First, let me just say that I could NEVER remember what I did on a day to day basis like a lot of you do! I don't remember what I did on each different day but I will tell you some of the things I did that will be lasting memories forever.

I made friends with people like Michael Gaynor, Ann Phelan and Bas here on BT talk before I ever arrived like many of you have. I felt so comfortable going there my first time and by myself, like there were friends waiting for me...and there were!

I took Air Jamaica for the first time from Los Angeles LAX, to Montego Bay with a supposed 5 hr layover which I was not looking forward to. AJ was an hour and 15 minutes late taking off but I was seated next to BT Talkers, Becky and Tom Starkweather whom I had not talked to before but needless to say, we talked all the way there! Turns out they were bringing bagels to Michael Gaynor! We got together several times on the island for dinners and snorkeling while they dove.

AJ's air was not working good all the way to Montego and Becky and I were very uncomfortable and the flight attendants kept apologizing saying they were having problems with it, but it turns out it was the same thing going home! But they made up for it when we were in Montego. They shuttled all the Bonaire people across the street to this place called AJ Vacations and it had couches to sleep on, slot machines ( uh-oh! ) shops and a lunch bar all wonderfully air conditioned. It must have been new as they kept asking us how we liked it..we did, we did!

Finally to Bonaire, the next day! I was sooo tired, I just called Michael, Annie and Bas to let them know I was there and would see them the next day. I stayed at the Divi the first night in their time share and didn't like it at all. It was dark and dingy with no TV and the locks on the front door were broken from the inside! They fixed them but I asked to be moved to their hotel section after the first night and that was soooo much better! My balcony was right on the water and there was a TV, which I've just gotta have late at night! I ate that first night at their restaurant Chibi Chibi's and their warm goat salad was delicious.

I did grocery shopping at Cultimara in town and found pretty much everything I needed there.

The next day I met Michael, and he was the sweetest and kindest man that every one says he is! He took me to Gibi's and I had my first Goat stew, yummm! We then went snorkeling to Lac Bay, where the visibility was terrible, and Michael felt so bad it was like that since it was my first impression of snorkeling on Bon! But he made up for it quickly when we went to Windsock in front of the airport. That was pretty good. I'm not a diver at all. Would like to try it someday, but can't equalize and just had the sinus surgery in Feb and Michael said to wait a while still before I try it.

We had a delicious dinner later at the wonderful restaurant, Chez Lucille, owned by Lucille. She used to call it Le Wok. I highly recommend it. I wanted Thai food and she made a tasty fish and shrimp in a Thai sauce with cilantro. It wasn't even on the menu! Had a great flan for dessert. It's called something else on the island but I can't remember what it is. A lovely patio with little white lights, great ambience. Please go try it!

I went on a snorkeling trip to La Dania's leap with Bas which was totally a treat for me. We did the drift to Karpata and I saw a Hawksbill turtle, my one and only while there. Big waves, but I loved it. I loved the little leap off of the cliffs also. Bas is great to go with because he will always point things out for you. We then drove all around Rincon and stopped at some really scenic places that I can't remember the names of of course! Saw flamingos, iguanas and some beautiful countryside.

He also took me on my very first night snorkel to Andrea II! We went with Tom and Becky as they did the diving thing and Bas snorkeled with me and as usual, he was so informative to be with. It was amazing being down there at night with just a flashlight! Becky said it was a rite of passage for me and it was cool to know that I could still have a rite of passage at my advanced age of 48!! We saw some eels which I love but Becky hates, too funny, they remind her of snakes, but I thought they were cool. We saw a gold spotted eel and several others that I don't remember the names of. I don't have a wet suit and was just in my bikini and I did get cold eventually out there, must have a suit next time! We went to Rum Runners after for pizza which tasted great but Tom, Becky and I all had tummy aches the next day!

Somewhere in between all this was a Saturday night dinner at Michael's house. I finally met Annie Phelan that night, and Max who works with Michael( great smile! ) and Desiree and her boyfriend, ( she teaches yoga on the island ) Tom and Becky where there and oooh, I just know I'm forgetting someone! Michael made ribs in my honor since they're my faves and they were scrumptious! It was fun hanging out at the house with everyone. I love his doggies too, Chin ( spelling? ) and Kate ( who he is dogsitting ).

Annie and Maggie and I had a delish dinner one night at Bas's house. He is a great cook! His dogs are all awesome, but his 4 dalmations did run over his cute new Jack Russel terrier one night when I came over and I thought they killed him! What a little cutie that dog is! Thanks for that memorable meal Bas! And I've never seen so many damn license plates in my whole life, yikes!

I did go on a snorkel with Renee on her trimaran out of the Divi which was talked about a lot here on BT, and that was wonderful also. I highly recommend it. She is so knowledgable and I'm sure she would have loved to have more people on there, but there were only 5 of us which I thought was great. We sailed over to Klein and did a drift snorkel to No Name Beach. She is so much fun to snorkel with! She gives a "whoo hoo" everytime she sees something worth looking at and encourages others to do the same. There are fish there she actually knows and feeds them some bread from her pouch, it's so cute the way they follow her! She then took us over to Andrea II and I loved the shallows there. Andrea II seems to be the only place that didn't have those little jelly fish that kept biting me! It only hurts for a second and I had no bumps after, but some others I know did. They were really annoying and that was my first experience with them after snorkeling in quite a few Caribbean places.

One of the dinners I went out to with Tom and Becky was at Bobbie Jean's BBQ which is only open on the weekends but the ribs are to die for! I'm a rib freak ( ok, I admit it, I had ribs 3 times while on the island!! ) and these were right up there with the best. Marinated in the peanut satay sauce that is so popular on the island...another big yumm! The third and last ribs on Bon were at De Tuin, they were ok. After Bobbie Jean's it was a tough act to follow!

I also had a delicious conch stew served over french fries at this little stand called Julio's Place in town. Oh yeah, you gotta try this!

On another night I had dinner with Annie and her wonderful daughter Maggie ( that girl knows her fish when snorkeling! ) and Dara and Elizabeth and her daughter. We ate at Garden Cafe and it was another great meal. Raja is the nicest guy, everyone on BT talks about him and I can see why. He really does look like Santa Claus and he is the official Santa Claus of Venezuela I've been told! It was a fun, all girls dinner. Maggie is the cutest and brightest kid and I told her I want to take her back to Los Angeles with me!

Was supposed to leave on Wed the 24th but I couldn't bear to leave yet! I changed my flight plans and stayed another 3 days! At that point I had to move next door to the Carib Inn as the Divi didn't have anymore room for me. I also moved twice there, but ended up in their little seaside cottage and that was really charming. It could have used some A/C in the living room and some bigger beds...twin beds?? I haven't slept in one of those since I was a kid and I didn't fit in it very well either! But to look out the back door right onto the water with a little path leading down to it, it was so charming. I woke up each morning and walked down to swim and snorkel. I saw my first file fish with the big white spots that kept disappearing. I understand it is considered one of the fave places for divers to stay.

Since I decided to stay, Michael had a dinner on Friday night since I was leaving on Sat afternoon. I got to meet Elsmarie, who is the Director of Tourism, what a cool lady! Her daughter Naomi was so sweet also. Delno, the marketing manager for the Tourism Dept was also there ( another fun new friend that I met earlier in the week! ). I also met Claire who is the asst manager over at the Sand Dollar, what nice people they all were, so friendly! Elsmarie made steaks to perfection and Michael made BBQ wings. Everybody brought something. There was Bas again, Annie & Maggie and Tom & Becky. Another friend, Rene came over for a bit too. After, I went to hear a Venezuelan band, EA, at the City Cafe. I was disappointed that they did Top 40 music, was hoping to hear original music. I'm a musician myself, was pro for many years and did a lot of Top 40, so didn't want to hear that again!

The morning I was leaving, I went over to where Annie was house sitting for Jake and Linda and I went snorkeling with her and Maggie in front of their house at Small Wall. What a cool little reef to snorkel on! I hope to meet Jake and Linda on my next visit.

Before the airport, I stopped at Whatta Burger, not bad! Later on at the airport, Michael, Annie, Maggie, Claire and her father came over to say good bye to me at the airport! I couldn't believe all those people came to see me off! Claire's father, Aubrey, runs the newspaper there and she took some pics of him and me that is supposed to be in the paper soon! How cool is that?! Flight back on AJ was also too warm, but otherwise uneventful. Their flights are late everywhere, but I got my luggage coming and going, so that's the best, right?

I felt so loved and such warmth from all these people who never felt like strangers from the minute I met them! It made my trip extra incredible and enjoyable, I love you all! Annie is running the King of the Caribbean windsurfing competition in December and she asked me to come back and help her and I'm doing my best to go back already! I hope to go for maybe 3-6 wks this time!

I'm sure I forgot some stuff, and maybe will add some more later. I would like to add some pics, but haven't figured out how to do it on this site yet, help!

Don't want to talk about my PBD which is really starting to hit me after driving around in the awful traffic here in LA! Bonaire, take me away!!

Mercy

Thanks a great report, sounds like you had a blast.

Brian

Mercy,
I am glad that you had such a great time and that you were able to find the charm of Bonaire on your first trip, which is all the great people that live there and the people you meet up with from BT!!! Like yourself, I have many BT friends that I feel like they have been my friends forever and some of them I have not even met yet! Infact, I am going to Bonaire for two weeks in December with Joann Vick, (she mostly lurks and does not post often) my BT email friend of three years and we are finally going to meet!!! Then there are my on island friends who I can't say enough good about especially when I broke my knee while on vacation there!!! Bonaire is the only island that I truely feel comfortable to go to on my own and all the wonderful people there are the reason why!!!I don't think there is anyone who is ever alone in Bonaire even when you travel by yourself!!
I am glad that you had such a blast and I hope some day our paths will meet on Bonaire! Thanks for the heart warming trip report!!!!

Hello Mercy!
Thank you for your describtive and enjoyable trip report. I'm looking forward to my first trip to BON next month and I'm saving your report for review prior to departure. Thanks again for really telling us how it is including some of those water watering meals!
Dan

Yup, great report. I can picture you in all those places with all those people because that's why we feel at home there too! Year upon year... Sigh...

Hey Darlene, maybe I will see you there in Dec! I'm sure if we're both there at the same time, we'll hook up. You have to come out to the windsurfing competition that Annie is putting on there anyway!

I didn't mention how beautiful it was in Sorobon. I don't even windsurf, but went to watch Annie do it. It is the most beautiful place. The water is almost irridescent, it just glows! And while it may not be a place to snorkel, it is just a great place to relax and watch the windsurfers and swim in those inviting waters. I saw the most incredible rainbow while hanging out there!

Can anyone tell me how to post a picture on here??

Snorkeling at Sorobon is indeed interesting. Two ways. Mangrove and boat dock area is full of interesting schools, and upsidedown jellyfish on the bottom. Second, the reef is accessible by walking out (20min. thigh-deep at most) past the float and it is lively, pristene, varied and fun.

Picture posting: type \image{description}, then browse for file, then upload.

Mercy - thank you so much for your trip report. I love reading them! It is so neat to read about the great people in Bonaire and to hear these first hand experiences. We are going for the first time in September and I can't wait!

Thanks again for taking the time to post

Great trip report, Mercy! Another BT Addict has been born! What a way to go, tho. Did the ecards every make it to you? Ayo. Carole

Carole,
Sounds like Mercy has some Flamingo in her too.
Let's see how long it takes for her to feel the itch to return.

Bud

What are ecards Carole?

Hey Bud, didn't you read in my report where I'm going back in December??

And Niki, where do I type that info to post a pic? Right here in my message? Is that html? Why do they make it so hard to post a pic? I couldn't find the info anywhere on the site!

So glad you're all enjoying my trip report, my first one but not my last!

Mercy.
Thankyou for the report, I enjoyed reading it too, so pleased you had a great time, and I admire you for going on your own. It's good to hear you made so many friends. Bonaire sounds like a real friendly place.

I know what you mean about posting pics, its all so confusing at first. Try going to the bottom of this page and clicking on formatting, that will explain. make sure the pictures are saved to your computer in jpg. (Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Mercy - thanks for a wonderful report! Helps with my PBD to read about new places to check out next time we come back to Bonaire.
And do post your pictures soon, we're all waiting with baited breath!

Mercy, I finally read the report..ahh..it was fun indeed. I miss u already..cannot wait to see u in Dec. U r truly a wonderful person...we had a blast..in fact at dinner Sat. night Delno, Michael and shared how much we miss u, lovey.

And Mags knows her fish thanks to Caren at Sea and Discover..THIS PROGRAM IS AMAZING..and Caren makes it work..

HUGS

Annie

Awwww, thanks for thinking about me at the dinner Sat night Annie! I miss you all too! I wrote you an email about coming back...let me know what you think about it all.

I'm going to figure out this picture thing eventually, be patient all! I have some digital, and some that I need to get developed and put on CD so I can put them on here.

Mercy, you will see that picture posting isn't that hard at all! :-)
Yes, it's typed in your message, and "browse" and "upload" stuff happens when you preview the message. The picture only shows up in the posted message, so that's why people are always having to say OOPS!

Mercy...I remember when you made your first post with inquiry's to your first trip to Bonaire... and that you were going "alone" Bet at that time you never imagined how wonderful it is! And how many friends you would make. Your report was Great! even without remembering what day you did what on! Can December come quick enough!

You can do it!....



Hi all!

Well here's my oops! And I almost had a heart attack because some of my pics are mixed in with some that I took because I'm a bit of a nudist and wouldn't want to subject you to this! And I realized I clicked onto the wrong pic!! I came back and saw that it didn't work anyway. I have to take a few more minutes to figure this out. You'd never know that I'm Net savvy, would you?

Now I'm being told all my images are too big, so it will take me a bit to go in and resize them.

Mercy, next time hang out with us at Sorobon Beach Resort!!

Yeah, I finally did one right! But what happened to my description? I see that I still have to type something in the box outside of the description, I'll get this right yet! Pics are so small though! I'm not that savvy with Adobe, sorry gang. I guess you can see I'm at the Donkey Sanctuary though.

Sorobon

Sorry, experimenting with the sizes!

I'm now losing resolution when I make them bigger. I'll have to wait till a friend can come over and help me, he's the Adobe expert!

Thanks for the help Niki. I'll be at Sorobon a lot if I'm going to be helping Annie with the King of the Caribbean competition in Dec, that's for sure! Do you live in Bon?

Mercy, I wish...

I hope you didn't overwrite your original photo. Once you shrink a photo you can't enlarge it again to the original resolution. So make duplicates to shrink. Aim for about 600 pixels wide or so for display on the newsgroup. Otherwise, nice photo printing for keeps requires high resolution.

M, you can click on my name and see where I live.

Mercy! You DID it!!! (posted a photo) That's great! You caught on quickly, too. An Ecard was something I did off the BT Members section of this site. I found you at the front gate (streetcam) and in the water with Mags and Annie and sent the pictures to your home email address with a postcard note. Did you ever get them? Maybe you deleted them because you did not recognize my return email address?? I do that a lot! Have to be safe at all times. I can send them again, if you would like....or do you already have access to the Archives via a membership?? I wish Joe and I could return in December, but, alas, we cannot. Sniffle. Have to wait a little longer for the next trip. It is worth the wait, however! Ayo. Carole

Carole - small correction - the E-PostCards are from the members section of the _Bonaire WebCams_ site, not BonaireTalk.

Mercy - well done.

Jake

Gotcha! Carole

No Carole, never got them. But you can send them to mercy68@bigplanet.com

Thanks Jake! I loved your dogs, hope to meet you in Dec and hope your trip was good.

Niki, I don't know anything about overwriting the pics, but I kinda doubt it as I have them on my hard drive and in Adobe, but who knows! I'll try the resolution you mentioned.

Hi, there, Mercy! I just went back into the archives and located the two shots I had sent out to you originally. Hope you receive them this time OK. I used the address you indicated above. Good thing I have a good recall for dates! I remembered when you left Bonaire...I was confused initially as you had planned on leaving earlier and then extended your trip so I wasn't certain that was you with Annie and Mags, but I guessed correctly! Hope you enjoy the ecards. Wish we were entering the waters right this moment! Oh...to be on Bonaire...Ayo. Carole