My wife and I recently returned from our twelfth trip to Bonaire.
We travel with a group of divers and non- divers from our area, staying at Divi Flamingo Resort.
Some of the group went for one week and others ten days.
This was our first ten day visit and we really enjoyed the extra days.
We flew from Nashville through Miami on American Airlines flights.
After some close connections last year, we decided to go to Miami on Tuesday and spent the night at the Miami Airport Hotel. This made for a less stressful travel day on Wednesday.
We had attempted to pay the new tourism tax online, but the site was experiencing problems processing credit cards. When we arrived, we showed our QR code and paid at the airport.
The people were very helpful and the process went smoothly.
Since American was the only flight, customs and luggage pick up went well.
It was much easier than last year when testing was required.
We stayed in a first floor deluxe oceanfront room at Divi resort. These are nice rooms with a small refrigerator and in room safe for valuables. The ocean view from the patio was beautiful.
The resort staff were friendly and helpful. Housekeeping was back to every day except Saturday.
The breakfast buffet was included in our package and we enjoyed these each morning before diving.
We ate a couple of lunches at Chibi Chibi restaurant on property, but
most lunches we had sandwiches at the cabanas on the deck overlooking the ocean.
Most nights we walked to town for dinner, sometimes as a group and others as a couple.
We made a couple of visits to The Umbrella, a restaurant we ate at last year.
The food was good and the atmosphere was relaxing.
Members of our group, ate at Rumba, Cuba Compagnie, Capriccio, and Patagonia during our stay.
Our group again, had a final evening meal at Joe’s. The food and service was top notch.
Our dive package included boat dives and unlimited shore diving tanks.
We did all our shore diving off the pier at Divi on the house reef. I logged 25 dives this trip, with some of our group getting a couple more. Tanks were filled to 3000-3100 psi and we never had a problem with tanks.
We are a mostly older group, so we don’t do the typical rent a truck and shore dive package.
We enjoy the companionship of boat diving and our dive guides were fantastic.
We dove northern and Klein sites mostly this trip. At most sites we visited, the visibility was
slightly less than last year. Our dive guides mentioned the recent rains and run off as a cause.
Besides all the usual creatures, we saw several turtles, a stingray, a coronet fish, a few baby trunk fish,
and a yellow frog fish. I saw a spotted eagle ray for the first time, and one of our dive guides
located a rare white frog fish.
I have attached a video of the highlights of our trip.
Our return flight was delayed about an hour due to a fuel spill when refueling the plane.
We had a few hours lay over in Miami, so the delay did not affect us much.
I am sure others were probably affected by this delay.
Customs went well, it is just a slow process with the amount of travelers coming through Miami.
We shared another wonderful trip to Bonaire with great friends and fabulous diving.
We hope to return in 2023 for another great visit to the island.
We travel with a group of divers and non- divers from our area, staying at Divi Flamingo Resort.
Some of the group went for one week and others ten days.
This was our first ten day visit and we really enjoyed the extra days.
We flew from Nashville through Miami on American Airlines flights.
After some close connections last year, we decided to go to Miami on Tuesday and spent the night at the Miami Airport Hotel. This made for a less stressful travel day on Wednesday.
We had attempted to pay the new tourism tax online, but the site was experiencing problems processing credit cards. When we arrived, we showed our QR code and paid at the airport.
The people were very helpful and the process went smoothly.
Since American was the only flight, customs and luggage pick up went well.
It was much easier than last year when testing was required.
We stayed in a first floor deluxe oceanfront room at Divi resort. These are nice rooms with a small refrigerator and in room safe for valuables. The ocean view from the patio was beautiful.
The resort staff were friendly and helpful. Housekeeping was back to every day except Saturday.
The breakfast buffet was included in our package and we enjoyed these each morning before diving.
We ate a couple of lunches at Chibi Chibi restaurant on property, but
most lunches we had sandwiches at the cabanas on the deck overlooking the ocean.
Most nights we walked to town for dinner, sometimes as a group and others as a couple.
We made a couple of visits to The Umbrella, a restaurant we ate at last year.
The food was good and the atmosphere was relaxing.
Members of our group, ate at Rumba, Cuba Compagnie, Capriccio, and Patagonia during our stay.
Our group again, had a final evening meal at Joe’s. The food and service was top notch.
Our dive package included boat dives and unlimited shore diving tanks.
We did all our shore diving off the pier at Divi on the house reef. I logged 25 dives this trip, with some of our group getting a couple more. Tanks were filled to 3000-3100 psi and we never had a problem with tanks.
We are a mostly older group, so we don’t do the typical rent a truck and shore dive package.
We enjoy the companionship of boat diving and our dive guides were fantastic.
We dove northern and Klein sites mostly this trip. At most sites we visited, the visibility was
slightly less than last year. Our dive guides mentioned the recent rains and run off as a cause.
Besides all the usual creatures, we saw several turtles, a stingray, a coronet fish, a few baby trunk fish,
and a yellow frog fish. I saw a spotted eagle ray for the first time, and one of our dive guides
located a rare white frog fish.
I have attached a video of the highlights of our trip.
Our return flight was delayed about an hour due to a fuel spill when refueling the plane.
We had a few hours lay over in Miami, so the delay did not affect us much.
I am sure others were probably affected by this delay.
Customs went well, it is just a slow process with the amount of travelers coming through Miami.
We shared another wonderful trip to Bonaire with great friends and fabulous diving.
We hope to return in 2023 for another great visit to the island.
.
