We traveled to Bonaire with a group of 17 divers and 2 non divers on June 7, for seven nights at the Plaza Resort. Took the Delta non stop flight from Atlanta and had no problems or issues. Upon arrival, learned the truck rental agencies in the new building across from the airport, have been temporarily forced to move by the government. They have tent offices set up at the Plaza main entrance. There was a shuttle to take us to the Plaza and a truck to deliver our luggage to our villas. Our rental truck was a fairly new Chevrolet S10 four door from Total Rental. The Plaza staff was prepared to check our group in, and completed all the necessary paperwork efficiently. The Toucan Diving staff gave the dive orientation that afternoon and set up the check out dive for the next morning. Once we got settled, it was time to drive into town and shop for food and supplies. We picked up a cell phone at Chat n Browse, and got to meet Michael for the first time. The group met at the Tipsy Seagull dock for the check out dive on the Eighteenth Palm reef. It was just as I remembered from past trips, beautiful and full of marine life! My dive buddies and I ended up doing seven shore dives from the dock or beach entry. Along with the many species of fish, we spotted octopus, a seahorse, and several spotted eels along the reef. On an early morning shore dive, we found three lettuce leaf slugs on a single piece of coral and two rays in the shallows. Our package included boat dives and we would do shore dives in addition each day. Below is a partial list of sites we visited and the extraordinary sightings at each. Andrea II : turtles Nearest Point : turtles, moray eel Rappel : seahorse, lobster Hands Off : seahorse, crab Cliff : octopus, scorpion fish Red Slave : spotted eagle ray Drift dive off Klein : frogfish, turtle Bari Reef : octopus, juvenile trunk fish Windsock : juvenile spotted drum, lettuce leaf slug Toucan Diving did a great job accommodating our dive group. Sherman and Cornelius were our dive masters for the week and were excellent guides. They asked where we wished to dive each day and showed us the frogfish, seahorse, and with a variety of marine life. We dove one day with Jackson, who had been our dive master on previous trips. It was great to see him again. One of the people I dove with is a photographer and I hope to post some of her photos soon. My non diving wife would have sandwich fixings ready for lunch when we returned from diving, and went to KFC for take out one day. We cooked one night at the villa and went into town other nights. The Rib Factory and Richard’s were old favorites, and the City Cafe was a new location for us. All meals were enjoyable and the service was good at each place. One nice plus was we met Richard and enjoyed a conversation with him on Friday night. Tuesday night was the beach BBQ at the Plaza. The Plaza has improved the pool since our last visit. They have added a shady hut in the center and built a bridge for easy access. We saw several children enjoying these improvements while relaxing after a day of diving. Our return flight was non eventful, until arriving in Atlanta. Due to issues on the ground, we had to wait about one hour for a gate at the airport. After getting off the plane, it took two hours to go through customs and pick up luggage from baggage claim. Several persons missed their connecting flights. Luckily we were staying over night in the area. All in all it was another wonderful week in paradise.
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