Bonaire 1st timer

[tpetersonalpine]

This was my first trip to Bonaire. I am both a long time diver and wind surfer. I have known of Bonaire as a wind surf destination for many years but have put off the trip because of cost and distance. The Gorge, Hawaii and South Padre are much closer to my home in Utah. My main motivation for going to the Bonaire was to master my jibe. Diving was a 2nd choice for the no wind days.

Things I really liked about Bonaire:

It’s not a Cruise Boat Destination like Aruba. I’m 39 years old and I never done a cruise. Even when I too old to do anything fun I’ll never cruise.
Great Diving excellent visibility, great access shore line access. Dive boat is not needed.
The majority of the tourists are Dutch. (new culture experience)
Easy to get around… tough to get lost.
Good food -Any place on Main Street is a great place for a sunset.
It is a safe place… no drugs or assoc violent crime.
Photo Tour / Submarine Divers does a night dive / BBQ at the beach / dive site. Some of the Best Food I had on the island. I strongly recommend it even to the non divers.
Dinner at Gibi’s house. Gibi is a Chef that has lived many a places in the world. He operates a Diner out of his neighborhood house. The food is an “8” the hospitality is a “10”. Great way to experience the local culture. His family and friends are very welcoming.
Wind surf site….Lac Bay is truly one of the best places to learn to wind surf.
The Wind Surf Place puts on a beach BBQ that is really a lot of fun. Elvis plays video that he has collected from the windsurfers and people on the beach from the previous week.
Snorkeling Night tour with Renee is great experience to see things you might miss on your own. 4 people are too many. Make her take you out with 2 or less. And give her exact change...she kept my change as an unintended tip.

Things I did NOT like:

Heat it never cools down at night. Thank God for AC
The Beer Selection is limited to Heineken, Amstel and Polar and if you are lucky Corona.
11 days on the island … I sailed 3 because of minimal wind. Fortunately I did not get suckered into a package.
The Windsurf Place wants to encourage customers to eat at its restaurant so it has setup rules that allow no picnicking on its property. I could understand the policy if it was limited to free loaders. But it includes people who have spent hundreds of dollars on rentals and merchandise. Otherwise no complaint.
Petty Crime… My car or room were never broken into but I spoke to multiple people whose car was robbed. Every one in Bonaire it seems has a dog in there yard…not as a pet but as an alarm.
Went jogging one morn and got about a 100 yards from the room ( GoldenReef Inn) and was bit by one of these alarm dogs. Had to stay out of the water for a couple of days to get a scab to form.
Dollars can be used every where but change always comes back in local currency… including the departure tax at the airport. They will not allow you to use a Credit Card and the tax is not included in the ticket. You must pay with cash. You are immediately getting on a plane to leave this place and they refuse to give you change in $. Even though this was a small amount it really got under my skin. Bring lots of 1 dollar bills to avoid having to deal with local currency.
They charge a fee to enter the water…snorkeling, kayaking, windsurfing and scuba. If you are planning on scuba diving and windsurfing be sure to buy $25 version. I went to the wind surf place first. They sold me the $10 entrance fee. The Bastards at STINAPA do not accept the $10 entrance as credit towards the $25. In other words I paid $70 for me and my wife because I bought the windsurfing use fee first. Had I gone to the dive shop first they would have sold me the $25 use fee which covers windsurfing.
In Hawaii the mainlanders drive fast and locals drive slow... just the opposite here.
BonaireExel is the worst run airline I’ve flown because schedule changes and late departures. I met people who had luggage lost for 3 days.
It’s a pain in the ass to get to. I had to fly all day and still had to spend a night in Aruba each way.

I stayed at Golden Reef Inn. First let me tell you the good things;

Outdoor shower
Cable TV
AC (although noisy)
Somewhat cheap / good value.
Clean ( except for the ants)

The Bad:
Liz sucks at communication. In email I would ask her a question and she would promptly reply but not answer the question. She partners with ABCarental and it was only after a chain of 20 emails that I was able to confirm that I had a car reservation. A few days before the trip she sent me email to confirm the arrival time so as to have someone pick me up at the airport. I responded with the date and time in military time. Well this information went into a black hole because when we showed up at the airport there was no one to meet us. We waited around till midnight but still no one showed. I had misplaced the phone number …no big deal …I’ll just look it up in the phone book. Problem it’s not listed. I asked around and no one had heard of it. Now I’m beginning to get worried that I’d been screwed because my Visa had already been charged. Things started to look up when I found a taxi driver who knew where it was. He drove us there… it turns out to be a 4 plex in the middle of a residential neighborhood with no one on site. The taxi driver was nice enough to call the number off the sign and get the property manager “Renee” out of bed. Renee arrived within the hour and let us in. She said that she was not expecting us till the next day.
I did NOT receive an apology from Liz …she easily could of smoothed it over with me by initiating the contact and saying “hey I’m sorry the 1st night is on me or let me buy you dinner for the inconvenience.”
I sent Liz an email when I got back… she said “sorry this is never happened before… I’ll give you 15% off you next rental.” I think it HAS happened from other comments on Bonairetalk.

Since she handled my car reservation in a package deal and charged my card on 3 different dates, I asked for an accounting… she responded immediately but did not answer the question. I restated it more clearly “I’d like to know how much went to the car rental and how much each night cost me. She has since stopped replying to me.

In summary, there were a lot of great things I liked about Bonaire…there were a few things that were really lame. Its too far to go for what is offered. If I could get there in a 6 hr flight, I’d go again but I’d stay somewhere other than Golden Reef Inn.

[looploop]

Hi,
thanks for your great report! I was wondering: is there a place to stay close to the windsurfing location?
Thanks,
Looploop

[rpdemink@yahoo.com]

stay at coco palms/casa oleander they rent trucks,and have nice inexpensive apartments,tell them the deminks sent you. pool for use is at office complex..its right on road to windsurfing and 5 min walk to snorkling or swimming on west side of island. windsurfing is on east side, only two places to stay near windsurfing 1 kinda costly and other nudist & REALLY COSTLY. Windsurf place is really great, i dont know where the other poster got the no picnic rule from, but dont worry we have been picnicing there for 7 years and no problem...they just dont want you taking up space in restaqurant area when paying customers need the table...by the way its the bestpriced good tasting food on island. if you need more specifics e mail rpdemink@yahoo.com