Hello

My husband and I will be in Bonaire in 26 days (but who's counting? OK, I am). We would love to meet up with anyone (dinner or diving or snorkelling). We are pretty new to the board, but check it daily and are so grateful for all of the tips, trip reports, etc.. It would be fun to meet any BTers during that time

Stephanie

I'll be here:-)
Always love to dive or snorkel! Not much into dining though :-)
Bas

(cue Jackson Five: ) I'll be theeeeeeere, I'll be theeeeeeere...

I'll be there too! We arrive August 28! That's 20 days!!

Great, we have enough people for a "potje klaverjassen"

Sorry...

What's a "potje plaverjassen"?

Hi Renee,

Klaverjassen is a Dutch cardplaying game (any equivalent in English, Marc?). I have no clue what the rules are, because I'd rather play poker (when and if I play cards)

Thank you, Kitty!

Are you excited about your upcoming trip?

Exciting? Nah, not really.... Why should I?

Why would I want to spend my time on a small sunny island with a bunch of pink flamingos and lots people wearing SCUBA diving gear or next to nothing. With very warm and clear sea water and local food.

I mean, what in the world is so nice about that?

I'd rather stay here in Holland with the low summer temperatures and grey clouds and icy cold grey/brown seawater and tasteless local food...

NOT!!!!! Of course I'm excited, I'm counting the days!!!! I'm so glad I am once again returning to the soil of my childhood... Curacao and Bonaire... I can hardly wait.... :-)

If you're wondering where I went to, I had to do some work... Oh, and I uploaded new pics to our site

Awsome pictures!

I especially like the flamingo pictures. They make me anticipate seeing wild flamingos even more!

Thank you for sharing.

I can't wait to see everything! This is going to be a ball. This is our first trip to Bonaire - how many times have you all been there?

Just looked at the pics - gorgeous. Love the zoo pics. I bet you'll get some great new ones in Bonaire.

Thank you . And yes, we plan to shoot a lot of great pics on the islands.
Pitty this batch is a bit dark... I'll have to check if the lens caused that, or the scanner...

This will be my second trip to Bonaire.

The first one was pre-lenny (1999), so I'm curious as to how things look now. I'm sure the diving will still be spectacular!

I overlooked your question before Stephanie, sorry. It'll be my first time on the Antillen, but Kitty grew up on Curacao and naturally has been on Bonaire before. Her dad lives on Curacao and her sister on Bonaire; we will stay with both of them for 2,5 weeks in total.

Hi Marc & Kitty,
Would you have room left over in the luggage to bring over a dive suit?? I'm not sure if it's ready in time but I can find that out. It's on order from a dive shop in Rotterdam and my parents can bring it over to you. They also live in Roterdam.

Bas, in principle we'd be glad to help, but it would depend on how big and especially how heavy it is. I'm packing a tripod in my suitcase and Kit already has a wishlist for her dad and sister. So if you can give us an estimate on that... We're not allowed to pack above 20 kilos, as you know.
Also... no offense or mistrust to you, but if it comes in a package, we'd like to be able to open it to make sure it's really a dive suit

Marc, I will check on that info. And no problem about checking it out, it would be dumb not to.

arriving in Bonaire on the 21st for 3rd visit.keep bringing new people with us each time.hoping to take ferry to curacao for the day,never been there.any suggestions as to what to do and see..i know its not bonaire.how is the ferry?can't wait to get to bonaire .want to snorkle in mangroves this time but had trouble finding where to snorkle last time did we not drive far enough? well this posting is certainly confusing enough ..even for me.

Marc, since last year KLM allows 35kg. Check your ticket.

No wonder drugs trafficking has risen so much... .
Thanks for the tip!

Marion, we have checked our ticket and it still states "20 kg. max". Where have you found this info?

2 weeks from now, we'll be at the airport checking in! Finally!

Baggage info from KLM web site:

http://www.klm.com/uk_en/index.jsp

Passengers traveling Economy Class can take along 20 kg (44 lbs) without extra charges. Passengers traveling Business Class are allowed to take along 30 kg (66 lbs). These weight restrictions apply to all flights to and from all countries except for the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

On flights to and from the United States, Canada and Mexico, all passengers can take along two items of baggage at no extra cost. The two items are allowed to be no more than 158 cm in size each (length + width + height). The maximum weight allowance is 32 kg (70 lbs) per item of baggage.

Sarah.

Damn, I knew we should've booked Business Class...

Thanks for the info Sarah!

ps: The Flying Dutchman Program is also worth looking into.

Have a wonderful holiday Marc.

Sarah & Marion,

In your experience is Caribbean (Bonaire in particular) considered part of the group of "US, Canada, and Mexico"?

Jake

Even though Bonaire appears to be more popular with americans than with dutch tourists, it's still dutch territory...

I am so excited! We are leaving two weeks from Monday. When are we all going to try to meet, or do we want to just contact each other when we're on the island? We will be staying at the Divi from September 2-13 under the name Caviness. Counting down the days/hours/minutes!

Stephanie

Stephanie, we'd like to, and I think Renee wil join in as well... so if anyone could suggest a time and place anywhere between 1 and 10 Sep., we'll be there!

We should be around then too (unless a last minute business trip comes up for me).

Jake

Well it needs to be between 3 and 10 for us ;) We don't get in until the afternoon of the second Jake - it would be great to meet you two!

So now for a location. Jake, I bet you have some great suggestions

Pick a day first, then I'll suggest some locations :-) (Fridays or Saturdays are best for us since we don't have to work the next day, and can arrange a babysitter)

Jake

How about Saturday, the 7th? oh my goodness - I can't believe I will finally be there in two weeks!

AFAIK we don't have any other arrangements on the 7th, unless my sis-in-law has something planned. So for us it's okay, if not I'll let it know

Have we decided where to meet, yet? Would love to snorkel or dive together at some point (if people didn't want to that day). Can't wait to meet you all

Jake, we've set the date (7th), can you pick/suggest a time and place?
Will do my best to check BT before we leave (wednesday 3pm), and we can also check once we're there.

Okay - to narrow things down, please advise on food preferences and number of people:

1) Bonairean food (stews, fried food, etc.)
2) Fish non-Bonairean style (Dutch)
3) BBQ Ribs & Chicken
4) Pizza
5) Indonesian Rijstafel (a smorgasbord of Indonesian food)
6) Other cuisines (Italian, French-Thai, Dutch, etc.)

1, 3, and 4 would be the least expensive. 1 & 5 would be the most unusual for most people.

Let's just say this will be a dinner.

How many people - please RSVP here. I'll start:

1) Jake
2) Linda

I think Kitty would prefer 1, I would add 3, 5 and 6 to that.

1) Jake
2) Linda
3) Kitty
4) Marc

1 sounds great to us. Actually, any of them do.

1) Jake
2) Linda
3) Kitty
4) Marc
5) Stephanie
6) Clay (Stephanie's hubby)

Can't wait!

Newbies to Bonaire/Cozumel vets...we'll be there in 7 days. Can't wait. Any other Texans in Paradise 9/4-9/12? We love BT and Bonaire already.

7) Bas

:-)

Marc, Looking at your profile, you must be an excelent diver. I noticed your diving certification is Pierenbadje LOL. but serious, if you are a diver, you could have asked to get 10 kg extra diving bagage. But you have to be able to show it's really diving equipment. You have to ask for this when you book your ticket.

Enjoy your stay en doe de groeten aan Jake, Linda, Bas, Yana, Bas en de rest van de BT-ers die je tegenkomt.....

Martin

Martin, I never got further than my "B" diploma . No, I'm not a diver, my (and Kit's) passion is photography. Hey, maybe they have a similar arrangement for photo-equipment? I'm bringing over 5 kg's of the stuff... (No mister FBI agent, this is not a cloaked drug-trafficking message ).

Zal ik doen!

James, welcome to the forum... Are you going to join us for dinner?

Hasn't Renee signed up yet? Renee! Yohoo!

James, I was going to ask the same thing as Marc :-)

Jake

Marc, Don't know, as far as I know only diving, Golf, Cycling and surfing, but I'm no travel agency, so I'm not sure.... If I may make a suggestion for the dinner (although I'm not there ) Try #1 (if it's the place I think it is....) Jake, is it the place the 2 of us ordered double???

Yep - #1 would probably end up being Gibi's, where you and I ordered double meals :-)

Jake

How about another BT dinner on Nov. 2nd at Gibi's??? I just cann't wait....

Excellent! #1 at what time on the 7th? Can't wait!

Hmmm. I guess we're doing Gibi's on the 7th then? 6:30pm sounds good. Let me know if any others other than those who RSVP'd above will be joining us.

Jake

See you then, Jake! Can't believe it's finally here

Can't believe WE'RE finally here!!
Booked the flight from Curacao to Bonaire with DCA today... Sunday afternoon you can expect to see us walking the streets of Bonaire!

Well, Sunday afternoon became Sunday evening... DCA decided to shove all Sunday flights into one big one. Luckily we called the airport, so we didn't have to wait the whole day at Hato.
Other than that, we've been having a terrific time here so far! Still half a week left, but if it were up to us, it could have been a month longer . Oh wait, it IS up to us... :|
Jake, we went sailing by your house yesterday, in the Aquaspace... we'll do a visit to the Streetcam too before we go.
I guess we're still on for tomorrow? We'll be at Gibi's at 18.30. See you then!

Kitty & Marc

18:30 (or 6:30pm) at Gibi's tomorrow night it is!

Jake