Wow - again?! Clarfrieda, thank you very much for your posts. I am sorry to hear your vacation was so severely harmed.
Some of our Bonaire loving members don't like to see these reports, and some will try to play them down, but it does seem to be a common problem. I am guessing from your post count that while you have been registered as a member here for over a year, you may not log on to read often? I saw where your thread was moved from another forum to this geographic forum, which is also the best place to read about other experiences at the destination. Bonaire is not the only one with a crime problem, but it certainly the most commonly mentioned it seems. Hope you come back to read and maybe discuss future plans.
I just want people to be more prepared than I was. The fact that Bonaire seems relatively safe and quiet gave us a false sense of security. Get the insurance and be diligent with your passports.
Well, that's good advice for any trip I think. Have your belongings insured to your personal comfort level and guard passports very carefully, the latter more so in the last decade - as stolen passports are in higher demand, and US entrance security is at the highest ever. Again, sorry you didn't know that Bonaire is infamous here for such problems, even if you're asleep in the room at times.
Original post sounded totally wrong to me,as that is reason for my call. .Have been to the island 30 times over the years since 1976 and never personally had an incident.I have stayed at Habitat,old sunset beach hotel,Flamingo,Sand dollar,Buddys,Plaza,all multiple times.
I posted before I saw Liz from GRI posted hers.I now believe op as I have personally met with Liz in the past.Thank you Liz for verifing this claim.
You could look over thread titles or
But seriously, how can you be that experienced on the island and be that ignorant of how common the problem is? OK, you said it's not happened to you yet; different, but why question that it happened to them - when it is so very common?
However, for those of us running trips to Bonaire, having some insight into which hotels might have security issues would be beneficial information to share with our clients, so please post.
Thanks
See map, click to enlarge
Don't leave anything you want to keep in your vehicle, room or safe without a trusted guard, anywhere - regardless of how many tell you that it's never happened to them. You won't hear from many of the victims here.
Technically it is burglary, not robbery.
He could have said that; some just like to post that you are wrong, even when you're not really. Burglary, robbery, theft while asleep in the same room, ripped off, whatever - just variations in degrees. If you're the victim, it matters little how your personal property, your home, or person were technically assaulted for theft.
Sadly...
This is a common problem there;
Visitors are arriving not knowing about the common problem;
The Kingdom of the Netherlands doesn't seem up to doing much about it, perhaps because of the low crime rates in the home country, perhaps because of the changing status of the relationship between Bonaire, the Netherlands Antilles and the Kingdom is planned for change under proposed legislation, perhaps because the island is already a financial burden - I really do not know, guessing.
The only hope seems to be to well publicize these cases that seemed to be much less discussed anywhere, certainly on
Bonaire Talk - where you'll wish you hadn't bothered typing out the story. Hehe this thread there is funny
Bonaire Talk: Should we talk about Bonaire crime on scubaboard instead? I think most there have given up on discussing the problem there, and funny someone would even ask there if they should talk here?
And nothing is likely to change until it has to, which may only happen because of threads like this.
Again, I am sorry about your losses harm to your vacation and thank you again for reporting as only a small percentage of the victims do so here.
