RICHinNC
Contributor
Just got back from my first trip to Bonaire. Once again, I would like to thank Herman and Tony who let us “tag” on to their trip.
My SigO (significant other) and I left from Raleigh Durham at 0530 in the morning. Needless to say with all the dive gear I set off all the alarms, but the searches were quick, courteous and respectful to the equipment. I gave a small impromptu class to a TSA agent about turning on some dive lights above water and he actually thanked me for the knowledge.
A supervisor came up and asked if I had any bottles. I said in my check in luggage I had my pony that was drained and the valve taken off for easy inspection and it had TSA’s rules for dive gear wrapped around it in case there was any question. He indicated no problem and when we arrived at final destination my suitcase with the pony hadn’t been opened. I had sealed it with a plastic tie.
The trip from RDU wasn’t bad at all, the travel only started to go down hill when we switched from Delta to Air Jamaica. Have you ever sat in a 10 year old webbed lawn chair that 90% of the webbing was gone? That was my seat on AJ. And, I don’t even want to think of the noises coming out of the engines. We got to Montego Bay, Jamaica and it was there we met up with Herman and Tony. No one had a good handle on what gate we were suppose to go to. I discovered I needed to get boarding passes for me and my SigO and off we went to find the counter.
At the counter I was informed all my reservations to Bonaire and back had been cancelled. HUH ?? Long story short…got it worked out and they didn’t know what gate we were to go to next either. It was one of two possibilities. Not impressed at all with how Montego Bay airport works or AJ either for that matter.
We finally arrive at Bonaire and Renee who works with/for the Golden Reef Inn was there to meet us. After that trip it was nice to see something go smoothly. She had our paperwork for us to go get our trucks. So off we go and stand in another line to get our trucks. Once we succeeded there, it was back to the airport to get SigO…luggage…and line up for convoy to the inn.
It has been over 20 years since I last drove a stick shift so that was one fun ride!!!
The inn was very nice. Ok room size…outside rinse area for gear. It would be really great if cages were placed on each room porch so gear could be kept securely outside and allowed to dry versus drip in the rooms. You don’t want to leave any gear outside and go off.
The air conditioning was really humming and doing great as was the television. The only “downside” was…..NO HOT WATER. I don’t mean it was all used up…I mean there was like only ONE knob on the shower. No hot water at all. This being my first trip, I had no clue to ask about hot water….just AC. Live and learn. The only time this became a hassle was in the mornings. I don’t like cold showers in the mornings.
Other than that the inn was great and the people associated with it were fantastic.
The inn has a deal with the Buddy Dive Resort for air tanks. So Herman took us there (he is a Bonaire veteran) for the grand tour. I had to be back the next morning by 9am for a briefing and check out dive. Buddy Dive is one sweet operation. You can get tanks 24 hours a day !!
So Sunday I show up for the orientation which took about 30 to 45 minutes. There they tell you how Buddy Dive operates, the local laws and the like. Then, you do a check out dive which is totally unsupervised and the whole purpose is for you to check out your gear and see how much weight you need. I always travel with my weights and was good to go.
We would all get up early each morning and meet to go to breakfast at 0730. I think it was the second day there we tried MANGO’s for breakfast. It is just down the road from Buddy Dive. What a breakfast !! An all you can eat buffet for only $7.00 USD. WOW!! And, the owners were a riot. We ate bkfst there the rest of the time.
Then it was to Buddy Dive to pick up tanks, then back to the inn to get equipment and then off to a dive site.
If you have never been to Bonaire and have only read about it like me….you are in for some surprises. If you go there to dive dive dive dive…and dive some more…what a place. If you are a non diver, it can be pretty bleak. My SigO was very giving and let me dive as much as I wanted. You drive along the coast and look for yellow rocks signifying a dive site….put your gear on….dive.
I read tons of stuff about theft there. And, when we got the trucks I was warned about leaving stuff in the truck. I had brought two lengths of chain and locks and locked up the spare tire and locked up the jack etc and had no problem. Herman locked up nothing and had no problem. We heard one truck was broken into and some items taken. Leave nothing in truck…you will probably have no problem.
The reefs are really great. We did 1000 Steps, the Hooker and many other dive sites. And, surprisingly to me…..one of the best dives we did was to go out off Buddy Dives dock and go toward Eden resort. We saw more morays, eel snakes and stuff than you would ever believe. I would have thought the constant boat traffic would have scared them off.
Non dive activities for me and my SigO included a driving tour around the island. We also did a catamaran sunset cruise. When we got to the cat I asked the Cpt how many people were coming. He said just one other couple. And I asked what happens if they don’t show…..he said we have the boat to ourselves ! Well, they showed up and we were the only people on this big cat. It was great. Thanks Bob and Bob’s dad.
We tried a number of restaurants there. Other than MANGO’s for bkfst…I would recommend CASABLANCA. Order the grill teller for two and you will have lunch for the next 3 days. Man what a pile of meat !!! And the price was so reasonable it was unreal.
Herman knew a local that used to own a restaurant. His name is Gibi. Now he serves lunch and certain nights supper from his home. You make a reservation and show up and sit on the back porch at long tables. It was fantastic. If you want to give this a shot I am sure someone at www.bonairetalk.com can help you contact him. There were a lot of the Bonaire board there and they are a great group.
Since the island has had more rain this year alone that in recent years accumulatively, the mosquitoes were out in full force. Oh my God they were thick. They seemed to love OFF so we got a lot of hand – eyed coordination exercise whacking at them.
One thing I wish we had done but didn’t. There is a place there that rents motor cycle trikes. Wish we had done that one day. Oh well, next time. I did get a pic of me sitting on one though. Brings back biker day memories……ahhhh.
Bonaire is def cool and is for the enthusiastic diver. You can get more dives in a day there than you can shake a stick at.
It bugged me that Delta says AJ is an “air partner” yet AJ will not allow you to use air miles to get tickets….CASH ONLY. AJ is not on my list of good things in life…can you tell???
I def plan to go back to Bonaire. Gotta start saving now. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.
rich
My SigO (significant other) and I left from Raleigh Durham at 0530 in the morning. Needless to say with all the dive gear I set off all the alarms, but the searches were quick, courteous and respectful to the equipment. I gave a small impromptu class to a TSA agent about turning on some dive lights above water and he actually thanked me for the knowledge.
A supervisor came up and asked if I had any bottles. I said in my check in luggage I had my pony that was drained and the valve taken off for easy inspection and it had TSA’s rules for dive gear wrapped around it in case there was any question. He indicated no problem and when we arrived at final destination my suitcase with the pony hadn’t been opened. I had sealed it with a plastic tie.
The trip from RDU wasn’t bad at all, the travel only started to go down hill when we switched from Delta to Air Jamaica. Have you ever sat in a 10 year old webbed lawn chair that 90% of the webbing was gone? That was my seat on AJ. And, I don’t even want to think of the noises coming out of the engines. We got to Montego Bay, Jamaica and it was there we met up with Herman and Tony. No one had a good handle on what gate we were suppose to go to. I discovered I needed to get boarding passes for me and my SigO and off we went to find the counter.
At the counter I was informed all my reservations to Bonaire and back had been cancelled. HUH ?? Long story short…got it worked out and they didn’t know what gate we were to go to next either. It was one of two possibilities. Not impressed at all with how Montego Bay airport works or AJ either for that matter.
We finally arrive at Bonaire and Renee who works with/for the Golden Reef Inn was there to meet us. After that trip it was nice to see something go smoothly. She had our paperwork for us to go get our trucks. So off we go and stand in another line to get our trucks. Once we succeeded there, it was back to the airport to get SigO…luggage…and line up for convoy to the inn.
It has been over 20 years since I last drove a stick shift so that was one fun ride!!!
The inn was very nice. Ok room size…outside rinse area for gear. It would be really great if cages were placed on each room porch so gear could be kept securely outside and allowed to dry versus drip in the rooms. You don’t want to leave any gear outside and go off.
The air conditioning was really humming and doing great as was the television. The only “downside” was…..NO HOT WATER. I don’t mean it was all used up…I mean there was like only ONE knob on the shower. No hot water at all. This being my first trip, I had no clue to ask about hot water….just AC. Live and learn. The only time this became a hassle was in the mornings. I don’t like cold showers in the mornings.
Other than that the inn was great and the people associated with it were fantastic.
The inn has a deal with the Buddy Dive Resort for air tanks. So Herman took us there (he is a Bonaire veteran) for the grand tour. I had to be back the next morning by 9am for a briefing and check out dive. Buddy Dive is one sweet operation. You can get tanks 24 hours a day !!
So Sunday I show up for the orientation which took about 30 to 45 minutes. There they tell you how Buddy Dive operates, the local laws and the like. Then, you do a check out dive which is totally unsupervised and the whole purpose is for you to check out your gear and see how much weight you need. I always travel with my weights and was good to go.
We would all get up early each morning and meet to go to breakfast at 0730. I think it was the second day there we tried MANGO’s for breakfast. It is just down the road from Buddy Dive. What a breakfast !! An all you can eat buffet for only $7.00 USD. WOW!! And, the owners were a riot. We ate bkfst there the rest of the time.
Then it was to Buddy Dive to pick up tanks, then back to the inn to get equipment and then off to a dive site.
If you have never been to Bonaire and have only read about it like me….you are in for some surprises. If you go there to dive dive dive dive…and dive some more…what a place. If you are a non diver, it can be pretty bleak. My SigO was very giving and let me dive as much as I wanted. You drive along the coast and look for yellow rocks signifying a dive site….put your gear on….dive.
I read tons of stuff about theft there. And, when we got the trucks I was warned about leaving stuff in the truck. I had brought two lengths of chain and locks and locked up the spare tire and locked up the jack etc and had no problem. Herman locked up nothing and had no problem. We heard one truck was broken into and some items taken. Leave nothing in truck…you will probably have no problem.
The reefs are really great. We did 1000 Steps, the Hooker and many other dive sites. And, surprisingly to me…..one of the best dives we did was to go out off Buddy Dives dock and go toward Eden resort. We saw more morays, eel snakes and stuff than you would ever believe. I would have thought the constant boat traffic would have scared them off.
Non dive activities for me and my SigO included a driving tour around the island. We also did a catamaran sunset cruise. When we got to the cat I asked the Cpt how many people were coming. He said just one other couple. And I asked what happens if they don’t show…..he said we have the boat to ourselves ! Well, they showed up and we were the only people on this big cat. It was great. Thanks Bob and Bob’s dad.
We tried a number of restaurants there. Other than MANGO’s for bkfst…I would recommend CASABLANCA. Order the grill teller for two and you will have lunch for the next 3 days. Man what a pile of meat !!! And the price was so reasonable it was unreal.
Herman knew a local that used to own a restaurant. His name is Gibi. Now he serves lunch and certain nights supper from his home. You make a reservation and show up and sit on the back porch at long tables. It was fantastic. If you want to give this a shot I am sure someone at www.bonairetalk.com can help you contact him. There were a lot of the Bonaire board there and they are a great group.
Since the island has had more rain this year alone that in recent years accumulatively, the mosquitoes were out in full force. Oh my God they were thick. They seemed to love OFF so we got a lot of hand – eyed coordination exercise whacking at them.
One thing I wish we had done but didn’t. There is a place there that rents motor cycle trikes. Wish we had done that one day. Oh well, next time. I did get a pic of me sitting on one though. Brings back biker day memories……ahhhh.
Bonaire is def cool and is for the enthusiastic diver. You can get more dives in a day there than you can shake a stick at.
It bugged me that Delta says AJ is an “air partner” yet AJ will not allow you to use air miles to get tickets….CASH ONLY. AJ is not on my list of good things in life…can you tell???
I def plan to go back to Bonaire. Gotta start saving now. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.
rich
