Helen and I recently returned from another wonderful trip to Bonaire (9/14 – 9/21/02). We live in Birmingham, Alabama so it is easy for us to catch the Atlanta-Montego Bay-Bonaire flight on Air Jamaica. For those of you who might take the same route, some hotels near the airport have a “Park & Fly” deal that allows you to stay a night in the hotel then park your car there for a week (we stay at the Atlanta Airport Marriott – 404-766-7900). The flights down were hassle-free, with on-time departures and all bags accounted for.
We picked up our white Toyota Hilux shore-diving special (one of only approximately 4000 similar vehicles on the island) at AB CarRental at the airport. I was finally forced to memorize my license plate number after twice getting into the wrong unlocked white pickup truck and wondering why it wouldn’t start. Helen helped me out by spreading a beach towel on the front seat as a “truck identifier.”
We checked in at Belmar with Irene, the manager, and dragged our gear to our lovely 2nd floor apartment. Belmar is a well-appointed and well-maintained facility and we really enjoy their hospitality. We relaxed on the waterfront balcony long enough to watch a big pod of dolphins blow up a school of baitfish, then we made a run to the Cultimara to stock up on essentials (Amstel Bright, get it while you can!). That night we had the terrific Rijsttafel for two at the Old Inn, but couldn’t come close to finishing it. Later in the week, we enjoyed dinner at Capriccio (for Helen’s birthday) and had Lebanese food at Garden Café. None of the restaurants were crowded – in fact, it seemed like a pretty slow week, tourist-wise.
On Sunday morning, we got our Marine Park orientation and tags from Erika, the dive master at the Toucan Diving shop at Belmar, and did our checkout dive on the Belmar reef. Ahh, back in the water at Bonaire! Tropical Storm Isidore was lurking somewhere over the horizon so we stayed close to home and did another dive on the Belmar reef Sunday afternoon. Several of the dive shops cancelled their afternoon boat dives in anticipation of bad weather. However, the only noticeable effects from the storm were a couple of hours of gray clouds and a moderate breeze. A little rain fell and I did hear a few claps of thunder (an unusual occurrence in Bonaire). I’m sure the plants and animals of parched Bonaire would have been grateful for more rain, but it didn’t happen. (Now, 10 days later, Bonaire is hoping to dodge Tropical Storm Lili and the rain is poring down here in Alabama as Isidore is lining up to take another shot at us). Monday morning dawned blue and hot. In fact, it was quite warm all week (we’re from the South, so trust me, we know hot) – we were very grateful for the A/C in the bedroom at night.
We did shore diving exclusively and made an effort to dive sites that we had not previously visited rather than returning to old favorites. Dives included Weber’s Joy, The Lake, Pink Beach, Windsock, and Margate Bay. At Bachelor Beach, we saw a very large blue-spotted coronet fish, the first I’ve ever seen (I think he was 6 feet long, but I’ll only claim 5 feet so you won’t think I’m a liar). The Pink Bus from Photo Tours dive shop was at Salt Pier on Thursday afternoon. Since they have permission from the Harbormaster to use that site when no salt ships are in, we took advantage of the opportunity to dive there. It’s an easy and relatively shallow dive, but the rays of the sun streaming down between the pilings create a dramatic effect. We saw two tarpon and a hawksbill turtle under the piers. At Invisibles, we went down to the sandy bottom at about 95 feet and saw the fields of little garden eels popping in and out of their holes. The dive at Eighteenth Palm (the house reef at Plaza) is also very pretty and very easy with a sandy beach entry – plus we had a nice lunch après dive at the Banana Tree. We wanted to dive Oil Slick Leap, but didn’t learn that the ladder has been replaced until just before we left. The water temperature was about 81-82F all week. The visibility was a little impaired at all sites we dove. I’m not good at estimating, but I’d guess visibility was about 70 feet at most places. I don’t know the explanation – biomass, disturbance from near-by tropical weather systems, etc. – but dive masters I spoke with during the week agreed with the observation. However, viz was certainly good enough for the macro-life encounters for which Bonaire is famous.
Helen had a problem with a leaky mask early in the week and went to the Toucan dive shop at Plaza to buy a replacement. They have a basketful of “loaner” masks that you can try out before you make your purchase, which is another example of the excellent dive shop support available in Bonaire. She took several loaner masks on dives and finally selected the one she preferred.
One of the highlights of our topside time was a morning we spent roaming around Bonaire with naturalist/biologist/dive master and all-around good guy Jerry Ligon. For a modest fee, Jerry picked us up at Belmar and took us on a 5-hour tour of the back roads of Bonaire, exploring the flora, fauna, and geology. Jerry is an excellent guide – both knowledgeable and personable. As Jerry says, “There is a story behind everything,” and he knows a lot of them! He took us places no tourist could ever find and showed us birds (including the fearsome-appearing crested caracara), reptiles, flowers, medicinal plants, etc. If you have any interest in the natural history of Bonaire, I would highly recommend that you arrange a tour with Jerry Ligon >jcligon@bonairelive.com<.
Friday afternoon we entered the 24-hour no-dive period in anticipation of a Saturday departure and regretfully turned in our weights to the dive shop and cleaned up our gear after the last dive. We went over to Lac Bay and watched the wind surfers zipping around then made it to Richard’s in time to sit outside and watch the sunset. Bugs were never a problem, perhaps because it is still so dry. We took mosquito repellent, but never used it. Saturday morning we shopped for souvenirs and then went by Flamingo Airport at about 11:30 am to pay the departure tax ($20.00 per passenger) and check our baggage in with Air Jamaica. We had a leisurely lunch at Chibi Chibi at the Divi Flamingo resort, then drove back to the airport and surrendered the truck (with all parts intact) to the rental agency. We never had any problems with theft or break-ins, but we were careful to follow the common-sense guidelines of leaving the truck unlocked and leaving nothing of value in the truck while diving (although the rental agreement boldly states KEEP VEHICLE LOCKED AT ALL TIMES – probably a CYA statement added by lawyers).
The Air Jam plane arrived on time and we cleared inspection into the exit lounge, which is now – thankfully! – air-conditioned. We had an on-time departure from Bonaire and all seemed to be going well. But the gods of travel always seem intent on extracting a toll for the time we spend in Bonaire. As our flight from Mo Bay was on final approach into Atlanta, the pilot aborted the landing due to rain and poor visibility. We circled for a while until the airport was shut down and fuel was running low, then diverted to Nashville. We sat on the ground in Nashville for a couple of hours waiting for the weather to improve (they couldn’t let us off the plane because we hadn’t cleared Customs). We eventually got to Atlanta 5 hours late at around 1:00 am, just in time for the train system in the airport to shut down (those of you who frequent the Atlanta airport recognize that it is about a 2 mile hike from the international terminal to baggage claim). We decided that we would just spend the night, but every hotel anywhere near the airport was booked solid with stranded passengers, so we drove home to Birmingham through the pouring rain and got in about 5:00 am.
But hey – it was worth any inconvenience! Our only complaint was that we didn’t stay nearly long enough – but you know that already. And before we left Bonaire, we did check on those MONTHLY rates… |
By John Gnann on Wednesday, September 25, 2002 - 1:50 pm: 
