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Trip Reports: Trip report 4-15 thorugh 4-24.
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2006-2008: Archives - 2008-03-01 to 2008-07-31: Trip report 4-15 thorugh 4-24.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rick Cooper (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 10:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just got home and the suit cases are not even unpacked.
Our trip to Bonaire surpassed all my expectations and then some. I thought I'd give a short report about how things went.-
From my front door to arrival at Flamingo airport took 29 hours (You folks on the east coast who whine about trip times, I've got a little Bonaire Jong Gouda to go with it, Ha-ha) 6 hours drive to SEA, on to Dallas, then San Juan, and Bonaire on AA. Flights went fairly smooth, but the folks at SJU are definitely on island time. Get medication and take it prior to experiencing any part of SJU.
I'd like to not mention the place we stayed so I could keep it all to myself, but then they wouldn't be in business by the time I will be able to return. So- Coral Paradise is great! ( and so are the folks who own it). They arranged all of our diving needs (mostly tanks) through Capt. Dons, which is a great dive facility, and just steps away from Coral Paradise. We mostly cooked our own food, but had great goat at both Rose Inn and Mikey's snack (I think it's spelled Miakey's). If you don't experience the "local" food you are missing out.
The diving is truly great and the freedom of grabbing tanks 24hrs a day, what can you say! We enjoyed a relaxing vacation and still got in 12 dives (over 5 days), including a night dive. All of the dive sites seem to have their own little nuances, so I can say I enjoyed every one of them. I have yet to unpack my notes but Karpata and The Invisibles seem to stand out. The Cliff is also very nice for being a wall dive that drops to only about 80'.
I guess I would like to make a few suggestions that may help future travelers;
-Get the full coverage on your rental vehicle.
-Exchange your $ for Gilders- It makes it much easier in stores that don't price things both ways.
-On a past trip my dive partner got taken when getting gas. On this trip I had a gas station clerk try to short change me not once but twice. I was paying in Gilders and it was obvious it wasn't just a mistake. She tried to pass off a 1 gilder coin for a 5 and then tried to short me 10 Gilders on the rest of the change. I hope these are isolated cases, but watch your change.
-Don't just shop at the warehouse for groceries, you'll be missing out on many good items the other stores have.
Our return trip was much shorter (only about 20 hrs with an overnight stay). I'd turn around and do it all again, maybe not tomorrow, but in for sure in a day or two.
All in all the trip was great!
Thanks.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kathleen wiederholt (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 8:04 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Steve, we got to walk through the property in Dec., are they finished with it yet, did he let you ride his Harley??? LOL, They were very nice people.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rick Cooper (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 11:24 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The apartments themselves, and the pool area are essentially completed. It is still a work in progress as they have some landscaping to finish and some future projects in mind. They have done a very nice job on the place and it was a great stay.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Toby and Sandy (BonaireTalker - Post #63) on Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 5:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Rick, exactly where is Coral Paradise?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Innkeeper Linda (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1357) on Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 6:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

It's towards the street behind the Dive Shop at Capt. Don's.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rick Cooper (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 7:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Linda is right on the money. It is just north of Captain Don's and it sits right next to the Captain's bungalos. The rear of the complex faces the road going north and the front faces the little road that accesses the tank exchange area. Centrally located on the Island - great location.

 


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