Trip Report How is Den Laman Tuna? It's GREAT! Jan 28-Feb 4

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RIHappyDiver

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Location
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We went to Bonaire with a small group of friends for a week's vacation. There were two divers, two finishing their Open Water referral and one snorkeler. This was a variation on the group that went to Curaçao last year. We lost one couple and gained a spouse.

Three of us planned on leaving Saturday AM from Providence on American Airlines, but the layover in Miami shrunk from 2 hours to 55 minutes to 3 minutes. Not gonna work! So we opted to fly out of Boston on Friday afternoon, spend the night in Miami and meet up with the other two, who were coming in from Boston on Saturday morning for the flight to Bonaire. This worked out well, though the folks at the Courtyard felt that we needed to be at the airport 3 hours early for our flight, even though we weren't checking bags. Honest question, what is this recommendation based on? I have never had check in and security go any longer for an international departure than a domestic departure. In this case, we were at our gate about 2 hours early. So, we met our other two companions at the airport, made our way to the gate, and departed on time. It was your typical flight until we were over Cuba and the pilot came on and said "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid I have some bad news...". He said it was nothing for us to be concerned about, but we were going to have to go back to Miami due to a pressure issue, or a/c issue, we never knew for certain. We were also going to have to circle for about 45 minutes to burn off fuel, as we were too heavy to land safely.

We finally made it back to Miami, where we were given a $12 dollar meal voucher for our trouble and told that they would let us know when they found another plane for us. They did find us another plane, and off we went again! We were going to be arriving 5 hours behind schedule, but we were still getting there the same day, so I can't complain too much.
We contacted everyone in Bonaire who needed to know via Whatsapp, and settled in for the flight.

We arrived in Bonaire around 7:30 PM local time, and headed for customs. We had all payed our visitor tax before hand and sailed through to the customs booth, got our baggage and headed out to meet Mari from Prins Car Rental to set us up with our truck. Once we got everything loaded in we contacted Simon and Cecile from Sunwise, the managers of some of the rooms at Den Laman, to let them know that we were on our way. They met us there and showed us, each, to our respective rooms. More on Prins and Sunwise/Den Laman a bit later.

By this time all of the major grocery stores had closed. Mari (Prins) had mentioned Lisa Convenient Store stays open late, so a few of us headed over to pick up some very basic basics. If you are in need, this is a good place to pick up milk, soda, bread, peanut butter, etc.

After reading @scubadada and @Lorenzoid going on about Den Laman I decided to check it out. It was all that the claimed it was. We stayed in Tuna, a two bed/two bath unit on the north west corner of the building. It has a very large deck that was perfect for group get-togethers in the evenings. The unit is well equipped with modern appliances and fixtures. We used the second bedroom for a staging area for any gear that we weren't keeping in the drying room. Simon and Cecile were a pleasure to deal with, and were very responsive to any issue we had, which were few.

Our view was fantastic, as well. We could look north to the mountains, west to Klein Bonaire and south to town. Sunsets over Klein were gorgeous to view from our deck, as well.

The next morning our two referral students got setup with their new instructor and got their class going. Myself and the other diver checked in, got info on the drying room and arranged for our park orientation. Unfortunately, they told us that the orientation would be at 10:30. We used the time to get our things together and make a plan. During the orientation we were told that we should keep our Silpata QR codes in the truck, but the rangers could look us up in the computer if need be. Good to know. The other thing they covered in the orientation is that they still encourage rinsing any gear thoroughly between dives to the north and dives to the south. There are rinse tanks by the shop, as well as cages for tanks with air and nitrox. To further emphasize the cleaning, if you do a dive from the dock you are to rinse your gear at the rinse stations on the dock, and air tanks on the dock are not to be taken off the dock, or tanks from the shop brought onto the dock.

Some information about Dive Friends, specifically the Sand Dollar location, which is the one at Den Laman. The drying room is great. It is locked from 5 PM till 8 AM, but you are given the code to open it for 24 hour access. If you are planning on doing a night dive or early sunrise dive somewhere besides Bari reef you will need to get your tanks before 5 PM, as those tanks are locked up over night. However, the code for the drying room also unlocks the gate to the dock, where tanks are kept for diving Bari.

Before our weight check dive on Bari someone gave us information about where to find a frog fish. We looked and looked, but never found the frog fish. There was, instead, an octopus in that location, so I think a fair swap! After Bari we went up to Something Special for a nice, relaxing follow up dive. Don't trust google maps to give you solid directions to get to this dive. It will get you close, however.

Other dives through the week for me included Andrea II, Karpata and Salt Pier. Andrea II was a really nice dive, where as Karpata was a coral lovers dream! What a fantastic dive from the time you hit the shallows on. Salt Pier was the first post class dive that my wife and the other referral diver did. She had some issues with the entry, but pushed through and had a good dive. We encountered 6 turtles, a couple of barracuda and a massive moray! The rest of the fish life was fantastic, also.

I developed symptoms of a middle ear infection the day after Salt Pier, so that was the end of my diving for the week. I was, obviously, disappointed, but still had a fantastic time the rest of the week.

A quick shout out to @Jaan , the Dryfob worked like a champ! I had to remove the rentals key chain, but the fob fit perfectly into the Dryfob and never a hint of water, even at 78'.

The last time I was on Bonaire I took no time for topside activities. We decided to try a couple this time. On Tuesday we went to Lac Cai to do a mangrove kayak tour with Widows to the Sea. We had an wonderful time with a very knowledgeable guide. At one point you leave your kayaks and drift snorkel through a mangrove "tunnel". I had no idea the amount of fish life that lives there!

On Wednesday my wife and I headed to the Washington Slagbaai National Park. Definitely worth the trip. I would recommend heading in early. We puttered on our way up, so we weren't able to explore as much as we would have liked due to time constraints.

Friday afternoon we took a drive down to the Willemstoren lighthouse. What a great drive!

As a group, we discovered that the best snorkeling around was on the old dilapidated pier at Bari. What a find! There were very large filefish, schools of blue tang, eels, barracuda, tarpon, spotted drum, all in 3-10 foot of water. It was like being in an aquarium!

Breakfasts, most of our lunches, and a few dinners were eaten at the condo. I am hooked on the gouda with cumin as well as stroopwafels! We ate out at a few places, but our two favorites were Joe's and Between 2 Buns. Joe's was more an event than a meal, and probably the best all around dining experience I've had in a long time. Between 2 Buns was a nice walk away from us, and I'm glad I didn't try them sooner or I would have been there every day.

Thanks to @drrich2's review last year I contacted Prins rentals for our truck. It was a nice truck that held 5 adults comfortably. With an iffy knee, automatic transmission is a good thing. Mari was great, got us set up at the airport quickly, and got us on our way. I was instructed where to leave the truck when we departed, and told to send her photos through Whatsapp. She happened to walk up as I was taking the photos, and just had me turn everything over to her. I would definitely recommend Prins, and will use them again. One thing to be aware of, they have a location on Curaçao, also, and I know someone who reserved on line for the wrong island.

At the end of the trip my wife said that she could see coming back fro a two week stay, ease into the diving before the rest of our group shows, and see more of the topside. DONKEY SANCTUARY!

Erik
 
A quick shout out to @Jaan , the Dryfob worked like a champ! I had to remove the rentals key chain, but the fob fit perfectly into the Dryfob and never a hint of water, even at 78'.
Erik
Hey Thank you for the shout out Erik :)
Nice report, and sorry to hear about the ear (and about the flights! Miami .. arg!). Glad you had a good time regardless. Such a great place for diving, we miss that clear visibility. I took note of a few extra top-side activities for our next visit too.
 
Nice report, thank you for sharing and congrats to your wife on the cert. Agree Joe's is a gem. Not sure why, but most times we are there, few Americans. Maybe the view (or lack of) deters them.
 
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