another wonderful time in Bonaire
FLIGHT flew AA from Hartford, Ct arrive PR in the morning, always a long layover there..played the 5 cent slot machines in the casino in terminal for the first time..DING DING DING DING ! Wow...won $83. and my inital $10 investment..beginners luck..that was fun and killed about an hour..read, play cards, and ate dinner..if you leave the AA terminal there are more food choices at the far end, Sbarros, an great chicken place, McD's and Subway..worth taking the walk..finally arrive Bonaire at 10PM

CAR RENTAL AB car rental check in( met with escort to the Plaza office) at that time of night efficient and on our way...best price and when we had a problem with rusty tailgate falling off halfway into the rental period they replaced the truck with an upgrade ..we appreciated that..got a discount coupon for future rental..everyone friendly

SAND DOLLAR RESORT ..office is moved to the front of entryway..small wood building, as they have taken the office space and made another rental unit..they were open for us at 10:30 at night to get keys, etc...staff always friendly and all requests met..enjoy seeing same divers, residents from previous years, especially on patio for happy hour sunsets..I do believe we all saw the " green flash " on St Ptricks Day of all times..hurrah's went up all down the coastline, so we were not the only ones to experience it

BONAIRE DIVE ADVENTURE used for air tanks..we do only shore dives, getting tanks very easy to pull up with truck..and dock excellent for Bari Reef...everything you want to see is out there..
Erika and Joan take good care of the paperwork and questions always answered by dive staff(thanks Peggy)...only negative was double up on pegs in gear room..they need more pegs or better system of assigning them...rum punch party nice for visiting...can they fix the pipe that goes out to the reef..all broken and not good marker

DIVING 22 dives in two weeks..guess we are slowing down after all these years..Last storm knocked the hell out of some of the sites and we found ourselves looking for the easiest entry spots..found Bari reef of course to be the easiest and best for night( thanks to Judy-John for the frog fish heads up) entry into Webers Joy changed because of the rubble moved..so we got in alittle past the building, you will see the path down to rock and sandy area...Ole Blue our favorite..get in furthest south as possible..made it possible to see different sections of the reef from before...Something Special went to the tugboat by follow rope @ 40' across the harbor, and Vista Blue and Torrys Reef down south..viz is still not like it used to be and alot of alge growing on everything...too much dumping phosphates in the water ..result of the development on the island I fear...we dove with the largest school of 9"Bigeye Scad ever saw in Bonaire..must have been thousands of 'em in cloud that blocked
out the sun..nice to go up the middle of a large school like that..reminded us of diving in Malaysia....saw octypus, turtles, a ray and the cutest little green frogfish...13 barracudda all in a row, squid eggs, 4 tiny spotted drum babies and ocean trigger

DINING.we eat in alot but enjoyed BobbyJAns one night..love the ribs, and had take away of ribs there another nite..great value. We enjoyed Maikey Snack for pesca hasa one afternoon..always good and local...our dinner at Sunset was disappointing as the one big night we went out..lobster bisque VERY salty and shrimp
with mangos and banana sweet and squishy...but must say the service has improved over last years visit. Lovers ice cream a treat several times..

watched one of the huge cruise ships leave the port one night..amazing to see the size of these things move so quietly..Serra Largu for sunset..search for beachglass( lots of green from Heinekin bottles)went to Taste of Bonaire listen to music and see folkloric dance troupe,worked on second mural early in the morning before it got to warm ..and drank Amstel Brights, got to visit with Jake @ airport and Michael at ChatnBrowse always helpful..untill another year on my favorite island..have a dive for me !

Debbie:

Great report. Thanks.

Great report Debbi! I felt like I was there with you. Thanks for the tip on the Sand Dollar office move. We stay there when on Bon.
Now I need to book a trip.

Wow, green flash on St. Patrick's Day. That is an omen of great luck for you the rest of the year until March 16th. You'll have to go back to Bonaire for the grand day, see the flash, and have anther perfect year.

Nice trip report, Debbi. How did you like "Taste of Bonaire?" I have yet to actually be on island for it. This year, I think in August, I will be, looking forward to experiencing it!

well..we did'nt actually " taste" anything there...we had already eaten dinner..but there were several booths ( thought there would be more) Gibbys booth seemed to be doing well..fun to watch some young dancers from Rincon perform folk dances and a band up on the bandstand..bought some local jewelry from a vendor there..I would go witht he idea that you might get a small dinner and enjoy all the local fun....we needed to get back to watch Amazing Race..our favorite tv show..maybe they can go to Bonaire someday for special snorkle or salt pile detour...untill then enjoy your trip to Bonaire