March 5 to 21
Flight: Used ff miles with NW , they put us on Continental from Hartford, Ct, Newark, to Aruba, and sent home on Delta. We bought tickets from Aruba on DAE to Bonaire, all connections timely and with baggage. Only thing was weight limit of 66 lbs. total for small DAE plane , but dive gear, a few clothes, some food,and a few books all made the trip.
Felt lucky to have seamless trip home , accompanied by people who had been waiting for flights cancelled from snowstorm in NE four days earlier, and saw piles of luggage undelivered
Accomodations: Sand Dollar unit, excellent site, very quiet, nice view from the porch , and great service.
Vehicle: we miss seeing Netty on the island, but Evert's was an excellent replacement. Suzuki mini van carryall, is perfect for our " divemobile" needs...good on gas and insurance is covered on our credit card where trucks and cars are not.
Restaurants Enjoyed our evenings at Dedn Lamen, loved the shrimp chowder, great service as it was late and after a night dive, It Rains Fishes, the ever popular fish with mustard sauce and garlic soup to die for, Bobby Jans on the weekends only ,remains popular and you can see why..great price for Ribs and chicken...it is our tradition to visit ZeeZicht on the waterfront for their ZeeZicht burger before we leave, t sunset and happy hour..we were happy! Rose Inn in Ricon for big bowl of french fries and Amstels after dives at Ole Blue.Shopped at More for Less and Cultimara for groceries, love all that bread and dutch cheese...and of course the trip is not complete without several visits to Lovers Ice Cream.
Diving:Got our air package at Boniare Dive Adventure, we do all shore dives and enjoy the tank pick up , and clean gear room there. Missing Erika in the office, but Joan and everyone does a great job .Lots of socializing on the dock with people that continue to return to Bonaire same time of year.. Did 25 dives and celebrated our 800th dive on Bonaire..the winds kicked up and the viz was'nt the greatest, but always something to see...found the seahorse and frogfish on the Bari Reef, 13 barracudda at Vista Blue,alot of squid this year, and more turtles than before, thats a nice sign that the turtle program is working...a beautiful spotted eagle ray sailed by us in the sand ,right of the Bari Reef dock, unusual to see them that close.We were treated to a dive where a resident of that house reef, showed us ,banded pipefish,interesting pike blenny behavior , juv trunkfish, and viper eel...everything so tiny that we never would have seen it without her help...it's an amazing world down there!
NIghtlife: spent an evening watching the huge cruise ship Sea Princess leave the dock..sat on the wall in town with alot of others, the process of unhooking the ropes and tug boats and horns and whistles, and manuverability of a ship that size was interesting ( and free.. ha!) walking the harborside brick walkway with ice cream cone and our own happy hour@ sunset after a day of diving is usually enough for us. We like to watch sutset from up on Seru Largu also.
Did'nt like the increase in departure tax this year, but do appreciate the new ac departure area of airport..have to pay for that I guess.Has anyone stood at windsock on beach when the plane flies over your head ? wow! felt like I needed to duck ! Chat n'Browse for internet connection, and a hello to Michael Gaynor. Lots of no wee em's this year..ouch ! go see the whale skeleton at the park entrance, and snorkel at Waiaka...that's it for another trip report from Diver Debbi..hope everyone can dive in Bonaire once in their lifetime..make it one of your 1,000 places to see

Thanks, Debbi. Nice report in compact form.

No Erika? She seemed a bit terse at times with customers but we saw right through it and had a good time with her. Maybe her absence is just temporary. ?

In 25 days we'll be flying down. I'm looking forward to seeing the frogfish and seahorse at Bari Reef. I didn't see them there last year. I'm happy to hear about the turtles and squid.

Hey Debbi, very nice trip report. I agree with you, watching the planes on the beach is pretty amazing- I almost do that on a daily basis when I am on the island- waiting and taking pictures of KLM. Only 10 more days and counting!!!

No Erika? Has she left Sand Dollar?

Hope that Erika is back to the office soon..I'm sure everyone who knows her smiling face wishes her well and a speedy recovery...