HI,
I'm new to the Board, but thank you to all of you that post on it for all the great info.
This was our first trip there. Guess what? I don't dive OR snorkel. My boyfriend did some snorkeling, tho. We went on a free Time share at Divi, offered by distant family.
We had 7 days of beautiful sunshine! I know we got lucky, considering all the stories of rain. 85-90 degrees every day w/ a 2 minute sprinkle in the afternoon.
Trip down was fine. We had to get up at 3 AM out of Detroit to ATL, so I stayed up. At 2 AM I was thinking "this was a mistake". Anyways, stayed up 41 hours and did fine. Got to Divi around 4, unpacked, changed and headed out for some pub crawling. Stopped at Donna and Giorgio's, then La Luna. Met 3 locals there and hung out for hours w/ Mr. Yeagermeister. Then headed to Papaya for dinner. YUMM!!
I love how slow,peaceful, and not a lot of people that the island offered. We indeed wanted to relax.
Rented a car for the week and drove around the island-salt ponds, Jibe city... . The next day we drove to Lake Got., and saw the beautiful flamingos, everywhere. Felt like we were the only people on Earth. Same thing at Klein. Got a little topless sunbathing in. Fried!, but not the important parts. hee hee.
We fed the crabs cheez its and potato stik, which they seemed to enjoy. They were everywhere, along w/ the lizards.
Had a great meal at Richards, 2 @ Rains Fishes (filet w/ green peppercorn sauce-YUM), burgers at Papaguyo's, and City, last dinner at Mona Lisa. Nice. Divi buffet, not so good. Burgers and Quesadilla's were very good out of the restaurant.
Met 2 nice couples from Mass. One couple was there 3 weeks and go 2 times/year. Lucky dogs!! Wish we would have met them sooner. We had a lot of fun w/ them at happy hour at the pool.
Didn't like the "sand flea" bites much. Still itching, but getting better.
Made a nice little donation at Donkey Sanct. Women there were great. One donkey ran along side our car for about 10 minutes. Very cute and sweet.
It was fun seeing where all the webcams were that I've been watching for months.
Loved the airplanes coming right over you near windsock.
Sat a few nites at Little Havana having cigar (him) and more Yeagermeister.
Actually went into town the day two cruise ships were in (6,200 more people). It was fun, but hot at their little market area.
Loved seeing the beautiful fish thru the crystal, clear water. Don't like to be near them, or eat them, tho.
Everyone was very nice. Little slow, but it just made you relax more and enjoy. I would definitely go back and rec'd it to other people. One of the couples we met, usually go to Aruba, but their friends talked them into BON, and now they say they won't go back to Aruba. (crowds, commercialized). This is definitely slower, quieter and not for everybody, but it was perfect for us.
The airport is a trip. One landing/taking off strip. I have never gotten off or back on a plane, outside. That was fun. Went thru customs and immigration w/ a cocktail in my hands. Very lax, but then after they x-ray your bag, they also go thru it by hand just before boarding. Thought that was weird. We bought one of those big Gouda cheese circles at the Duty Free. Got a lot of looks and laughs w/ that. Yummy and creamy. Won't be needing to buy cheese for a long time.
That's about all, just wanted to report in and thank you all, again, for your reports, tips and pictures. I'm not very handy w/ the computer, so sorry, no photos. Maybe eventually.

Hi Sheryl & welcome to BT! You've obviously discovered what many of us on this board already know. Thanks for posting your report.Always nice to hear what a first timer has to say

Sheryl, Welcome to BT and thanks for posting about your trip. It sounds like you had lots of fun.

welcome to BT. the first time our sons came to visit us a few years ago we said we'd meet them at the airport and said that we'd be at the end of concourse C...be sure to look for us at concourse C. they were a little shocked when they exited customs and were in the open air terminal. then our daughter in law said she needed to use the restroom and i said that would be a good idea since we had a 45 minute ride to our place. a friend was standing near us and, after the d-i-l went to find the restroom, said "there's no place on this island that's 45 minutes away". i said i was just kidding her. you should have seen the look of relief on her face when we pulled into our driveway 5 minutes after leaving the airport...the restroom line was long and she didnt' want to hold us up so she planned on toughing it out. bonaire is uncrowded with lots of open space (for a while anyway)....just another reason we love it there.

Welcome to BT, Sheryl! Bonaire truly is special, glad you got a chance to experience it. Be very careful now, Bonaire has a way of calling you back again and again.

Pat...LOL...

Sheryl, welcome to BT. I don't think I've ever read a trip report from someone who didn't snorkel/dive/windsurf/kiteboard. I found your report truly refreshing I'm going to bookmark it so when the next time someone says "we don't dive or snorkel, what's there to do," I can point them to this

The airport is actually bigger than it used to be a few short years ago, if you can imagine that!

tink, if you can't pick on your grown kids and their wives what's the use of getting out of bed?

i'm also going to remember this thread to help our visitors who don't dive or snorkel keep busy while they're on bonaire.

Here is something new I just put out on another thread. I always see PBD used by many folks. I think PBD must mean Post-Bonaire Disorder or even Pre-Bonaire Disorder. However, here is a possibly new tern for you all - BDD - meaning BONAIRE DEFICIT DISORDER.

It kind of relates to "Trip Reports" topics.

What do y'all think?

it means Pre or post Bonaire DEPRESSION Dan...
BDD is good too

Thaks Freddie. It is all GOOD when it comes to BON

Hi Sheryl,

Welcome to BT. Sounds like you had a great trip.


Hey Dan,

Regardless of what you call it, there is only one cure...

Hey Cheryl,
I was just reading your post and was cracking up laughing, I'm in tears!! This is the nice couple from MA! We're so glad you had a great time we also enjoyed all of our fun times at the pool! What great memories we have of our trip with both of you! Let us know when you return and if we have vacation time, we'll head down to Bonaire too! No need to twist our arms Like one poster said, Bonaire has a way of bringing you back...we've been back 7 times in less than 4 years! We leave again on Feb 28th per our Doctors orders to cure our PBD