Our 2nd visit to this wonderful island. 32 dives. Some pics are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/55375351@N00/

Trip report to follow shortly.

Sorry...the address for the photos is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scubachickragu/

Arrival:Chicago to Houston, red eye to Bonaire on Continental. We love this flight. You get a little tired, but it was very uneventful and gets you there early. Stayed at Buddy Dive again(love it!!!!!)Our room was not ready, but knowing this could happen, we packed necessities in our carry-ons and everything was fine. Had breakfast, did the briefing, relaxed and rested a little by the pool, and were in the water for a easy, relaxing check-out dive by afternoon.
Dive Log:
Buddy Reef North- dove multiple times, this dive never gets old, early morning, afternoon or night. octopus, eels, so many of fish, turtles, rays, what did't we see?
Sampler-golden eels, spotted eagle ray
Something Special-multiple dives-this is fast becoming my favorite place, big turtles, eels, spotted drum everywhere, garden eels, grouper, tons of small stuff!
Bon Bini Cas-nice dive
Angel City-rough surf in the AM made for challenging entry and exit. nice double reef system, many scrawled file fish.
Bachelor's Beach: beautiful coral!
Knife: puffers, turtles and eels
1000 steps- really enjoyable dive, nice wall
Keepsake-golden seahorse, so many fish!

Torrie's reef- tough day, current was unusually strong and very poor visibility even at depth very uncharacteristic for Bonaire.
Leonora's-puffers, nice dive
Wind Sock-not too tough an entry if you watch your footing. lots of angels, huge scorpion fish, tons of trumpets
Monte Divi- some nice lettuce leaf slugs, coral shrimp, a yellow burrfish (a real treat)and eels
Oil Slick- always a favorite, love the giant stride! 3 puffers, nice angels- mostly French.
Monk's Haven- What a day!! Saw dolphins on the way out. Came up from the beautiful dive to whales breaching! Can you believe it! On the way back to the dock had a flock 14 flamingoes fly past the boat. Does it get any better than that!
Front Porch-easy entry- small tugboat wreck was fun to explore.
18 Palms-puffers, tarpon, octopus, parrots, sand divers
Hilma Hooker-always fun to explore-ocean trigger
Buddy Dive South-tons of eels, nest of sharp tail eels, scorpion fish, always a good dive.

Overall, outstanding in every way-as always. We have fallen under the spell of this lovely island. There isn't a bad dive here. This year the water was a bit cool, 76-77 by my computer. Chilly!
More to come later......

Hi Pat,

Glad to hear you had such a great trip!!! We are staying at Buddy's in 2 1/2 weeks.

BTW - how was the security at Buddy's? This is the first dive trip we are taking our daughter on (7yrs old) and I am a little nervous with all the reports - to say the least

Mitchell,
I am not a expert on Bonaire security, I too worried over the reports. I can tell you a few things we discovered. First- we love Buddy Dive, they do have a guard on duty at the entrance and we have felt very safe there during the 2 trips we have taken. I did see and speak with families when there. Many of the families have have gone to Bonaire for multiple years with children as young as a few months old. I think you just need to be smart. Don't leave valuables about visable in your room, don't ever leave anything in your car or lock it. I have to tell you that we have traveled to other Caribbean locations and feel very safe on Bonaire , exercising common sense traveling practices. Our kids are in their late twenties, but we plan on taking our 3 year old granddaughter in a few years. Please wait for other more experienced Bonaire talkers to chime in, but I would say ---- I hope you have a great trip!

What Pat said.
Use the same street smarts you use at home and all will be well.

Mitchell,
I would like to echo Pat's comments. I have stayed at Buddy's 6 times and feel very safe. Follow Pat's guidelines and also use the safe deposit boxes located in the rooms for passports, money, etc. I have never had anything taken from my room or any dive gear stolen at the resort.

Thanks Pat, Grunt and Garrett for the info about Buddy as I understand there have been some "issues" about naming specific resorts.

My wife and I are experienced int'l travelers and know the drill(s) - if it were just us 2 as usual - no worries; different dynamic with a 7 year old girl. I'm planning to treat this as another teaching/learning opportunity for her - there is no other way to learn to be a savy/smart traveler than to be there and do it.

We have been so fired up for our first trip to Bonaire, all the problems put somewhat of a damper on it. We appreciate your info and I am back to counting the days until we leave

Pat,
Great Pics and report, thanks! And glad to hear you didn't have any problems.

What camera equipment did you use?

For the seven year old I cannot imagine a better place to become comfortable with snorkeling than the dock at Buddy Dive.
There is a stairway with handrail for easy entry and exit.
That area is alive with fish and more expecting free food from the restaurant above.
They use the dock for shade and protection, and seem to feel safe there.
One can see bait balls, moray eels, parrot fish and much more.
Once comfortable, an evening snorkel is an amazing thing.
Look underwater at the wall below the wooden decking, it has a lot of orange cup coral on it that opens only after dusk.
Check to see when dive boats are leaving or coming back in for safety.
Buddy Dive is a class act.

Craig,
I don't have a very fancy outfit. My camera is a Nikon CoolPix 5100 with an Ikelite housing. I did start the trip with a Ikelite substrobe DS 51. However, the battery compartment flooded after the first day and I just used the camera's flash with a diffuser. I have only been taking underwater pics for a few years. I am glad you enjoyed the pictures.