I will begin with a little background information. This was my wife’s and my first trip outside the USA and only my second experience with ocean diving. We traveled to Bonaire as part of a twenty seven member dive group, which included four non divers, my wife being one.
This was a good arrangement for us, as we were able to enjoy the trip more and worry about travel details less.

We traveled Air Jamaica from Atlanta, with a layover in Montego Bay. We had a delay in Montego Bay on our flight to Bonaire and very little time on our flight returning to the US.
Otherwise, we had great service on all flights and our luggage arrived when we did.

We stayed in the Villas at the Plaza Resort and were well pleased with our accommodations. Each villa has two bedrooms and baths, with a single kitchen and living area. This arrangement worked well for us. Being @ one mile from airport, we did hear a few planes each day, but nothing to ruin our visit. Our package included the breakfast buffet, which we enjoyed each morning before setting out on our dives.

Our dive package consisted of two morning boat dives and unlimited shore diving with Toucan Diving at the Plaza. Our group had two dive boats for the week, with the same crews each day. The dive masters were knowledgeable of the dive sites and very helpful on the boat. The tanks for shore diving were easily accessible and plentiful. Everyone at Toucan was very helpful and professional.

Our boat dive sites were Bonaventure, North Belnem, Hands Off, Sampler, Margate Bay, Monte’s Divi, Bloodlet, Something Special, Angel City, and South Bay. Every site was beautiful, with lots of marine life inhabiting the reef. Some of the more interesting creatures we found were sea turtles, frog fish, scorpion fish, octopus and sea horses.
The most exciting sight was to see dolphins swimming by while exploring the reef at the Bloodlet site.

We did several shore dives from the Plaza Resort beach. It was very convenient to grab tanks and explore the Eighteen Palms reef. There is a lot of marine life at about 20 ft and we saw something different each dive. We had repeated sightings of reef squid hovering here.

We also did a night dive of the famous Town Pier. We saw a sea turtle, seahorse, a yellow frog fish, and numerous other creatures on the pier structure. This was another wonderful dive.

For the non divers, there is a tour of the island, which some of our group took one morning.
They enjoyed seeing more of the area and learning about the island and people of Bonaire.
They also were able to go out on the dive boats if they chose.

We ate most lunches in the villa, and dinners out. We shopped for groceries at Cultimara, and the girls got KFC takeout one day. Some of our evening choices were Donna & Giorgio’s,
Tipsy Seagull, Richard’s and The Rib Factory. We enjoyed each meal, especially watching the sunsets from Tipsy Seagull and Richard’s. The first time we ate at Donna & Giorgio’s, there was a little girl that took our drink order and brought us bread. She is so cute.

We called home from the Plaza a few times and it was not too expensive for short calls to stay in touch. We also used the internet at Plaza and at Access Bonaire near KFC.
We discovered later in week, you can call US from Access Bonaire for @ .37 /minute.
We stayed away from pay phones per BT information.

I do not have any pictures to post, but a fellow diver has his posted at:
randy's page

I found Bonaire to be excellent for new or less experienced divers.
It was a wonderful trip and we hope to return again. Maybe next year.

Randall,

Nice report! Makes me feel as if I were there too.

Wait - I was!!!

Randy

Sounds like it was a great vacation. Thanks for sharing.

Randall,
Thanks for the great trip report and the link to Randy's pictures.

Randy,
Loved pictures p7220264 and p7210144. I forgot to rate them on the above link posted by Randall.... they are both 10s to me.
Yanagirl

Randall- Thanks for the great trip report. My wife and I are going to Bonaire for the fist time the end of September and your comments have us all the more excited!!

Randy- Loved your photographs!! Can you tell me what kind of camera you used. I just got an Olympus D-580-Z with a P-021 housing and can't wait to try it out on this dive trip.

Tanks, Richard

Randy,

Totally AWESOME pictures!! If I could have rated P7230378, P7210181 and P7190051 higher than 10 I sure would have!! Especially the sunset one (P7230378) - absolutely stunning.

Please share any other pictures you might have - I can't get enough!!

Belinda

Randall,

I hit post too soon earlier - I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to share your trip report with us. I love reading about other people's experiences on Bonaire - although it makes March 2005 seem AWFULLY far away!

Thanks again!

Belinda

Thanks for sharing!

Thank-you for sharing! I love the seahorse pics.

I sure didn't want the pictures to hijack Randall's thread. Thanks all for the positive responses. While I have taken a few trips with a point-and-shoot 35mm (Reefmaster) this was my first trip with a new digital (Richard - Olympus C5050 with the Oly housing, Ikelite DS-50 strobe) and I'm *very* pleased. Since I put the gallery up at Fotopic.net I have a lot more server space than where I originally posted them, so I'm considering putting up some more pics as I have time to edit them for the web.

By the way, about my comment of "Wait - I was there". Randall had seen a post I had made here a while back and was wondering if, by chance, I would be part of the group he was traveling with. Not only were we with the group, it turned out we were villa mates. Do I hear Twilight music??

Randy

Awesome pics - we just returned on Wednesday August 4th. Our pics & trip report are in the works. Question - what is P730299? I got a pic of one, wrapped around coral - and have NO clue what it is!
Can anyone help?

Can't say I really know Jacki. I've been meaning to look it up too.

Randy

P730299= Bearded Fireworm

Cool! - Thanks Chet.
Fireworms, also known as bristleworms, have hollow, venom-filled bristles that can break off and embed themselves in an attacker, or when carelessly handled by humans. The bristles cause a long-lasting, burning sensation, hence the name. Fireworms are also “glow-in-the-dark” worms: females give off a greenish, phosphorescent light to attract mates.

Fireworms are one of the few creatures that can eat fire coral without harm

I received an e mail from an individual traveling to Bonaire and staying at Plaza this fall. I accidently deleted it before getting all the information. Please try again and I'll attempt to answer your questions.