Trip Report 6 Days at Den Laman Aug 12 thru 17th.

[arubabob1]

Had a great trip. But for some reason, the viz and current was the worse I have ever seen on Bonaire. But that is just the way it was. Not much you can do about that. Heavenly Biscuit opened up a Brand new place. Its right before the Boat Maria and the circle by Den Laman. Its HUGE compared to the last one by Sandollar. Its really slick how they do it. They have a card about the size of a CC with your table number on it. Whenever you want to leave, you pick the card up and take it to the cashier. Its all computerized. I thought that was pretty high tech for Bonaire. And the place is Beautiful!!! Alot of people working there. I was by myself, so I pretty well cooked in the room. Did the Woodwind Snorkel sail twice. It was really nice and the viz over at Klein was great. I booked 2 weeks for the first 2 weeks in Dec and 2 weeks in Jan. I need to get my Bonaire fix. I was going to Hire Bas Toll to take me on the other side. He said there is no need for him to take my money, because of the viz and current. I LOVE BONAIRE! I was in Roatan in July and I love Roatan, but there are alot more fish in Bonaire. AB

 

[wildbill9]

Thanks AB! Can't wait to finally get back. BTB sounds awesome, glad they are nearby again.
Do you know if they still have their fresh baked croissants in the morning? B

 

[keesmon]

Kudos to Bas for keeping it real. We were there in early July and we got in touch with Bas on a Sunday evening about diving Lac Cai on a Tuesday or Wednesday. He gort back to us saying can we do tomorrow morning instead, since conditions were going south. 10 hours later we were in the water with him and 82 minutes after that we were a great experience richer. The rest of the week got windier every day.

 

[scuba127]

How did Bari Reef look? My brothers dove it a couple of weeks ago and said it was trashed by construction debris. I never made it over there so wanted to confirm.

 

[rmorgan]

In June, there was a pile of debris on the parking-lot entry (south of Den Laman), but it didn't affect the reef--just a pain in and out, as it was loose concrete rubble. (Arubabob was undoubtedly using the dock, since he was staying at Den Laman.)

 

[drrich2]

They have a card about the size of a CC with your table number on it. Whenever you want to leave, you pick the card up and take it to the cashier. Its all computerized.

This is significant; thanks for sharing it. A bit of culture clash between American preferences and Bonaire practices has historically been that many Americans like their check to arrive quickly as they close a meal (so they can pay and leave at will, often quickly), whereas in some parts of the world, meal practices are more leisurely and a waitperson quickly delivering an unsolicited check allegedly might be seen as rude. Some of us aren't used to having to signal waitpeople and ask for the check. This may sometimes get chalked up to an 'island time' laid back indifference by staff.

The system you describe is quite an improvement. I'm one of those people who likes the option to leave when I finish eating.