip always goes). A two tank morning trip is $50.00. It is a very convenient way to do a few dive at a place where you faithful pick-up truck just can’t go. Only complaint is stinky diesel fumes – get a tune-up, guys!
-The shore diving package that we had included use of nitrox at no extra charge. The tank pen at Belmar is stocked with 32% EAN tanks and there is an analyzer in place. Pretty good deal.
-The Belmar now keeps a supply of tanks down on the diving dock so you don’t have to lug them from the dive shop to dive on the house reef.
-Visibility has never seemed to be as good as it was the first couple of years we went to Bonaire. It is good, but no longer spectacular. As usual, swarms of small to medium sized fish, but very few bigger fish (grouper, etc.). I did see a couple of good sized cubera snappers plus an exceptionally large loggerhead turtle out in the blue water on a dive at Klein Bonaire. Made the usual hawksbills look puny in comparison.
-As others have noted, the stairs are washed out at Bachelor Beach and the site is closed for shore diving.
-We went up north to dive Candyland and Taylor Maid one day, but the surf was building when we got there so we called it off and went for plan B. The dirt road behind Bopec is still pretty rough in spots, but navigable in a truck.
-It was depressing to see how bad Pink Beach has gotten. No sand left, only iron shore. The shore diving entry, which was once very easy, is now distinctly challenging.
-If you are diving southern sites and have gotten tired of beating yourself up on iron shore, head for The Rock between Invisibles and Tori’s Reef (see Susan Porter’s “Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy”). Small sandy beach makes it one of the very easiest entries on Bonaire.
- Our favorite dive was probably Hidden Beach, an unmarked spot between Sweet Dreams and Red Slave (see BSDME). Big staghorn coral formations at the drop-off and lots of soft corals and sponges.
-A night dive turned into kind of a flail when my primary light died unexpectedly. (Note to self: if you are spending $4000.00 on a vacation, splurge and spend $20.00 for new batteries instead of taking the “probably still good” ones). I did, however, find a nice octopus using my 2-candlepower back-up light.
-The kite boarders have pretty much taken over the stretch from Red Beryl to Fish Hut. You can still dive there, but be very careful or you might get a skeg in the head which would certainly ruin your day (and maybe your life). We elected to leave it to the kite boarders and selected other dive sites – there are plenty to choose from.
-STINAPA has re-painted all of the yellow markers, but I think they must a used a smaller “font” because I found the rocks harder to read. Or maybe my eyes are just older.
-Some familiar sites have been renamed. North Belnem is now “Corporal Meiss,” apparently named after a benefactor. I don’t so much mind that, but I draw the line at renaming Ol’ Blue as “Tolo.”
-Town Pier was closed to divers for several days because a USCG cutter was tied up there. Don’t know what their mission was – never saw any crew ashore. Nice to have the Coasties pay a visit, but maybe next time they can find a different parking space.
Dining
-We usually fix our own food in the apartment for breakfast and lunch, but we enjoyed a few new (to us) restaurants for dinner.
-Papaya Moon (in the old Croccatino’s location) was excellent. We shared the chicken quesadilla appetizer (almost a meal in itself), my wife had the shrimp en brochette and I had border pork with macadamia salsa. Dessert was apple pie a la mode on a hot iron skillet and raspberry-lemon tiramisu. All selections were fabulous. Service from Ray (from Texas) and his son Andrew was prompt and friendly. Tab for 2, including drinks and wine, was $79.00. Best meal of the trip.
-At Wil’s Tropical Grill (in the old De Turin location), the service was excellent, but the food was only so-so. We both had fish (mahi-mahi and catch-of-the-day wahoo) and we both thought the fish was overcooked and too dry. The meal was somewhat salvaged by the spectacularly good chocolate lava cake (remember to order it when you order your entrée - the prep time for the cake is 20 minutes). Dinner for two (with wine, no drinks) was $90.00. Wil’s has gotten so many good reviews that we will probably give it another chance.
-Patagonia is a beautiful restaurant and is scenically located right on the yacht harbor. The owner used to operate Casablanca (which we always enjoyed), and this is certainly a more up-scale operation. We made reservations every night we went out, but this is the only time I was truly glad we did – the place was packed. They specialize in Argentinean beef, so we both had rib-eyes with different sauces. The meat was well prepared, flavorful, and very tender. Service was attentive and friendly. A very fine meal for two (with drinks and wine) was $91.00.
-On arrival Saturday, we were tired and picked-up ribs to go at Bobbejan’s for dinner. Very good ribs, but I don’t much care for their cole slaw. Fast, cheap, and easy dinner for 2 for $16.00. I hear the platter is even better.
-On departure Saturday, we stopped for lunch at Plazita Limena on Kaya Grandi (on the right just past TCB and La Flamboyant). We both had their version of paella, which was very good indeed. Spicy saffron rice heavily laden with oysters, shrimp, and squid, with a nice piece of fish on top. But note that it is very spicy (some kind of killer orange peppers in there - we had to buy extra beers on the way out!). Excellent “last meal” as we headed for the airport; tab for 2 was $38.00.
And the best part – we’re going back in July for two weeks!
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By John Gnann (BonaireTalker - Post #85) on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 12:54 pm: 
