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Trip Reports: Rozelle's trip report July 24-July31st-2004
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2004-08-02 to 2005-05-08: Rozelle's trip report July 24-July31st-2004
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rozelle Wright (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 1:28 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Trip Report: July 24th-July 31st

There are two kinds of vacations. Some are so straight forward, pleasant and problem free that they are a real bore to talk about. Others give you stories to tell. Our vacation was one of the others.

Summary: We all met in Baltimore, Maryland to fly to Bonaire. We missed a day of vacation because the crew of Air Jamaica flying from Baltimore needed two hours more time for rest before they could legally fly and the air Jamaica flight from Montego Bay to Bonaire would not wait for the late plane from Baltimore. Our house was broken into the first night we were in Bonaire. We went snorkeling, scuba diving, bird watching, bought fresh fish at a fish market and cooked it and in the end had a very good time.

Who we are: We are a family of 6 who came to Bonaire for the first time. There are two grandparents from New Mexico; a son, daughter-in-law and 12 year old granddaughter from Minnesota; a son who lives in the Baltimore, Maryland area. The five adults are PADI certified open water divers, but hadn’t been diving for several years and the 12 year old did not know how to snorkel when we came to Bonaire. The grandmother planned the trip, with a lot of help from Bonaire Talk, and is writing this report.

Air Transportation: Air Jamaica supplied us with vouchers, food and hotel rooms for the night of July 24th, since we did not live in Baltimore and they could not get us to Bonaire on the day they had promised. They also made phone calls for us to tell the rental agency, rental car company and dive shop in Bonaire that we would be a day late. They also put us in first class seats, for the Baltimore to Jamaica segment of our flight the next day when we were finally able to fly They offered us discounted tickets for our next trips, but we are hoping to get reimbursed for the non-refundable expenses for the day we missed on Bonaire. We will see what happens. If we go again, we might try flying to Aruba and taking one of the frequent flights from Aruba to Bonaire on BonairExel. It would be nice to know if anyone else has tried that.

Rental Car: Sun Rentals tried to find us transportation and offered a Toyota Van for 8 people, but by the time I got around to confirming that we wanted it, it was not available and the pickups available wouldn’t hold 6 people. We finally rented a Suzuki Carry Van which holds 7 people (and almost no luggage) Everts,http://www.evertscarrental.com/. Simone from Sun Rentals met us at the airport and we were able to put extra luggage in her pickup. We were only 5 minutes from the airport, so when we left Bonaire, we took our luggage and three people to the airport and then went back for the other people. For driving around Bonaire the car was just right, not too big to park and it was comfortable for six passengers. We were given a club to lock the steering wheel, which we used religiously and we never left anything in the car. We took out total insurance, because we didn’t want the hassle of dealing with deductibles. We had no problems with the car, so we don’t know what would have happened if someone had vandalized or stolen the car.


The House: We rented a quite wonderful 4 bedroom house, Ocean View Villa, from Sun Rentals, http://www.sunrentals.an. On the roof there was a spa with a view of the ocean. On the second floor there were 2 air conditioned bedrooms, a full kitchen, a large living room and a wrap around balcony with ocean-view tables for eating. On the first floor were two more air conditioned bedrooms and a laundry room with washer and dryer. Outside was an outdoor shower whose enclosure top was even with the 2nd floor balcony. In the garden there were flowers, hummingbirds, parrots, bananaquits and other birds. For security the house had bars on the windows and a telephone for local calls. We worried a little about being trapped by the bars if there were a fire, because they only open with a key and we had only one key. We made it a rule to not run the dryer while we were sleeping and we checked that all the burners were off when we went to bed. It would have been better if the house had had smoke alarms.
House and Van

The Robbery: The day we arrived in Bonaire was really hot, so we left the windows open in the living room with the bars locked, assuming that that was sufficiently secure. At 2:30 in the morning, our younger son, who was sleeping with his door open downstairs, woke up from a bad dream to find what he thought was his father in his room. He asked, “Can I help you?” And then realized that there were two people and that they were going through his trousers and had his wallet. He chased them and they fled up the stairs, out on the balcony (which had been locked when we went to bed) jumped down into the outdoor shower (leaving a footprint). We called 911 and the police came within 15 minutes. They said they had been patrolling the neighborhood and seemed really discouraged that their patrol hadn’t helped. We determined that the robbers had cut some of the screens and finally found bars that they could spread apart sufficiently that a small person could gain entry. They stole a container of chocolate sandwich cookies, a key to the barred doors (which only unlock from the inside), a key to the padlock on the front door, my son’s wallet with $140 in it and a diving hood. (The keys were in a dish on the counter, according to the Sun Rentals manager. We didn’t know they were there.) They spread all our scuba gear out on the porch, but didn’t steal anything else. We think they climbed up the outdoor shower to reach the balcony. They left behind a stocking cap which we turned in to the police. The police found my son’s credit card and some other cards from his wallet along the street. Later that day, my son found the wallet and his driver’s license, so only the money was lost. The police detective came later that morning and asked our son to file a report at the police station. Then the detective came again with two colleagues the third morning we were there to look again at all the details of the break-in and ask more questions. As he left he said, “We will do our best.”

We called Sun Rentals as soon as they were open the morning after the robbery. The manager, Mous, came right over and said that he had been trying to arrange for guards to walk the neighborhood, but hadn’t succeeded yet. He said they would definitely be there that night. I did not sleep well the second night and went up on the roof about 5:00AM and there were indeed guards. One of them aimed his flashlight at me to make sure I was supposed to be there. I believe they were there every night we were in Bonaire. We also locked the windows each night after the first. We did not have any more problems with intruders. After I got home I got an e-mail from Josie at Sun Rentals that included the following sentence: “I want you to know, the group who did all the robberies in Belnem has been caught and I hope now our peaceful island will be peaceful again. “

Diving: We dove with Yellow Submarine, http://www.bonaireyellowsubmarine.com/. We took a couple of days of refresher courses and guided dives to get up to speed and were very grateful to Andrea and her team at Yellow Submarine for their patience and good instructions. We also were particularly pleased with their rapport with our 12 year old. She not only learned how to snorkel, but went on three fun introductory scuba dives (and she saw the sea horse). She also particularly enjoyed playing with the dog, Follow, at Yellow Submarine. We originally had planned on diving with Photo Tours, http://www.bonphototours.com/ because the Pink Bus sounded like such a good deal, but when we arranged to dive with them, they scheduled us at Yellow Submarine. They seem to be part of the same business. The Pink Bus wasn’t operating while we were there, but with the short amount of time we had to actually dive after missing the first day, we couldn’t have used it anyway. Yellow Submarine arranged for us to go on boat dives with Photo Tours. We certainly enjoyed the boat trips with Photo Tours’ dive master, Chili, and captain, Chris.

Money: Everyone accepted U.S. dollars, but change was easier if you had guilders. The ATM machines worked with our cards. The dive shop charged an extra 5% for credit card payment, so we used our traveler checks and money from the ATM to pay them. We would take a few more traveler’s checks if we went again.

Food: We cooked most of our meals at the house from food we bought at Cultimara. We liked their bakery particularly well. We also appreciated the air conditioning in the vegetable and meat sections. Figuring out how to print labels for the vegetables took a little doing since the signs weren’t in English, but most things were pictured and we could guess which button to push. The last day we were there we found out where the fish market was and were able to buy and have filleted a small fresh tuna, it was 15 guilders for the fish, plus 2.5 guilders for filleting it (about $10 total) for enough tuna for 6 people and some leftover for sandwiches, (maybe 4 pounds of filets). The fish was really excellent. We also bought restaurant meals at Chicos, Watta Burger (our 12-year-old’s favorite), Casa Blanca and The Lost Penguin. We ordered an assortment of meat and fish at these places and it was all good. I was particularly impressed with the tuna fish sandwiches at The Lost Penguin which appeared to have been made with fresh (not canned) tuna.

Bird Watching: I saw a total of 17 new birds while I was in Bonaire.
My younger son and I spent Friday morning on a birdwatching tour with Jerry Ligon. He picked us up at our house, took us into neighborhoods where we could see particular species and on dirt roads that we could not have gone to in our rental car. As well as pointing out birds, he also pointed out particularly interesting plants and talked a little about the geology of the island. At one point, I saw what I thought was a woodpecker on a cactus. He told me there weren’t any woodpeckers on Bonaire, but he backed up the car and went back to have a look. It was a parrot, exhibiting woodpecker behavior (supporting itself by its tail on one of the tree trunk sized columns of the candelabra cactuses and pecking into the column). He has a great depth of knowledge about natural history, not only from his academic training, but from his many years of experience in taking people on natural history tours and his own exploring on his days off. I very much wanted to see a CaraCara, but he is afraid they have been extirpated by goat farmers. They are carrion eaters, but the goat farmers think they are responsible when they see them eating the carcass of a dead kid. He sent me his annotated check list of birds of Bonaire before I came. He will send it to anyone who is interested.
Frigatebird
Birds seen on bird trip with Jerry Ligon:
magnificent frigatebird, brown pelican, brown booby, green heron, greater flamingo (about 30 feet away), black-necked stilt, Wilson’s plover, lesser yellowlegs, laughing gull, royal tern, least tern, bare-eyed pigeon, eared dove, common ground dove, Caribbean parakeet, yellow shouldered parrot, ruby-topaz hummingbird, common emerald hummingbird, Caribbean elaenia, grey kingbird, tropical mockingbird, pearly-eyed thrasher, house sparrow, yellow warbler, bananaquit, saffron finch, black-faced grassquit, Carib Grackle
Birds seen from our the house: brown pelican, laughing gull, osprey, yellow shouldered parrot, ruby-topaz hummingbird, tropical mockingbird, bananaquit, troupial.

Conclusion: We had a good time. I would like to go back, but it is far and expensive, so it will be awhile before we go again. I hope when we do go back that Josie's hope is satisfied and that Bonaire is a peaceful place where crime is rare. I particularly appreciated the Bonaire Talk Web Site and the trip reports that I was able to read while I was planning this trip.
sunset and windmill at southern end of island.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Cousino (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #824) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 4:51 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Rozelle, Thanks for your report. I hope you are once again able to return to Bonaire and that your return be problem free.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Igor van Riel (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2610) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 5:46 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thx 4 sharing your trip with us Rozelle!
Glad 2 see you were able 2 enjoy your time on Bonaire despite the robbery.
Kuddos 2 ever1 on Bonaire 4 handling this in a good way!
Any more pics 2 share? :-)

(Message edited by Igor on August 10, 2004)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ina seavey (BonaireTalker - Post #15) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 6:49 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

thanks for the trip report! I like the way it was structured too. Echt topic a seperate paragraph. I really liked the part about the birds, you don't see that too often. Did you make more photo's from birds? I tried to photograph a hummingbird. That was extremely difficult because their wings go fast when they are stationairy. I finally got only one good picture. They are so pretty!

About the break-in: interesting that you got an email that the group was caught. I myself rented a house as well (for February) and emailed my concerns because this house also had a breakin occuring while the people were home, not too long ago. I received the reply from Sunrentals that the police has caught these people. This email was from the 6th of July. So it looks like the police is really working on this problem. I hope.

Thanks again for the report!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1119) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 8:58 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank you so much for your lovely and detailed trip report. I am so sorry to hear that you were robbed on your fist night there.I am also glad that you didn't let it ruin your vacation and were still able to enjoy the beauty of Bonaire!
I would also like to thank you for giving a detailed description of how the police handled the robbery. It has been a long time coming but from what you have written, I think they are now starting to see how the police's lack of concern and actions has impacted tourism.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By arthur ginnetty (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 4:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just seems strange that the info of a group being caught by the police around July 6th and the same group or another being caught by police the last week of July is coming from emails from Sun Rentals. I would think this new would be posted all over the place as it would be big news on a small island. Maybe I just missed the postings.
ATG

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Vince DePietro (BonaireTalker - Post #48) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 4:37 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Frankly, I for one am getting dam tired of reading about breakins and the apparent escalation of crime on Bonaire... What a shame.
What will it take to get this problem solved?
I'm afraid the only solution is to change the judicial system & this just "ain't gonna happen".

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carl Pflanzer (BonaireTalker - Post #92) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 5:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

What a great trip report Rozelle. I hope the future finds you able to return to Bonaire once again. I sympathize with your unfortunate incidents, both with the plane and the burglary.
You seemed very understanding and patient. :-) Much more than I would have been.

Loved the part in your report about the birds!

Carl

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rozelle Wright (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 6:34 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

The email address for Jerry Ligon in my report is wrong. It should be jcligon@flamingotv.net . The one I gave was from a 2002 bird list that I found by myself on the net. The bird list he sent me had his correct address in it. Also, most of my bird pictures turned out very blurry, because I was trying to use my husband's camera with his zoom attachment and didn't keep the camera steady enough. However, here is one more picture. Jerry turned the water on at Dos Pos so that the birds and animals had something to drink.
donkey drinking
Rozelle

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3903) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 7:01 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Is it must me or does it seem to be only Sun Rental properties getting hit lately? Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3904) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 7:04 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Rozelle, I'm so saddened to hear about the ugliness during your trip. Air Jamaica usually is right on the money. Ask them for a completely paid airfare for your next trip to Bonaire...round trip. Can't hurt to ask.

It looks like you were staying at Artie's place in Belnem. I can't imagine this happening. I don't know what I would have done.

I do hope you will be able to return to Bonaire and have a wonderfully uneventful trip in the future. Ask Air Jamaica to comp you on round trips for all who were inconvenienced......can't hurt to ask!! Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter (Moderator - Post #5006) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 9:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Carole,

More than just Sun Rentals got hit last month but BTers seem to be more inclined to rent nicer homes/villas (which Sun Rentals specializes in), so the sample set is a bit skewed.

Arthur - if you were to read the Extra newspaper (available on-line, in Papiamentu, at http://www.extrabon.com), you'd see that there is coverage on occasions when the police finds some burglars, usually of police carrying VCRs, video game systems, notebook computers, and cameras out of some house somewhere on Bonaire (at least in my viewings of the Extra paper).

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3909) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 11:33 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks, Jake...that does make sense. Have fun out in Hollyweird! Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By arthur ginnetty (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 11:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Jake
Sorry I am limited to English only. But could you fill us in on the group arrests that that Sun Rentals emailed? I think the first group arrest was on or just before July 6th and the other around the 1st week in August. Who are they? How old are they? Where are they from? What was recovered? Have the police notified the owner, of the serial numbered item, that they have been recover? I am sure people here would find it very interesting.
Arthur

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter (Moderator - Post #5007) on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 1:07 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Arthur,

I'm only limited to English (and some Dutch - I'm pretty hopeless with respect to Papiamentu, at least so far), so I can only tell you what I already have. You may want to do as I do and look at the pictures in Extra. One tip I can add is to look for words stemming from "ladron" (means theft). I think "ladronista" means thief. Also, crime is "kriminalidat", I think.

Considering I'm in Los Angeles at the moment (and have been off-island for over two weeks as well), I don't really have a local take on things beyond what I see on-line in Extra, the Bonaire Reporter (English), Amigoe (English and Dutch, but I haven't been reading it), etc.

In terms of some of your questions, I would be surprised to see any news paper articles on the arrest of thieves to go into the level of detail you are asking for, however. Under Antillean law, there on limits on being able to identify suspects by full name (not sure of the limits though, but once convicted they can be fully identified, of course). Ages are usually mentioned (Roman numerals mean the same thing in English and Papiamentu, of course). As far as exactly what was recovered, what was done with the recovered goods, who the owners are, etc., I don't think you will find in Bonaire's papers or other ones in other places dealing with similar topics.

But yes, I agree if all that information could be uncovered, it would certainly be of interest.

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ina seavey (BonaireTalker - Post #16) on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 4:40 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi again,

I don't have much more info, just that in the email I received (it was definately on July 6th) it said that this group had been caught and their nationality was dutch.

And that Sunrentals was in the process of adding an alarm system to the house (Crown Courts 44a).

About Rozelle's trip report: thanks for the link, I am definately going to contact Jerry, I would love to do that bird tour. Really looking forward to that!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tim Nesselrodt (BonaireTalker - Post #38) on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 11:41 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Rozelle, thank you for your detailed report. I'm sorry to hear about the robbery. In spite of this, I hope you'll visit the island again in the future.

Ocean View Villa {offered by Sun Rentals} is in no way affiliated with Ocean View Villas.

Tim W. Nesselrodt
Owner/Property Manager
Ocean View Villas
http://www.oceanviewvillas.com

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DJ (BonaireTalker - Post #32) on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 7:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Vince, I agree with you. Really sad that this crime goes on and on. What can you say, except that one day there will be no tourists left to rob.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Israel A. Sanchez (BonaireTalker - Post #56) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 11:47 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Rozelle did a nice job in putting her report, although IMHO, she minimalized the crime problem. As I stated before, I don't know how beneficial arrests can be when nothing is really done to deal with the issue, my beef being with the so called "authorities". I just returned from Roatan and I have to say that it was one of the most positive experiences. My wife and I went around meeting with the locals and talking to them. Be it cab drivers, food vendors, artisans, fishermen, or just plain people, they all were VERY much in agreement in one point, they felt their island was very safe with no violent crime to speak of (unlike mainland Honduras), and more important, they felt that their police was very effective (with ocassional help from the military). They all were aware that tourism was bringing revenue and did whatever was in their power to keep it like that. Bonaire still is special to us, and we would love to return, but until the authorities get their heads out of the sand... We'll see. Coach Izzy

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rozelle Wright (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 9:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Some final comments on our experience and its consequences.
Sun Rentals:
The people at Sun Rentals were really helpful and responsive. We all thought the house was secure, but when they discovered those particular iron bars were not sufficient, they immediately took further steps. If we come back to Bonaire, we will certainly consider renting from them again
Police:
We thought the police response was timely and thorough. We know they are trying and having some success. We have heard that the people responsible for the break-ins are in jail.
The Effect on us:
This is the first time this sort of thing has ever happened to us. We did not let this experience ruin our vacation, because no one was hurt and we felt that both Sun Rentals and the police were doing their best to help us. However, we have learned that it can happen to us, and will be try to be more cautious in the future. We will know that iron bars by themselves may not be sufficient. We will always lock the windows as well. We were very glad there was a phone in the house. We will not rent a house without a phone unless we have pre-arranged to have a cell phone when we arrive.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sharon Morris (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 2:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I would like to add my two cents-worth here re Sun Rentals. We were renting a house on EEG from them July 25 to Aug 5th. Simone worked really hard to find a place that met our needs and the house we finally rented was Just Fabulous. Seriously wonderful. We didn't want to leave. Ever. Steven told us about the problem with the break-ins when we picked up the keys and later that day we were aware of the security they had hired to drive by all their properties continually. We didn't have a problem but it sounds like we were next door to one of the houses that had a break-in. We were up late (windows and doors locked) with lights on, so maybe that helped - or maybe it was just dumb luck. It was our 13th trip to Bonaire and the first time we had rented a house. We would not hesitate at all to rent again from Sun Rentals. They responded to our every need and question in a timely, professional, and friendly manner.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lorraine Meadows (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #869) on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 4:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sorry for your bad experiences at Artie's, Rozelle. I have been there recently, May, and have stayed many times before in the villa. I really love casa blanca. Home away from home. I was told by Artie to be sure to lock up even when we were up in the jacuzzie and leave the keys out of sight.I also left all the outside lights on on advice from friends. I did all those things and did not realize the trouble about robbers until I returned home. I did encounter gas theft this time but chaucked it up to the first in 20yrs.
I did hear from my friends about theives.
So very sad that it has happened, friends have said was it coming.Hope the government gets going and does something about these people.
I will have to be more careful and be realistic about the change and be aware of it.
I have e-mailed Artie. I imagin he was contacted.
Enjoyed your report, wish your first time at the villa was better.

 


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