For the 5th time we used the concept of home exchange for our holiday.
We were happy to find a family on Bonaire who wanted to visit the Netherlands. We swapped homes and cars and had a wonderful 2 weeks on Bonaire.
We arrived July 18th at 3:15 and customs and luggage only took 15 minutes. The car was in front of the airport and we already had the keys. Within 5 minutes we were at home in Belnem.
It’s a lovely home with 4BR, 3BA, a fully equipped office and a nice garden with covered porches.
We did our shopping mostly at Wharehouse and Cultimara and found the prices very reasonable. Most of the time we could buy what we wanted, but where flexible.
Sometimes we ate out during lunch and had a light meal at home in the evening, or we ate out in the evening or cooked ourselves.
We lunched at Karel’s (with food from Zeezicht), Brisa del Mar and Maiky, had dinner in Plazita Limena, Roomer, Vespucci and Richards and bought our spareribs at Bobbejan’s.
Sitting on the pier at Karel’s is very relaxed, with good and affordable food from Zeezicht.
Brisa del Mar is at Eden Beach. We loved Plazita Limena, good food, friendly service, reasonable priced. Maiky has local food which is tasteful and inexpensive.
The spareribs at Bobbejan’s are good value for money.
Our eleven year old son did his PADI at Wanadive. Mastering the theory in 5 days meant a lot of study, but he passed the exam. After that we went diving together.
Our two oldest daughters are not certified, but did 3 guided dives. Our youngest daughter is still too young for her PADI (8 years old) but I took her occasionally for a short dive to a depth of 4-5 meters. She’ll be back :-)
We dove Eden Beach, the reef at Port Bonaire apartments, Windsock, Oil Slick leap (of course we leaped) and Bachelors.
We snorkelled a lot. The best (drift) snorkel was from La Dania’s Leap (my 8 yr old daughter did the leap) to Karpata. We saw 5 turtles, large barracuda and Angel Fish and beautiful corals.
We snorkelled at Lac to watch the juveniles between the roots of the Mangrove trees.
We also liked snorkelling at 100 steps (stingray, lots of fish and beautiful corals) and Klein Bonaire (drift snorkel, many turtles).
We went to Klein by renting a boat for a day from (formerly) Jan Blonk. (Huricane, 19 ft, Yamaha 115HP, $140 + gas).
Our 4 kids enjoyed the kneeboard behind the boat. We went up and down the coast and the day was over before we knew it.
The Washington nature reserve may not be missed. We went in early with lots of water and spend almost the whole day there. The roads were excellent (for dirt roads)
Our first stop was Playa Chikitu. A large sandy beach, with high waves. We know the beach can be dangerous, so we stayed in the middle and did not go deeper than our knees. But still great fun.
We ate our breakfast at Boka Chikitu and continued to Pos Mangel where we had exciting encounters with a group of Iguana’s.
We snorkelled at Wayaka 2 were two large angelfish “always” come very close.
The museum is interesting, shows the history of Bonaire, gives the names of all the plants and birds and also show Captain Don’s first regulator and depth gauge.
We took a windsurfing course at Jibe city and returned regularly to practice. It’s a nice atmosphere and a truly unique place to learn windsurfing. The water is lukewarm and when you fall from your board (which happens to me all the time) it’s easy to get on again, since the water is not deeper then 2 feet.
Our kids especially liked going to Jibe city to meet kids of their age; our 2 oldest daughters discovered the nightlife at Karel’s pier (not easy to let go as a parent :-))
We also went to the Maria Hoppner foundation. An organisation that takes care of approximately 12 young boys by giving them housing, food, education and pedagogical guidance. We made a donation for improving their sanitary conditions, buying some fan’s and the replacement some of the lamps.
We bought them games in the Dutch language to improve the dutch skills of the boys.
They are doing a wonderful job and we are happy that we were able to help.
We also visited the earthship and were able to talk to the contractor and some of the trainees.
It’s house made of natural and recycled materials using thermal/solar heating and cooling.
It reuses household sewage. Toilets will be flushed with grey water.
They use tires, bottles, can’s and mud plaster.
We did horseback riding with Marion..
This takes about 3 hours, leads through the Kunuku to Lac Bay where we swam with the horses in the sea.
After 2 weeks on Bonaire we left for 1 week on Curacao.
We flew with Divi Divi Air in a nine seat airplane. That’s a very interesting experience.
Check in took some time, but after that everything went smoothly.
The flight only took 23 minutes. On Curacao we rented the plane for another 30 minutes for a sightseeing flight.
From the air it was clearly visible that Curacao is much busier than Bonaire. A lot of traffic. A resort on/near almost every beach.
It took us some time to get used to it, but after that we enjoyed Curacao too.
I was afraid I would feel more unsafe on Curacao, but that was not the case.
We rented an very inexpensive house at Barber, situated at the Westside (beaches) of Curacao. Our car was a 7-8 person Suzuki Van.
Curacao has a lot of sandy beaches. Snorkelling and diving is good, but does not come close to Bonaire.
We’ve visited my “old” diving instructor Eric Wederfoort, who started giving diving lessons in the mid sixties. We did 2 dives with him, one during the day and one night dive.
Visiting Willemstad is very special. “Amsterdam-like” houses in a tropical atmosphere.
Helped by the strong Euro, we ate out every day. Very colourful (and inexpensive NAF 13) at the old marketplace in Willemstad. Or at Jaanchi’s at Westpunt where the owner explains at your table what food is served that day.
Our 2 youngest kids joined a street dance group during a couple of hours and learned some nice “tricks”.
We have visited the north coast, with it’s strong waves and went to the Christoffel Nature reserve to climb the Christoffel mountain and took a look and the Indian paintings in one of the caves.
It was inevitable that our oldest daughters wanted to go to Mambo beach, the party beach of Curacao. But everything went well.
We also went to the seaquarium. I don’t like it very much. Not well maintained, the aquariums are to small. The kids however were excited to swim during 30 minutes with the dolphins
The week was over before we knew it.
After a couple of days at home, we are ready for our next adventure: a home exchange of 10 days in Paris. We will leave next Friday.
I will post photo’s in another post. It takes some time to make them smaller.
(Message edited by bpsmits on August 14, 2008) |
By Bob Smits (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #591) on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 7:03 am: 
You're a good sport letting us tease you!!!