By Richard B. Emerson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 2:53 pm: |
My wife and I are planning our annual Thanksgiving trip and Bonaire seems to be this year's winner. The choice about where to stay seems to be down to Sand Dollar or Plaza Resort. We'd appreciate "been there, done that" input on either resort. Also, my wife is not a diver but is quite comfortable snorkeling. While I can and occasionally do dive solo, this is not a place I care to do that. Each resort has their dive operators, of course, but any input on managing this situation would be a help, too (and possibly a topic for another thread?)
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By Gary Long (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #102) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 4:37 pm: |
Richard, we would vote for Plaza Resort, our seven trip there. The dive shop Toucan Diving is the best. We will be there November 21-28, hope to see you there, if not at Gibi's and Bongo's. Gary & Kathy Long
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By Jerry Gauron (BonaireTalker - Post #70) on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 4:50 pm: |
Sand Dollar is condo setup. Not my cup of tea. Plaza Resort, is a resort. More to do, and has a beach. Ok snorkeling.
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By Yana girl (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #220) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 8:28 am: |
Richard,
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By gregg brewer (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #644) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 9:20 am: |
Richard,
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By Ron Edison (BonaireTalker - Post #47) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 10:13 am: |
I agree with Gregg--Buddy Dive, Lions, Capt. Don's and the Divi are rough equivalents. We stayed at Sand Dollar in '03 and loved it. All have websites and you can find plenty of posts on this site. (Check the archives too.)
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By George Blanchard (BonaireTalker - Post #18) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 4:53 pm: |
Richard, I too would recommend Divi for your trip. We have stayed there 9 times and find it perfect for our 2-week stay. We rent a condo but there are also hotel rooms available. The shore snorkeling is easy and pretty good. Diving is excellent and finding "dive buddies" will be no problem. Also, it is a 10 minute walk to town.
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By Richard B. Emerson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 6:50 pm: |
Thanks for all of the input. However, between input from friends who leads dive trips to Bonaire and reading further on BT, I don't see Bonaire in our near term travel plans. If Bonaire gets their theft problems down to tolerable levels we'll take another look.
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By Gary Thuillier (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #165) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 7:28 pm: |
Richard, is there no crime in Skipjack,PA? If you follow simple common sense precautionary measures ie; don't leave valuables in your vehicle yada,yada,yada then you should have a worry free vacation. We did a lot of remote area diving when we were there last month including one rather remote night dive without any problems at all. I can't say I wasn't concerned about it but I wasn't going to let it ruin my trip. Bonaire is much too nice a place to pass up for such a ridiculous reason.
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By Richard B. Emerson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 10:25 pm: |
First off, I do understand basic travel security. I don't flash cash, I don't wear jewelry, and I do look to see what's going on around me. I use the room safe (forget using the room number for the combination) and the room door is locked and safety chained always.
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By Randy P (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #236) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 10:39 am: |
Hi Gary,
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By The Ginocchio's @ Golden Reef Inn (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #385) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 10:51 am: |
Randy,
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By The Ginocchio's @ Golden Reef Inn (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #386) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 10:52 am: |
Whoops...I meant to address this to Richard, not Randy, sorry.
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By Richard B. Emerson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 11:28 am: |
The troll comment makes my point rather nicely. In the "good old days", someone posted a note and it was taken at face value. Now, sadly, we have to factor in what is this person really up to? But that doesn't mean everybody says, "that's it, the Internet is a nightmare, I'm outta here". However, some forums have been so overrun by flaming and trolls that people do go elsewhere, leaving a forum to die off or become just one more flame fest unless the moderator takes some action. In the Caribbean, in the "good old days" life was a little easier, the locals weren't overly obvious about separating you from your money, and all had a good time.
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By Randy P (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #237) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 11:34 am: |
No offense taken, I assure you. If a local islander came to visit MY hometown, one look at a newspaper or TV news program would have them scared witless and back at the airport to flee home.
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By Richard B. Emerson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 11:57 am: |
Thinking about this thread a little more, I'll add a few more general comments. Trying to count up the situations where I might have wanted or actually needed police assistance, over the past seven or eight years I can think of two incidents in the BVI and one marginal incident on St. Martin. They ranged from dealing with a "drunk and disorderly" while loading up a dinghy after being picked up, by friends, on Beef Island, a scam for $2EC to park in what turned out to be Grand Case's town parking space (free), and an outright break in and theft while moored off Cooper Island, BVI. We've rented cars on several islands without incident and otherwise never felt threatened or at risk.
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By Jerry Besco (BonaireTalker - Post #57) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 7:35 pm: |
Richard please read the thread titled "Arrested",
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By Tim Clark (BonaireTalker - Post #21) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 9:10 pm: |
Richard,
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By David Johnson (BonaireTalker - Post #79) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 9:27 pm: |
Richard:
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By Gary Thuillier (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #167) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 10:03 pm: |
My French is a little rusty but isn't Pomme de terre a potato. A lot is said about the amount of petty crime, particularly vehicle break-ins and vandalism but I haven't seen anyone put it into a perspective of ratio of vehicles left in remote areas compared to that of other islands. Bonaire is unique in it's shore diving. No where else will you see so many unattended, vulnerable cars. I just look at the odds as I would at home, use common sense and enjoy my vacation. I can only say that of the islands and countries we have visited, Bonaire was the only one where I felt comfortable walking the streets at nights, but then we haven't been to St. Potato yet.
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By Gary Thuillier (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #168) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 10:17 pm: |
Randy, I agree that you have the right to disagree with me but I disagree with you. I'm going to Boston tomorrow night. People get their cars vandalized there, people get mugged and brutalized there, and people get murdered there. So, should we stay home or go have a good night out.
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By Randy P (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #240) on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 8:46 am: |
Hi Gary,
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By Gary Thuillier (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #169) on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 9:52 am: |
OK Randy, I suppose ridiculous was a poor choice of words. Anyway it is a pity someone would pass up the Bonaire experience because of something that could likely happen in his own back yard.
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By David Johnson (BonaireTalker - Post #85) on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 3:22 pm: |
Given the recent arrests, I think most visitors will feel safer. Here is my summary of security tips for Bonaire:
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By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #12535) on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 7:50 pm: |
David, I agree with you on a few of your statements. When we went to Sint Maarten last March, we looked over our shoulders constantly, made sure my purse and my mother's were securely under our arms when we were in town shopping. We got lost our first night and ended up driving through Phillipsburg at night, and were obviously not in the right area...very uncomfortable. They tell you to not go on any off or side roads, particularly at night. In the room, there was a handout of all the things and precautions to take to not have an "incident" happen. Some of these things on this list in addition to the above were:
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By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1206) on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 10:56 am: |
I just came back from two weeks in Bonaire and I must say that I feel a lot safer in Bonaire than I do in the streets of Boston!!! Bonaire is the only island that I dare to go to when I travel solo and my husband knows that if I were to need anything while there that I would be in good hands from the great friends we have met on island. I have never been afraid to walk the streets at night and never once did I feel like I had to hang on to my purse! I am not blind to the fact that there is crime in Bonaire. I was there during the time that Barbara and her husband were attacked and I feel terrible for what they went through. And Yes the police need to care and do their jobs better but I firmly believe that Bonaire is still safer than any other island that I have been to!
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By Gary Thuillier (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #171) on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 8:00 pm: |
So Darlene, a little off topic but how did your new fins work out?
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By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1210) on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 9:24 pm: |
Gary, My new fins were incredible!They were just what I was looking for. They were very flexible and I could break the surface easily with them. Thanks for asking.
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By Richard B. Emerson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #7) on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 11:15 pm: |
To tidy up some loose ends...
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By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #12552) on Monday, November 1, 2004 - 2:47 pm: |
Richard, I hung out on TravelTalkOnLine.com for about 3 months before our trip gleaning a lot of information and printing out all sorts of stuff so when we got there, we would have direction on where the good restaurants were, places to shop, etc. We stayed at the timeshare Belair, which is between Phillipsburg and Simpson Bay. It is located at Little Bay. It was nice, but again, we did not feel safe most of the time, probably due to the warnings at the resort. Also, there are lots of crime reports on TravelTalkOnLine.com in regard to Sint Maarten...they just have a LOT more people living on the island.
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By lisa zacchio (BonaireTalker - Post #25) on Monday, November 1, 2004 - 8:27 pm: |
We just returned from our stay at the Plaza Resort. This was our 3rd stay there. We were a bit disappointed this time. Rooms not as clean as they used to be, there were plumbing problems ( our toilet area flooded everytime we emptied the bathtub, and a couple on our dive boat had no hot water until the second to last day). There were two rooms broken into, both of them on the ground floor. The first room we were given was on the ground floor, and the sliding door locks did not work. We insisted on being moved to the second floor, and with a locking door. I understand that things can happen, but a couple who were on our dive boat said that when they were broken into, security just laughed and made jokes. This was the most disturbing part.
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