Well, here I am, one full month after returning from Bonaire, and finally writing the report. Life is hectic, and I wasn’t even sure where to begin, but here goes.

TRAVEL: We took Delta from Denver, then Air Jamaica. Absolutely no problems going down. In fact, when we bought our tickets, the only seats left were in First Class, so we took them. I may never be able to go back to coach. (sigh) We were delayed in Bonaire coming back, and also in Montego Bay, so we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta. AJ grudgingly gave us a voucher for a room and meals, and we caught a flight to Denver the next morning. We arrived back at Red Creek a full 24 hours later than we had planned. As I’ve said before, traveling sucks, but travel is so worth it.

ACCOMMODATIONS: We stayed at the BelMar - what a treat! The apartment was sparkling clean and included a full kitchen, living area, bedroom with air conditioner, bathroom with a tub, and balcony patio where we could sit and sip Margaritas (from a glass) and watch for the green flash. The grounds were beautiful and abloom. Wilma was very pleasant and extremely accommodating, meeting all our needs and more. The BelMar has a fresh water pool, two docks with stairs to the water, showers outside and tanks for rinsing diving gear. Toucan Dive has a “satellite” station at the BelMar, and although we do not dive (yet ) it looked like they had a far amount of equipment, tanks, etc. available. They gave us good advice about snorkeling sites, and we arranged a guided snorkel to Klein with them. BelMar also has a night watchman who loves ice cream. We had absolutely no problems with theft. The BelMar is not located close to the other resorts, which suited us because after living on this spacious prairie for 10 years, we feel uncomfortable around lots of people. It was necessary to rent a vehicle, and Total Car Rental was a good option for us. We drove around Bonaire in a Mitsubishi pickup, no air conditioner and no heater - the folks in Wyoming cannot believe we survived without either! Travis totally enjoyed traveling with his head out the window, Bonaire breeze in his hair. Reminded me of our ‘ol yellow lab dog, minus the tongue thing.

SCENERY: Bonaire’s harsh beauty captivated my heart. What diversity! Not only do we want to return, I NEED to return. I did not see everything I wanted to see. One week just isn’t enough time. When we weren’t in the water, we were exploring the terra firma. The wind was strong the first couple of days, so we spent some time on the windward side of the island watching the waves crash upon the iron shore. We visited W-S park and saw iguanas, whip-tail lizards, anoles, flamingos, troupials, yellow warblers, bananaquits,herons, egrets, loras, prikichis (sp?) and a crested caracara, which is a hawk with a blue-tipped beak - very beautiful. We saw numerous others birds and such, goats, and of course, donkeys. I was impressed by those incredible cactus fences. How do they get them to grow that way?? Steve and I are convinced that if Tom Hanks had landed on Bonaire in “Castaway,” he would not have survived!

SNORKELING: Water temp. was right around 78 F. I did not get cold, but my husband wore a 3mm farmer john shorty. My son and I wore swimsuits and T-shirts. Since my students and I had spent so much time looking at coral reef animals, we could identify almost everything we saw - it was so exciting!!! We did notice the damage and regrowth caused by Lenny, and discovered that the sand from Pink Beach is now strung about on Margate Bay, although not right on the water’s edge :-) We saw more fish than I can recall, although we did record what we saw so we wouldn’t forget. Travis spotted his first turtle, and we saw three more during the week. Favorites included midnight parrot fish, rainbow parrot fish, stoplight parrot fish, well, okay, ALL PARROT FISH, white spotted file fish, honeycomb cow fish, those cute little spotted trunk fish, peacock flounders, flamingo tongues, a yellow sea horse, damsel fish, trumpet fish, etc., etc. My personal favorite was reef squid. We spotted two very curious groups, and swam around with them for about 40 minutes. They pulsated and changed colors - I didn’t know they could do that! Let’s see, we snorkeled 1000 steps, Karpata, Margate Bay, Punt Vierkant, Playa Funchi, Klein from Ebb’s point to No-name Beach and then on a different day Bonaventure, Jerry’s Reef, and Ebo’s Special, in front of the BelMar, and Andrea I and II. I felt the coral was most beautiful at Playa Funchi and Andrea. We are hooked - we need to see what is lurking below 20 feet.Our first real scuba lesson is on May 5th.

DINING: We tried Zeezitch, Mi Poron, De Islander, which has surprisingly tasty food, Rum Runners, The Great Escape for breakfast, Capriccios (which was our favorite,) Cozzoli’s, and Den Laman. The food and service were good to excellent.

OVERALL: One of the highlights of this trip was to meet Ellen Muller. What a wonderful, warm, intelligent person she is! If you ever have occasion to be in Bonaire, look her up. Thanks, Ellen. I hope we meet again soon.

We are like most of you. Bonaire will always hold a special place in our hearts. I know that some of our wonderful experiences in Diver’s Paradise were due to the wonderful advice and contact we had with this newsgroup. Thank you, one and all.

Hazel, I knew I would enjoy your report before I read it. And I was right. :-)

Hmmmmm Should she get a 'B', a 'B+'? An 'A'? Where were you softies when I hadda submit my Thesis? Give the girl an 'A'. No, not a red one. That's a whole nother book. Right,Teach? (lol) o~=~-o~=

enjoyed your report hazel. thanks for sharing with us. i dont think anyone on this web site has had their fill of bonaire. if they have they are not saying so, or they are not on the web.

bonaire is such a captivating place. it is windy here in colorado alot but we complain about it-usually because it is cold or so hard it nearly blows you over, especially out on the plains where we live. , the wind on bonaire some how is nice and cooling.

Wow Hazel, you saw a lot of different things! I love watching squid change colours too, and have a special fondness for flamingo tongues. Thanks for the great report!

Thanks Hazel,I love reading trip reports. Brings back so many wonderful memories. I just sit here at my computer and dream. I am new to this - what is a flamingo tongue?
Joyce

Joyce, I, too, am a computer dreamer. A flamingo tongue is a small mollusc about 1 inch long. They live and feed on sea fans and gregonian whips. They are fairly common, and can be found from shallows to about 46 feet deep. Here's a picture that I snatched from Cathi's Dive Site, http://www.mydivesite.com/bonaire-flamingo-tongue.htm

This site includes many photos to bring back memories of Bonaire.

Great report Hazel - we are leaving a week tomorrow and cannot wait. You certainly saw a lot snorkelling - I only hope to see as much diving with camera in hand. Margarittas out of a glass (pray tell how else would you drink them? - perhaps out of a pitcher if I know my crowd)

LOL, Gail! Actually, the margarita comment (in a glass) was for Cecil. He has been accused of sucking tequilla straight out of his solar shower. He *SAYS* he doesn't do that, but he has not proven it, so there you are. Have a wonderful time - let us know the details!

I resemble that remark, I do drink it straight, salt and limes are for Marines (hey, at least I capitalized it) and wusses. Great report, I haven't been yet, but want to go (more) now. If I can get a new consulting job, maybe the fall.

Thanks Hazel, gives me something else to look for next time we go to Bonaire. And I really appreciate you pulling off the picture for me. Looks kind of like the nudibranch type critters. We lived in the Pacific for two years so we got really familiar with Pacific fish and invertibrates - but we found they are NOT AT ALL the same in the Caribbean. Had to buy a new book while in Bonaire. I cannot find a flamingo tongue in my Tropical Pacific Invertibrates book. Guess I need another of Paul Humann's books.
Thanks again.

Hi Hazel - great trip report! Y'know, we were staying just toward town from the BelMar, at the same time as your week on Bonaire. Too bad we weren't on-line at the time or we could have gotten together. Well, next time!!!

You really covered a lot of territory both dry and wet. And now you have that wonderful hooked on snorkeling / diving / Bonaire feeling. Enjoy, it will lure you back to Bonaire or other tropical destinations more than you ever thought possible. We love living in Colorado but all vacations now take us to tropical islands over and over and ... well, you get it!

Hi, Virginia! I knew you were on island at the same time - I brushed cookie crumbs from the street cam guest book :-) I would have loved to meet you and your gang. Perhaps another year...

LOL - you mean the pigeons didn't eat all the crumbs????

Cookie breath has a treat in store for her - I spent Friday evening cooking up a bath of Hermits. They are now in the container and frozen for safe keeping until we leave on the evening of the 27th.

Whoops - make that a "batch" not "bath". Stupid fingers. (bad, bad, bad)

I thought of Virginia and Cookie Breath today :-) I am furiously baking things for a baked-goods sale to help pay for Red Creek's visit to Denver. I actually baked snickerdoodles for the first time in years. Hermits, eh? Haven't baked THOSE for awhile...maybe after the cranberry zuchinni bread and pumpkin pies...Help, Dara - I need you!

Well you better bake extra if you don't want the pigeons to starve. I wouldn't count on CookieBreath leaving crumbs if I were a pigeon!