We will be there for 3 weeks -- diet coke is my life line -- where is it the cheapest? What store and where is location of store

Thanks
Lynn

Isn't it wonderful!?? Diet Coke is MY thing as well....and I have just read that Americans are known throughout the world because they 'have' to have Diet coke- for breakfast,lunch and dinner. (and what is truly wonderful- or shameful- the rest of the world is getting it to us!!) "Coke Light please". (I vow every time that I am NOT going to need to get diet coke and every time I crave it. What do they put in that stuff? Its like a drug as soon as I leave the country.!!!)We Found it at the Cultimara- but I understand that you should buy it when you see it- sometimes it disappears. I like to get the 20 oz bottles. What I really loved was that if I ordered one in a bar (well, especially at the bar at the Sorobon)- they would just give me the whole 20 oz bottle since they didn't keep cans or those bar taps of it or anything. But it was pretty easy to find coke light when I needed it. I'll bet that you can get it quite easily at the little store near Sand Dollar as well as the bigger places (cultimara and Warehouse) in town. The people who live in Bonaire probably know the REAL best places.....

Actually on Bonaire it is called Coke Light, not diet Coke, but it is the same thing. You can get it at any grocery store in 1 or 2 litres and places like Lisa Gas and Sand Dollar Grocery Store. I think the cheapest place is the grocery store called More For Less in Nikiboko on Nikiboko Zuid....I think

Liz

Thanks all -- guess we will just have to case the place to find best price.

Lynn

I am also a Diet Coke addict. I brought a 6-pack with me this year (down from 12 last year!). I found the 20 oz bottles in Bonaire taste closer to what you find in the US. I found the cans of Diet Coke taste nasty. I think part of the taste problem is Nutrasweet deteriorates quickly in high heat & many retailers let the product don't recognize this. At Cultimara, the single 20oz bottles were 2 guilders (US$1.15). I didn't shop around, but you might be able to find it cheaper.

Thanks Sue -- I live in the Caribbean and am very familiar with the "bad" diet [coke lite] coke problems. I also am very aware that the prices are very different from store to store ... never mind island to island. On Saba I'm usually just glad when I can find it (I prefer caffine free) and buy the store out. Since we will be on Bonaire for 3 weeks, that will be our largest expense so that is why I was shopping for price.

Regards
Lynn

My family hates it when I am on a diet coke hunt...I can tell when it has been too long in the can as well...(you should see me going through the vending machine at church looking for the 'born on' dates!!) Now on a related note- have any of you tried the diet coke with lime!! Now THERE is a coke that screams 'put some rum in me!!" I love it!! (And 2 guilders is a great price I think- here we are paying $1.25 where I work. I should go BACK down to Bonaire to stock up!!) (now there is a good excuse!!)

ha ha everyone... here we call those bad cans "stanky".... lol... Stanky Diet Coke...

Great story, I'll make it short -- many years ago we were on a live-a-board in the Galapagos -- the boat had been forwarned that there were many diet coke drinkers and to have a large supply. The boat ran out. I saw a freighter in the distance and pleaded with our captain to radio them and "just see" is they had coke (by this time we would take anything). He did and they did. They lowered the coke in a bucket over the side to one of our dingies. It would have made a great ad for coke. Gotta have it.

Lynn... how funny... once when I was on a houseboat trip in Lake Cumberland, Kentucky, we ran out of butter. We went out on the waverunner with a few beers, found another houseboat, and traded beers for butter. (I made sure I still had enough beer though). lol

Lynn- I BOW to you!! you must be the ultimate diet coke fanatic after the Galapagos story!! (we did the Neckton Pilot last year and had to bring our own soda and alcohol. It was SO expensive to buy in Belieze! I hid my supply in my room so that no one would 'accidently' drink it and rationed myself severely. I would only chill one can at a time and it was my reward after a long diving day.)

Lynn, Great story! I'm also a diet coke person, and when they say 'we have diet pepsi', I say 'I'll have water!' Definitely gotta have it!

It's also my morning beverage, so we have to make a stop at the Sand Dollar Grocery our first day on island, so I can have my coke while everyone else has their coffee!

Oops...I actually prefer Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi...I know ya'll are going to jump all over me for this one!

I never realized the reason Light Coke tasted so "stanky" in Bonaire but the heat and chemical combo makes a lot of sense. I'll have to keep that in mind in the future. Carole

Gail, you, Lynn and Tami all have something in common with Kelly...she has diet coke (or is it real coke?) and rice krispies for breakfast...breakfast of champions! LOL!

Lynn, that is a GREAT story! I can just picture it in my mind, and you're right, it would make a great Coke ad! I think the only thing I could not live without, would be my nightly glass of Wogga...I would hail a freighter for a bottle of wine...LOL! (or maybe butter kelly, if I had bread ;-))

If you are in town on Tuesday, or any Tuesday for that matter, if you want to hook up with a bunch of crazy folks that like to have a good time, go to Gibi's on Tuesdays

I am an addict:

I go backpacking ever summer with a group of 15 women. Despite needing to cut the weight of a pack by wearing the same clothes for a few days, I always take enough Diet Coke on the trail to have one every morning. I get alot of stares from others at the lodges we stay at, but I'm happy. My Girl Scout troop knows to not talk to me in the morning of campouts before I have my soda.

I open my first can on the 6:30am train once I sort the sections of my newspaper.

Diet Pepsi just doesn't cut it...another reason to dump Air Jamaica.

Let's remember ... this is not a Pepsi bashing thread -- it's a search for the cheapest Diet Coke thread. We have to be tolerant of others (Pepsi drinkers) ... they have a right to exist too.

Just remember to read the label, as to where it was bottled. I find Venezuela & Aruba bottled and/or canned soft drinks intolerable. The ones from Curacao are ok--if you're lucky (meaning, it's in stock), Tropical Flamingo gets it from Atlanta (as well as the other countries). And yes, the sugar substitute (equal, or whatever) used has a very short shelf life, esp. in the heat.

Lynn.... go, girl!! Pepsi drinkers need love too !!!!! Pepsi and Pringles... now THAT'S a breakfast of champions... and let us not forget the taffy... lol...

Ruth, you are right...now that I think back on my first experience with "stanky" Coke Light it was on Aruba and it was canned there, too. Yech. Carole

I'm feeling soooo much more normal, ladies!! We spent the weeks of Christmas and New Year's on Bonaire this last year. I was very good and had juice and lotso water for breakfast (I have that pesky motion-sickness problem than can often be mitigated by drinking a lot of water - not by foregoing the Brights and mai-tai's in the evening!!). But about day six or seven, I just couldn't take it anymore and ordered a Coke with breakfast. The waitress looked at me, like I was wearing dive gear to the table or something!. AND I was happy to pay the three guilders for it!!

Now that you've solved the taste/Nutrasweet question - can you tell me why every bottle of Coke or Dr. Pepper we ever had on Aruba a few years ago was flat five minutes after opening, but not on Bonaire?

And by the way, Lynn, we found Coke was cheaper at the Warehouse (behind Lisa Gas) than at the Cultimara.

Cheryl ... maybe the altitude??????
It's looking like we will hit the warehouse first day and buy a few cases.

gimme pepsi, gimme pepsi-PEPSI RULES

despite being a Diet Coke addict, I own Pepsico stock, so please go ahead & have one!

Lyn
We have in the past found the prices at the warehouse to be good for soda and for bottled mineral water-they have plenty of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi