Bonaire
June, 2001
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We made our second visit to Bonaire in June, 2001. Trying to save some dollars on air travel, we spent quite a bit of time flying on a bunch of different airlines. We went from Detroit to Miami on American Airlines. Then to Curacao and finally Bonaire on ALM Airlines. Our ALM flight out of Miami was delayed by about 3 hours but ALM actually treated us fairly nice. They provided airport vouchers for lunch which were only accepted in two places. One was a nasty cafeteria, the other the hotel restaurant. At the hotel, the vouchers only covered about half the price of luch, but we ended up with a really nice meal at a cafeteria price! Not all bad since we would have been buying lunch somewhere. ALM held up our connecting flight in Curacao so we were on our way to Bonaire within 30 minutes of arriving on Curacao. All in all, it wasn't to bad. We rented a 4 door open bed pickup from Telerin rentals. This was pre-arranged so they met us at the airport with the truck. The truck was perfect for hauling luggage and later -- SCUBA GEAR! Note: Many people will tell you you need a 4x4 if you intend to visit Washington-Slagbaii National Park however, the 4-door pickups that have become very popular on the island will work just fine there too! On the way back, our ALM flight was late so we missed our US Airways flight. We ended up getting routed back to Detroit on US Airways through Philladelphia (At least we got Philly Cheese Steaks for dinner). The people from US Airways were very helpful getting us back. ALM didn't do a thing to help. I'd try to avoid ALM if possible, however, there just aren't that many options for getting to Bonaire. American has just opened up a new route and Air Jamaica offers service from select cities. Check them out. But, don't let ALM keep you from Bonaire, the trip is worth the trouble....just expect a few delays along the way. |
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The Sand Dollar is a fabulous condominium resort, right on the beachfront. There were four of us in our group so we arranged a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with full kitchen. There was also a living/dining room complete with cable TV (although who had time to watch TV). We also had a huge balcony with chaise lounge chairs for relaxing in the sun. Our condo was on the second floor. The Sand Dollar offers numerous different room arrangements that can probably satisfy anyone. |
The view from our condo Balcony
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The Green Parrot is gone -- a victim of the storm surge. The Sand Dollar has started a new restaurant next to the swimming pool. The food is good, but I just missed the atmosphere of being right on the water. The place we really LOVED was Dock of the Bay -- the restaurant at Buddy Dive. They had a great variety on the menu and everything was fantastic (we tried most of it!). We also enjoyed Richards. They have a great menu and fantastic seating on the water. There are a number of really good places to eat, but we were trying to stay (somewhat) on a budget so we also bought groceries and made meals in the condo.
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The gang at the Terrace restaurant at Sand Dollar |
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Tracy & Sue downtown Kralendijk
Kris & Tracy at Pink Beach |
Bonaire has surprisingly much to offer besides diving. I'm just not sure how many people do any of it. You're going to rent a vehicle anyway (aren't you) to do shore diving so take a little time each day to get out and see some of the island. Head out early one morning and drive north up to Gotomere to see the flamingos. It is a beautiful drive -- plus you can scout out the dive sites for shore diving. (Note: Once you get north of Oil Slick Leap, the road is one-way so no turning back. You are committed to going all the way around the island unless you want to take some of the dirt roads back) If you get there early, you will see flamingos very close to the road. If you go late, they will just be pink dots all the way across the lake. Don't miss Washington Slagbaii National Park. If you're into hiking, you can climb to the highest point on the island. It only takes about 2 hours round trip and it is worth the view. Just remember to bring lots of water!! If you're not into hiking, there are snorkeling and dive sites within the park that make a really nice stop. Its also the best place to see the native parrots. A drive to the south will take you past the Solar Salt Factory. If you're lucky, there will be a ship at the pier filling it's hold with salt. Drive a little further and you'll come to the slave huts. It's frightening to think that people actually lived there. If you make the drive around sunset, you may see flocks of flamingos on their way to Venezuela for the night. If you head over to Lac Bay (Sorobon) you can do some windsurfing, or like me, just watch. The road around the south end doesn't make it all the way to Lac Bay (there's a collapsed bridge not shown on the tourist map). To get there you have to take Kaminda Sorobon or Kaya Ir. Randolph Stratuis Van Eps. Keep your eyes out for the donkeys. They roam all over on the island. One day we stopped the car to take some pictures and ended up surrounded. We had to close all the windows in the truck and move slowly until the herd parted. |
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Things had certainly changed since Hurricane Lenny hit in 1999. Normally, Bonaire is well protected from hurricanes but Lenny moved from west to east (Backwards!) causing a storm surge with massive waves that pounded Bonaire for 24 hours! Almost all the massive strands of elkhorn and staghorn coral that used to populate the shallows has turned into rubble on the beach. On my first trip to Bonaire, every shore dive started with difficult navigation through the coral. Now, just clear sand out to the reef. It's amazing though, nothing below 20-25ft was even touched. It's just as pristine as ever. Unfortunately, Sand Dollar Dive and Photo had the same fate as the shallow coral. The old dive shop was totally destroyed. They have a new shop up and running at the south end of the property. One advantage of this shop is you can drive your vehicle right up to the shop to get tanks for shore diving. Unfortunately, the dock was destroyed along with the shop so for the time being, dive boats leave from the marina (about a 2 minute drive from the shop). They provide transportation or you can drive yourself. It wasn't much of a hassle except on the last 2 days when a big dive club showed up. It took about 30 minutes to shuttle people back and forth before and after diving. Sadly, until they get their dock back in place, they are going to struggle matching the service the other resorts can offer. Hopefully they will get things going soon. We love the resort and the people and want to go back in the future. One thing to consider is just signing up for an unlimited tank rental for the week (no boat dives). Frankly, we enjoyed the shore diving much better than the boat diving because we could go at our own pace and generally, we'd be the only people at our dive location. Bonaire has so many great shore dive sites that you could go a month without getting on a boat and still have things to see. The only thing you'll miss are the sites off Klein Bonaire and all of the ones on the north side were just destroyed by the storm surge. None of the dive boats even went to any of the sites on the North side of Klein Bonaire. Tracy and I did 15 dives (6 boat and 9 shore) in 5 days of diving. We started with a check-out dive off the pier at Sand Dollar. Everyone is asked to do a check out dive to make sure that you're bouyancy is good. The people of Bonaire are very concerned about the health of their reef system and they don't want you crashing down on it because you are overweighted. The reef off Sand Dollar (Bari Reef) is excellent during the day and even better at night. There is a good sized snook that follows behind night divers waiting for them to blind a small fish with their lights so it can get an easy meal. The first time it happens to you can be a bit alarming! We dove Bari reef almost every day (either as a first or last dive of the day) and every dive was fantastic. One day we found a frog fish that has taken up permanent residence. Another day we got to play with a school of squid that just hung out with us. Every morning we watched countless sharptail eels out hunting for food. The best dive had to be Oil Slick Leap where we found 3 seahorses just hanging out on a gorgonian. We also had 5 squid flying in formation watching our every move. I sometimes wonder about squid. It's never quite clear who is watching who. We dove the Hilma Hooker as a shore dive. Did the long surface swim to the south bouy and decended to the wreck. Saw 3 HUGE tarpon just hanging out under a ledge. We were able to circle the wreck then come up along the reef slope and just do a nice slow ascent up the reef to shore. The only issue was we limited our depth to 80 feet so we could spend some time on the reef rather than going to 100 ft and having to do a long surface swim back to shore. I could go on and on, but just know that whatever site you pick, it will be fabulous.
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Sue climbing out after a boat dive
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View from our balcony at Sand Dollar: (145K RealVideo®)
A Golden Moray in a coral head: (110K RealVideo®)
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Bonaire.net - listings of EVERYTHING on Bonaire BonaireTalk - a great discussion forum Len Kaltman's Bonaire Site - great photos and more
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InfoBonaire - The official website of Bonaire |
Interknowledge.com - Great info on Bonaire
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