altarose
Contributor
Recently got back from 5 week trip to ABC islands, we are a couple in our mid 50's, avid snorkelers Feb 3 flew from Calgary to Miami for one night, then on to Curacao,we flew on AA, they were much cheaper from Miami to Curacao. We stayed at Rancho el Sobrino for one week, we had a room/car rental deal with them and Oostwest car rental. We paid $772 total for room & compact car, which was upgraded to a truck. Two young girls 
were waiting for us at airport and drove us to Rancho el Sobrino (Westpunt) where our truck was waiting, during the ride Judy (wife) asked the girls what the normal speed limit was and they said "what do you mean?" then giggled and said , well sometimes we drive 40km/hr, sometimes 60 and sometimes 100 and sometimes just whatever we want.
The room at Rancho was fine, internet outside by pool area and office only, and tv had only one crappy english channel. After being in the ocean most of the days we never used the pool. All of our rentals had kitchens, so we would cook breakfast and most dinners and go out for lunches and some dinners
On land we visited Hato Caves, Sheta Boca, Curacao Liqueur Distillery (bottling plant) and several trips to Willemstad for shopping and wandering around in Punda visiting the floating market and lunches at the old market.
We snorkeled at Playa Forti & Kalki, both had fair numbers of fish, but the reef started at 30 ft. deep, Playa Grandi deep reef again, but had more fish in the rock ledges close to shore, Porto Marie had the nicest beach and some reef in shallow water with good fish numbers and the tugboat wreck, interesting, but too rough to get out to the good reef. Visability was very good at all, except tugboat/rough water.
Feb 11 we flew to Bonaire on Insel Air, where we stayed at a private house rental for 2 weeks, a 2yr old, 2 bedroom house, with good tv & internet, in the residensial area of Hato, just north of Kralendijk. We usually rent private houses, which are much roomier and more comfortable than a cramped hotel room. We rented an 96 Pathfinder from house owner (Eadgar) for $20 per day, the old beast has seen its better days, but it served us well for our stay (less of a target for thieves) We had read many times about the rough shore and difficult entries,and the petty theft problem so we were prepaired with water shoes, a w/p box for small items and a w/p akona dry bag which I put the box, shoes, shirts and sunglasses in, I had about 12 ft of 1/8" bungee cord which I used to fasten the bag to myself and let it float behind, worked great, hindered diving only a bit, but we left absolutely nothing in truck or on beach. Sometimes I would put rocks in my trunk pockets which helped diving, I used the e-book Bonaire Snorkeling Guide, downloaded on i-pad, very good site directions and very accurate for most site descriptions. We were worried about all the difficult shore entries ( Judy is a klutz) but surprisingly we found most to be fairly easy ( 5 weeks- no scraps or cuts). We never had any problems finding places to park while snorkeling or in towns. On land we drove and hiked through Washington Slagbaai Park, an interesting day, lots of cati, flamingos, rock formations, and lots of rough roads. One day we watched the colorful Carnival parade in town, lots of loud bands, everyone having fun. Now to the reason we came to Bonaire, we snorkeled every day, sometimes 3-4 times a day
and it was out of this world and we have done a lot of snorkeling around the Caribbean and Central America.
Visibility was superb at all sites, a couple of times very close to shore was a bit murky, but okay once on reef. A lot has been said about the storm damage to the shallow reef, we noticed it a bit in the southern sites, but all the north was fine IMO. We found the north sites to be much better for both reef and fish, reef starting right from shore and gradule slope to deapth, with lots of reef at 6-12 ft, perfect for snorkeling. The reef is teaming with life, lots of eels, fantastic numbers of small fishes ( huge bait balls), and lots of bigger fish,4 ft rainbow parrots, big snooks, large barracudas, french angles the size of hubcaps, lots of turtles and a few rays. We only saw 2 Lion fish in 5 weeks both on Klein Bonaire.
We snorkeled, starting with best, Klein Bonaire by good return water taxi, twice, both times we did the drift between Ebo's and Playita, we had planned on checking some othe sites on KB, but the drift was so good we stayed there and did it a few times. Good return will drop your beach stuff at Playita ( safe to leave on beach) then take you back to Ebo's to start drift for no extra charge ($15 total per person) the captain is a nice guy, loves to talk about snorkeling and told us how to find La Dania's Leap.
The drift is about a half mile long with very shallow reef out 25 ft. then a 6-10 ft wall running the length of drift. One trip we had dolphins swimming at bow of boat. Very nice beach, very little shade, no facilities.
Cliff was our next fav, snorkeled 5-6 times, very close to our house. To the right, some big fish hanging around the industrial pipes and to the left lots of huge rainbow parrots, snooks under capt don's dock and big tarpons. very healthy reef.
Next was Karpata, 4 times, similar to cliff, maybe more fish, but not as many big ones
Lac Bay, twice, you have to walk out through the wind surfers about a half mile in 3 ft. water to get to the reef, it was fairly good, but I think it was low tide both times, making it tricky snorkeling around the reef heads. A nice beach with a fun bar to have a couple of beer and watch the wind surfers
La Dania's Leap, the only way to enter is to jump from the iron shore, only about 3ft. high but with no way to get out untill end of drift at Karpata, nice healthy reef with more fish closer to Karpata.
We also snorkeled 1000 Steps, Bari Reef, Eighteenth Palm, Red Beryl and Pink Beach, all were okay, not special, but still much better than anything we found on Curacao
Feb 25 we flew to Aruba via Curacao on Insel air for 2 more weeks, we stayed at Aruba Bed & Beach, a privately owned place with 2 cabana's, one bedroom with kitchen and covered closed in deck, near Mangel Halto. Extremely nice hosts Karin & Louis, they took us out the first night for an welcome to the island meal at Zeerover fish bar, a small local hangout on a dock where the fishermen bring in their catch, clean them, and cook em up. There is no menu, you order at a window by how many people are in your group, you and the lady decide how much fish, shrimp, fries, dutch bread, and you pay by weight. About $15 per person for large portion. It is all deep fried to perfection and a little garlic/salt seasoning (healthy, hell no, but oh so good)
Rented a Yaris from Payless for $540 total 2 weeks
On land we Drove through Arikok Park, started at north entrance,stopped for a couple of hikes and exited to the south by San Nicholas, had a beer at Charlie's and went for swim at Baby beach, we also went to Ayo rock formations, Aruba Aloe Factory, Alto Vista Chapel Donkey Sanctuary, Gold Mill and Natural Bridge, all were interesting and a good way to break up the day. We also walked the pathway between the high rise hotels and beaches from the Westin up to the Marriot, nice to see how some tourists spend their money. Palm/Eagle beach is very nice, but too many big hotels and overdeveloped for our taste. Aruba does have lots of nice beaches to lounge on between swims and snorkels. They all felt safe enough to leave our chairs, beer cooler and stuff while swimming/snorkeling, every night us,Karin & Louis and several neighbors would take chairs/drinks across the road and enjoy the sunset and chat, a great way to finish the day
We snorkeled at Mangel Halto 5 times, trying to get out to the outside reef, but it was always too rough and strong current to be safe, looked like it would have been very good.
Baby Beach, tried several times, but was also too rough to go outside of bay, we found some interesting reef to the left of the small opening, but low tide stopped us from going to far into narrow inlet, looked like some good reef outside of main opening in bay, but too rough.
We were told that 2 weeks earlier, the wind was from different direction and most of the leeward side was very calm, and would be again around Easter, bummer, I think we could have found some great snorkeling if conditions would have been better.
We were able to find lots of fish at Boca Catalina, along the shore edges
Arashi Beach, didn't find much of interest, there is a spot out a ways from shore that was reported to be good, but way to many boats and idiot jet skiers racing around.
Arashi and Boca Catalina are the main spots for the big snorkel tour boats, I would have been pissed if I paid big bucks for where they stopped. We snorkeled past them and went several hundred yards to the north at Catalina and found many more fish.
We found the water temp to be quit cool on all 3 islands, about the same as unheated northern pool, alright once you were in, but not like the bathtub hot water we have experienced at other places. Both Curacao and Bonaire had very calm waters with little or no current, making for very relaxing snorkeling
We always prefer to eat at the small hole in wall local hangouts, and we were able to find some great ones on all 3 islands, I have done detailed reviews on TA of the good and some bad restaurants.
When doing research we read many times how expensive groceries/beer was, but most of the posts were from people who lived in the States and pay much,much, less than we do in Canada, so we were pleasantly surprised by the low prices. Beer was reported to be about $30 case, difference is, in Canada when we say a case, we mean 12 bottles, ABC a case is 24), yes usually they were only 220ml, but if you looked hard, you can find some reg size 330ml, Also on Bonaire only, we found a good selection of Dutch beer in 500ml cans, varying from $1.29 to $3.00. and some excellent Belgin White, there was always a good selection of wine, lots of good/cheap stuff from Chile. Hard booze was very expensive, but you can buy at the duty frees when landing on each island
We also did lots of Jewelry shopping on all 3 islands ( a trip Requirement) and made some great purchases, I have all of Judy's gifts taken care of for the upcoming year, and everything will be a nice reminder of this trip.
Overall a very good trip, only a few hours of rain the whole time
I have snorkeling pictures posted on members gallery and on flickrhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/altarose/sets/72157629331993561/
　
　
　
　
were waiting for us at airport and drove us to Rancho el Sobrino (Westpunt) where our truck was waiting, during the ride Judy (wife) asked the girls what the normal speed limit was and they said "what do you mean?" then giggled and said , well sometimes we drive 40km/hr, sometimes 60 and sometimes 100 and sometimes just whatever we want.The room at Rancho was fine, internet outside by pool area and office only, and tv had only one crappy english channel. After being in the ocean most of the days we never used the pool. All of our rentals had kitchens, so we would cook breakfast and most dinners and go out for lunches and some dinners
On land we visited Hato Caves, Sheta Boca, Curacao Liqueur Distillery (bottling plant) and several trips to Willemstad for shopping and wandering around in Punda visiting the floating market and lunches at the old market.
We snorkeled at Playa Forti & Kalki, both had fair numbers of fish, but the reef started at 30 ft. deep, Playa Grandi deep reef again, but had more fish in the rock ledges close to shore, Porto Marie had the nicest beach and some reef in shallow water with good fish numbers and the tugboat wreck, interesting, but too rough to get out to the good reef. Visability was very good at all, except tugboat/rough water.
Feb 11 we flew to Bonaire on Insel Air, where we stayed at a private house rental for 2 weeks, a 2yr old, 2 bedroom house, with good tv & internet, in the residensial area of Hato, just north of Kralendijk. We usually rent private houses, which are much roomier and more comfortable than a cramped hotel room. We rented an 96 Pathfinder from house owner (Eadgar) for $20 per day, the old beast has seen its better days, but it served us well for our stay (less of a target for thieves) We had read many times about the rough shore and difficult entries,and the petty theft problem so we were prepaired with water shoes, a w/p box for small items and a w/p akona dry bag which I put the box, shoes, shirts and sunglasses in, I had about 12 ft of 1/8" bungee cord which I used to fasten the bag to myself and let it float behind, worked great, hindered diving only a bit, but we left absolutely nothing in truck or on beach. Sometimes I would put rocks in my trunk pockets which helped diving, I used the e-book Bonaire Snorkeling Guide, downloaded on i-pad, very good site directions and very accurate for most site descriptions. We were worried about all the difficult shore entries ( Judy is a klutz) but surprisingly we found most to be fairly easy ( 5 weeks- no scraps or cuts). We never had any problems finding places to park while snorkeling or in towns. On land we drove and hiked through Washington Slagbaai Park, an interesting day, lots of cati, flamingos, rock formations, and lots of rough roads. One day we watched the colorful Carnival parade in town, lots of loud bands, everyone having fun. Now to the reason we came to Bonaire, we snorkeled every day, sometimes 3-4 times a day
and it was out of this world and we have done a lot of snorkeling around the Caribbean and Central America.
Visibility was superb at all sites, a couple of times very close to shore was a bit murky, but okay once on reef. A lot has been said about the storm damage to the shallow reef, we noticed it a bit in the southern sites, but all the north was fine IMO. We found the north sites to be much better for both reef and fish, reef starting right from shore and gradule slope to deapth, with lots of reef at 6-12 ft, perfect for snorkeling. The reef is teaming with life, lots of eels, fantastic numbers of small fishes ( huge bait balls), and lots of bigger fish,4 ft rainbow parrots, big snooks, large barracudas, french angles the size of hubcaps, lots of turtles and a few rays. We only saw 2 Lion fish in 5 weeks both on Klein Bonaire.
We snorkeled, starting with best, Klein Bonaire by good return water taxi, twice, both times we did the drift between Ebo's and Playita, we had planned on checking some othe sites on KB, but the drift was so good we stayed there and did it a few times. Good return will drop your beach stuff at Playita ( safe to leave on beach) then take you back to Ebo's to start drift for no extra charge ($15 total per person) the captain is a nice guy, loves to talk about snorkeling and told us how to find La Dania's Leap.
The drift is about a half mile long with very shallow reef out 25 ft. then a 6-10 ft wall running the length of drift. One trip we had dolphins swimming at bow of boat. Very nice beach, very little shade, no facilities.
Cliff was our next fav, snorkeled 5-6 times, very close to our house. To the right, some big fish hanging around the industrial pipes and to the left lots of huge rainbow parrots, snooks under capt don's dock and big tarpons. very healthy reef.
Next was Karpata, 4 times, similar to cliff, maybe more fish, but not as many big ones
Lac Bay, twice, you have to walk out through the wind surfers about a half mile in 3 ft. water to get to the reef, it was fairly good, but I think it was low tide both times, making it tricky snorkeling around the reef heads. A nice beach with a fun bar to have a couple of beer and watch the wind surfers
La Dania's Leap, the only way to enter is to jump from the iron shore, only about 3ft. high but with no way to get out untill end of drift at Karpata, nice healthy reef with more fish closer to Karpata.
We also snorkeled 1000 Steps, Bari Reef, Eighteenth Palm, Red Beryl and Pink Beach, all were okay, not special, but still much better than anything we found on Curacao
Feb 25 we flew to Aruba via Curacao on Insel air for 2 more weeks, we stayed at Aruba Bed & Beach, a privately owned place with 2 cabana's, one bedroom with kitchen and covered closed in deck, near Mangel Halto. Extremely nice hosts Karin & Louis, they took us out the first night for an welcome to the island meal at Zeerover fish bar, a small local hangout on a dock where the fishermen bring in their catch, clean them, and cook em up. There is no menu, you order at a window by how many people are in your group, you and the lady decide how much fish, shrimp, fries, dutch bread, and you pay by weight. About $15 per person for large portion. It is all deep fried to perfection and a little garlic/salt seasoning (healthy, hell no, but oh so good)
Rented a Yaris from Payless for $540 total 2 weeks
On land we Drove through Arikok Park, started at north entrance,stopped for a couple of hikes and exited to the south by San Nicholas, had a beer at Charlie's and went for swim at Baby beach, we also went to Ayo rock formations, Aruba Aloe Factory, Alto Vista Chapel Donkey Sanctuary, Gold Mill and Natural Bridge, all were interesting and a good way to break up the day. We also walked the pathway between the high rise hotels and beaches from the Westin up to the Marriot, nice to see how some tourists spend their money. Palm/Eagle beach is very nice, but too many big hotels and overdeveloped for our taste. Aruba does have lots of nice beaches to lounge on between swims and snorkels. They all felt safe enough to leave our chairs, beer cooler and stuff while swimming/snorkeling, every night us,Karin & Louis and several neighbors would take chairs/drinks across the road and enjoy the sunset and chat, a great way to finish the day
We snorkeled at Mangel Halto 5 times, trying to get out to the outside reef, but it was always too rough and strong current to be safe, looked like it would have been very good.
Baby Beach, tried several times, but was also too rough to go outside of bay, we found some interesting reef to the left of the small opening, but low tide stopped us from going to far into narrow inlet, looked like some good reef outside of main opening in bay, but too rough.
We were told that 2 weeks earlier, the wind was from different direction and most of the leeward side was very calm, and would be again around Easter, bummer, I think we could have found some great snorkeling if conditions would have been better.
We were able to find lots of fish at Boca Catalina, along the shore edges
Arashi Beach, didn't find much of interest, there is a spot out a ways from shore that was reported to be good, but way to many boats and idiot jet skiers racing around.
Arashi and Boca Catalina are the main spots for the big snorkel tour boats, I would have been pissed if I paid big bucks for where they stopped. We snorkeled past them and went several hundred yards to the north at Catalina and found many more fish.
We found the water temp to be quit cool on all 3 islands, about the same as unheated northern pool, alright once you were in, but not like the bathtub hot water we have experienced at other places. Both Curacao and Bonaire had very calm waters with little or no current, making for very relaxing snorkeling
We always prefer to eat at the small hole in wall local hangouts, and we were able to find some great ones on all 3 islands, I have done detailed reviews on TA of the good and some bad restaurants.
When doing research we read many times how expensive groceries/beer was, but most of the posts were from people who lived in the States and pay much,much, less than we do in Canada, so we were pleasantly surprised by the low prices. Beer was reported to be about $30 case, difference is, in Canada when we say a case, we mean 12 bottles, ABC a case is 24
), yes usually they were only 220ml, but if you looked hard, you can find some reg size 330ml, Also on Bonaire only, we found a good selection of Dutch beer in 500ml cans, varying from $1.29 to $3.00. and some excellent Belgin White, there was always a good selection of wine, lots of good/cheap stuff from Chile. Hard booze was very expensive, but you can buy at the duty frees when landing on each island We also did lots of Jewelry shopping on all 3 islands ( a trip Requirement) and made some great purchases, I have all of Judy's gifts taken care of for the upcoming year, and everything will be a nice reminder of this trip.
Overall a very good trip, only a few hours of rain the whole time
I have snorkeling pictures posted on members gallery and on flickrhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/altarose/sets/72157629331993561/
　
　
　
　
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