So there I was, single female taking her first trip out of the US, and I had a blast. Met amazing people, saw amazing things! So without further ado.....

Teri’s Adventures in Bonaire – whee!

Friday/Saturday –
Took the red-eye Continental flight from Houston – love it, because I can sleep on planes with no trouble. I really like Continental after this trip... nice planes, pleasant staff, reasonable prices. Overall, good flights coming and going. Anywho, arrived at Flamingo International and had a good giggle over the airport. It’s so small and fun! I love it. Had breakfast while I waited for my room at Buddy Dive to be ready, and enjoyed the birds who want to raid your plate. Saw my first iguana, as it crawled up the wall right there by the water. I was so excited, I was taking pictures like a fool tourist.

After dive orientation, I got my room and truck keys (I got one of the old beat up trucks – I loved it too!), I went to unpack and was completely and pleasantly shocked by the upgrade I got from a 3rd floor hotel room to a first floor studio by the north pool. I have no idea why I was upgraded, but I didn’t care and I didn’t argue. Took a shower (24hours in the same clothes... yuck...), took a pound of Folgers to Chat N Browse for Michael. He’s a great guy, very fun. Went to Warehouse Supermarket and wandered around looking at things in Dutch. I figured out what ‘fisssticks’ and kabritu were, but bought neither, instead buying some Amstel Bright and phenomenal cheese. Found out that people drive like maniacs, and there was no seat belt, so that was a riot. Took a nap, then did my check dive on the house reef. Already I was impressed by the quality and quantity of the reef life, especially all the little tiny things, the Christmas tree worms, the parrot fish, etc. Florida is nothing compared to this! Finally, I went to Bobbejan’s BBQ for some chicken sateh and ribs. Oh yum!

Sunday –
Started out with the morning boat dive to “Mi Dushi,” which was gorgeous and I saw my first frogfish! I had a rental camera from John and Susie at the Buddy Digital Camera center, but was having some trouble capturing good photos (it gets better, keep reading). I chalked it up to operator error and grabbed a tank and went to Eden Beach for a dive there, and to clean off the reef cam. Yay! Unfortunately, it was wavy under there and I wasn’t wearing my diveskin, so duh, I got in contact with fire coral. Duh. Learned my lesson. The fish on the wreck were great though, even though I still wasn’t getting good pictures. Saw a cowfish that must have been a foot long. Awesome fun! Came home for a quick lunch, shower, nap, and then headed south to see the south end of Bonaire. Saw my first flamingos, and repeated the mad touristy photo thingy. I’m such a dork. Saw the slave huts, the lighthouse, the salt flats, and lots of cool dive sites. Sunday evening I went to the pool bar for PhotoShop John’s "Creature Feature" talk, which was fun and very informative. Caught up with some folks I'd met earlier (Kimmi, Jim, Janike (sorry if I’m slaughtering your spelling, sweetie!) and Graham), and Kimmi, Jim, and I went to City Cafe for dinner before Jim and Graham did the Town Pier. By the way, that gray Coast Guard ship occasionally docked there is the Netherlands Antilles CG, not the USCG.

Monday –
Feeling sickly (damn cold), but rousted myself out of bed for the 8:30am boat dive to Jeff Davis Memorial, and was glad I did, since I saw my first and only seahorse of the trip! Yay! Crabs and turtles too, although the camera was being a pain. Gorgeous site, and I’m so impressed with the clarity of the water and the colors on the reef. I also did the night dive that evening to Petrie’s Pillars, which honestly, I probably would have enjoyed more if my camera was working. Grrrr... However, did see some eels and lobster, tarpon and lots of nighttime fish.

Tuesday –
So before the Hilma Hooker dive that morning, I went to the photo shop with my camera. John poked it for a while, and diagnosed the issue was indeed the camera, and not my idiotic self just screwing it up (which trust me, could have been possible!). He swapped the camera out, extended my contract a day with no charge, and offered me the loan of a special light for my next night dive. In all, he and Susie both were extremely gracious and apologetic, and willing to do everything in their power to make it right. I am huge fans of theirs, so rent camera gear from John and Susie at Buddy Dive! They rock! The Hilma Hooker was a fun dive – no one else was on it but our boat and there was plenty to see, including my first big green moray of the trip, and lots of tiny little micro fish. Very colorful and interesting dive. After the dive, I stopped at ChatNBrowse to buy a few things, and made my first foray into Lover’s for a waffle cone of pistachio ice cream. Dear lord, that stuff is addictive! With a big ice cream grin, I zipped up to the Bonaire Animal Shelter to drop off a cat toy, which was hugely popular instantly with the cats. Yay – got my kitty fix! The shelter is very small, but clean and the animals looked very well cared for. I gave a donation and bought a license plate (and later a tshirt and some artwork benefiting the shelter). I wish them the best and will endeavor to bring more toys next time too! Slid into Cultimara to poke around there and buy some foody gifts for the folks at home. No afternoon dive, but napped instead. Ah, vacation. Dinner was with a big group of people who were friends of Jim and Kimmi and Graham and Janike at Warung Louise. We had the rijsttafel, which had more food than we could eat, plus a great chocolate and coconut dessert. So much for that planned night dive tonight!

Wednesday –
Hit the boats for my last two boat dives, and went to "Just a Nice Dive" and "Small Wall." Eels, a yellow frogfish, sea cucumbers, barracuda, snapper, tons of baby fish, including a juvenile trunkfish, with looked like a tiny black balloon with yellow spots. The afternoon was all set aside for Jim and Kimmi and I to visit Dia de Rincon, which was crazy fun. We danced in the parade, took pictures of ourselves with the local police, drank plenty of Bright, ate both goat and iguana stoba and funchi from the ladies at Rose Inn (the coldiest beer!), listened to music and bought things from the vendors. Overall, way fun, and very interesting to see the costumes and listen to the people. The folks were friendly and sweet to us, and I took some terrific photos of people with real character in their faces. Hopi bon! (Oh, and we stopped at Lover’s again – coconut and banana this time, I think I’m in heaven!)

Thursday –
For some reason I was awake at 4:30am, so I got up and did a sunrise dive on the house reef. That’s a relaxing and wonderful way to start a day, I’ll tell you. I really slowed down this day, and spent a lot of time reading, sunning, and looking at the water. I finally was on island time, I think. That night, we did a night dive up to La Machaca, spying squid, an octopus, black eels swimming around, tons of shrimp and starfish, and a huge green moray on the wreck itself. He had a smaller buddy around the other side, and they were very comfortable showing us their impressive teeth! The anemones and sea urchins were out in abundance, as were the giant fish that shadowed up to see what our lights might scare up for their dinner. Since this was my last dive day, I was so pleased to have a really nice final trip into the water. Jim and Kimmi were great dive buddies, and the sea life could not have been better. We three went to Pasa Bon for dinner, where Joe was extremely nice by allowing us to come in at 9pm and scarf up his last few personal size pizzas, awesome garlic cheese bread, and dessert to die for. He also was right on with a wine suggestion for Kimmi, which shows his talent! Pia the cat was sweet and friendly, although she had her big cone collar on when we left. Poor kitty! Great service and terrific food.

Friday –
No diving, but went up the coast road to Washington Slagbaai Park and spent the morning there. I simply cannot describe the scenery adequately, and my photos are poor representations at best of the wild desert beauty of that area. Wild donkeys, goats, boars, flamingos, iguanas, lizards, and some fast moving birds that I never captured with the camera. I was thanking my lucky stars that I had an air tank, my reg, and an adapter for filling a tire, because I indeed did get a semi-flat from the rough roads. Hooray for my little truck, gamely making its way up and down those steep rocky paths! FYI – this is not someplace to go if you are not 100% comfortable with a stick shift, since there are some tricky patches on the long route. However, I’d really like to come back and dive some of the sites there, as they were completely deserted when I drove by. I thought it was worth the trip though, especially on a non-dive day. Long, hot, and dusty, but gorgeous and interesting! I learned about the aloe plantations too, so for a history buff like me, that was cool. On the way back, I had to go all the way to Lisa Gas since CurOil was closed for the holiday, but I stopped at SandDollar grocery and got a crab sandwich for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon sunning, packing, and wishing I was there another week. Or month. Or year. Dinner was the beach BBQ at Buddy Dive with Connie and Bruce who I met at Buddy’s. The dinner had good grilled fish, fine rum punch, and an hour where we lost power. That was actually great, because the stars were glorious. Saw the Southern Cross for the first time, and I understood why I came this way... *smile*

Saturday –
I left, that’s all, and it sucked. *sigh* Continental was great though, and hurried us through the line as much as possible, although that made going home only come faster.

Overall –
The dive operation at Buddy is awesome, the boats were clean and freshly painted, and every divemaster I had was top notch and worth ten times what I tipped them at the end of the week.
Buddy Dive itself was great, gorgeous, and convenient for diving and non-diving activity. Friendly staff and great housekeeping. Were the rooms perfect? Nope, but I’m willing to look past a dead kakalaka and a broken shower door handle for the benefits of a completely adequate breakfast, a fine truck with cold AC, and the smile on every staff member’s face.
Food was overall very nice, and in addition to the places mentioned above, stop in at The Last Bite Bakery or Cultimara’s bakery for yummy snacks and light lunches.
Traveling alone was no problem... I don’t mind doing things by myself, but if I wanted to find a companion to do something with, everyone I met was very friendly. Special thanks to Jim and Kimmi from California for taking me under their wing.
I wish I had been in the water more, but on such a short trip, I am satisfied that I got to see a little bit of Bonaire’s different aspects.
Bonaire itself is now completely in my heart and soul... I am spoiled... nay, completely ruined! for diving at home in Florida now, and will merely save my pennies until after grad school so I can return.

Before I left, people were telling me how adventurous I was to be traveling alone to a country I’d never been, on actually my first trip out of the US... My response was this – ‘when I was young, I took chances because I thought I was immortal. Now, I take chances because I know that I am not.’ Thank you to everyone on Bonaire for making my adventure a delight. I can’t wait to come back!

Oh yeah - photos!! I put them online, so here's the links.... I also posted photos of the Buddy Dive resort for anyone who hadn't been there yet and wanted to see what it looked like (as I did, before I went!) Enjoy!

For the UW photos -
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nrchhtc.1s3gx6m8&x=0&y=-liskt9&localeid=en_US

For the land photos -
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nrchhtc.6z5j6074&x=0&y=-z90rd3&localeid=en_US

For the photos of Washington Slagbaai -
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nrchhtc.bv7wjr6o&x=0&y=q3wb44&localeid=en_US

HOW TOTALLY AWESOME!!!! Teri, I really admire you and SO wish we had been there the same time as you. Maybe next time?

Thanks for your report; it was fab. I could feel your upbeat, positive energy through your post!!! We'll be at Buddy's this weekend

I'm so glad you had a fun, safe time. I hope you'll go back again.

Teri! We were there at the same time! I meant to try to contact people, but once we got there, I.....forgot. All ambition evaporated.

Glad you had a good time. Good for you for traveling alone...you're never really alone, you just don't know who you'll be with, yes?

Loved you pictures. Glad you made it to Dia de Rincon. I meant to go to that too, but I....forgot! Between that and the Queen's birthday, Bonaire really shut down, didn't it?

(Message edited by barbara_gibson on May 5, 2008)

*smooches Kobi* Next time! Tell John and Susie in the photo shop hello for me, and sneak some breakfast to those cute little birds.

And Barbara, yes! It definitely shut down! We actually saw pod people from the big Princess cruise ship at Rincon Day... they actually looked really lost and terrified. Sheesh, have a beer and relax, folks. It was an awesome event too - y'all weren't lying about the Rose Inn food either. Great goat, and _interesting_ iguana! (no, we didn't eat the skin, so I hope that wasn't a delicacy or something.... ;) )

Hey Teri, I was just in adding more pics to my report and I checked out the new reports to see if anyone was familiar. After reading yours and looking at your pics I saw the one of you underwater and thought you looked familiar. We never really met but my wife and I were at Buddy's the same time and we did the Mi Dushi / frogfish dive and the Jeff Davis / seahorse dives with you. Loved your report and your pics were cool. Bonaire is the place to be!

Just as a side note, I don't think you sound like a dork. You sound like a pretty cool person.

teri
great report and pictures. thanks for supporting kodak. my husband has worked for them since 1979.
es

Teri, what a fantastic journey I just took while viewing your photos!! Awesome work. I am SO ready to return to Bonaire this month....can't wait to hit every spot you have on your slide shows. No matter how many times we return to Bonaire it is like a ritual with us...we MUST explore the entire island each and every time we are there. We will NEVER become bored with what Bonaire has to offer.

Thanks for letting us enjoy your trip with you. So glad it all worked out well for you traveling alone, too. That takes guts, Lady! Bravo to you, Teri!! I know you will be back as soon as you can get there. You must plan the next trip now to keep the PBD under control..otherwise life will be very difficult until you do. Thanks, again. Carole

Teri,

Kimmi and I had a great time hanging out with you and diving with you. I have met truly amazing people on dive trips. I met Graham and Janaki in Roatan a few years ago and I know that we will continue to be friends. I am happy to now count you as part of my extended diving family.

Take care!
Jim

Thanks y'all - I couldn't have had such a spectacular trip without all the advice from people on this site! Glad y'all liked the photos. I wish I had more underwater ones, but I am a novice at that, and so there were many I simply didn't publish. I will get better, and I really love a few I have. I liked the rig I rented there at Buddy Dive, so one day I might own one!

Curtis, I recognize you from your profile photo - I hope you all didn't return to cruddy weather in PA!

Carole, you are so right, I need to plan the trip now.. unfortunately, it'll probably be April 2010 because of grad school. Darn that higher edukation!

And special smooches to Jim - the cool guy! - and his lovely Kimmi - the cool chick!

(Message edited by teri00 on May 5, 2008)

I'm thinking a girlie trip to Bon in the future; just us chicks?!

You know Kobi, that sounds like fun!! Count me in!

Great report Teri!! I don't know how long I've been sitting here just goin' thru your pics...
Man, I'm ready to go back...I'm there on the girlie trip!!!!!

Teri,
Thanks for sharing. Great photos and report. Sounds like you got the Bonaire bug! We go back for trip #4 in June. Skip

This is a great report. I'm duplicating this trip with my new wife. We leave on Friday (Continental from Houston) and arrive early on Saturday morning (to stay at Buddy's).

Hopefully we'll get the room upgrade too!

Have a great time Jason (and new wife), even without the upgrade! Buddy Dive was great, and definitely bring or rent an underwater camera. Bring plenty of OFF - I got bit by plenty of mosquitoes, but I still wish I was going back right now!

Jason, what happened to your old wife?! LOL!!
Will see ya at Buddy's

Thanks for a great trip report AND for cleaning the webcam, that was really bugging me. ;)

Glad to clean the cam, because it was bugging me too.... and seriously Kobi, when you get back, if you want to plan a girlie trip for 2009, I'm all in! I think it was a sign of PBD when last night at work, I was staring at my trip photos and idly drew a little mascot for a future "SCUBA chick" trip. See if y'all like it. I think it'd be cute on tshirts on half a dozen (or more!) of us running around Buddy Dive. ;)




(By the way, that's drawn on a 1X2inch post-it note, so please, no editorial comments on the bad artistry. ;) )

And finally, question to the board - no panic here, but I am feeling mildly crappy - headache, body ache, slight fever, not tossing my cookies nauseous, but definitely not in the mood for breakfast. Do I really need to go get a dengue fever test, or can I stay home and self medicate with tylenol and chicken soup?

And yes, I got bit by plenty of mosquitos, due to simply forgetting the OFF once in a while. :P

(Message edited by teri00 on May 7, 2008)

OK Teri, it's a deal. Chick trip 2009!!!
I LOVE your artwork; you rock!

About you feeling crappy. I am not sure of all the Dengue fever symptoms BUT please, if you're not better VERY soon get to the DOC. Want you here and better!

Keep us posted on you!!!

Hey wait everyone....don't forget me for "chick trip 2009"!!! I should have enough vacation saved by then (darn this new job).

Teri - seriously, it was great to go through your photos and re-live my January Bon trip. I am so totally sad to not be leaving this Friday for my return trip to Bonaire, but hopefully we will get there yet this year. Interestingly, you had the same room our friends had in January....we enjoyed many a Bright sitting around the patio of room 505

Someone please get Chick Trip 2009 organized quickly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Liz

Thanks Kobi! And actually, I am feeling better - I think something is blooming here in the Tampa area and I am having allergies, because Claritin is solving all.

Liz, new job good - no vacation bad!! That stinks that you aren't going... We'll definitely have to do a Chick Trip now. Glad you liked the photos though. And yes, 505 was an awesome room. I was so lucky!

Hey is this Chick Trip going to be something I can drop my wife off at when we're not diving together? LOL

Teri, thanks for the pictures both under and above the water. It has been 2 1/2 years since we have been to Bonaire and they really made us decide we have to go back this year.

Bonaire is addictive!!

Andy

Andy, glad y'all liked them! I am addicted now too!!

Matthew, of course your wife (and even you, silly) would be welcome - although I don't think y'all would want to share an apartment with the Chicks!

Teri watch what you say, because the chicks know I would be there in a heartbeat.

I was just hoping to have a place to drop her off so I can get some peace and quiet on vacation. lol!

*laughs* Uh oh... will we need a warning sign - "Be on the lookout for Patrick"? ;)

And Matthew - send her over! We'll have a girly-good time.

Teri, great trip report. What a great adventure you had. I give you so much credit for going it alone.

I had to mention, I too met Connie and Bruce who were staying at Buddys. We met on a horseback ride. They were a very pleasant couple to spend time with.

I cannot agree with you more about John & Susie. Anyone who is interested in doing u/w photography or just need some help with their set up should stop by and visit with them. I've been doing u/w photography for years but went without a set up this year and decided to rent. Susie set me up and after she left for England John helped me with frequent battery changes and even went diving with me once. THANKS for all the help. Once I can get my trip report and pictures posted I will.