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Trip Reports: Ray and Pams 1st Bonaire trip Sept 24 - Oct 2
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2004-08-02 to 2005-05-08: Ray and Pams 1st Bonaire trip Sept 24 - Oct 2
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ray and Pam (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 10:23 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

We enjoyed our snorkle trip in Bonaire very much, a very interesting island with many different things to do. We are fairly new to snorkling, having been to Cancun/Playa del Carmen once and Ambergris Caye, Belize the last 3 years. What we enjoyed most about Bonaire was going snorkling anywhere, anytime for as long as you wanted. We were used to taking fast paced guided tours at a certain time, certain place at $20 a head.
We flew AA from Tulsa to Dallas to San Juan and finally Bonaire, a long day, we left Tulsa about 7:30am and got to Bonaire about 8pm, wish it had been daylight when we arrived, just for the view. Would consider going to Atlanta, spending the night and taking Air Jam. and getting there earlier next time. We had no problems with AA flights or luggage except for the last leg coming back our plane broke before leaving Dallas and they had to find another one which took about an hour.
We stayed at Hamlet Oasis room 10, its a good location, although the road is behind it we had no problem with traffic noise. It's right next to the pool and parking was close. Between like 9am and 4pm the North gate by the little dive shop was open which is where we parked. The South or main gate had a sign on it saying to close the gate after midnite, about the 3rd morning we realized why when we were sitting in the living room and a small herd of donkeys ran by occassonaly stopping to eat something before being chased on out towards the gate.
donkeys at Hamlet Oasis
Hamlet pool
We rented a Toyota Hilux for the week, weren't going to get AC but it had it anyway. Probably didn't need it except for Wash. Slag. Park which is a must do. We went to the park one day about 11am, hit all the spots and got out with about a half hour to spare. Two days later we got there when the park opened, went directly to Wawaka II and spent the whole day there.
Wayaka II
here they are
Our truck was pretty rough which was good cause we didn't have to worry about messing it up. It was rusted and scrathed, it has more scrathes now after being in the park, no power steering which didn't matter except when trying to parallel park in town, handling was pretty bad which was only noticable on the cross island roads. But the AC and the suspension were good which I appreciated in the park, especially the suspension. I know I repeated suspension. I was surprised at some of the vehicles we saw on the island, there were some nice cars, and a hummer! I didn't think we drove that much but we filled up twice at about $3.50 a gallon US. We didn't have any problems with theft. We left the truck unlocked and windows down at all the sites, being snorklers I didn't worry about theft, just pop your head up now and then and check things. In town and at the room we left it locked up with the steering wheel lock on and windows up. By the time we left I had mastered getting the lock on without honking the horn. Before we go to Bonaire again I would learn what the traffic signs mean.
Generally, we would load up and head North in the morning try to hit a couple sites and then head South in the afternoon. I had tons of notes on which sites were best, how to get in what to look for etc. but that was before Ivan and being our first time there didn't know what it looked like before. Basically, we would look for a easy way in, go one way come back go the other way and try to come back out at the same place. I don't feel we covered a lot of ground at each site, we took our time, found a hunk of coral and hung out for awhile. The longer you hovered the more fish you would see, then move on to the next. Saw lots of parrot fish big ones too. The big ones were pretty shy especially the black and blue ones. Lot of trunk fish and schools of blue tang, no barracuda, several eels and white or peacock flounder. Pam found an octupus at Klein Bonaire. We only made one trip to Klein, wanted to go to No Name but they were going to a place called Turtle Beach. I hadn't heard of it and don't see it on any maps but they said it was better so we went. It was good but a little too shallow for us, probably 4' all the way out to the "edge" so we were constantly looking out to make sure we weren't running into anything. There was a lot to see but it was hard to stay in one place, the water was moving south so if you stayed on the south side of something and continually slowly kicked you could stay there but to move we just drifted south with the current until we came up on something, manuvered around it and came back up on the south side of it. We had to do this because we found out that Pams new fins we bought to use with her booties didn't work in any kind of current. She couldn't go anywhere with them, I tried them in the pool when we got back to the room and couldn't do anything with them, couldn't bend my ankles. They did let her exchange them when we got back. The guy that sold them to her, now said they were for strong swimmers, Pam said, do I look like a strong swimmer. She's a better floater than swimmer. Anyway, while she was heading back in I went out to the "edge". I had never seen this because in Belize we always stayed inside the reef. Wow, what an adrenalin rush, it just drops straight off like going up to the edge of a cliff. The water turns a dark blue and could see the fish got much larger and tall things growing on the downward slope. As I got close I could feel the current picking up and pulling me out and south so I headed back in. Then I stopped got my camera ready and went back and snapped a few pics.
One morning it was raining so we headed over to Lac Bay. It was funny all the donkey tracks on the road, I see how easy it would be for them to get hit with the cautus growing up to the road. Lac Bay looked like a nice place to hang out on a Sunday afternoon but this was Sunday morning. Huge piles of conch shells and getting bigger. I guess Ivan took out the restaurant?
conch piles
restaurant
Could have spent the day there and the wind surfing beach if the weather was nice. Something to do next time.
Some things I enjoyed most were the drive North of town along the coast looking at the water, all the different shades of blue.
Being in at Windsock when the big KLN? planes come in right over the top of you and watching them take off. The first time we saw one, we were snorkling, heard a roar like a speedboat was coming, looked at each other,popped up to see if we were going to get run over, and there it was right over the top of us.
Hearing Pam scream as the huge iguanas ignored the crumbs she was throwing to them and kept advancing towards her as she backed up towards the truck at Pos Mangel in the park.
There's a small room at one of the lighthouses in the park. You can sit inside on the window ledge looking out at the ocean or look back out through the door at the hills and cactus. Theres a good breeze coming in off the ocean through the window and back out the door, best air conditioning on the island.
And of course Wayaka II, Pam didn't want to leave.
Enough for now, I've been typing for a couple hours see if anything works.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Marabeth Owens (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #357) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 10:37 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ray and Pam - great report and now I will anxiously await the pictures. Just make certain that none of them are more than 50k. That's per pic not in total.

Mara

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ray and Pam (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #7) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 4:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sorry about that Ray got kicked out while adding the pictures and thought he had lost it all. Didn't realize it was posted until he tried to post another report.
Here's the photos, maybe.
donkeys at patio
hamlet pool
wayaka II beach
wayaka II feeding time
lac cai conch shells
lac cai area

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4289) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 5:33 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ray and Pam...great report and photos! We are snorkelers, too, and love Bonaire. I love to hover for hours on end...so beautiful and relaxing, too.

Ivan did take out the restaurant...so sad to see just the seats left now. I hope they will rebuild.

The Park is a very special place. Could spend days on end in there just exploring and enjoying the peacefulness and beauty of it all.

Thanks again for the report. If you have more photos, we'd love to see them! Ayo. Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Andrea & Dave Bartlett (BonaireTalker - Post #44) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 6:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ray and Pam, Instead of to Atlanta try going to Houston and taking AJ from there. From Tulsa you are closer to Houston. We leave about 7:30am and arrive in Bonaire 2:30-3:30pm depending on daylight savings(Bonaire doesn't have daylight savings). We have not had any problems flying AJ. You fly from Houston to Montego Bay with a layover of approx 45min. That really only leaves you time to go to the bathroom and get to the next gate. It is so nice to arrive during daylight. Andy

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ray and Pam (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 7:00 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Carole,
If you have time see my wife,Pam's version for more photos.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ray and Pam (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 7:06 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Andrea & Dave,
Thanks for the info,we didn't realize you could leave from Houston but it sounds like we would still have to fly in the day before and spend the night, something for us to check out.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eileen Kimmett (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #6861) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 7:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

:-) Thank-you for your report! Now I am going to read Pam's version:-).

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4293) on Sunday, November 7, 2004 - 9:57 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank you, Ray...I spotted Pam's report and photos when I logged onto BT again this evening. Way to go!! Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Andrea & Dave Bartlett (BonaireTalker - Post #45) on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 1:22 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ray and Pam. We only live a 100 miles north of Houston and we still go down the day before and spend the night. We would have to leave home at 3am to be at the airport on time. By staying over night we don't have to get up so early and get a decent nights sleep. Andy

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mermaid (BonaireTalker - Post #34) on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 9:39 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great report!

How do you think the snorkeling in Bonaire compares with the other places you ahve snorkeled? Just in terms of what you can see underwater?

Thanks! And I love the phot of the legs and huge fish!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1225) on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 10:08 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for the great report!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mary Mueller (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3360) on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 10:43 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ray and Pam - thanks for the great report!!!!

I agree with Pam - its hard to leave Wayaka II!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Smits (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #185) on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 6:17 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ray and Pam,

Thanks for the report.
I share yr interest in wahington Park en Wayaka II. That's probably the place where you made the picture of the queen angels?
It's a very romantic beach, so pls don't tell anyone. It's so small :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ray and Pam (BonaireTalker - Post #12) on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 7:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks to everyone for your responses...

Thanks Andy, we'll look into leaving from Houston next time. The view should be great coming in while still daylight and we'd have time to get our feet wet. The flight time looks about the same as from Atlanta also.

Mermaid, we've really only snorkled one other place, Ambergris Caye, where you have to take a boat out to the reef at $20.00 a head and spend about 1 and 1/2 hr. there. Thats what attracted us to Bonaire was the beach access to the reef from almost anywhere and spend as long as you want. Go in for awhile, get out for awhile, go in, go somewhere else, get in, go home for awhile go somewhere else.

Bob, you're right, we talked about that but couldn't help ourselves. We'll do better in the future.

Ray

 


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