I'm going to write this trip report by grouping different types of information together, rather than writing it chronologically as a diary. It may not be as interesting this way, but it's faster for me to write! It's already been a week since we got back.
I'll post pictures following this message.
Trip was from June 2 to June 10.
SNORKELLING:
My wife Beth and I went down with two friends of ours: Randy and Amanda. Beth and I are snorkellers (me: Galapagos, Great Barrier Reef, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Bahamas; Beth: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Great Barrier Reef, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Bahamas), but Randy and Amanda have never been snorkelling. Well, Amanda did snorkel once but with no instruction and didn't see anything.
Our first full morning (June 3) we had scheduled time with Renee Leach. We figured this would be a good way for Randy and Amanda to get into the whole snorkelling thing. Randy had an interesting moment when he first put his head in the water... I'm sure we all remember it: when you realize "hey, I can breathe underwater!" But we quickly set off around Divi and had a nice time. In addition to all the "usuals" (parrot fish, tilefish, tang, trumpetfish, goat fish, grunts, etc) we saw eels here.
Other spots we did:
Bari Reef
Andrea II
Tori's Reef
Oil Slick Leap
Wayaka II
Wayaka III
Klein Bonaire Drift Snorkel w/Woodwind
Sorobon/Lac Bay
La Dania's Leap/Karpata Drift Snorkel
Plus, we did two night snorkels: one with Renee at the Divi, and another on our own a little south of Pink Beach (more on that later).
We thoroughly enjoyed Oil Slick Leap - had a nice density of things to see. The leap doesn't look as high when you are in the water looking back up.
The Wayakas in the Park were some of our favorites. Four-wheel drive was fun!
We were the only four people on the Woodwind for the above-mentioned trip. That was totally and completely amazing. If you are on Bonaire during the slow-season, and you have at least four people in your group, see if you can sign up for the Woodwind on a day when no one else has. Possibly the highlight of our trip: our own boat! Ulf and Dee were terrific. I'm sure it would also have been fun if others were on the boat, too. Dee pointed out several turtles for us.
At Sorobon/Lac Cay we took Dee's advice from the day before on where we should go. There were plenty of tiny fish to see, although it's a bit of a slog through the severe shallows to get out there. Underneath the floating platforms were what seemed like thousands of small fish in a very dense ball.
At Tuesday night at Gibi's, Bas recommended we do the drift snorkel from La Dania to Karpata. We did that on Wednesday and were impressed. Winds were high, though, so the initial jump at La Dania was a bit unsettling. Once we got away from the rocks, we were fine... but it was a bit rougher than any of the other sites we did. Much smoother by the time we got to Karpata. So much life on the bottom here! Not quite as many fish, however.
On the night snorkel with Renee at Divi, towards the very end we saw an amazingly beautiful octopus, pulsing blue-green. I can't describe how beautiful it looked. Beth tried to get a picture, but we're still newbies at the underwater photography game, and the flash wound up illuminating the silt in the water more than the octopus. You can just about make it out in our photo, but I won't be posting it because its so bad. Suffice to say, I was just happy to see it in person.
Our other night snorkel was at the fisherman's shack just south of Pink Beach. I have to admit, as a snorkel site it isn't that great... but I'm told it is an excellent dive spot. More on why we snorkelled here later.
Andrea II was the one spot our car was broken into, although we had nothing in the car. It happened within five minutes of us getting in the water. A white toyota truck pulled up (we could see the top of it), and then within 60 seconds it zoomed away. When we got out of the water, the seats were rearranged, towels pushed around, and the car was in gear... but since we had left nothing, nothing was taken. Windows down, of course.
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
We rented two two-person scooters on June 4 and toured the south part of the island. Randy and Amanda have ridden scooters plenty of times before. For Beth and myself, it was a first. A little nervous at first, but we loved it. We also visited a geocache while on the scooters. If you haven't heard of a geocache, its a small hidden container. There are websites that list the latitude and longitude, and then you have to find it. A GPS device will get you within 30 feet or so, and then it depends on how well hidden it is. Of course, getting to the coordinates can be difficult, as well. There are thousands of geocaches all over the world. Most of them are listed at http://www.geocaching.com and there are currently three on Bonaire. This is a fun activity to do at home or on Bonaire if you have a GPS receiver. The cache is usually filled with odd trinkets and a logbook. You sign in, take something, and leave something. We did the other two geocaches on other days, with our car.
On June 5, we explored the north part of the island, including the market at Rincon and Seru Largu. We also looked for some of the cave art... we found what we thought was one of the correct locations, but we couldn't find anything but grafitti.
On June 6 was the "Taste of Bonaire" festival. We got there late due to our night snorkel with Renee, so didn't get to sample much (everything was closing), but it was still fun. We met Jake and Linda here.
FOOD:
Here are the restaurants we ate at:
Richard's
Casablanca
Pizza Temple at Rum Runners
Lover's Ice Cream
La Luna
Chibi Chibi
Gibi's
Lost Penguin
Everything was relatively empty, since it was the low season. Very little waiting. All of them had fine food. Here I'll only mention things that were out of the ordinary...
Richard's was beautiful, and had a nice view. We did (among other pizzas), a salmon-pineapple-onion pizza at Rum Runners. La Luna was our late night stop after missing most of the food at the "Taste of Bonaire" festival (thanks for the tip, Jake and Linda!) and had great ribs. Gibi's, of course, was a lot of fun with all the BonaireTalkers. We met Bas there, who was having a bonfire the next evening down at the shack I mentioned earlier. Sorry, Jake, but the bonfire won out over fresh herring night! Bas had a group together for night diving there. We snorkelled above them. Although I think if you are going to do a night snorkel, some place like the Divi would be better (octopus!) I was still very happy we went to Bas' bonfire. The food and people were wonderful. Yanagirl was there with family. And we got to meet Layla (Laila?), one of Bas' dalmations, too. One thing we did see on our night snorkel here was the bioluminescence, after turning out our lights... it was amazing, and I'm sure the Divi would probably be too bright to see it, even with flashlights off. Also, when we were far out in the water, we turned out our lights and surfaced just to look at the stars. I was hoping for a very dark and clear sky, and we finally got it here! After the bonfire, we went a little ways further south (to get away from the light of the fire), turned out our lights, and just stared at the sky for a while. Unfortunately, almost every other night we were there was cloudy.
We got the "mixed grill" at Casablanca. Holy cow is that a lot of food! Comes out on its own mini-grill to keep it warm. Enough for four (we almost ordered two of them, because it says on the menu "for two", but our waiter told us we only needed one). You get a lot for your money! The chicken was great, everyone else told me the pork was good (I don't eat pork, so I'll have to take their word for it), and we all agreed the beef was overcooked. However, it was still good (and you get tons of sides), and we even had enough leftovers for lunch a few days later (staying at the Sand Dollar, we had a full kitchen).
At the Lost Penguin, we had the luck of ordering iced tea and waffles. The myriad syrups that come with the waffles were perfect for pouring into the iced tea as flavorings. Unusual perhaps, but give it a try!
We made most of our own breakfasts and lunches at our condo. We also made dinner one night, on one of Sand Dollar's two outdoor grills by the water. A few notes: at night it is very hard to see your meat cooking, even with a flashlight. The outdoor lights near the grills aren't close enough. I've seen people on BonaireTalk mentioning bringing certain foodstuffs... but next time I come, I'm bringing an instant-read digital thermometer! I always use one at home, and it would have taken a lot of the guesswork out of our grilling.
We enjoyed food shopping at Cultimara more than at any other place (although Sand Dollar Grocery, Bonaire Warehouse, and the cash-and-carry across from it were all fine). The enjoyment at Cultimara came from the fact that there are aisles and aisles of odd foodstuffs we rarely see at home. The first aisle is devoted almost entirely to things to spread on toast.  And there were plenty of rows of just unusual condiments. We joked that Bonaire (or Dutch) cuisine must be entirely based on various jarred sauces. In all seriousness, I suppose the huge amount of canned and jarred goods must be because food needs to be shipped in, and this is the best way to keep it preserved. We did have fun trying lots of stuff (tuna and salmon based sandwich spreads, jellies made out of unusual fruits, and a few items I have yet to positively identify).
ACCOMMODATIONS:
We stayed at Sand Dollar, in the Zale's condo. Actually, it turns out that Joan and Alan live just a few blocks from us, so we've now met them a few times.
We had a great time there. Definitely quiet and private. If you want more of a resort atmosphere, you'll need to go elsewhere. But this was a great place for just relaxing and feeling like, for a little while at least, you live on Bonaire.
That being said, I liked what I saw of the Divi, and would be happy to stay there as well. Captain Don's also looked nice.
One weird incident with the maid, where she apparently emptied a dishwasher full of still-dirty dishes. But other than that, no problems.
CAR:
We rented the Pajero from Total Car Rental. We got a chain at Kooyman's, and had brought a combination lock for the spare tire, as recommended on BonaireTalk.
WEATHER:
According to Weather Underground, the days from June 2 to June 10 have not seen rain in Bonaire for the past seven years. It rained several times (short) while we were there, including one big ("tropical") morning storm. Bleah. Not enough chances to see the night sky!
ANYTHING ELSE:
We tried to get to the blow hole at Washikemba, but couldn't figure out how to get there. Are you supposed to follow the blue painted rocks out there?
Next time we might want to try windsurfing, or do a diving resort course.
My scalp got sunburned early on, right through my hair. I covered everywhere but there. After that I tried to apply sunscreen to my scalp, but my hair was in the way too much, and it was too "icky". I eventually got a neoprene baseball cap from Carib Inn for use in and out of the water. Worked great!
Pictures to follow!
|
By David Levine (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #8) on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 10:09 pm: 
