This was our twenty second trip to Bonaire. We have been coming here for twelve years, but this was special, for the first time ever we came non-stop! We arrived Sunday morning February 18th on the Continental non-stop from Newark. It was by far the best travel experience we’ve ever had to Bonaire.

We stayed at our two bedroom condo at Sand Dollar where we ate all our breakfasts and lunches. We cooked dinner in a couple of times but had to go to many of our favorite restaurants.

After checking in we headed to the grocery stores to stock up on supplies as the stores would be closing early because of Carnival. It’s not often that our February trip coincides with Carnival so it was a wonderful chance to see the parade.



We did all our diving on Bari Reef, the house reef at Sand Dollar. There is so much fish life there is just no reason to go anywhere else.

Alan made the switch to digital underwater photography giving up his Nikonos after fifteen years and switching to a Nikon D200 in an Aquatica housing. Even though the housed system was very heavy and bulky out of the water Alan was very impressed with its ease of use underwater.

Here is Alan with his gear and a couple of his photos:



Joan was using her Canon PowerShot SD700 Digital Elph in a housing and loves its ease of use. Here are a couple of her favorites:



Our first dinner out was at Bobby Jan’s for the best chicken and ribs anywhere. We also went to Donna & Giorgio’s, Casablanca and Capriccio’s. All the meals were outstanding.

Michael Gaynor at Chat n’ Browse set us up with a wireless internet account so we were able to e-mail and send photos right from our condo. It also made it very easy to call home. We signed up for Skype.com and were able to call anywhere in the world for two cents a minute. The connection was perfect; people thought we were next door.

We have updated our Bonaire suggestion sheet that includes a lot of useful information about stores, restaurants and other things to do, send an e-mail if you would like a copy.

Our return home on Continental was also perfect, we already have the flight booked for our August trip which seems very far away since we just had a snow storm on Monday.

Alan and Joan, great report. Sounds like you had a relaxing vacation. You both look great BTW

Nice pic's guys, glad you enjoyed the vacation.

Nice report and great pic's.
Thank you for sharing.

Alan and Joan. Thank you. I am so wanting to take that Continental flight to Bonaire. It sounds like the only way to go. Although we live in PA, we are only about an hour and 20 minutes to Newark. Great report.

Good to hear the Continental flight is ok from Newark; we'll be on it in three months. Nic pics. Are you happy with your digital set up?

Yes, I'm very happy with the set up. The Aquatica housing allows me to use one of my Nikon cameras that I use every day when I'm shooting for the paper. Being so familiar with the camera allows me to apply all the land knowledge when shooting underwater and just adapt to the environment. I was very happy with the results I received.

Thanks for the report and the information on the new flight from Newyark. We are leaving in two weeks driving from CT, but should be worth the extra drive.

Here is another photo:

Thanks, Alan,

great pics, and thanks for your very helpful Bonaire suggestion document. Can't wait 'til April!

Cheers, honeymoon2
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

We would appreciate a copy of your suggestion list. We'll be going to Bonaire on 17 March.
Thanks

Alan & Joan,

It was so nice to have our trips overlap and have a whole day with all 4 of us on the island together. Great to chat and see your equipment. Your condo looks better every year.

The new living room furniture is perfect and the white laminate on the kitchen cabinets looks great!

Jean

Chet took this on his new digital Nikon.

Alan and Joan, great report and pictures. Glad you had a wonderful trip!

Alan,
Your pictures and Joan's are great. Thanks for the suggestion you email about length of image name.

Sorry, it's me obviously, Chet had just posted them on another straight.

Jean

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/cgi-local/bbs/show.cgi?tpc=23830&post=378530#POST378530

Try the end of this STRING for the squid pictures. I'm going to bed.
Jean

Alan and Joan, Thanks for sharing your photos and trip report with us.

Mark

wow, 22 trips, that's amazing...enjoyed your report and pics. thanks, scott

Thanks for the great report. My PBD is so bad atm.

Understand your PBD, got up this morning and the temperature is 11 degrees with a wind chill of -6

Finally had a chance to edit a few more photos. Here are some more of Alan's photos with the Nikon D200 in the Aquatica housing: