My parents arrived in Bonaire Sunday morning although their luggage did not. I gather this is not uncommon and not too big of a deal for them since they're spending their first few days at Sorobon Their luggage arrived on Monday, only one day late. Sadly, their bags had been broken into and they had two regulators, an octopus, a dive computer, a compass, and their video camera stolen. Insurance will eventually take care of everything but it's a disappointing way to start a trip.

We are leaving on Thursday to join them in Bonaire and will be carrying on anything of value.

Just wanted to give anybody else who is travelling there in the next little while a heads up.

Cheryl, sorry to hear of the theft, I would wager they were traveling through Miami.

Almost everybody who travels and dives does what you are going to do. My regulators, computer, favorite mask, swimsuit, a pair of short and shirt are always packed in my carry-on. For u/w cameras we transport them in Pelican cases with Master padlocks. This does not always work as somebody tried to make off with the entire case.

Cheryl, sorry to hear about the theft...what airline were they flying? Do they think it was the airline, the aiport, the security folks, or whom??? Not a nice feeling at all when you have been violated like that. Carole

Carole,

I'm pretty sure they were flying American. Not sure who they think is responsible. I'm taking down quotes for replacement cost for them when I go on Thursday so they must be hoping to get some compensation from the airline. They've travelled with their dive gear to many different places and have never had a problem so I know they have been a little surprised by this. They'll become distracted as soon as all the kids and grandkids descend on them over the next few days! (hopefully with all our stuff in tow)
Cheers, Cheryl

If you do use Pelican cases for transporting underwater cameras, you might want to place the entire, locked Pelican case into a larger, nondescript-looking, locked piece of luggage. This makes it harder for the banditos to pick out camera equipment. --Deborah

Deborah,

We will be carrying our underwater camera on the plane with us - not willing to take any risks. Good idea to put the pelican case in a non-descript bag though. We were going to take our dive bag with wetsuits, booties, that kind of thing but we'll just use a non-descript duffle bag now. I'm thinking that anything that can be easily identified as dive or camera equipment is an easy target.
Cheryl

Cheryl, i am sorry they got ripped off. Did they have their luggage locked? I like the others carry regs and computers on board with me as well as our camera. all luggage is locked up but that doesn't mean it won't get broken into. when we traveled to st. croix years ago, we had locked our luggage as were told that theft was a problem, we were sitting on the tarmack and i looked out the window and our luggage was sitting BESIDE the plane, with some guy hovering over it...i immediatly notified the pilot (it was a 6 seater) and made him stop and get our luggage!

Cynde,

I'm not sure if their luggage was locked or not. The bags were soft-sided and ripped though.
Thank goodness you saw your luggage being left behind when you did. Who knows where it might have ended up.

I'm with you, Cheryl... I always carry on the cameras (and regulators, and my mask, which I couldn't live without.) But friends with Pelican cases have been theft-free because they stick them in larger, "normal-looking" luggage. A bag that says "I'm a diver" can sometimes be a magnet to thieves.
--Deborah

We'll definately be carrying on the important stuff. My husband earns a living with his camera so we never risk checking on any of that equipment. With our other things, we'll just hope for the best.

One more sleep! (and a very short one at that)

Cheers, Cheryl