What are the police doing to end the crime on Bonaire? - thread split

[Mossman]

They are different places with different diving and both worth going to! I have been to both and have a lot of underwater time invested and will go back to both this year! I was pointing out that all places have pluses and minuses and to "Pick-on" one over the other is not rationale!

You could say that about Superbowl teams, yet somehow, irrationally, most people "pick on" one or the other.

Bonaire rules, Roatan sucks. That's all there is to it

 

[Papa_Bear]

Just like Bonaire, the diving is too good not to go! It sounds like you haven't been in a while???

 

[Mossman]

Just like Bonaire, the diving is too good not to go! It sounds like you haven't been in a while???

Actually, I've been meaning to get out there again, either giving CocoView a try to see what all the fuss is about, or staying in a nicer place in West End depending on how my budget feels at the time. I even have a friend who's been living there a few years now, who I really need to pay a visit. Unfortunately it's convincing the SO that's the hard part - she loves Bonaire too much :depressed:

We all have different tastes in our vacation spots and our dive preferences, so naturally some of us prefer some locales over others even without irrationality. Unfortunately, few of us have the resources to be able to spend enough time in all the places we might go in order to really make rational decisions - instead, we base our perceptions on a few experiences that might occur over a week or two at most and that shapes how we feel about a return visit no matter what other people say. We left Roatan with a few negative impressions and a few positives, while our Bonaire trips have left us with fewer negative impressions (we haven't been ripped off yet!) and more positives. On the other hand, I admit that one superb repeat visit to Roatan could completely change my mindset about the place - it's whether we want to chance a repeat visit to Roatan vs. a guaranteed great time in Bonaire that has kept me returning to Bonaire and giving Roatan the cold shoulder.

 

[pilot fish]

There ia actually nothing in the State Dept crime warning that specifies Bonaire alone. You can't find anything even on the internet that gives you an accurate picture of the Bonaire crime problem, with the glaring exception of this board. You just have to wade through the pro Bonairian din to get to it.


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But you can do the same in Bonaire, i.e. get an accurate picture of the crime scene in Bonaire from internet resources. Do a simple search for "bonaire theft" and start reading. It's not like it's a big secret, even though the Tourist Board might not advertise it as they do the shore diving.

Even the State Dept. has something to say: "Street crime remains a concern, especially in St. Maarten. Valuables, including passports, left unattended on beaches, in cars, and hotel lobbies are easy targets for theft, Visitors should leave valuables and personal papers secured in their hotel. Burglary and break-ins are increasingly common at resorts, beach houses, and hotels. Armed robbery occasionally occurs. The American boating community has reported a handful of incidents in the past, and visitors are urged to exercise reasonable caution in securing boats and belongings. Car theft, especially of rental vehicles, can occur. Incidents of break-ins to rental cars to steal personal items have been reported by American tourists. Vehicle leases or rentals may not be fully covered by local insurance when a vehicle is stolen. Be sure you are sufficiently insured when renting vehicles and other equipment."

Of course the State Dept. makes out almost every foreign destination to be as dangerous as Baghdad or Miami, so if we listened to them we'd stay home in our bomb shelters. The vast majority of travelers to Bonaire that follow the standard rental car admonition to not leave anything valuable inside end up having a wonderful time without any incidents. It's a simple rule to follow, much like "don't drink the water" when you travel to Mexico. Yes, plenty of people still end up with turista in Mexico, and plenty of people still suffer some kind of theft on Bonaire, but it's a lot easier to make water potable than it is to make people honest. When Mexico fixes its water issues, then maybe Bonaire will get around to fixing its crime. In the meantime, we just have to respect the foreign culture and not impose our American standards on every country we visit. If Mexicans like contaminated water and Bonaireans like petty theft and French like prostitutes and Netherlanders like marijuana, who are we to say this is necessarily the wrong way to do things just because we tend to frown on all of the above in our own land?

 

[pilot fish]

PB the linguist. Ya gotta love da in ta net

I don't know what a Duv is but I know what a Dove is! The rule for a past tense verb is add "ed" and that is pretty simple as in "I Skydived" and not I Skydove....... We can chose to use words like ain't but we sound uneducated and I feel the same way about using a bird to describe something I love to do! BTW I would say "He spitted on the sidewalk before he was ticketed!" Also I have no confusion with an animal and a spat or woman of the night and a wore! I like to present all sides and let the reader decide! Or is it decode? No it is decided!

 

[pilot fish]

Oh, yeah, and the theft. Theft in Bonaire sucks.

you've got that right

 

[Papa_Bear]

Mossman, I understand completely where your coming from and I understand working with the Sheriff's Department here that stuff happens and yes you can even get food poisoning right here close to home! My son got something in the San Francisco airport that put him in bad shape for a few days last week! And then the local station did a health review on airport food and said 80% failed! So who knows except it does change your outlook on your trip! I passed a Kidney stone in Cozumel and was in the most pain in my life I can remember, but I still like Cozumel, and have been back a number of times! I can see how sitting in your room in agony can put you off, but somethings that happen just do! Sickness and crime happen to the just and un-just alike! Life is an adventure live it to the fullest!

 

[Mossman]

Mossman, I understand completely where your coming from and I understand working with the Sheriff's Department here that stuff happens and yes you can even get food poisoning right here close to home! My son got something in the San Francisco airport that put him in bad shape for a few days last week! And then the local station did a health review on airport food and said 80% failed! So who knows except it does change your outlook on your trip! I passed a Kidney stone in Cozumel and was in the most pain in my life I can remember, but I still like Cozumel, and have been back a number of times! I can see how sitting in your room in agony can put you off, but somethings that happen just do! Sickness and crime happen to the just and un-just alike! Life is an adventure live it to the fullest!

My last trip to Bonaire, I only made 5 dives. I wasn't the one sitting in the room in agony, but I was the one bringing her food and pushing her around in the wheelchair and it wouldn't have been very nice to abandon her so I could get wet. Then Hurricane Ike closed IAH and it was another "adventure" trying to get us back home, cast and all, via Newark instead. I could do without such adventures in my life!

Then there was that little Tsunami after Christmas a few years back when we were diving up in Burma, had to cut our diving short and came back to a Phuket Harbor in shambles. Another adventure.

Spent four hours in the Maui ER after missing the second dive off Lanai, again not my injury but I was the designated driver. Damn eels.

Haven't seen the ER in Cozumel, but I did have to take a fellow diver to a dentist there after breaking a tooth. I did see the hospital in Yap to get a prescription for an ear infection that made me miss out on half the dives on the trip after traveling so far, and I sat out all but one dive with whalesharks at Darwin Island when I got a cold and couldn't equalize a bit.

Maybe I didn't care for Roatan so much because there wasn't any such "adventure" and we made all our scheduled dives plus more. Too boring?

 

[Papa_Bear]

LOL That is what its all about, one of our divers blew out the side of a Molar in Cozumel and had to get a root channel! Pretty cheap with GOLD! That is why it is an adventure, fight it or go with it??? It is still going to be!

 

[pilot fish]

Being the linguist that you are, you must realize it's canal, not channel.:shocked2: Now they do root canal with gold?

LOL That is what its all about, one of our divers blew out the side of a Molar in Cozumel and had to get a root channel! Pretty cheap with GOLD! That is why it is an adventure, fight it or go with it??? It is still going to be!