I've been to Bonaire 4 times and we always stay where we have a condo with kitchen. Since we fly from Miami I bring a cooler of frozen meals I prepare ahead of time. Some folks in my group this year are questioning transportation of meat into the country, saying they are concerned it is prohibited for some reason. Rather than risk throwing out a great deal of food at the airport does anyone know if this is true? Also, any restrictions known about using dry ice when flying? (we're on DCA leaving 9/4) Tks, Fran

I found this item on dry ice on AA web site.

Dry Ice (4 pounds/ 2 kilograms or less) for packing perishables, may be carried on board an aircraft in a hard plastic or heavy gauge Styrofoam container, provided the package is vented. Ticket or gate agent must be advised, and a $40 USD/$54 CAD fee (one-way) applies.
(This seemed to implied this could not be in checked baggage.)

There is a restriction on bring in beef products due to concerns about Mad Cows disease.

Linda,

When did the restriction on beef go into effect? When we were there this past February, we brought rib-eyes, ground beef, and some cooked roast beef. No one seemed to care or ask any questions.

We were planning to do the same on our upcoming trip this October.......

Actually, it wouldn't bother me not to lug a cooler around.

Thanks,

-dave.

we bring frozen food every trip...basically freeze it, wrap it in a soft cooler and pack in the suitcase...for a one day trip to bonaire, the stuff is usually still partially frozen when we arrive (no ice nor dry ice)we don't declare anything and have never been stopped...

TSA in Miami confiscated frozen meat from a US citizen/Bonaire resident coming down recently. It was not on island that it happened. He was not allowed to take it out of the country because his destination was the Netherlands Antilles. They told him he needed an import license. How well it is enforced and where is another issue.

Linda,

that's interesting...appears that the TSA is beginning to encroach on other people's turf...as predicted...wonder what frozen meat has to do with national security and why TSA feels they have the authority to confiscate it...I think somebody in TSA had steaks for supper

Or it could just be that someone was following, or perhaps incorrectly following the rules. Either way, I don't see that a single incident means the TSA is beginning to encroach on other people's turf.

I did some poking around the web on this and found some info regarding meat imports into the N.A., but it was targeted towards resellers. Perhaps the TSA agent thought the person was planning to sell the meat, or perhaps they thought this law applied not only to resellers, but to everyone bringing meat into the N.A. Speculation is fun.

And were I a TSA agent confiscating meat from some random passenger, I know I wouldn't be eating it...who knows where it's been.

Well, they let me fly down with 14 live lobsters in my checked bag back in May.

In all the traveling I've been doing, I've found that the style, form, and substance of enforcement, or the lack thereof, of various TSA rules borders on the bizarre and incomprehensible.

It pretty much is up to the whim of the TSA employee in question - heaven help you if they are having a bad day.

Just about the only thing you can do if a bizarre request/demand comes across from some TSA employee is ask to speak to the supervisor on duty, and take names in case you feel like further escalating things based on the encounter.

I've fortunately been able to avoid any nasty confrontations - the closest call was with the live lobsters, and I was helped in that another TSA worker nearby was able to confirm that you want the Maine lobsters live instead of dead when you cook them.

Jake

I want to sincerely thank all of you for your opinion and comments. I think the issue really has to do with resale. So I'm going to just conduct business as usual and if they do stop me I guess I'll just play dumb. Worst case is I have to throw out our dinners and cook while I'm on vacation. Fran

Jake...you carried LIVE lobsters to Bonaire...I nominate Jake for the Travelling Extrodinaire (sp) Award

Wally, I'm with you there...I'd like to know how he transported them live...Jake, do tell please (like you have the spare time to entertain us...;-))

Sam's Club for cheap, large insulated freezer bags
Walmart for 4 pieces of large Tupperware and freezer gel packs and garbage bags
A fridge in my room at the Summerfield Suites in Miami to freeze said gel packs
A seafood store which had 14 1.5lb Maine lobsters (which I stored in said fridge overnight)
A 29" hard roller bag into which the above fit as follows:

- 3-4 lobsters in each Tupperware container
- 2 containers per freezer bag (no lids)
- 2 freezer bags stacked on top of each other, each in a garbage bag to prevent leakage into my clothes in the luggage

It just fit, and I manage to sneak out at abot 68 pounds for the bag, including my clothes, and several packages of corn on the cob.

It was a surprise for Linda for mother's day. She was surprised :-)

Jake

PS Wally - thanks for the truck note on the other thread. I've already shot off an e-mail to the garage about that.

My 16 lb turduckens love it when I put them in my suitcase.....they are always ready for a trip to Bonaire.

The look on Linda's face when Jake gets off the plane with a container full of lobster for her: Priceless.

Talk about TSA slackin' on their duties...How can 28 lobster pinchers be any less harmful than a set of nail clippers?

Jake, that's quite the Mother's Day present! You are a GOOD husband

Brian, I have this mental picture of 14 lobsters taking over the aircraft...scurring on the floor under the seats in in the iles...

(Message edited by cyndelee on August 26, 2004)

See? That's what I'm talkin' about! Nail clippers can't move and act of their own free will!

;)

There was a woman at the Columbus airport ahead of me in line for security, and they took her Clinique eye liner sharpener. Looks like a small pencil sharpener. Then I realized AFTER I got to Las Vegas, that I had my damn tweezers in my purse ! Good lord !

Kelly, they took her eye liner sharpener? Now how is THAT a weapon? Oh, and it had to be expensive if it was Clinique...didn't they take you tweezers when you left Bon a year ago?

As long as humans are the ones trying to follow the rules and make decisions and judgement calls (i.e. security enforcement), the results will be inconsistent at best.

To Gregg's earlier point, maybe that particular security agent needed an eyeliner sharpener, but had already plucked his/her eyebrows that week.

Although, most "pencil" sharpeners do have a little razor blade that can be removed with a little screw driver. It could feasibly be used to cause a little harm.

Brian, I actually thought the same thing..."gee, this is a nice Clinique eye liner sharpener, I need one of these, but already have a "new" pair of tweezers..."

Forgot about the little blade in the sharpener...nice to see a man know his way around and eye liner sharpener ;-)

What are you implying? ;)

Nah, I admit, marriage learns [sic] you some strange things...nevermind that they're not much different from regular pencil sharpeners.

(Message edited by bcj on August 26, 2004)

Brian ;-)

An added triCk to keep lobsters alive on the trip in Carry-on: wrap the lobsters in a damp ({not}) wet towel material from the time you first get them home. This keeps their gills moist so they Can breathe; a soaking wet towel may not pass enough oxygen and they will be asphyxiated as they would be in unaerated water. North AtlantiC lobsters are designed to spend time in air between tides: in Colonial times there were so many lobsters here that they were unCovered at low tide. I also have run tap water on their gills from time to time when they are in the refrigerator and after arrival. They will last several days with Care.

The damp towel is insuranCe that has worked for me in almost 40 years of CatChing lobsters diving and eating them later, and in transport to Bonaire. My max was five 2 pounders; Jake's 14 is a real reCord!!! Love is a wonderful motivator!!! :–)

I may be one of the few to find humor in this, but...Glen: Is your Capital C stuCk?

Brian, thanks for the muCh needed laugh...I just thought of something else funny...a Clinique eye liner sharpener also Cannot get up and move around the plane like a live lobster Can...really giggling now...

(Message edited by cyndelee on August 26, 2004)

And if you have a rogue Maine lobster, with really bad eyeliner, who REALLY NEEDS to sharpen his eyeliner pencil --- well then you are in real trouble then ! lol

Another note. Jake put the lobsters in airtight Containers. Asking for trouble, like a wet towel.

I have used an insulated bag, iCe paCks in the bottom, a dry towel to prevent the iCe freezing the lobster, then the lobsters wrapped in a damp towel as above, then the bag Closed to keep in the Cold. I even have taken to opening the bag at airplane Changes to make sure the air is Changed. Probably not needed but there would nothing more disCouraging to everyone involved than to open a Container of dead lobsters on Bonaire!!!

Like Gregg, I have brought frozen food to Bonaire. Freeze paCkaged as from the store, wrap in Clothes or a towel and paCk in the suitCase. Mine have always still been frozen solid on arrival on a one day trip. Sometimes I add vegetables not on island like fresh broCColi. It has always worked.

I kknew that would get a rise here!!!

C not stuCk. Lower ase '' does a 'Copy' sine I updated the operating system. Otherwise fine. Whih do you guys prefer? :–)

'k' does seem to be stuk.

Glen, you know it doesn't take muCh to entertain us! I'm not sure whih I perfer...hmmm...must ponder...

I thinkk Jakke said he left the lids of the tupperware and put them in insulated freezer bags. And not a single C.

OKKK, no lids. But sealed in bags. And not a single .

But, I arrived on Bonaire at about 4pm (AA MIA-CUR, Divi Divi CUR->BON), and we dined on lobsters that night (around 7pm), so they didn't have long to suffer :-)

Jake

Don't you just hate the squealing noise they make when you have to toss them into the boiling water, tho? Oh...the horror! But ohhhh soooo goood! Nice, job, Jake!! Drawn butter as a treat, too??? Carole

PS I can just see the "Attack of the Killer Lobsters" showing on the movie screen on the flight, too....way too funny!

The gaggle of lobsters charging down the isle of the plane with rubber bands popping off their claws as they charge......cb

"Ladies and Gentlemen....we must now ask that you lift your feet up off the floor of the aircraft".......CArole

My flights have always been on time too but with a high value Cargo (lobsters), I figure I will plan for the unexpeCted, i.e., a delayed flight, even an o'nite in SJ or MB. SeCond Corollary of Murphy's Law: the events you are prepared for don't happen. :–)

Lobsters loose on a plane, perish the thought. Everybody cover themselves with butter and lemon and for god's sake keep your feet up. If this bad boy got loose on the plane it could be as ugly as a group of Islamic terrorists.

On the other hand, most jet planes have a miCrowave oven....

OK, after lurking for several month off & on, now I have to speak up.
Love the visions of lobsters loose on the plane & what a great guy Jake must be to go to all the trouble to bring Maine lobster home.
Question: are there lobster available in the waters off Bonaire that it's legal to catch? We have what we call spiny lobsters (locally called bugs) here in the Keys. Do you have those there? Is there a market for them?
On another note - I have to say what a warm & friendly forum this is. Like one other that I frequent I'm particularly taken by the really nice way people treat one another.
Good job all!
Louise

Spinys and Corals are there though not running in Crowds. LoCals will have to address the market question; lobsters are not a Common market/store item or on menus, as I remember.

This lower Case 'C' thing is almost to the point of making me take the time to revert the operating system. :–)

Hi, Louise!! Welcome to BT and glad you decided to jump into the waters with us.

I can't answer your question, however...alas...another good BT'er will come along any moment now and provide you with a response.

We see them all the time but I have never tried to corner one of them. Uncertain if it is legal or not. Good old Caribbean Lobsters. Not the same as Maine Lobsters, but tasty, just the same. I enjoyed a 2 pounder at Gibi's place last June....grilled with garlic and butter....oh, sooo good! Carole

PS Glen...would they explode in the nuker?? What a mess that would be up there in first class and back by the lavatories! Whew!!

Cecil...nice critter....butter and lemon ready to go into action! cb

Thought you were referring to Lo Cals, Glen! LOL!!! CArole (oops...my pinky goes nuts on my 'a' key a lot! )

Well, here in the Keys they are very highly prized. My honey is a great catcher, so if they prove to be legal & available maybe I can talk him into giving lessons. We're headed your way in a couple of weeks - first trip & we're pretty excited.
Winters are too cold here ;-) so are looking at other loCals.

Hi Louise,

Welcome to Bonaire Talk. Just recently dived Joe's Tug in Key West. Also had a number of dives on Looe Key. Love that area.

"Attack of the Killer Crustatians" (sp?)??? cb

Thanks for the welcomes!

John, I must admit to little diving experience here in the Keys. I was certified here, but most of my diving has been in Asia. Here, my job is to get the reluctant snorkelers into the water & comfortable and then man the boat while others are in the water doing their "work".

We're looking forward to checking out your waters
:-)

Louise,

If you check out Looe Key see Captain Jim Wyatt with Reef Divers at mm21. Runs six packs to Looe Key and does tech diving on wrecks in the area.

Who are you with in Key West?

My honey is a long time charter boat captain - used to do fishing (of all kinds) now does dolphin watching. I often go along as the "educator" slash mate slash snorkeling instructor slash etc. etc.
Check him/us out at www.wilddolphinadventures.com

Wow, Louise! That is fantastic!! How exciting and fun for everyone. If Joe and I get down to the Keys we will definitely hook up with Dave and the dolphins! Again, welcome to BT and get ready to enjoy the waters of Bonaire...there are some pods who swim the shoreline but not many encounters with divers/snorkelers...some, but not many. Thanks again. CArole

'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' I resolved to 'c' problem. Software conflict, as usual. Online help groups are great. :–)

At one time Jake used to accept doughnuts; then gravitated toward bagels...sorry about your luck Jake..if I haul lobsters to Bon, I'm eating them...see ya in a couple of weeks (where do you live now)

Gregg,

Jake is a hop, skip and jump (literally) from you at LBR. Make a left out of LBR, first right on the road to Sorobon and he is the large house on the left. How are things going at the townhouse? The Inn is doing very well.

Liz

Liz,

you must have me confused with another Gregg...I stay at Divi...glad to hear your inn is going well..we want to see it when we arrive in Sept

Gregg / Liz,
There are actually 2 of us "Gregg"s on this forum. I am the other one - Gregg Babcock - my wife and I recently bought Ed & Liz's townhome at LBR. To answer your question, Liz, the townhouse is going well. My wife is on Bonaire now and it looks like we will be installing some new windows upstairs and painting the place. All else is well, we still have some vacant weeks between now and December but everyone that stays loves the place. You did a great job with it and I know your Inn will do well also.