Bonaire Trip 9/23-10/3/07
We just returned from our third trip to Bonaire. We stayed at the Sand Dollar for ten days. Our primary purposes were to purchase and renovate a studio unit at Sand Dollar and start our diving certification course. We did a lot of work, but also managed to have time for some fun.
This is not your typical trip report about wonderful diving, snorkeling or dining. It is about learning the “business side” of Bonaire as a new property owner. It was still ten wonderful days in a paradise that is very unique.
We have been negotiating and working toward purchasing a Sand Dollar unit since February. We have purchased property several times here in North Carolina. The experience of buying property in Bonaire is related, but certainly not the same. Neither party uses an attorney--all of the closing details are handled by the Notaris, a government official. The Notaris does the deed background check, preparation of all closing documents and the collection and distribution of all money. The Notaris did an excellent job and explained everything and answered all of our questions. Once the closing occurs, the Notaris registers our new deed (in Dutch) and eventually will send us an English translation. It is a totally different process, but it works very efficiently.
Dealing with money is always an interesting affair in a foreign country. The exchange rate is fixed at 1.78 guilders per American dollar, if you exchange at a bank (banks charge a small exchange fee for some trades), 1.75 guilders per dollar if you pay shops for merchandise in dollars. So, where you are and what type of currency that you are using (cash or traveler’s checks or credit card) actually determines the real exchange rate, but the differences in cost are not huge. Stores accept guilders, dollars, travelers checks, credit cards and local Bonaire ATM cards, but few accept denominations over $50 bills. You almost always get guilders as change, but can occasionally get change in dollars for the asking.
As Bonaire property owners, we felt that we needed to establish a local bank account. Things like insurance payments, utilities, homeowner association fees, etc should be easier to deal with using local accounts we thought. (We can pay bills that don’t go through Sand Dollar with electronic funds tranfers and on-line banking at no additional charge.) Well, the banking system there is slightly different. They will not just take your money and start an account for you. We had to supply a letter of reference from our home bank on their letterhead and with a real person’s signature in order to establish a new account. We did not bring such letter with us. Several calls and emails to the US later, we finally found one (ONLY one!) of the banking institutions we use has the ability to send an international fax. We eventually were able to set up a bank account with Madero and Curiel Bank, but that was another half-day experience. It took another week for our ATM card and electronic banking to be set up.Should I mention insurance policies?? That develops into another series of appointments and lengthy explanations. We always found nice people that were very helpful, but it took a lot of time to get almost anything done. It’s all in a days (or two) work.
We went prepared to display several of Laura’s Bonaire pictures. She had printed a folder full of colorful photographs and cut the correct size and color of mats. We planned to buy frames in Bonaire and hang them in the studio apartment. Well duh—we had trouble finding ready-made frames in stores. Those we found in the photo shop in Kralendijk were metric sized—a standard 8 ½ x 11 or 8x10 photo doesn’t fit!!! We finally did find some correct sizes at the “Chinese” variety store, Kung Fong. Just another example of different expectations and finding reality.
Finding furniture in Bonaire is a very frustrating affair. We visited City Shop, Kung Fong, Samora, Bonaire Super Store and IslaniYours, an antique/teak furniture dealer behind the Supermarket. One particular instance was typical. We needed a bed-preferably Queen Size- and wanted just a mattress and box springs. Well, one place had a 160cmX190 cm box spring but was out of the semi-orthopedic mattress we wanted. Another place had the only queen mattress--it is hard as a rock and is 164x190cm. We could have waited for a boat from Curacao to bring more mattresses in a week or two, but we could not sleep on the tile floor. So, we had no choice but to buy what was available. So, we have a hard bed with 2cm of mattress hanging over each side of the box spring. Suffice it to say that choice is very limited (and expensive) Still, the hunt is part of the fun. We slept great and the bedspread covers all!!!
We both enjoy cooking and using local foods or ingredients. We found several grocery/food stores this time that we did not know existed. Afterall, most of the small grocers operate out of stucco buildings that don’t look like US grocery stores on the outside nor do they have signs telling us what’s inside. We visited La Portuguesa on Kaya Nikiboko Zuid, Wung Lilung on Kaya Korona, Cultimara on Kaya Soeur Bartola, the Supermarket on Kaya Industria and More for Less on Kaya Nikiboko Nord. Each location had its specialties, it ‘s plus and minus –but all shopping is a fun experience. Overall, we were able to find everything that we needed to cook and eat in our unit the whole time. We never went to any restaurants or ate out.
A cool adventure involved finding fresh fish to cook. Ultimately, on a side street (Kaya Dialmo) we found fresh Red Snapper. It was being sold out of a local home and there were NO signs telling us to stop there to buy fish. (We asked a few locals for directions.) We also purchased fresh wahoo sold at odd hours of the day by a bar owner next to Richard’s Restaurant.
While in the process of painting, cleaning and refurbishing our studio, we learned about the various building supply places, hardware stores and home supply stores. Kooyman (Kaya Korona) is like a hardware store/building supply and has an impressive array of building materials and the people are very friendly and helpful. Playa Traders on Kaya Amsterdam seems to be more of a commercial building supplier and has fewer selections, but has different building materials. We discovered Boomerang Hardware, which is just like a down home American hardware store. The people are very friendly and knowledgeable and they have a very broad range of hardware and household supplies. The only trouble is that we did not discover we were going the WRONG way on Kaya Princess(a ONE way street) to get to Boomerang until our 10th visit to the store!
We decided that Bonaire shopping is like the line from the Rolling Stones –“you can’t always get what you want, but you can always get what you need”. So, frustrated that we could not find everything, we decided we would just buy the other items (new bedspread, curtains and porch-ceiling fan) and ship them to Sand Dollar. Easy—UPS, or US Postal Service or Fed EX go everywhere.
Well, when we got home we got quite a shock upon checking on shipping costs. The cheapest shipping method was the US Postal Service, which would charge $56.00 for a 10 pound box 18”x12”x12”. Naturally, larger boxes and/or more weight cost more!! UPS would have cost $190 to ship the same thing. Fed Ex would have cost even more! So, we won’t be shipping anything any time soon. I guess that we will just have to go back to Bonaire and gladly haul all 4 allowed suitcases full of stuff.
Ultimately, the purchase and renovation was a total success-we love the new place and are happy to have it freshly painted, the porch screened, the bath updated ,the furniture relocated and/or changed and new wall art It truly is a totally different look than when we started. We were somewhat saddened that we had spent so much time of our vacation working, but the results were ultimately worth the effort. We love our little studio and hope to rent it to people who will enjoy and take care of it.
I certainly don’t mean to sound negative about our experiences. It is all a part of the “newness” of a different culture/government/business climate. It was fun and exciting to figure things out and see all of their systems. We learned a lot about Bonaire while doing the exploration and legwork. We feel extremely fortunate to be able to have a little part of Bonaire. We are very happy with the Sand Dollar and look forward to going back many times. We feel that now the work and “hard part” is done—let’s have some fun from now on.
When in Bonaire, one must really relax, slow down and think in “island time” Everybody else does!
Now, the diving part. Unfortunately, we were not able to begin our diving careers. We were unaware (dumb us!!!) that our Doctor had to sign medical certifications if we replied “yes” to any of the medical questions before we could take any PADI diving class. So, we ended up not being able to start the dive certification process on this trip. (We are certain that our physician who is a diver will say we should be fine diving).
Instead, Laura was able to take a half-day underwater photo class with Fish Eye Photo. She was pleased with her class and her instructor, Michael. Photography is one of her favorite hobbies, so learning more about underwater photography was really exciting. She has some beautiful examples of Bonaire’s underwater scenery.
Still, we had some wonderful snorkel trips. The best southern trip that we did on this trip was snorkeling at Yellow Hut. The surf was very low and the waves gentle when we entered the water about 10:30 am. We went south for 45 minutes and then slowly drifted back north to our start. Highlights were wonderful soft corals, hawksbill turtle, spotted file fish, rock beauty, lots of trunkfish and green moray. Lots of other fish as well.
Andrea II is always a beautiful trip. We did it twice. The first trip was going south from the entry all of the way to Andrea I and back. The second trip was going north from the entry about 45 minutes and then returning. Both trips revealed turtles, squids, lots of fish and eels. We think that overall, going north from the entry is the better trip.
Thousand Steps is always a Bonaire classic. We entered the water and went south to find many fish, eels, squid, turtle and beautiful coral. Upon our return to the starting point, we headed north. That was a disappointment, as that direction seemed to be mostly sandy with fewer corals and fish, except for the porcupinefish. Certainly, going south is prettier and more productive.
Our most favorite snorkel is to jump in at La Dania’s Leap and go north to Karpata. We do this as a drift snorkel. We park the truck at Karpata and walk about 10 minutes back to La Dania's. The water is deeper, clearer and full of corals, eels, fish, squid and turtles. This time we encountered a spotted scorpionfish and French Angels, Midnight Parrotfish and Rainbow Parrotfish. Truly a beautiful trip.
Bonaire in late September/early October was very nice. There were no crowds—it almost seemed like there were very few tourists anywhere. The weather and water seemed slightly warmer than February. We had no rain and lots of sun. Breezes were off and on from the south and southeast. There seems to be a lot of new construction going on throughout the island.
We decided that we saw more eels, morays, squids and turtles than ever before. We also noted that there were many more blooming plants and trees than before. The blooms were attributed to the recent rains from Hurricane Felix. Low-lying inland places (near Lisa Gas, City Shop and across from the Harbor marina) retained a lot of standing water which contributed to a much more active bug/mosquito population.
Overall, we had another great Bonaire trip. We certainly look forward to our next adventure there. It WILL be more fun and less work!!
Vann and Laura Evans
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By Vann Evans (BonaireTalker - Post #26) on Sunday, October 7, 2007 - 12:59 pm: 
