Still SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4:
The sun set just to the south of Klein Bonaire, so we had a view unobstructed by land. It seemed promising, but at the last minute some low clouds moved in... no green flash.
Our first night's dinner was at Richard’s, just a short walk from the Plaza Resort. We arrived a little before a gorgeous sunset.
\image {Sunset at Richard's}
As usual (and even after two years), Richard recognized us (people tend to recognize Mike, perhaps because he’s quite tall.) Richard said this was the last night they’d be open before closing for 3 weeks to spruce up and do some renovations. Good thing we didn’t wait to come until later in our trip!
Mike started with escargots (YUCK!!) while Laura and I had Caesar salads. Richard brought us a special on-the-house appetizer that the chef had put together – a shrimp/scallop scampi-like dish that was excellent. Then the three of us had our favorite entrée at Richards: Peppercorn steak.
\image {Yummy!}
Back to the Plaza Resort and in bed by 9pm. A very long day, but what a joy to be back on Bonaire at last!
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5:
We walked over to the Plaza’s buffet breakfast at Caribbean Point - it’s still good. Fruit, cereals, meats, cheeses, breads, a few pastries, pancakes, waffles, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs (not as wet and soupy as in years past), a made-to-order omelette station and probably more (I can’t quite remember everything.) The cost is $12.68 per person (which includes the tax .) Oh, and the iguanas are still gathering just outside, looking for tidbits.
\image {Iguana Breakfast}
We went to the 9am dive orientation at Toucan Diving, led by Martijn (along with Christian out on the beach). We were surprised to see John and Jenn from our advanced certification course back in 2001 (which only confirms Bonaire’s attraction for repeat visitors!) Martijn had us sign waivers, distributed the Bonaire Marine Park tags, went over Toucan Diving’s procedures for boat and shore diving, then showed the marine park video. Destinations for boat dives are usually decided when the boat leaves the dock; the divemaster will ask where people would like to go, where they’ve been, and reserves the right to veto. Dive briefings will describe the site, establish maximum depth limits, dive time of one hour maximum (not strictly enforced - note my dive times throughout this report) and return to the boat with at least 500 psi in your cylinder.
18 PALMS – Check-out shore dive. No camera for this dive... but that’s what I like about Bonaire’s mandatory check-out dive: you’ve got an opportunity to make sure your equipment is working properly, tune your buoyancy skills if you haven’t been diving for a while, and just get back into scuba sync. The water temperature was at least 82 degrees at depth, so I hoped to be okay in my new 3-mil (but brought my dive skin and old farmer Jane anyway, in case I needed to wear them underneath as the week progressed.) Saw a large, swimming scorpionfish on this dive, many small eels and a large number of the usual tropicals. Max depth was 68 feet, dive time was 57 minutes.
Sunday's lunch was at the Coconut Crash - they offer only cold sandwiches on baguettes – ham and cheese, cheese, salami and tuna, each fairly large. Then it was time to get ready for an afternoon boat dive.
BONAVENTURE - Still no camera. I inserted the batteries and they wouldn’t make contact. Messed with it awhile, but ran out of both time and patience. This was a typical Klein Bonaire dive - tightly packed hard corals around 60 feet; soft corals, sponges and sea fans in the shallows. Numerous blue chromis and creole wrasse, black durgeon, trumpetfish, a sand diver - large numbers of fish with visibility around 80 feet. Max depth was 55 feet, dive time was an hour and two minutes.
Returning to our room after the dive, we ran into Gary and Crystal from Atlanta. They were here at the Plaza back in September, 2002 during our last visit, and we dived with them a few times then. We were also stuck with them in Jamaica the night of our return, due to Hurricane Lili. Seems like “Old Home Week” on Bonaire!
18 PALMS SNORKEL - Just me… again without the camera. Mike and Laura were reading on the beach. I snorkeled from the Plaza’s beach down to the lagoon inlet and back, weaving in and out from the shallows to the drop-off. Everything looks much the same, but where are all the barracudas? There used to always be several hanging out around the inlet, and often I’d see one or two elsewhere when snorkeling here. This time I saw three nice rainbow parrotfish, two adolescent French angels, two huge adult French angels, the usual tropicals, and checked on the “Tipsy Sweepers.” They’re still there, under the steps at the Tipsy Seagull’s pier, but appear to be much larger than when I saw them last. The nice soft corals in the shallows south of the Tipsy are thriving.
Happy hour arrived with Amstel Brights on the beach - and no green flash! It seemed promising, but at the last minute some low clouds moved in. Laura thinks the green flash is a myth. I did too, for a long time, until I experienced four green flashes on Grand Turk. I never have seen one on Bonaire, though.
We took showers, and Mike fiddled with the camera and batteries again. He eventually got the batteries seated properly, so the camera will go diving on Monday.
Dinner was at the Tipsy Seagull, a waterside table. I started with the Tipsy’s house salad, which was excellent - and could have been a meal in itself with the cold marinated steak strips on top. Then I had wahoo in dill sauce, which was very good. Mike had the chicken kebab and Laura had surf and turf. Both were pleased with their dinners. Chocolate mousse, apple pie with ice cream and key lime pie for dessert… and no, we really didn’t have room, nor did we need the calories.
There’s a new Sunday evening event: Movies on the Beach. This starts around 9pm, with happy hour drink prices at the Coconut Crash. The movie tonight was “Shrek,” and a sizeable screen was set up on the beach. We couldn’t keep our eyes open, so we passed on the movie.
Stay tuned for Part 3...
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By Deborah Campbell (BonaireTalker - Post #97) on Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - 11:25 am: 
