By Jim Smith (BonaireTalker - Post #13) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 12:57 pm: |
Hey all-
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By David Frank (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #402) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 1:51 pm: |
Jim,
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By David Frank (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #403) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 1:53 pm: |
Oh, and have a great trip!
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By Grasshopper (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #17152) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 1:58 pm: |
Jim, Belmar is a very secure property. They have a security guard from before dusk to after dawn, and access to the property is locked with gates at night. Obviously, don't leave your valuables open in in sight for everyone to see. Lock all items you can into the room safe when they are not on your person as you would when traveling to any other country (or in the US on vacation).
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By Cheryl Ferguson (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #273) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 2:38 pm: |
We locked camera equipment, IPODs etc in the largest suitcase we had and hid it out of the way. It was a pain but we hoped to thwart temptation. One day at the Divi we had forgotten to lock our second floor patio door during the day, and when we got back to our room, the maid had locked it for us! We appreciated her proactive behaviour :o)
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By Vince DePietro (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #236) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 6:55 pm: |
My advice is to leave your laptop at home. You can walk across the street at Belmar to Great Escape which I think charges about $5 to use their computer. This is certainly much safer & prudent then taking your own laptop. Why chance a problem if it's really not necessary?
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By mike (BonaireTalker - Post #24) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 7:39 pm: |
BelMar is wireless which is great for a
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By Sue Goodman (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #285) on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 10:29 pm: |
We just returned from a week at BelMar and I was amazed at the nighttime security. The guard would appear out of thin air when you parked your car or were walking around. I think if you take precautions and store the items in stacks of luggage to be safe you shouldn't have a problem. (I'm very glad my daughter didn't know about the $5/day Internet service at Great Escape!! - we would have never gotten her out to dive).
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By Kevin Wayne Williams (The Great Escape) (BonaireTalker - Post #90) on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 9:24 am: |
In general, the crime problem on the southern part of the island is lower than the northern part. A lot of that is just the natural consequence of not having as many people. The BelMar has pretty good security, which helps a lot.
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By David Frank (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #406) on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 3:12 pm: |
Mike,
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By Lynn Schwiebert (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 6:34 pm: |
Last week we arrived at the Belmar (our first visit) with every type of security devices imaginable (short of heat seeking missles)and felt really foolish when we discovered how secure it really was. We brought door alarms for every door and a motion detector alarm. The locks on the doors are so secure that they become a pain in the ___, especially the sliding glass doors that require a locksmith degree to open. You can not leave the place without using a key in the deadbolt (a feature not allowed in USA because of the problem with exiting in a hurry in case of fire.) Anyway the Belmar is secure and a terrific place to stay but I would just be careful. We saw people leaving their dive equipment on the dock overnight which is probably not the smartest move. We would dry our gear on our porch but then move it inside at night.
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By mike (BonaireTalker - Post #25) on Friday, March 3, 2006 - 8:26 am: |
Dave,
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By Kevin Wayne Williams (The Great Escape) (BonaireTalker - Post #91) on Friday, March 3, 2006 - 9:50 am: |
Belmar has a wireless system. It doesn't reach all the units and hasn't got as fast of an uplink as I have got in my cafe. If you don't need high-speed and you can find a spot where it works for you, then it will probably serve you just fine. If you need a faster uplink or can't find a comfortable spot to get access, I'm across the street.
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By David Frank (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #407) on Saturday, March 4, 2006 - 10:29 am: |
Mike, Kevin,
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By Jim Smith (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 12:20 pm: |
Had a fantastic time at Belmar. We were very impressed with the security, and none of our needs went unmet. Highly recommended; we'll definitely return.
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By Vince DePietro (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #252) on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 6:15 pm: |
I know exactly what you mean.."Butchie" does a great job watching over things at night!
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By Rob & Kobi (BonaireTalker - Post #52) on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 10:03 am: |
This is good information to know as we're coming in May; staying at Buddy's BUT going to buy one of the 8 units currently for sale at Belmar.
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By Lynn Schwiebert (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 2:27 pm: |
If you are really thinking about buying a unit at Belmar I would highly recommend ground floor unit #1..which I think is for sale right now. It is on the very end and they keep the gate locked at that end so you will not have people constantly walking around your unit like at the other end where the rinse tanks and office are located. Also it is a little bigger unit. It has a great view and because it is on the end I think that it would be nice and quiet. We were just there and stayed in unit #2 (a great unit also) but had fantasies about buying #1!!!! Are there 10 other people out there who would like to go in on it with us????
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By Marcus L. Barnes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #546) on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 2:47 pm: |
Lynn: We stayed in Unit #1 in September and are staying in Unit #2 in June. Just wondering how the view for the Unit #2 patio was for you. The view from #1 is outstanding and if I remember right, the patio of #2 sits back further from #1's patio. Thanks.
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By Dr. Director (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #142) on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 10:02 pm: |
We were in unit 3 at Belmar in October and one day had very strong wave action rolling in from the Northwest and crashing into the sea wall from the far off hurricane (I believe it was Wilma). Belmar has been strenthening and installing concrete deflectors along their seawall, essentially an upside-down "L", as a means of deflecting the water away and this was their first true test of the deflectors. When we were there, the deflectors were in place from about unit 3 through unit 8, and they worked. When the waves hit the seawall, they were deflected up to about the middle of the second story and away, so only a small portion of water splashed onto the pool deck area. (This is in contrast to what we were told happened in the prior storm where the waves were really crashing onto the pool deck and patios.) Unfortunately, the deflectors had not yet been built in front of units 1 or 2, and in combination with blocked drains, plus the closer proximity of unit 1 to the seawall, quite a bit of water sloshed onto the patio of unit 1 and then into the living room. The guests spent much of that day "sweeping back the ocean" and were reasonably successful, so I don't believe there was any real damage, but it was a mess for them. I believe Belmar is planning to build the deflectors all the way to the end, so that will help, but that wasn't done when October's storm hit. (The patio on unit 2 got some water onto it, but not bad, and our patio in unit 3 stayed dry.) Suggest you look for the deflectors before you buy unit 1. Otherwise I agree with what Lynn said.
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By Sue Goodman (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #296) on Friday, March 17, 2006 - 2:14 pm: |
Dr - your description of removing sections of the dock solves the mystery of why there are numbers on each piece of decking wood!
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By Dr. Director (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #143) on Friday, March 17, 2006 - 6:05 pm: |
We were at Belmar shortly after the "boat" dock (as opposed to the "umbrella" dock) washed away completely a few years ago, and again about 6 months later when it was fully back. Saw both the section numbers and the bolt heads and figured out that someone had used common sense to build a dock that could be disassembled. Only issue is it takes time to undo the bolts and drag the sections up to the pool deck. Rob, Manon, Henriette and a few others spent several hours in the pounding surf and all they got disassembled was about a third of the dock. Although that too they did with common sense, removing about every third section, plus most of the sections closest to the seawall, so the waves would go through the skeleton without destroying the decking. Once the storm was over, it took about 2 days to reassemble, but others did that, not Rob and crew.
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By Dr. Director (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #145) on Friday, March 17, 2006 - 6:15 pm: |
Message for scubalaw: tried to respond to your private e-mail, but it appears the e-mail address in your profile is no longer valid. Please update it, or send another private message with an e-mail address that I can use to respond. Thanks.
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By mike (BonaireTalker - Post #29) on Friday, March 17, 2006 - 9:53 pm: |
Updated with new e-mail address. Try again.
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