This is a weird story. I found this roll of film in my hotel safe at Lion's Dive Resort the week of June 19-26, 2004. I tried to find the owner, but had no luck. Once back home I had the roll developed in hopes of someone possibly recognizing this family. Interestingly enough, none of these pictures are of Lion's Dive. It looks like Hamlet Oasis. Here are a few of the "mystery pics" of someone's Bonaire vacation! Hopefully we will be able to get this lost roll of film to the rightful owner.

Let's hope I can get these to post...

Here are a few more...

Funny story..now what if, one of these people were with people from their "secret life"..haaaa..kidding..

Interesting... some of the outside shots are at Hamlet Oasis... but the inside shots are not. Then there looks to be a picture taken at the wall at the Villa's. Hope the rightfull owner reads BT

You are right...the entire roll has shots from all over the island. Various beaches, the park, etc. From the looks of it they must have stayed at several locations. And why did the roll end up in my safe at Lion's Dive? Very strange. The first few pictures look like "pre-Bonaire vacation" photos.

Funny comment about "secret life"...my friends and I were thinking the same thing! ...secret mission, witness protection program, double-life, etc. Don't we all love a good mystery? :-)

I know that I would be very upset if a roll of vacation film went missing. Hope they find this!

Annie, you're so funny! LOL!

Kristin, if I recall correctly, a while back someone found a computer chip (digital film) between the seats of their rental vehicle on Bonaire and posted some of the pics on BT....low and behold I do believe someone actually recognized the pics and the chip made it to its home/owner. IF I recall correctly, that is.....

I do hope someone pops in on BT and spots their photos and has the biggest grin on their faces when they realize they did NOT lose that roll of film forever...nice feeling. Good luck! Carole

PS I recall the heartbreak I felt when I returned from Maui years ago only to realize I had "lost" my last/best roll of film. Approximately six months time went by and and when I started packing my luggage for the next venture, I found this "mystery" roll of film inside the pocket of the suitcase. Had it developed ony to find out it was my "missing/lost" roll of film from Maui...it WAS the best roll I had taken and I was ever so grateful I found it. Let's hope the "owners" find their pics here on BT! cb

Carole,
You were LUCKY! What a great surprise!

Do you think this is the most "obvious" discussion thread on the BT for them to find the pictures? Hope they don't get mad for having their pics blasted all over the internet! ha ha ha

Kristin, I think you did the best thing you could do by placing the pics on BT....that would be the most "logical" place most Bonaire fans would log onto to fill their "needs"...that Bonaire "fix"! LOL.

I do hope they spot the pics and get in touch with you. I know how much it would mean to them to have the roll of film show up out of the blue. Ayo. Carole

Kewl Kristin..hope you find the owners..I would certainly appreciate finding my lost film!
Annie could be right though.....

Maybe if you contacted Lions Dive they could contact the last couple of people that stayed in that unit and see if it is theirs?

Or email them the pics and perhaps they will recognize guests.

I did try and explain this to Lion's Dive, but they didn't seem to understand. They just kept thanking me for my honesty. ??? Either I wasn't being clear, or they don't speak "Southern Belle". :-)

Can anyone recognize the other places in the pictures? I'm assuming the first pics are of their own home, wherever that is. I think some pics were taken at one of the Hamlets, not sure. If anyone can get a definite on the locations, then I'll just email them the pics. Thanks!

the inside pics are not on Bonaire... I have yet to see a house with a central heating system on Bonaire ;-)

Bas! You little muffin you! I hope you are well. I missed seeing you on my last visit in July.

Good Heavens Sherlock Bas!
I never even noticed the radiator in the inside shots. So much for my powers of observation.

Too funny. The first two shots are definitely not Bonaire.

Ah, Bas...are you lurking lately? Hope you have been well. Have you prepared any gourmet meals lately? Your barracuda dish was delish! Carole

The third shot and the last shot are both Hamlet Oasis. I'm about 99% positive. I stayed there last year and that looks awfully familiar.

Hi Marabeth...a fellow metro-Atlanta person!

Hi Kristin - yes, and I used to live in Marietta. Where are you a band director? My step daughter from marriage #1 was in the color guard at Lassiter and hubby and I were band parents in charge of ways and means - OH MY!

Hmmm...new theory...

I don't see the radiator. In the second picture on the right hand side I see a 'kid gate'*. We had them to keep LM from tumbling down a stair or two when she was a toddler. Some folks also use them to keep a pet in a certain location. In the first picture I see a tennis ball on the floor. I am thinking 'dog' not toddler.

* see the grey spool appearing things on the 'top'. Those are rubber plugs that fit against the door jambs. The gate is actually on it's side.

Ah HA! I thought the rubber bumpers on the kid gate were radiator valves.

The radiator in the second picture looks exactly like the kind we had in Holland years ago--my guess is that these people are Dutch.

Isn't detective work fun!!!

Just am looking at the first two pics in Photoshop at 300% (beyond that they pixelate badly) and to me that looks like a radiator. For instance, the slats/sections are vertical in the pics: if it is a gate on it's side that would make the gate slats horizontal in use, unlike any I have seen here in the US though I have not looked at many recently. It is a lot thinner than ones I am more familiar with.

I could convince myself that the decor does not look US. The door knob looks high for common practice here. The object attached to the wall above and to the right of the radiator/gate might be a light switch, again not like those I have seen here which are usually flush with the wall.

Any comments from The Old World???

Marabeth,
I teach at McCleskey, which used to feed into Lassiter. I'm sure we know many of the same families. Nothing like going to a Bonaire website to meet your neighbors. What a small world indeed!

I am reviewing my original (and much clearer) pictures of the mystery apartment. In picture #1 the whole setting looks very European to me. A friend of mine laughed and said, "They're using a table cloth...definietly not from around here."

In picture #2 it looks like there is another radiator in the other room. Can anyone make out the title of the red book or the emblem on the guy's t-shirt? The ceilings in this place are very different.

Picture #3. Cool, retro-looking glasses, foreign beer, funky vase. Can anyone recognize the cars in the parking lot or the brand of the beer?

Here is one more picture to help with the mystery. You can see the "radiator" thing much better. The compact on the table says "TAMRON".

We need someone from "CSI" to figure this out. The mystery continues!

The chair in the living room looks very much like a Charlie-chair from Montis designed by Gerard v.d. Berg from Holland

To me, it really looks dutch. 'We' uses tablecloths a lot in our interior. And also the radiator is 'dutch-like'. So, I'm with Amy thinking it is a dutch family.

Definitely a European/Dutch setting. A dead giveaway are the doorknobs which aren't knobs but handles.

"The compact on the table says "TAMRON". "

I would bet that's a lens cap off the camera that took the picture. Tamron is a maker of camera lenses and accesories.

you guys are cracking me up....BT Investigators....I can't believe that these folks haven't seen this, and hopefully when they do they will get a chuckle (I would)....

Keep up the good work BT CSI Team! LOL!

Cynde-Let's hope they are not offended by the discussion thread seen "round the world". I'm with you, it would crack me up knowing people were getting such a kick from picking through every detail of my home! Looks like such a nice family, I hope they read BT!

Good catch on the TAMRON lens cap Herman!

Kristin - Can you post the full sized (original) images (#1 &2) somewhere so we can take a look at it?

Brian, I'll have to email them to you. The pictures are over 200K each. I would love a lesson on how to get pics to be good quality and under 50K so they can be posted on here. I have Photoshop, but am not an expert by any means.

Kristin,

Again, why don't you email the pictures to Lion's Dive? Ask them to pass the pictures around to see if their staff can remember the guests and then give you an address. Better than 'explaining' to them.

Kristin, Quality and small size files are not compatible. You can't have one and have the other, sorry. How about rescanning a small portion of the picture (just the area of the books on the counter) at a higher resolution, say 600 dpi. Then use the unsharp mask (filter-sharpen-unsharp mask) to clean up the edges of the letters on the books. Sometimes adjusting the contrast (image-adjust-brightness/contrast) can also help. Once you've done that, you should be able to zoom in on the letters printed on the books and tell the language that they are written in. Not definitive proof of where the pix are from, but a good clue to add to the others already spotted.

OK Scobby Doobby Do sluelths...the clues are
1. Photographer is using a 35mmSLR with a Tamron lens and took off her tortoise framed women's reading glasses to shoot the pic.
2. Table setting features vinyl table cloth, large tapered soap bowls on plates, medium to light beer in a dark bottle and drinking from a glass, is this the beer label

a little red tapered bowl (ashtray?)
3. Modern slim line radiator (probably European)
4. Track lights on low voltage rail type...just now being seen in the states...in Europe for years.
5. The time is 7:50 and the sun is low in the sky but not setting.
6. Two cars visible, one in foreground has a side window style like a Peugeot 307, car in back appears to be some sort of small hatch back with a fairly vertical back glass.
7. Trees behind cars appear to be deciduous with small serrated leaves with many limber limbs such as a dutch elm

Wally and Eva are definitely winning the detective race here!

Wally sleuth, the bowls could be cereal bowls and it might be 7;50 Am.... just a thought that has absolutely NOTHING to do with any of this...
carry on all special agents!!

Well hopefully they aren't drinking beer with their cereal at 7:50 AM! Not to say that hasn't been done before, but...

I emailed the pictures to Hamlet Oasis and Lion's Dive and also included a link to our lovely discussion thread. Maybe someone there will recognize the family.

I also have this fantasy that the family will be SO grateful to me for saving their precious vacation photos that they will buy me a home in Bonaire so I can move there and dive every day for the rest of my life. A girl can dream can't she? :-) ha ha ha

Kristin you will have alot of company in that new house.. all the special agents will want a piece of it.... }{I think beer and cereal are the breakfast of champions!!"
just an observation .. in the last picture is that a number 2 on the wall???

also a question about pictures 1 and 2
what is that rectangle thing on the upper right hand side of the picture??on the wall......

the label for the beer i think is different.. it is lighter in the picture than the dark label that Wally has presented..{just and opinion!}

Yes, that is a number 2 on the wall. Now if I were only sure which hotel that is.

The long, black rectangular thing is a picture frame. The beer label is white or gray with red Old English style lettering that begins with a "D".

Could be a G for Guiness....

could the beer be Dommelsch? That's a dutch brand. When I first saw the pictures, I though the people looked "Dutch". Can't see many details when I zoom in, not sharp enough.

I thought about beer in the am but they don't look like beer in the am folks except maybe the old guy. Ladies drinking wine for breakfast?...not buying it. So we have to assume PM and soup bowls or really big salad bowls

I say odds are 3 to 5 Dutch, 1 to 5 southern French, and -100 to 1 southern Georgia.

Freddie, could the thing on the right be a doorbell thingie? Ours looks like that (only larger) because it plays a variety of tunes)...the black thing...a light? REALLY big fire sprinkler?

Also, the first two pictures were taken on different days. In the first picture, look at the sideboard, and what's on it...


Now, in the second picture look what's on it...the stack of books or CD's in the first picture is gone...also, the person taking the picture must live there, as the people in both pictures are different....

I need to get a life...LOL!

Freddie, you are hilarious with all the arrows.

I'm cracking up and betting that the odds are a million to 1 they are not from south Georgia! Otherwise you'd see things in the picture such as red and white gingham curtains, a pick-up truck on concrete blocks out in the yard, cans of Skoal laying around, and turnip greens, pinto beans and cornbread on the table. I grew up in Tennessee and now live in Georgia. Therefore, I have earned the right to poke fun at my red-neck upbringing. :-)

Wish I could post the pictures in all their huge and clear megabyte glory.

The thing on the ceiling is a light fixture. The thing on the wall is probably a doorbell chime.

The pictures are numbered on the back in this order:
#4 = 4 people standing behind the bar
#3 = two guys at the table
#2 = lady by herself
#1 = 3 people at the table

My camera takes pictures in reverse order, meaning these would have been taken AFTER the Bonaire trip. All cameras are different however.

I'm with you Cynde, I need to get a life, but this has become quite a source of entertainment!

New Theory:

Look at the folks in picture number two. For ease of viewing Cynde has posted it once again right above this post. Check out those folks. See the merriment in the eyes...the guy on the left holding backa laugh....new thory (perhaps as valid sa the child gate one ;-) ) We have been set up, the film was left behind intentionaly to see folks with time on their hands would make of it. A clever caper in deed...

I'm still going with the "Witness Protection Program" or "secret second family" theories. Much more fun and believable.

Truly worthy of Discovery Channel special. The inquisitive diver instinct can't help but kick-in... Kind of brings flashbacks of "Shadow Divers" (with no mortality thankfully!) Looking forward to seeing this solved.. Who will crack the mystery first? Stay tuned! Coach Izzy

They are not from south Georgia.....no singing Billy Bass on the wall

A clever caper indeed if the interior pics were taken after their Bonaire visit and the roll of undeveloped film sent back to Bonaire to be found by unsuspecting, concerned North Americans!!! Now we need theories on who in Bonaire is in on the scam, putting the film in the safe!!! :–)

Glen, you are the only person who caught that! hahahah

The red book on the table is titled: "Welk Type Bent U?" The other item appears to be a vase of shells.

OK, Kristin, definately dutch! it means: which type are you?

OMG, this is just getting better and better..."What Type Are You?" Is that a gender discovery book or a self-help book, or a personality type book? LOL!

Blood Type

Kristin, something that could be tried is sending a small add around here in The Netherlands, to see who lost their film roll. Sometimes you see messages like that in womens magazines,.... I am sure willing to help out.

Could be Danes??

No, the book is definitively Dutch!