Hi,

Everyone talks about Post Bonaire Depression or PBD, but what we have is Post Bonaire Obsession, or PBO.

One is NOT depressed about being home, actually
happy to be alive and well having done three wonderful weeks of diving on Bonaire and already scheduled to return Feb. 2003. However we are obsessed, or least I am, can't speak for my husband. Diving, Bonaire, the sleep, the fish, the relaxation, You all know what I mean.

The Trip -
Used FF miles on Us Air into Aruba, smooth transition to DCA with the expected (given what I read on this site) nonsense in Cur. One bag missing when we got to Bon, but it was on the next flight, and we had ALL our dive gear with us. ALL, based on what folks had reported on BT, is how we packed. We had tried to take RAA, but it was not flying yet. Maybe in Feb 2003. The return trip was tight in Cur, because we left Bon an hour late, but once we let the DCA folks in Cur know that we had to make the connection or we would miss our connection out of Aruba, they were actually quite good. But there has to be a better way to run the Cur airport.

The Stay - The diving
Carib Inn. Need we say more? We were extremely well taken care of and just love being there.

Linda Baker spent a day with us teaching fish id. There were so, so many more fish after taking class from her. We had completed beginner fish id in the spring and this was intermediate. She also helped us fine tune our bouyancy.

Did 35 dives. For you diehards, bear in mind that the first few days we were not getting into the water until 4 or 5 pm, still catching up on sleep. Our dives were shore dives which increased our confidence. We even had to abort one dive for current, "howeling" current. Vis was not as good as the spring. 50 - 80 feet. And we did increase our bottom times from 60 to 90 minutes.
We are pleased, given that this is our first year of diving. Yes, we are obssessed.

We also purchased some great custom made necklaces from Linda. She is making jewelry and donating all profit for the girls shelter, the Maria Hoppner Foundation, that shut down for lack of funds.

Assorted misc.

In response to a recent post of a trip report,
we had no problem with petty theft, but left all
windows open and left none in the vehicle. Another guest did have their gas line cut and actually repaired it on their own.

Food:
Arriving late - we alway have something to eat with us. Cooked the majority of meals ourselves, shopping in the typical spots. Did get a whole tuna, which we grilled. The Venzuelan vegetable market was closed for a few days apparently because the boat had not come in, but that is part of Bonaire, it is not fully a first world country.
And that is why we love it.

Delicious meals at the newly opened Lighthouse, and Pasa Bon Pizza, Rains Fishes and Cappricio's. We tried for ice cream at Presca's but they were closed for the entire time we were there.

What we still haven't gotten to:
Washington Slagbaai Park
The Donkey Sanctury
Presca's Ice Cream
Sunset a Sierra Largo
Saturday market at Rincon
Wind surfer (Jibe City) school (closed when we were there)

Signing off....til Feb 2003
Lydia

Nice trip report. Thanks for sharing it with us. Look for us in February when we return. We only had two weeks August! We just missed the opening of the new dock at Sand Dollar. Looking forward to it in February, should be a nice night dive.

Great report Lydia.