This was out third trip and we again had a wonderful time! We made our reservations almost a year ago flying Delta and Air Jamaica. We had been checking and rechecking the AJ situation and were kind of prepared for "whatever"! Our flight was almost an hour late leaving Norfolk due to maintenance issues, but we arrived only half an hour late in Atlanta and with plenty of time to catch the flight to Montego Bay. That flight was an Air Jamaica flight on a Delta aircraft - arrived on time, left Montego Bay on a AJ aircraft on time and arrived in Bonaire on time! As we were walking to immigration, in came a KLM flight and I said to my husband that it was a good thing we were first because we would get our bags first........The first people to get their bags were the KLM flight crew and after over an hour of waiting, we finally got ours. We have never had to wait that long for bags - we are usually getting into the rental car within a half-hour of landing. After getting the rental car, a RAV4 from Budget, we headed for the Plaza.
Check in at the Plaza was quick - we had called ahead earlier in the week to find out what room we would have! There was a beautiful plate of fresh fruit waiting for us in the room and a nice note welcoming us back to the Plaza! We dropped our bags and headed for the Cultimara. We wanted to stock up on drinks, breakfast and lunch items. We were afraid they would be closing early since the next day was Easter and not open again until Tuesday.
We got everything we wanted at the Cultimara except butter..they were out. Also very little fruit jam - we got strawberry made in Columbia. We looked other places during the week and eveyone seemed to be out of jam. We got the butter at Jokes MiniMarket - first time we have ever stoppped there. It is small, but they have a lot of stuff. We later found out that Cultimara did open on Easter Monday from 8:00 - 12:00.
We went back to the Plaza, unpacked, and headed out to dinner (see separate Dining Report). In the couple of weeks before we left, there were some posts about break-ins at the Plaza. We never got any "official" info on break-ins, but we did notice that the sliding patio doors now have an extra lock - a bolt that fits into a hole to keep the door from being opened even if it were unlocked. There was also a security camera on top of a pole that we don't remember seeing before - could be that we just never noticed it before. There seemed to be a lot more workers at the Plaza this year cleaning the grounds. The grounds seemed to be in better shape this year than last.
We hung out on the Plaza beach and snorkeled the house reef on Sunday. Lots of sand has been deposited on the reef that is just in front of the wall where the divers go in. There was not the abundance of fish that we had noticed in the past, so that was a little disappointing. The area further down from the Tipsy Seagull also had lots of sand. Later on in the week we began to see a greater variety of fish, so it could just be that we just weren't always in the right place at the right time. We did see several eels, a squid, and a barracuda at the Plaza.
On Monday we drove up to the BOPEC site since I had read a good snorkeling report on that site. There was a big sign saying it was forbidden to dive or swim there anymore. The report had said that the water was usually bathtub calm.........it was certainly not calm that day and we would not have snorkeled there even if we had been allowed! So we took an "interesting route" back toward town and went to Andrea I. We had a great snorkel - saw a turtle and followed it for at least fifteen minutes.
On Tuesday we went to Tori's Reef......was a nice snorkel - saw a nice variety of fish. After we got out and were drying off, we saw a flock of flamingos fly by - first time we have ever seem them flying.
Wednesday we went to Wayaka II......we did not see many fish. I don't remember there being so much rubble before. Anyway, the little beach and water are still beautiful and we had a wonderful day there. We sat in the shallow water to eat our lunch and were immediately accosted by a huge angelfish and his little trunkfish buddy. Even though we had not dropped anything in the water, they seemed to know what was happening "topside"! Obviously, they have been fed and as more people arrived, they "begged" from everyone.
On Thursday, we did some shopping and explored the Plaza reef some more.
Friday we headed down to Hidden Beach but the water was too rough, so we went back to Andrea I and had a nice snorkel - no turtle this time.
During the week, we saw several more flocks of flamingos flying by. Also saw bats flying out over the water as we sat in "It Rains Fishes" and lots of dragonflies in the park. We were not bothered by mosquitoes so it seems that the dragonflies and bats are taking care of the problem. Just when I thought I would never see a parrot on this trip, we began to see them all over the place.
As always, the week ended too quickly and it was time to return home. Our AJ flight was a little late taking off and our tight turn around in Montego Bay was made even tighter.....we had only 20 minutes between flights. But then the departure time came and went. Apparently AJ had overbooked the flight by 20 people and their luggage had already been loaded. So....their luggage had to be removed from the aircraft before we could leave. This was also an AJ flight on a Delta aircraft. The flight finally got underway, but then traffic was stacked up in Atlanta. So between the delay in Montego Bay and the landing delay in Atlanta, we were about an hour late getting in. Lots of people missed connections. We were not due to fly out until the next morning and so we had made a hotel reservation in Atlanta. Atlanta was a zoo! Apparently several flights to New York and New Jersey had been canceled because of the weather.....others had been delayed because of weather and connections missed. It was also the start of Spring Break for Atlanta area schools. We finally got to the hotel at 11:30 and then had to put the clock forward an hour and get up at 4:30 to catch our flight home.
As has been stated before on this board, the getting to and from Bonaire is a pain, but oh so worth it! .....and we are, of course, already making plans for next year .

Carole, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Glad to hear that you had a great time.

Yes, unfortunately getting to and from Bonaire can be a hassle. However, as you stated Bonaire is worth it:-{)}

Thank you so much for your post.

I am lucky we fly from Amsterdam, a straight connection to Bonaire. But we have a time difference from 6 hours, what espacially for the children is difficult.BTW I love your report. My family and I are going to the Plaza this summer for the 5th time.

Carole thanks for the great report! Sounds like you and yours had a good time. The AJ report is a booster for us as we are flying from Chicago to M/Bay to Bonaire the 25th of May for a two week stay at Dive-Inn. I like AJ because we don't have to get up with the birds when returning home and the trip there is an early afternoon landing thing. I feel if we support AJ's efforts for a second wind they will come around and get back to normal. Seems that the other airlines are having trouble picking up the slack and there is only a handful of way's to get to our favorate Island. Thanks again for your swell report and have a good trip next year... Ron