I'm sure there is a special catagory of "the bends" associated from returning to the real world too soon...that seems to be the case with us. Our trip to Bonaire June 28-July 11 was the most relaxing and enjoyable ever...our fifth trip in 5 years.
Transportation: No big problems here. American Airlines from Dallas via Miami to Curacao. Great price...used our advantage miles for freebies. ALM from CUR/BON/CUR was uneventful and only about $103. round trip. Only glitch was the return AA flight via Miami. We had a small cooler that we checked as luggage... turns out the baggage handlers put that sort of stuff off the carrousels into a separate claim area. We waited and waited...finally at the last minute I asked where unclaimed luggage would go in light of the customs hurdle. I was told that the cooler was probably in this separate claim site. We found it, ran like crazy to catch our flight to Dallas....sweating like farm animals but made it!

Accomodations were at Belmar Apartments. Wilma was a great help for reservations and she had arranged for the obligatory Toyota truck from ABcarrental. We were met, given our car and given directions to Belmar. The apartment was perfect. Two bedrooms with great veranda overlooking the ocean. We spent a lot of time lounging on that veranda with various foods and beverages depending upon the time of day. This is a well maintained facility with plenty of privacy, along with camaraderie with neighbors if you so choose.

Food: We picked up provisions at Cultimara with no trouble. Take a net bag along since they charge for paper bags. We learned that fresh milk is not available all week. We will also put a few more things on our "take with us" list, like some ziplock bags to keep bread in. We had a few ants that attacked our bread before we learned that lesson. Wilma also told us about the other big food stores, but found those later in the week...they were like warehouse shopping but very nice...turn off the airport road at LISA Gas.
Our favorite restaurant is Kon Tiki. We've never had a disappointing meal there, and ate with them twice this trip. Went to Capt. Don's (I think it's called Rum Runners) for a very nice meal watching the night divers come in. Saw three nurse sharks enjoying the view with us, but they were too shy to stick around to greet the divers.

Saw dolphins frolicking down the coast that first Sunday. We were at the dock and I swam out to try to intercept them near the bouy. I was about 20 ft away when they went past. I was busy being disappointed that I wasn't close enough and had stopped swimming...only to discover that a second pod was coming at me and if I had kept swimming I would have been in the middle of them. Dumb!

Diving: We used Toucan via the Plaza with a dive shop at Belmar. They were great. Very easy and relaxing. Lots of eels, angels, parrots, flounder, some spotted drums, trunks, filefish and a couple of barrcuda.

Webcam: We stopped by the street cam on 4th of July. Didn't look like anyone was home, so missed meeting Jake and Linda. We never figured out how to get to the reefcam from the shore and hated to trespass...our boat dive didn't work out to that site since we were outvoted on small wall. Oh well, next year.

So, now I'm going through withdrawl. I'm ready to give up the day job and move. (one small problem...$$$$) Hope anyone heading in the direction of Bonaire has as great a time as we had.

Good report - I love to enjoy a "virtual" trip through these reports. Helps remind me of our trip this year.

Appreciate the trip report, have been living in Bonaire vicariously since January on Bonaire Talk. Soon, (28 days) I will begin my own trip, and will report dutifully.

Jan:
Thanks for the report. We will be at Belmar for two weeks in early November and are looking forward to it---our first to Bonaire. At Belmar, did you have any outside problems like mosquitoes, or? and did anything work well for defenses?
Dick and Betsy Russell

Dick
I was in Bonaire for two weeks last November and the mosquitos were terrible. I am a known mosquito magnet and believe me every one that was on the island found me while we were there. Luckily I had taken OFF but I used all I took and ended up buying more. I literally sprayed EVERY time I went outside. I plan to take more OFF and citronella candles when we go back in November this year. Better safe than sorry and swollen!

Lynn:
Thanks for the bad news! My wife has the same attraction for them that you do. We will be armed with as many defenses as we can find.
Dick

Not surprisingly, mosquito assaults seem to be directly linked to the weather & recent rainfall. When we were in Bonaire a month ago (mid-June) we went heavily armed with repellents, but never used any. We stayed at Belmar, too, and I never saw a single mosquito. The explanation is that the weather had been very dry. I'm sure most Bonarians would have gladly exchanged a few mosquitoes for some much-needed rain. If they get more rain in the Fall, November may be a different story. But the bugs won't bite through a wetsuit and they can't find you underwater!

LOL, John! When we visited in March, we did not see any mosquitos either (at Belmar.) But, one of the kids on our dive boat was absolutely COVERED with bug bites. I truly believe some people are "sweeter" than others, or something, and attract more. It never hurts to go to Bonaire armed with DEET of some sort. Oh, I forgot - the noseeums found my ankles one night while eating dinner at Cappricios. Very itchy.

We just returned from Bonaire and three of our party of nine seemed to get bites every other day. It rained, for maybe 5 - 10 minutes every morning our first few days there. Although we all put on repellant, if I missed a tiny area, such as a toe, the mosquitos found it. It was funny, because although I was deligent about the repellant, they seemed drawn to me. Others were less careful and had no problems. Also, while there they began spraying the area with mosquito spray and I actually think it drove them in to our condo.

Sorry I've been off this site for a while. I've been busy watching the webcam and dreaming of my return (next year).
I am usually a mosquito magnet. 100 people in a crowd-1 mosquito & I get chewed. This past time at Belmar I had very little trouble. It was over the July 4th timeframe and the weather was quite dry..except one short morning shower. There was a nice breeze most of the time, and I think the still air is worse for mosquitos. OFF worked well by spraying some on my hands and rubbing on like lotion on the legs. I just used it a dusk and dawn when things were still and bugs were more likely to be out.
Some people have great luck using Avon Skin So Soft body oil. I forgot to take some so don't have a comparison for you.