Trip report Jan22-Feb8, Part 1

I’ll try to make it not too long. A day to day diary with many more pictures will be placed on our website asap. I’ll send the link when it’s ready.

This was our 3rd trip to our second home. This time it was just my husband Fred and I, which was very relaxing. We had a great time! Did lots of snorkelling, driving around and read quit a few good books.

Traveling.
Was OK. We are lucky to have direct flights from Amsterdam to Bonaire.



Although going there took little over 10 hours, which was pretty long. But everything went on time. It was very strange when we landed on Bonaire, for it had rained that day and there was no wind, so it was warm and moist, and water everywhere. Very strange experience. Luckily it all dried up quickly, and the winds came back too. The flight home was very relaxing, the plane was only ¾ occupied, we had seats with extra room for our legs (especially Fred was thrilled!) and it took only 8 ½ hours. And after landing it took about 2 hours and we where home again. I always hate to leave Bonaire, but coming home to my cats does ease the pain, they where very happy to see us again.



Our home away from home.
We usually rent a house via Bonaire Bungalows, they are very reliable and have a few very kind and helpful housekeepers on the Island. Prices are very fair. This time we stayed at the Kadushi bungalow in Kaya Italia.



I like the fact that you can easily walk to town,. The next picture shows how close you are to the sea:



We rented a truck via AB Carrental, including full insurance. It was the most expensive part of the holliday, but it was good to have no worries about damage break ins etc. We just locked up the car at all times, as was recommended by AB. Haven’t experienced theft nor did I hear about it during our stay this year. It all seems quiet again, good!

Part2

Snorkeling.
It is so special in the water on Bonaire, it truly is addictive! As a snorkeler you can see so much, and you can come so close to everything. There are still sites we haven’t been to, so we have to go back again. The visibility was a little less this year, but still good enough, some days where better than others, south was better than north. Every time we went into the water we saw something we hadn’t seen before! Every snorkel had something special. I did notice that there was more dead coral/rubble than the previous years, probably due to Ivan. But there is still a lot of growing coral, so I have good hope. At the south sites (south of Kralendijk) we saw most fish species, but very few coral. At the north sites the “coral garden” was more intact, but the fish variety was less.
We snorkelled at: Windsock, Nukove (not very spectacular, difficult entry), Tori’s Reef



(great, our favourite this trip, went here 3 times, very easy entry), Pink beach, Eden Beach (nice, easy entry, went here twice, nice beach to dry up, webcams)



Oil Slick (easy entry via ladder, nice “coral-garden”), Plaza (easy entry, lots of fish. Thanks for the tip, Renee! Went here twice, our second favourite site), Andrea II (entry not that easy, we where lucky that the sea was very calm when we went here, lots of different coral).
Unfortunately we didn’t see any turtles this year, but we saw so many other “new” stuff! Some highlights:
A large school of houndfish at Windsock. A Beaugregory and some big shells at Nukove. Ballyhoo, Great baracuda (!):



Chub, Sea beam, Saucereye Porgy, Yellowmouth grouper, Tiger grouper, Midnight parrotfish, Porcupinefish:



King Helmet at Tori’s Reef. White Grunt, Sergeant Major (Purple phase), Graysby, Blackbar soldierfish, Peacock flounder:



Sand diver:



Balloonfish, Porcupinefish, Great Baracuda at Eden Beach.

Lots of small stuff, Harlequin bass, puddingwife (juvenile), orange spotted filefish, Bar Jakcs, Black Margate, juvenile brown chromis, Shy Hamlet, Rock Hind, redband parrotfish (initial phase), sharpnose puffer, highhat, a free swiming dark brown morray, spotted drums (!):



5 squids (!):



and a huge lobster:



all at Plaza.
Elkhorn, finger coral, lobbed star coral, symetrical brain coral and boulder brain coral. Lots of black sea rods, grooved-blade sea whip and sea plumes. Different species of anemonies:



and worms:



Branching vase sponge, a small crab, a large Great Baracuda at only 1m distance (impressive!), blue chromis, a very small stoplight parrot (initial phase), yellowhead wrasse at AndreaII.

Part3

Dining.
We had a nice little kitchen in our house so alternatively we ate out and at home. Some days we lunched out and did only eat something small in the evening, other days we had a simple lunch and ate a larger meal in the evening.
When we cooked in, we sometimes cooked for 2 days and froze one part to eat the other week. On arrival we had Kentucky Fried Chicken take away and there was enough left for lunch later that week.
Off course we went to Gibi’s on both Tuesdays! On the 25th we took our friends from The Hague; Sonja, Harald and Andre with us. I expected more people that evening, but besides us there where just Ed and Liz Ginochio and Liz’ son Chris, Renee, Louise and partner (from Key West and a couple from The Netherlands who live on the island for 6 months a year (sorry, forgot the names). It was very nice to finally meet Liz and Ed. I gave Liz her package (Dutch leave).


right from Liz you see her son Chris.

She liked it a lot. Liz also showed some other plant leaves she got in the hospital.
(Liz, I’ll send you the original pictures!)


That’s me, Ed and Renee


Liz, showing some other leaves, and me


Renee, Liz and Ed,….

Gibi cooked some great meals! As usual we had to choose from a large variety he had to offer. We all had a salad as a starter. Then Fred had goat soup,



afterwards he had the beef stew. I had the goat stew. It was a very nice evening.
The next Tuesday (Feb 1) a little more people showed up. Liz and Ed and Renee where there again. Fred and I (our friends went back home on Monday), Linda and Jake and their kids, 4 people from which I forgot where they are from, they where Tilman Cuttino and his wife Beth and their friends Mike and Debbie Berry Again we had a great a great meal! Salads to start with again. This time I had the grilled Wahoo, and a superb kesio for desert. Fred had Oxtail soup and beef stew again. Off course rice, fries and fungi was served too. It was a very entertaining evening again!
We had another local meal at Rose Inn in Rincon. A very friendly family serve very good food in a large garden. We both had a very nice chicken stew. One Friday we ate at Bobbejans, good food for a very reasonable price.
On Sunday we went to Lac Cai, but it was the Sunday of the childrens karnaval parade in Playa, so unfortunately there was no music that day. But we did have a few drinks and ate a few pastechi’s and a pancake.



From left to right: Andre, Harald, Sonja and Fred.

Twice we had lunch at Bongo’s. I must say, they serve very good food! One day I had the smoked chicken and melon salad, it was gorgeous, it comes with a fantastic dressing! Don’t miss it!
One evening we ate at Wil’s tropical grill. This is where De Tuin used to be. Wil and Sue redecorated the place to a very cosy restaurant. Wil is very enthousiastic about his servings, and I must say: he ought to! Everything we had was superb! Fred started with Conch fritters and I had the wonderful smoked blue marlin salad (great dressing!). Then Fred had a very nice T-bone steak and I had the catch of the day: Wahoo. For desert Fred had a cocktail and for me was the frozen cappucino.
Another day we had planned to cook our own meal, but we ran out of gas. The owner of the house was called and would bring a new tank. But in the meantime we got hungry. Our neighbours who stayed in one of the nextdoor apartments had bought coal, meat, etc for the barbeque, and asked if we wanted to join them, so we did. We ended up having a very nice evening. After some time our other neighbours (Dutch too) also came in. They where on a fishing vacation and had a huge Wahoo in the fridge, which they had caught the day before, so they joined us too, and we all had Wahoo too. We all shared our salads etc, so we had a real Dutch party!
When we went round the southern part of Bonaire we sat down at Jibe City and had lunch there. It’s always nice to see the first timers trying to stay on a surf board!
On the evening of Karnaval Sunday we went to Jos in the kunuku.



There was a big party going on, huge bonfire, Dutch music. There we had grilled sate, yummie.
On our last evening we wanted to have a nice diner out again. In the afternoon I called La Guernica to reserve a table. But the man on the phone told me he was not sure if they would have power that evening, due to a fire. At that point we did not know about the fire yet, we still had power at our house. But at about 4 in the afternoon we where out of power too, and we heard about the fire at the plant. So in the evening (we still had no power) we descided to drive to town and see if and where we could have diner. At Playa everything was dark too, La Guernica didn’t open it’s doors, so we descided to drive on. I opted Bistro de Paris, but unfortunately it is closed on Mondays. They did have power in that neighbourhood though, so we wanted to find something there. Then we drove by Harbour Village. There is a completely new restaurant; Vespucci, where Las Padres (Mexican) used to be, next to the harbour. It is Italian, with an Italian owner. They had power and there was a roof (for it rained), it looked very nice too. So let’s go for it. And I must say: we don’t regret going there! We had a wonderful meal, the waitress was very very kind, ambiance was good, all good! Good price too. They served a nice appetizer, some warm bread with tuna tappenade. As a starter we both had the shrimp cocktail, then I got a beautiful steak tenderloin with melted blue cheese and Fred had the mixed grill, which was chicken, fish and sea fruit all together. There where some very nice deserts on the menu too, so Fred choose the strawberry cheesecake and I had a wonderful chocolate mascarpone mouse. So remember that name: Vespucci.
On Tuesday, after we checked in our luggage, we had some time to have lunch somewhere, and we went to City Café. Again there was no power in Kralendijk, so we couldn’t order everything on the menu, but they improvised very well. I had a shrimp salad and Fred had a cheese hamburger.
I don’t think you can go wrong in Bonaire, there is enough to choose from when it comes to lunch and dinner. Different types of food for different prices, whatever you want. Quality of food is very good, I think. Also in the supermarkets you can find enough to cook your own meal. Some things are rather expensive, but other things, like meat for instance are very inexpensive.

Part 4

Karnaval.
It was very nice to see the parades. We went to both the adult parades in Rincon and Kralendijk. The one in Rincon was pretty small, but there was lots of partying going on in the streets. All over town you could find places where you could eat and/or drink. I always find the people in Rincon very friendly. They really like it when tourists show interest in their habits and history. The parade in Playa was a lot bigger, also stands throughout town where you could buy drinks or food. It was very busy, people where dancing in the streets, very nice.
Here’s a few pictures to give an impression:







We also liked the Tumba music, you just can’t stand still when you hear it.

Animals.
It’s not just the underwaterworld that attract us to Bonaire, we also like the land-life. The donkeys, both in the sanctuary as the ones still roaming free.




We saw still quite some donkeys in the kunuku that are happy to live in freedom, without being in danger to be hit by cars or even worse.




Because there was so much water everywhere, there where lots of waterbirds (herons and egrets) pretty close to town or even in town.





Off course the flamingo’s are one of our favourites too. Bonaire = chogogo




We even saw them flying a few times:




Several other birds we saw where the brown pelican:



Ospreys:



Caracara:



Parakeets:

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Emeralds, Mockingbirds, Bananaquits:



Troupiaal:



And then there are the Iguana’s and lizards:





For people who are interested in Bonaire’s animals and plants, there are 3 very nice little books written by Dr. Bart A. de Boer, all written in Papiamentu, Dutch and English called: “our birds”, “our plants” and “our animals”.

Part5

Things we did.
Besides snorkelling, we drove around a lot. In the kunuku, often without knowing where the dirtroad would lead us to, surprised by how green the island was.
We went to Seru Largo, for a nice overvieuw of the Island.



We walked the trail in Tolo, very nice there!



One day we drove past the BOPEC and went all the way to Playa Frans. This was a very nice trip, so unbelievably green! So quiet!
Off course we also drove the south of the island. Past the slave huts:



and the lighthouse:







We visited the donkey sanctuary. It looks very nice! Getting bigger year by year.
We had a look around in the cinnamon art gallery, to see some of Jake and Linda’s art.
We where caught on the webcam a few times as well:





Due to the past rain the island looked very different than we where used to, but it was truly nice to see it this way! Lots of flowers everywhere. In the evenings little toads came on our terrace to catch the mosquito’s. True, there where a lot of mosquito’s, but as long as you rubbed yourself with repellant from about 6 in the afternoon, you where OK. And you don’t necessarily need DEET, citronella oil worked fine for us too.


And now we are home and I want to go back! Before we went on vacation Fred said to me that next year he wanted to go somewhere else. He didn’t want to go to Bonaire every year. But as soon as we got there, he started talking about next time and next year,…..
It’s addictive, be warned if you are planning on going!

Oh, and here are the missed parakeets:

Wonderful trip report and great pictures! We are on our 4th trip in May, and it's been 2 1/2 years. I can't wait...

Karin, thanks for posting such a great trip report..your pics are marvelous! So nice to see the big variety of things you were able to do there! And, of course, it was fun seeing you on the cam!

Karin, wonderful report, and beautiful photos!!!

Karin, thank you so much for that wonderful report. I love all the pictures so much!

Karin, thanks so much for your wonderful picture-and-fact-filled trip report!

Mare

Absolutely fabulous, Karin! Thank you so much for your reports and lovely photos. You certainly did capture all that Bonaire has to offer.

I agree with you...Bonaire is addictive! Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. Carole

Great trip report, Karin! It is really nice to read and it sounds you all had a great time! Diana

Karin, thanks for sharing. Great pictures and I was getting hungry just reading the delicious foods you had. Glad you had a good time!!

Ik wil ook weer terug!
I also want to go back!

Mooie foto's hoor Karin!
Nice pictures Karin!

Karin, Great report and great pictures too! we're back on the island for a week in March and really looking forward to it

Great report and pictures. Enjoyed!

Karin - great report and wonderful pics!!! You made me want to go there right now!!

Thanks for delivering the Dutch plant to Liz - Doesn't she look great after going through what she went through!! I am so happy that you got to meet her and Ed!!!

Yes Mary, it is amazing how good she looks and how positive she is! It was great to meet them both! Ed is a sweet and charming guy. Liz' son Chris is very nice too, btw!

enjoyed the trip report and photos.. i can hardly wait until june when Aguaman and i will be there!!!

we have been away too long!

great Karin. Erg goed verslag, zo te zien heb je het hele eiland gezien...


(looks like you've seen the entire island....)

Awesome trip report and pictures!!!! I sooooo can't wait to be there!!!!

Karin

Great shots....sigh....it was only a couple of weeks ago.... WWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

Great report and photos Karin. Love the Tiaras:-{)}

Karin, great report! I have been so out of touch and haven't had much time to peek in a lot and see who is coming and going. Looks like you had a great time!