This was our third trip to Bonaire...my marine park tags aren’t very well color coordinated, but I love them still hanging from my BC!

Travel: We flew from Denver via American and ALM - not a single problem with flights or luggage on the way. We actually arrived on Bonaire about 30 minutes early (10:30 p.m. instead of 11:00 ... yawn!) For our group of 6, we rented a couple of the pickup trucks from Budget; this vehicle works so well for divers! In fact we found that we didn’t really need 2 trucks and turned one back in after 3 days. Our return to the States was really fairly good too. Altho’ we had a 1 hour delay in Curacao while ALM repaired something on the plane, we had enough time in Miami to make our connection. Some of the luggage did get a mixed-up code - it said DEN but from Miami went to Dallas (???) so it was delivered to our house the next day. All in all, nothing horrendous.

The cookies I brought in my carry-on actually made the trip un-munched and un-crunched; we took them over to Jake & Linda on Sunday while the cookies were still fresh.

Our "home" for 2 weeks was a private house on the water in the Belnem area just south of the airport (between the North Belnem and Bachelor’s Beach dive sites). Its best feature was the very large covered patio; we spent the bulk of our time there if we weren’t diving or sleeping. Our travel group is accustomed to doing most of our own cooking, which works very well on Bonaire as the super- market and "warehouse" are very well stocked...it would help to go prepared with some Dutch vocabulary words, tho! And, if you see something you might like to have, you better buy it then because there is a chance the next time you come back, there won’t be any of that item. On other trips we have enjoyed buying fresh fruit & veggies from the Venezuelan vendors at the town pier, but never got there this time around.

Diving is still wonderful; we love the shore diving, particularly for the scheduling flexibility it gives you. We arranged for our tanks with "Dive Inn" - they gave us a nice discount due to the size of our group and length of our stay, so that was a real plus! This trip we felt quite content to limit the scope of our driving to dive sites, and stayed pretty much in the central area. The furthest south we went was Tori’s Reef (where we saw the most residual damage from Lenny), and the furthest north was Windsock, with the exception of diving at the reefcam and Small Wall site. There is lots of activity in the shallows; someday it will all be re-populated. The fish life is absolutely abundant (I think moreso than pre-Lenny); the variety is incredible, along with multitudes of every kind of eel. We only saw one turtle in 2 weeks - no seahorses or rays or any really big fish except tarpon. But overall, it was wonderful. Our favorite site this trip turned out to be The Lake - there is something magical about that site with the second reef readily available. Visibility during our entire stay was not as good as previous Bonaire trips - probably 50’ or so. And the water temp was as advertised...78F every single dive...a little chilly but not too bad. I get cold easily but found I was comfortable wearing my nylon skin under my fleece-lined "triple skin."

The house has a deck out over the surf, with a ladder down to the water; I’d estimate about a 10 foot descent to a flat, sandy area. You haven’t lived ‘till you go down a ladder in full scuba gear...and then back up! (No, we carried our fins!!...LOL) But the "house reef" was just as great as anywhere else, with a fairly short snorkel over sand to the reef’s edge, so we dove there 3 times. Other sites worthy of repeat were The Lake (x3) and Lighthouse Point (x2).

Thanks so much to whomever posted the idea about the "solar shower" - it feels terrific to douse your head & shoulders in warm, fresh water before piling back into the truck. We had brought along a 4-liter collapsible plastic water bottle, and added some 2-liter pop bottles so we had plenty for all 6 of us to enjoy.

One of the couples in our group had not been to Bonaire before, so they did more sightseeing - national park, Lac Bay, etc. Another couple arranged for an afternoon of bonefishing with fly rods in the salt ponds...when I say "that’s why they call it fishing, not catching" you’ll get the gist of their adventure.

I am sorry to say that I did not see a single Bonaire parrot in 2 weeks. Last time there, we saw multiple pairs fly through our neighborhood every morning. I hope it was just our location this time, and that there are still parrots surviving. Lots of donkeys still wander the roads and fields south of town, and the donkey sanctuary people continue to work hard. Not as many wandering goats as previously, either.

Restaurants - We did dine out 3 evenings. Based on many of the recommendations on this board, we chose LeWok, and It Rains Fishes, and added Mi Poron to our selections. All 3 were wonderful! Prices are actually very reasonable and the food was delicious. A fun "local" event we happened upon, at Mi Poron, was an evening of duplicate bridge - 6 tables - all locals; this was on a Wednesday evening. The old house fronting Mi Poron is an excellent small museum with early Bonaire artifacts. If you want to try some traditional Bonairean fare, this is the place. We had reservations at both LeWok and It Rains Fishes. Our evening at LeWok turned out to be very uncrowded; Lucille was most gracious in preparing a replacement meal for one of our party when it turned out that the vegetarian Thai curry he had ordered had a fish component in it, which he is allergic to. At It Rains Fishes, very, very busy on a Friday night, the food and service were both excellent. It was my personal favorite. While I know people are crazy about Richard’s, we had eaten there on our last trip to Bonaire, so didn’t schedule a night there this time.

Well - that’s about it! Feel free to e-mail with any specific questions that I might be able to answer.

Sounds like a great time, Virginia! Thanks for sharing. Your dolphin sighting sounds fantastic!

I saw two pair of parrots last week and heard more, but never caught a glimpse of the others. I would hear them and look to locate them, then they'd go silent. As soon as I'd give up looking and turn around to walk away, they'd start squawking again! I think they were goading me! ;-) I also saw many beautiful orioles, which I don't remember seeing on my last visit.

I saw and heard several orioles, too - aren't they great? Beautiful coloring and song. I'm glad you found some parrots; they are really special!

Boy, I just thought of another cool experience I left out of my trip report. If you are into local art at all, do stop by Jenny's or Yenny's, which is the private house on one of the east-west streets about a block south of the telephone building street. She has life-sized decorated art dolls outside her gate. Then when you go in, the yard is full of scenes with lots more of these "people", and she paints almost anything that doesn't move. She is a delightful lady! I purchased a painted driftwood piece of houses and a windmill, very colorful, and it says "Bon Bini Na Nos Kas". Each one is different; I had seen them in a store downtown but am glad I bought it from the artiste.

The day we were going to check out the local arts & crafts set up for the cruisers, the ship never came in. I'm sure that was common knowledge, as the market never got set up either, but we were going by what had been published in one of those little guide booklets. So we missed that completely.

I would guess you tried to go on a Friday? The Crown Dynasty was supposed to have come in each Friday, but in December (I think) the cruise line operating the ship filed for bankruptcy. The vessel is current sitting at a dock in Curacao, empty, ready to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Jake

Yes, it was our last Friday when we couldn't dive due to flying the next day, and were filling up our day with other activities. Thanks for the explanation!

Virginia - great report - we are also renting that type of truck and only one like you did - we also purchased 2 collapsible water containers to use for rinsing off - I had looked at the solar showers but figured the one I got would work well - if you feel the showers had an advantage to just a water container let me know. Thanks for the restaurant recommendations, I've been keeping track of peoples' comments as we will be eating out every night (the other people going with us "don't cook on vacation"). And thanks for the post script on the local art shop - we'll be sure to visit. P.S. - what kind of cookies did you deliver - want to make sure Linda etal get a good rounded selection!

Gail, we took 3 dozen Eileen's Colossal Cookies, 1 each of snickerdoodle, M&M, and white chocolate macadamia nut.

The water bottle we took along was just a regular collapsible from REI, with a pour spout, no special shower feature. It worked great! Actually, so did the emptied 2-liter pop bottles once on island. Just be sure they are sitting in direct sunlight while you dive; we had one dive where the angle of the truck kept the bottles in the shade and the water was therefore only slightly warm.

Gail - we brought a package of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies for Jake and Linda and family.

It is easier to list the cookies I don't like ;-)
No mint chocolate or anise/black licorice flavors.

Anything and everything else is fair game. Although the better the cookie, the less I share with the unappreciative children. My kids are not fanatical about Tollhouse cookies which are one of my favorites - too weird.

Signed, Cookie Breath

Good - one I was thinking of are called Hermits - they have allspice, cinnamon, nugment, raisins & walnuts in them, BUT we'll surprise you.

Dare I ask what "nugment" tastes like? I'll bet it's a close relative of "nutmeg", but who knows?

Linda - glad I didn't reach for those mint-chocolate Milanos....

That's the spelling that comes out of a brain that's been sleep deprived (or is that depraved). I've been fighting keeping my eyes open all day today. Funny thing tho - it tastes exactly like nutmeg no matter how tired the brain is.

Linda, you are "my kind of people" I don't like the mints or anise/black licorice...my mother in law makes anise cookies every year and it is just disapointing! And yes, dont' share with little ones who gobble up and don't "savor the flavor" of a really good cookie! Gail, sounds like you have a good plan!

Cynde,

While I'm not a mint cookie person, I do enjoy anise and sweet licorice (can't stand salt licorice - something the Dutch seem to thrive on). Nothing quite like a glass of Sambuco after a nice dinner :-)

Linda always wrinkles her nose up at me, wondering how I can stand the stuff [grin]

Jake

But the kids side with me so Daddy gets all the licorice he needs. A lot of the Dutch candies, cakes and even marshmallows are oozing with the stuff - yucky.

Neither one of you would be fans of Girl Scout cookies - namely their Thin Mints! Jake - one thing I look for when I go to dutch islands/countries is their salted licorice. I love it - don't know why because I don't like salty food and never use salt when cooking. Hope to find some in Bonaire.

I don't like licorice/anise either. Not that you care. I like Thin Mints. But I ate a whole box before I realized it was the Mints that were thin, not me who would get thin eating them.:-( And,now that I mention it, how come she gets the cookies, I get the cookie butt? Is that fair?