What a GREAT trip we had to Bonaire! Here are a few details....
GETTING THERE
Uh-oh, it was the Miami-Curaco-Bonaire ALM deal. BUT...a 25 minute delay each way in Curaco was the only problem, if you want to call it that. All luggage arrived; staff was very friendly.

DIVING
I did my open water referral this time, with Bon Bini Divers. I couldn't have asked for a more positive experience (especially since my pool class was really negative). I received one on one instruction for all my dives. Mananita Diaz was my instructor; she is absolutely TERRIFIC.

Once I got certified, my husband (who's a very advanced diver)and I took off for various sites. We dove Bari Reef several times (that's where I was tested-we did a night dive there was well, but the vis was only about 30 feet), Windsock, Andrea I (difficult entry), Nukove Beach (even MORE difficult entry), Weber's Joy, Angel City, and Invisibles-all shore dives. Boat dives were The Lake, Cap'n Don's Reef, Small Wall (hubby was caught on the camera!)-my husband also dove Oil Slick Leap (while I was being tested), and Hilma Hooker (too deep for me at this time). What a wonderful experience-highlights were 2 seahorses, a sleeping nurse shark, garden eels, a flounder that was swimming, and an 8 foot moray eel that was really fat. I worked hard on my skills, and thanks to Mananita, learned a LOT about bouyancy and relaxing underwater. Bon Bini is a class act operation, with a lot of personalized service. The setup is convenient and flexible. Thanks to Mananita, Francie, Mary (for helping arrange accomodations), and Danielo for his great sense of humor and caring about new divers.

ACCOMODATIONS
We had a really nice unit at the Lion's Dive. We had stayed there before, and really liked the small quiet atmosphere. Things have changed there since Lenny, but really for the better. There's a coral sand beach where the old restaurant is, and a new restaurant which is pretty darned good. The unit had a full kitchen, and overlooked the ocean-there's a small pool, and they work hard to keep it up.

DINING
We ate most of our breakfasts and some of our lunches in, but restaurants we visited were It Rains Fishes (great), Cappricio (great-a little pricey), Mona Lisa twice (I had barracuda both times, it was wonderful), Kon Tiki (very good), Zeezicht (ok), Buddy's and Rumrunners (pretty good). Most of our food was very good.

OTHER STUFF
We went to the barbecue thrown by Jake and Linda Richter. What a nice time we had there-met many people, and came in contact with many locals, including Caren, who runs the Sea & Discover program. She is a wealth of information about the sea, and fascinating to listen to. The Richters threw quite a bash; their hospitality was most appreciated by us. Met new people; made new friends.

We also did the kayaking trip in the mangroves on our last, non diving day. This was arranged through Sand Dollar-I can't remember the name of the naturalist who guided us, but it was a woman. She was great, explaining a lot of stuff. We had fun trying something different, and learning more about the delicate ecosystem.

In all, a wonderful trip. Feel free to e-mail me or post if you have specific questions.

One more thing...the crime issue. We left all valuables at home, had no problems. Saw a patrol vehicle 3 or 4 times, which I thought was a very positive sign-one was at Nukove, which is pretty isolated. It seemed to me that there were some attempts to deal with the issue.

Mary,
Thanks for the report! We are planning a trip to stay at Lions Dive in December, and are both new to diving. How was the reef adjacent to the resort?
Thanks, Mike

It's great-that's where we saw one of the seahorses. It's a gentle reef, so it's really good for a beginner. Enjoy, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Masha danki for your terrific report Mary, Congrats on being newly certified!!

Nice report, Mary. Makes me wish I had never left! Thanks!

Thanks, Mary - great report. You make the
concept of getting certified less daunting, even
pretty darn good, by sharing your certification
experience with Bon Bini.

Nancy

Hi Mary,
Nice report. Your kayaking guide was most likely Malin. She is enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. She is also very good at scuba instruction, particularly for those beginners who are very fearful.

There is a new restaurant, Sand Dollar Terrace, located on the road at Sand Dollar. My wife and I found the food very good and quite reasonably priced. Another restaurant that we liked and that I have not seen mentioned is the Swiss Chalet in town. Food was excellent. They also have a couple of specialties that are not available elsewhere. One of these is Raclette which is prepared at the table. It consists of melted Raclette cheese with various side appetizers such as onions, sausage, cucumbers, eggplant and others. They require one day advance notice if you plan to have Raclette. Another dish that is not generally available is steak with morel sauce. The morels (wild black mushrooms) are hand carried from Switzerland by the family.

Glad you enjoyed your stay.

Maury

Also at the Swiss Chalet: Spaetzle --- which was absolutely delicious, prepared perfectly.