Let me start off my saying I was a little nervous about our first trip to Bonaire after all the burglary/robbery/theft discussion. As a result, we took one iPhone, a cheapy point and shoot camera, and minimal clothing (both our bags for the week weighed less than 55 total).

We took the redeye through Newark on Continental and arrived on time at 5:15 am Saturday morning. There was some confusion regarding if we could stand in the "residents" line at immigration, and I think the overall consensus was that we could, but since we couldn't check into our villa until 2, we weren't in ANY hurry.

The plan was for us to be picked up by John with Voyager Events (rental car company) at the airport, get our rental car, then keep ourselves occupied until 10, when we could drop off our luggage with the management office at the Waterlands. Unfortunately, there was some mix-up and John didn't have us coming in until a later flight. One of the representatives of Tropicana that happened to be waiting outside the airport heard I was looking for John with Voyager, he called John (without us asking) and long story short, John picked us up, made us some coffee, drove us around the town showing us our breakfast options, and then loaned us his personal car to take while he got our car ready. He was really great.

We had breakfast at City Cafe (my first tosti!) and then toured the southern part of the island. We picked our rental car up around 10, droppped off our luggage at Waterlands, and toured around some more. We had lunch at Jibe City and were overall amazed with how friendly everyone had been and how beautiful the island is!

I won't bore you with any more details, so here's a synopsis:

Restaurants: Bobby Jean's, Patagonia, Unbelievable, Jibe City, Rose Inn, Taco Tuesday ($10) at Divi, Sense for breakfast (great banana pancake, though more like a crepe), many happy hours at City Cafe (2 for 1 on drinks and half off appetizers). We ate breakfast in almost every morning and packed an insulated bag so we could have sandwiches and whatnot when we were out snorkeling. I think our favorite meal was Bobby Jeans (pack or ask for bug spray though!).

Accomodations: We LOVED the Waterlands. It's a great location, and though it is close to the airport, we very rarely heard anything. It's a gated community, so we felt really secure and there were pretty significant locks on all the doors and windows, so I never really worried about anything. They also provided a safe. There were plenty of linens and it really felt like home.

Voyager: We had zero issues with them and John was super helpful. The truck we rented wasn't brand new, so we didn't stick out like a sore thumb as a rental car and also didn't have to worry about every nick and scrape when we took the truck through the national park. I highly recommend them.

Activities: We are not divers, but love snorkeling. We snorkeled every day at multiple spots. We saw eagle rays at Tori's reef, took the Woodwind tour and LOVED it (absolutely amazing value at $50/person, customer service was top notch on the boat and the guide was SUPER helpful). We also snorkeled with Renee later in the week. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone with Renee first as she showed us some easily accessible points that we weren't aware of (Something Special and 18th Palm). I think my favorite spots were 18th Palm and Karpata. I don't think we got the access points right at Wayaka, and the water was a bit rough that day, but once we got in it was amazing as well. We spent a whole day in the National Park and had a blast. That place is amazing and I felt like we were in 5 different countries all in one day. The different terrains were just amazing. I highly recommend taking the long route to the north if you have time. Tons of great stuff to see.

In order to keep our stuff safe while snorkeling, we purchased a dry bag from our local outdoors store that was large enough to fit our keys, camera, sunglasses, and remote gate opener for Waterlands. We then put all this stuff inside a ziploc bag inside the dry bag. The bag was then clipped around our arm or through belt loops and we had no issues. We put our towels and bags on the beach where we could see them and no one ever messed with it.

Almost forgot...Donkey Sanctuary! We had the best time there and almost didn't take the tour because it was the last day of our trip and we were feeling cheap. It's $6/person and $2 for a pretty large bag of food. They tell you this and I can't emphasize it enough, do NOT feed the donkeys from your car. They are pretty aggressive (still in a cute way) and I recommend rolling up the windows on your car from the get-go. We had a blast feeding them and took some really cute pics of the donkeys "up close and personal". They had such fun personalities and now I get what all the fuss is about!

We left on the morning flight at 7 am on Saturday. We got there at 5 and were one of the first people in line to check in, which was nice, but we then had to wait a LONG time after that. Better safe than sorry. I don't know why, but I was really pleasantly surprised by how nice the departure gate is at the airport. I was fully prepared to be steaming to death in an un-air conditioned room but it was very modern compared to the arrivals gate. Bring a light jacket if you plan on sitting there for any extended period of time!

Sorry this is so long! I think that's about all I can think of for now. Thanks to all of you for the helpful information before our trip. I consider this trip a learning experience and it will be fun to go back armed with this knowledge under our belt!

Nice report. Great info. Glad you enjoyed the trip to such a "dangerous" place!

Thank you for posting your trip report.
I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks for sharing. Glad you had a good trip. Ours is in 52 days, but we're not counting.

Sounds like a fabulous trip! I've never heard of Waterlands (will do a search on it). This is my first post BTW but I've read many trip reports and threads on other topics. We are going to be in Bonaire July 25th and so looking forward to it. Thanks for sharing your trip with everyone.

Kaly, thanks for sharing your trip with us! 23 days for us!

Judy, welcome to BT Will you be on Bonaire for one week or longer?

glad you had a good trip...told you bonaire was addictive. we'll see you here on your next trip.

pat and mary

Kaly, I am so happy for you. I know you had some apprehensions with all the stuff being posted. Your report was most outstanding.

Ditto what **Jim Mc** said...I'm glad it all worked out well for you. Thanks for posting!

I figured a trip report was the least I could do after all the info I got from here!

Pat, I still feel horrible about not getting a real visit, but hopefully we'll be back and we'll be able to have an adult beverage. If not, maybe a Greenville meetup can be arranged.

kaly, i'm always up for a night at the greenville. i think i just sent you an email about it yesterday. let us know when you're in town.

Pat is a sucker for a Road Trip...

Kaly, Thanks for your trip report.
Glad you enjoyed your stay. We usually stay at Plaza, and always enjoy several dives at 18th Palm.

Thanks for your report. It was fabulous... I'm counting the days to May.

Kaly, glad you had a great trip and enjoyed the island. Hopefully you will be back. The locals and folks who live there are extremely friendly and helpful....any pics to share?

BarbieRuth, thanks for the "bon bini"! We'll be in Bonaire for a week; staying at Buddy's. This will be our second trip to the island; our first was in September 2007. I was in awe of the reef; it was teeming with marine life. I'm quite saddened about the lionfish invasion though. My husband photographed one in Cozumel last summer. It's hard to believe something so beautiful can be so destructive. Sorry, kind of got off track. Can't wait for our trip!

Glad you had a great trip. Looking forward to ours real soon.