DARLENE AND TOM’S TRIP REPORT 03/01/03 – 03/15/03 PART ONE

Hi everyone!!!
As usual we had an awesome time in Bonaire. We were fortunate enough to go for two weeks this time and can’t wait to go back there again!
Travel: We used Air Jamaica both ways. We made it through all customs and checkpoints without any problems at all and we didn’t even get searched once!! Both ways went smoothly. Tom’s suitcase was opened and searched during travel and it had a tape around it saying such. It was a hard case and it was locked but they got in such a way that they didn’t ruin it. On the way home we had a three hour planned layover in Montego Bay. We enjoyed the time shopping there. I especially love the Jimmy Buffet store. Air Jamaica is definitely our favorite way of getting to Bonaire because it gets you there in time to enjoy some of the day that you arrive and when you leave, you get to enjoy most of the day before you have to leave!
Bonaire’s airport now has a beautiful new, huge departure lounge. It is air-conditioned and has a bar and a couple of shops in it. You can now wait in comfort!
Restaurants:
I find all the restaurants in Bonaire to be incredibly good. We ate at some of the moderately priced places this time and were extremely pleased with all our meals. As I have said before, I have never had a bad meal in Bonaire.
It Rains Fishes: Located on the waterfront in town. I had the catch of the day in mustard sauce and it just melted in your mouth!!! Extremely good with moderate prices. We ate there several times.
City Café: It is located on the waterfront and has very good prices and food. We ate there often. The fried calamari appetizer was awesome there. They also have a happy hour at sunset time!
Casablanca: We ate here a lot! It was excellent with excellent prices and it was located just before town and only a few houses down from the apartment that we stayed at! They have a mixed grilled platter with all different meats and chicken that is suppose to be for two people for only 54 gilders and it would feed four people easily!!! They have outside dining as well as an air-conditioned room that has some of Linda’s and Dara’s artwork displayed. Josie and I were meeting there one night and it turned into an impromptu BT dinner. I think there were about twenty of us! What a fun night!!

Gibi’s: We made it to Gibi’s the both Tuesdays that we were there thanks to Jake and Josie giving us rides. The first Tuesday we were there, there were about twenty of us. It is so much fun meeting everyone from BT. I am even starting to know a lot of people before I even get there now which is even more fun! I am beginning to think that I have more friends in Bonaire than I do at home. The food is delicious there, especially the goat stew, with an island flavor and very inexpensive.
The second Tuesday we went there was just a few of us. I was feeling daring and in the I’ll try anything once mood, so Jake, Tom and I split a bowl of Iguana soup! Oh my God, I thought I was on the TV program Survivor and had to eat this really gross looking stuff. Once I got over the fact of what it was, it was really quite tasty and prepared very well. From now on though, I think I will continue to enjoy watching the little critters instead of eating them.
Pasa Bon Pizza: It is a really nice pizza place just to the north of town on the main road. There is a nice dining area there with a bar. The pizzas are really, really good!!! Better than any from around my home. Pasa Bon Pizza is open till eleven at night so it is another good place to eat for those late night arrivals!
Zee Zeichts: It is located right across from Karel’s Bar. I had Lobster thermador and it was very good and Tom was happy with his meal too. It is a bit pricey.
Capriccio’s: I had incredibly good lobster pasta. It is a very nice and well run Italian restaurant. Considering the price though, I thought the serving size was a bit small so if you have a huge appitite that is something to keep in mind.
Dinners with Friends: We had some dinners with friends and their cooking was as good as any restaurants. Thanks Renee and Corney!!!!
Apartment: We rented a cute little apartment located between the Divi and town. It was a great location and the yard was really nice with a great shaded porch! We borrowed a hammock from Janice Huckaby and I enjoyed having my siesta in it every afternoon. There were lots of birds, including the Lora, and little lizards in the yard to keep us entertained. We even had a donkey visit us at the gate one early morning. While I was greeting the donkey, I learned about fire ants the hard way. I was standing on a pile of them except I just thought they were nats and I just kept brushing them off as I kept standing there taking pictures and patting the cute little donkey. Boy, I’ll never do that again!!! The next time I will definitely know better!!!!
Our friends Sue and Lisa live right around the corner and they were very helpful for all the little odds and ends that we needed. Lisa even lent us her cell phone so we could be in touch with everyone. Renee from the Woodwind also was there to help us with anything we needed. It was all much appreciated!!! Thanks you guys!!!
In addition to my fire ant encounter, we did have a couple of mishaps this trip. The first one was we flooded our brand new digital camera. It was still under warranty and we are hoping for good news.
The second is that my wet suit went missing from the Divi Dive Shed the day before we were to come home, which was Friday, March 14, 2003. Serge, thought some one took it home in error seeing as there was one very similar left hanging there. The only difference was the high neck collar was purple instead of black. I only mention this because I hope that someone with PBD is reading this that was there at the same time and still may not even realize that the wrong wet suit came home in error. So if anyone took home a black, Bare, high neck, long sleeve shortie that zips all the way down the front leg that is approximately a size 12/14 or 14/16 with little pulls on the front of it from the Velcro of my life vest, please let me know because it’s mine! Thanks

Woodwind, sailing, snorkeling, touring and friends: PART TWO

We did our shopping at Cultimara as usual for our snack and breakfast foods. Did you know that they sell Lovers ice cream by the huge tubs???? You know we had a few of those. The Pistachio was the best! We did it the day we arrived because it was going to be closed right through Monday because of Carnival. Speaking of Carnival it was our first time to experience it and it was a lot of fun. The costumes were great and I can’t believe the energy they have dancing though the streets in the heat of the day! It’s a great photo op.
We went to the Donkey Sanctuary one day and there were a ton of donkeys there. Much more than when I was there in December. There were five little ones and one was only five days old! They were so cute!
We also checked out Michaels Gaynor’s Chat and Browse. It is really nice and he has quite a nice little gift shop with some of Linda’s and Jan’s art, as well as others, hanging on the walls.
One of the Friiday nights, we went to Jan Huckaby’s open house for her artwork. I told her that I was just coming to say hi and look around because I have no room left to hang things. Yea, Right! I bought 3 prints and some note cards!! I just love her work and can’t resist!!! She paints all my little favorite critters that attract me to Bonaire. My walls are beginning to have more pictures than wall!!
Two of our evenings were at Hillary and Melissa’s wedding. It was really a beautiful event on both evenings! Melissa really took the problems of the first evening in stride and didn’t let it ruin the moment. They truly looked like they belonged on the real cover of Bride’s Magazine! Thanks so much for letting us be a part of your very special day!!!
Josie and I did meet up for a few dinners and snorkels. We had a lot of fun together. I hope we are on island together next year!
Our NH BT BBQ hosts and friends were on the same plane as us. They windsurf most of the time but they had us over to their place at Belair to snorkel and have dinner. It was a really nice day and boy can Corney cook!!!! She should be opening up a restaurant on Bonaire!!!! Thanks!!!!
I didn’t see any green flashes this trip, but it wasn’t for lack of trying! There seamed to be a layer of clouds right at the horizon most nights. This was our first time not staying right on the water so we actually had to watch the time to make sure we got to the waterfront in time for the sunsets.
I spent most of my time in the water. Now that's a surprise! Everyone still keeps looking for gills. The water was a bit chili for me this time. It was 77 degrees, but when you stay in it as much as I do, your body temperature really drops down. I actually bought a hood this trip. I look ridiculous! Kinda like the red baron of the water instead of in the plane! Just for the record, it makes a huge difference!!!! My husband still thinks the water is warm and only wears a bathing suit but he is not in as often as I am.
The snorkeling around the divi is incredible! The cement pier is now full of life and the corals continue to grow! Of course I still love hanging above the little boat that they have sunk to the right of the cement pier with all kinds of life on and in it. There was a huge Barracuda that hung around the whole two weeks. He was there in December, too! There were a lot of squid and my favorite surprise was a pair of huge scrawled filefish that kept hanging out at the cement pier and just posing for pictures!!! I have been waiting four years to get a good picture of one and I finally did! I also saw a Chain Moray foraging for food around the pier. It was really cool to watch when he darted for something!
I also did a lot of snorkeling between Cha Cha Pier and the South Pier. There is a lot of neat life living in the rocks along the way and once you get under the pier, it is incredible! The corals on the pillars are amazing and there are tons of schools of fish. I saw my very first baby trunk fish. You know the one that looks like a little dice. He was so cute! Then I saw a really huge green moray. He was in the rocks but I got a partial picture of his body. If that thing were to free swim while I was there, I would have died!!! I swear it would have been bigger than me!!! There were three huge lobsters and three banded coral shrimp. There were also and abundance of Scorpionfish. Josie came with me on one of the days and we had a real good snorkel.
We sailed on the Woodwind almost daily. Now that’s another surprise!!! J We went to No Name at Kline, Andrea I, Andrea II and Ebo’s Reef or Sampler (I never can remember which it is), Small Wall and Leonora . All were great snorkels and the corals are really starting to flourish once again. We saw turtles almost daily at Kline. We would see two and three at a time on some days. We usually see green turtles but we got to see a Hawksbill this trip too! There were lots of puffers and spotted drums this trip. We saw two large Scorpion fish on top of each other! Renee spotted those down fairly deep. I would have never seen them on my own at that depth because they blend in so well with their background. Over at Andrea we saw our biggest octopus yet and we got some decent pictures of it. We also saw a gigunda grouper just hanging about and a huge Corenetfish.
We also sailed on both the BBQ days. We love them and wouldn’t miss them for the world! Barney, her Captain still makes the best ribs around!!!! They put out quite a spread over on Kline under the shady little hut that they have there. We saw a very unusual sighting on our 2nd BBQ . We saw a Whale!!!! That’s right, a huge whale!!! We were on shore at the little shack and Renee (old eagle eyes) spotted it. She starts yelling a whale and everyone was just looking at her like she was crazy. Then we turned to the water and just where the water starts going deep there was a whale! It was going right by where the Woodwind was moored! We got to see its back a couple times and we got to watch it spout a few times, and then!… He dove down and showed us his flukes right up in the air as if he was waving at all of us!!!! I had goose bumps!!! I had never been that close before and never in Bonaire!!!! It was quite an incredible experience!!!!
The rest of the fish I consider regulars but I thought I would list them for all you first-timers. Here they are: harliquin bass, greater soapfish, all phases of parrot fish including the big rainbows with the green teeth and the huge midnight blues, Spanish hog fish, puddingwife, yellowhead wrasse, bluehead wrasse, squirrel fish, soldier fish, cardinal fish, lot's of scorpion fish, peacock flounders sandivers, trumpet fish, burr fish, balloon fish, porcupine puffer, honeycomb and scrawled cow fish, smooth and spotted trunk fish, white spotted file fish, spotted and yellow goat fish, spotted drums, glassy sweepers, lots of big redlip blennies, gobies, bristel worms, sea cucumbers, flamingo tounges, squid, arrow crab, fire worms, golden tail morray, and a spotted morray.
I think that is most of them and I would like to give special thanks to Renee for pointing out most of the smaller critters and some of the big ones too! That's way I love to go out on the Woodwind so much, she knows where everything lives and she has a real nack for spotting things. Ayo

One word, Darlene...Wow! Thanks for the details. Joe and I arrive back at the Divi for two weeks on May 24..can't wait. Sorry to hear about your wet suit, however. I think you own stock in the Woodwind..LOL. Renee is something else, isn't she? Thanks for taking the time to share your great trip with all of us.

Keep us posted on your digital and the warranty. Hope they give you a replacement (new) right away. Which camera and housing was it? Ayo. Carole

Darlene ... what an awesome report! Made me feel as if I was right there with you to experience all those wonderful things. It was nice to meet you briefly the night you were with Josie, Jake, et al at Casablanca (I'm the one who came into the dining room with Susan and then you stopped by our table on the porch on your way out). Maybe our trips will have more of an overlap next time. Again, thanks for such a detailed report.

darlene, thanks for the report.. makes me want to get to bonaire AGAIN

Great report Darlene - I am starting to get really excited about our April 26 departure to Bonaire. I hope for 2 things - one that we see as much sealife as you did and second - my new digital doesn't flood. I have insurance on mine but it sure would be a thorn in the trip!

Great report Darlene. We sure had a great time with you and Tom. Just found out that I think next year we will be staying for 3 weeks.

Great report! Thanks so much! Made some notes on both restaurants and snorkel sites. Can't wait to get back to Bonaire!!!

A great report Darlene!! We also snorkeled around the Divi (Mar 15 -22 ...just missed you) and saw a lot of similar sights!! The barracuda continued to hang motionlessly and watch us as we gasped and gawked at him. The pair of scrawled filefish were incredibly colourful and seemed to keep tabs on us and come back every so often to see how far we had travelled, we also loved watching the Chain Moray and this critter on the pier...

Darlene,
Thanks for the great report, reading all these even makes me more excited to go next year.

ScottJ

Hi Darlene,
That was a great report. I hope you get your camera replaced too. Thank's for the pictures too. I really enjoyed them. Lea

Hi Everyone!
I just remembered something else that was really cool. While I was snorkeling from Cha Cha Pier over to South Pier a Pelican dove in the water just a few feet from me!!! It was so neat to see his little web feet and his bill catching his food. I am going to attempt to post a few pictures.

Oops!!! I tried resizing and I am not quite sure of what went wrong. I will try a few more again

Thanks, Darlene! I think that is the first shot of a pelican under water I have seen posted! Great stuff!! We used to have a buddy, a pelican named Charlie, who would float with us on our rafts in Aruba, but you don't see too many hanging close in Bonaire. Thanks for sharing more of your photos with us....nicely done! Carole

Great photos Darlene!! The one of the box type jellyfish caught my eye as they were there while we were there ...everyone was afraid to go into the water, but they were harmless and washed up onto shore...what are the 2 photos of that follow the box jellyfish?

Thanks,
I don't know the name of creatures. The first one is the comb jellyfish and I only know that one because Renee of the Woodwind told me. Does anyone else know what the other two are?