We are all very excited that we will be leaving soon for our 1st trip to Bonaire. I've been reading this site for a while and have relied on it to prepare for our trip. Now that our departure date is quickly approaching (Oct. 19), I have a few questions...
I read somewhere on this site about converters (and not to worry about bringing hairdryers!). We will need to plug in our battery rechargers, etc. I know my camera came with some converters. Will we have any problems with this stuff?
Also, my twins will not sleep without a night light. I guess I can't bring one with us - any suggestions on what I can do?
And finally, for now, any suggestions on bug repellant that works well that I should bring with me? The mosquitos love me.

I have some questions about dining with kids - but I plan on printing out a lot of the dining postings and bringing them with me this weekend to go through. If I still need help, I will post something on the dining group.

Can't wait to get there!!
Regards,
Grace

A plug in night litr is no problem. You can use the charging stations at most dive centers for your batteries. As for bug repellent I found Cutter brand to do the job pretty well, however I alos use it to remove paint from by ceramic tile! (All insect repellent will do the job as well)

Both my children use standard US nightlights here on Bonaire with no problem.

Thanks!!

Linda - the boys each bought a book that they will be bringing with them to donate (children's books). Is there someone we can give them to while we are there? Someone at the resort or Caren (they will be doing reef explorers with her)?

Michael, We rented an apartment for our March trip and we do not use a dive shop. What would be our options for recharging batteries for our digital camera?

Grace,

One of our group was eaten alive by mosquitos. We were there in mid-September. The person who managed the home we rented swears by Avon's Skin So Soft. She even asked us to bring her some.

The real trick to to REMEMBER TO APPLY IT.

Have a great time.

Grace, for bug repellant, why don't you bring along whatever works best for you at home? Mosquitos love me, too ... and which repellant works seems to be variable from one person to another. IMHO, Avon Skin-so-soft is worthless as a repellant, but others swear by it as mentioned above.

Have a great trip! And please post a trip report later for all of us to enjoy.

Grace and Darlene,
I just returned from Bonaire, and this is what I did for charging batteries for my digital camera. I have a "Universal" laptop power supply that I purchased from Radio Shack a year or so ago. It has the capability to set the output voltage from 7 to 19 volts. My battery chargers are capable of running on 12 volts dc, so I set the output voltage for 12vdc. The power supply is able to run on any input voltage from 90 to 250 volts at 50-60 cycles. I had this setup plugged in all week, and everything ran very cool. I had batteries on charge 24 hrs a day. The power supply has enough capacity to handle several chargers at once. I had two chargers going at the same time.

Robert

As for the bugs, we were there from Sept 28th to Oct 5th, and I didn't use any bug repellent at all. I didn't even see any bugs. The only thing I saw were a few small house flies. But then again, it is pretty hard to find bugs when you are under water all the time.

Robert

We used OFF the new one in a small pump spray bottle. 99.5% DDT or is it deet, maybe someone on the board can help me out with that one. LOL.

It works great!

Have fun, Bonaire is such a neat place.

Hi Grace,

I like a product by OFF called "Skintastic". It comes in a 3oz plastic tube (like toothpaste) and is a 30SPF suncreen with 9.5% DEET for the bugs. The bugs are really only a problem at dusk and early evening and even then not always, so that's what I'll be bringing next month.

You are going to fall in love with Bonaire! It is even BETTER than you have been reading.

Dear Grace, People who are not tasty to mosquitos do not realise what the problems can be. Waiting for a suitcase to arrive in the middle of the night I ended up with 83 bites! If you suffer from them remember to spray before you get off the plane! Something with a good % of DEET will work.

When I was in Yap last spring and doing the kayak tour, people laughed at me because I was covered from neck to toes and wrists with deet sprayed all over. I also had mosquito netting I draped over my head and hat when we stopped to wait for stragglers or to have the guide talk about something. I am a real bug magnet and didn't come back with one bite, but the people who were laughing were scratching the next day. Guess who had the last laugh.

I rarely get a bite while on Bonaire, and when I do it is usually in the evening or at night.

Hi Grace, I also use the Cutters pump bottle with 100% deet. The little buggers don't have a chance but...they will find that one place you didn't rub the stuff in.. Also whatever you do, at night when you have lights on, Don't leave your bedroom doors open at the same time you have your main door open to the outside or the bugs will find their way into your bedroom.. Good luck

Hi,
We were there Sep 14 to Sep 29, and I don't recall seeing any bugs (other than those always present ants).

As for charging batteries, what I did was use a converter that was in our apartment for ou fridge. I just brought a powerbar so I could keep the fridge plugged in while charging the batteries.

Darryl

Some Bonaire fridges run on 220v so just be careful; the sockets are different so it is easy to tell though I believe that some will accept a 100v plug also.

For inside, the stores like Cultimara sell slow-burning spiral anti-mosquito things that you light with a match: they give off a bug repellent the fan will spread around. There are also electric powered 'burners' that use a small pellet sort of thing. I have found both very effective for flying, biting things.

Grace, the ticket we have found is first to have a place with screens ( I hope you do) and if you don't to close up the room 1/2 half hour before and after sundown and use the Planaget(sp?)heaters and pads at night (available, usually, at Cultimara.) When I realized that the little blue Plantaget replacement pads were common in stores I figured they must work.
Usually there is a good breeze on the island but you have to protect your legs from bugs under the table when dining, maybe light long pants and skintastic.
Glen I love the powerbar idea.

Gosh, I just plugged my digital camera recharger into all the outlets where I stayed and had no problems at all. I didn't leave them in overnight though at Michael's suggestion. But I stayed at the Divi and the Carib Inn and my charger still works great.

Darlene, I will loan you a transformer if you wish while you are here. Bring a surge protecting power strip to plug into it.

I saw a solar powered battery charger for AA batteries and wondered about this being an option on Bomaire. Has anyone tried one of these.

The mosquitoes on Bonaire are wimps -- they are cowed by pretty much any sort of bug spray. We use the OFF Skintastic for Kids in Bonaire, and it works just fine for us adults (got the idea from Jake & Linda). Up here in Massachusetts, the mosquitoes just laugh at the Skintastic stuff, and gargle with it to show their disdain!

Faith

Michael, Thanks for the offer and I will let you know if we need it as our March trip gets closer. I hope to meet you on my December trip. Are you going to the December 8th gathering?

Faith, I have to agree with you. I spent the first 25 years of my life in Connecticut, and then married this Southern Boy. I've been living in Florida for 23 years now, and when we go "back home" to visit, this Southern Boy has the largest welts from mosquitoe bites that I'd ever seen. New England mosquitoes are the worst, and they seem to know he's not a local! We use Skintastic here with great results. However, I brought a new bottle of Skintastic for our trip to Bonaire last July, but we never had to break the seal. I guess the Bonaireian bugs just didn't like us Floridians!

Using a U.K. Mobile phone in Bonaire.
Vodaphone tell me that it is not necessary to take a tri-band phone to Bonaire as it's the chip on the SIM card that is important. They say that usage may be "patchy" but my phone will work. Has anyone from the U.K. used their phone successfully. I would appreciate your help, Pat

Vodaphone needs to update their database. Bonaire has no GSM service at present, so your phone won't work here at all, regardless of what SIM chip you have in it. Sorry.

Jake

Hi Pat, my mobile service is also Vodaphone. Unfortunately, you can't use your phone on Bonaire(yet).. but they have a pretty nice looking satellite phone that is supposed to work on the island!..

Thank you for your replies Jake & Sarah.We arrive in Bonaire next week for a month and I have found this website extremely interesting and helpful. Reading about everyone's experiences has made us more excited about our trip and it's great being able to ask questions of people that have been there, thanks again, Pat

Jake, I have the opportunity to borrow a tri-band phone which I understand is the type needed for the U.S.A. Do you know if this will work if I purchase a SIM card to use with it in Bonaire? Pat

No. Again, no GSM phones presently work on Bonaire, regardless of the SIM chip. There simply is no active GSM network, public or private on Bonaire at this time.

The only cell phones you can get to work here, with local activation, are ones which use the TDMA standard (not used in Europe at all - only in the U.S. and parts of South America).

Jake

Even though I have a tri-mode phone, it is CDMA, and verizon had it blocked from being used on the island

Thanks Jake, I didn't realize mobile phones were as complicated as this is the first time on our travels that we have come across this problem. I presume Americans have problems practically everywhere else in the world so musn't grumble. It wasn't so long ago that we used to go on holiday in Europe and had trouble phoning home, although that seems in the dark ages now, Pat

Pat,

I'd be thrilled if Bonaire got GSM with roaming. I have a U.S. cell phone with VoiceStream (T-Mobile now) which is GSM and tri-band, which was great when I was in London this summer because I could use it there and still get calls made to the U.S. number on my phone. One phone - many countries - very nice :-)

Jake

Hi folks! I hear that Bonaire has a mosquito population and that at nighttime it can be bad. What is the disease associated with the byte and how common is it? Does anyone know what the affects are and how long it last? Is there an inoculation for it?

Jon

Hi Faith:

You are correct about the Mosquitoes here. They not only byte but they itch forever and they’ll even try to take you home for dinner. I just haven’t contracted any bad diseases from bytes and that has me a little nervous about Bonaire. There is some sort of virus that makes you really sick and after a few days I understand you wish you were dead. Eventually I guess you get over it, but why get it if you can avoid it.

Jon

Jon,

The Bonairian mosquito, although somewhat agressive, does not care for any product that contains 100% DEET. I am unaware of any disease issues arising from a bite, remember Bonaire is an island and as such is somewhat isolated from the ills of the "outside" world. One particular fun flying critter is what you would call "no seeums", on Bonaire they are called Limpi's (spelling not withstanding) and that liberally translates to Flying Teeth. They are inclined to flying into your ears, ears nose and throat and driving you mad. Again DEET serves as an almost protective barrier.

Only thing on Bonaire that flys and might serve to make you nervous should be the local airlines... and DEET won't help ya there.