This was our 1st trip to Bonaire. We made many new friends and enjoyed the hospitality that Bonaire is known for.
Getting there: We flew Air Jamiaca from Baltimore to Montego Bay to Bonaire. No problems.
Plaza resort: We stayed in a (2) bedroom villa with kitchen. Large rooms and very comfortable. Grounds were well maintained and beautifully landscaped. Large pool and nice beach fit the bill for my non-diving wife (Debbie) and 8yr old daughter (Kelsey). The Aqua Kids program was thourougly enjoyed by my daughter. her mornings were filled with snorkeling, fish identification, treasure hunt, games and boat trips to Klein Bonaire. I opted for (6) days of morning (2) tank dives with Toucan Diving in order to maximize my bottom time and allow the afternoons for family activities. The staff and divemasters at Toucan were fantastic.
Diving: Bonaire diving was everything I had hoped for. Prolific fish life, beautiful corals and something new to see on every dive. I managed to get in (14) dives including a night dive at the Town Pier and a night dive at Small Wall. Shot (7) rolls of film with my housed 35mm camera. On one dive we came accross (3) seahorses all in a row, and me with my wide-angle lens. On a later trip during the week we found another seahorse, and this time I had the right set-up. The night dive at Town Pier was a great dive from a photographic point of view. I got some great pictures of a decorator crab walking around with a 6" tube sponge on his back. I saw the resident frog fish and a cute little morey pokeing his head out from a hole in a tire. Favorite dives; all of them.
Dove: 18 Palms, The Lake, Oil Slick Leap, The Cliff, Small Wall, Karpata, Country Garden, Alice in Wonderland, Angel City, Forest, Bonadventure and Monte's Divi.
Snorkled: Windsock, Salt Pier, 1000 Steps and 18 Palms.
Dineing: Our favorite picks for the week were Lion's Den and Richard's. Also had a very good meal at the Swiss Chalet. Pizza one night at Cozzoli's made for some good leftovers. For lunch we ate at Chibi chibi (excellent) Zeziecht, Sand Dollar, Capt' Dons and Buddy Dive (all very good). Sorry that we could not squeeze in "It Rain's Fishes" or Capprichio's (closed for vacation). I guess that's reason enough for a return trip.
Going Home: Our departure turned into an adventure in itself. We arrived at the airport (2) hours early and our AJ flight arrived (2) hrs late. We in turn missed our connection to Baltimore. Our AJ Vacations rep was waiting for us with an option; 1)fly to Philadelphia, arrive at 1am then get a bus to Baltimore or 2)extend our vacation an extra day and stay at an all-inclusive Montego Bay resort. The (11) of us that were stranded together looked at each other and said in unison "Jamaica-No Problem". We checked into the Sunset Beach resort at 7pm and enjoyed our bonus day until 3pm the following day when we were picked up. Upon arriving at the airport we were told that a smaller than expected plane was our ride. There were obviously many more people wanting to get on that plane then there were seats. Lots of anxiety and heated discussions going on at the ticket counter. Even with this AJ service failure, we will fly Air Jamaica next time. Almost everyone we met at the Plaza that flew ALM arrived 2-4 days ahead of their luggage, ouch!
All in all we had an excellent vacation. And our daughter had a great introduction to the underwater world. We will be back!
Jamie, Debbie & Kelsey Klarman
Fallston, Maryland
PS: Thanks to Kris Fischer for capturing our picture at the street-cam (see new-profile picture). |
By Jamie Klarman on Monday, July 2, 2001 - 12:16 am: 
