From: sracer@media.mit.edu (Andy Hong (Go Speed Racer!))
Subject: * BONAIRE * trip report
Organization: M.I.T. Media Laboratory
Distribution: rec
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 22:29:09 GMT

A friend and I spent 7 nights in Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles).  Our main
purpose was to DIVE.  We had a blast.  The following is a trip report.
It's long.

The article is set up in short sections.  The first two describe our
experiences with the hotel and its partner dive operation.

      The Sunset Beach Hotel
      The Dive Inn

The rest of the sections contain details organized in more general
categories:

      Food
      Diving
      Snorkeling
      Above-water activities
      Transportation
      Money


-----
The Sunset Beach Hotel


The WORST hotel I've ever stayed in.  It used to be the Hotel Bonaire.  I
imagine it was a fairly decent resort hotel many years back.  But it's
current condition is bad enough that there's no way it could even receive
one-diamond (the lowest) if AAA rated it.  (I've stayed in jillions of
hotels ranging from 5-stars in Tokyo to no-stars in Paris.  The Sunset
Beach Hotel was worse than the no-stars.)

The rooms were musty.  The grounds were unkempt.  The pool was
non-existent.  The walkways were dilapidated--big cracks and large chunks
missing made for some tip-toe style walking.  There was only ONE phone
available in the complex for long-distance use--the rest of the phone
system was down for repairs.

On four of the seven days we were there, the maid forgot to leave us
towels.  Each time this happened, we walked to the front desk and asked
for towels--the desk workers promised it would never happen again.  And it
happened again and again.

The hotel restaurant had some of the WORST food I've ever eaten.  We had
lunch there twice and dinner once.  And decided never to eat there again.
Most of the other guests I talked to walked over to the Green Parrot at
The Sand Dollar Inn next door for food.

And to top it off, at the end of the week, as we were checking out, they
informed us of a 10% room gratuity charge ($7.50 per day) that was
supposedly mandatory.  We had NOT been informed of this extra charge when
we checked in, or when we purchased the package.  When I refused to pay
it, citing the poor towel service as one of many complaints I had about
the hotel, they said I had no choice.  (I had pre-signed the credit card
thang when we checked in--which is quite normal.)  Anyway, I'm calling my
credit card company and doing a chargeback on this one.



-----
The Dive Inn


The WORST dive operation I've ever dove with.  The operation is on the
grounds of the Sunset Beach Hotel--any package deal that you get with the
Sunset will be with the Dive Inn.

Supposedly, the package included unlimited shore diving--i.e., you could
get tanks whenever you wanted.  The dive store closes sometime before 5pm,
and if you want tanks after closing time, you need to sign up in advance,
and tanks will be left out.  Sounds reasonable, at least in theory.  But
in practice, it didn't work.  The first afternoon we signed up for tanks,
no tanks were left out that night.  The next afternoon, we had to remind
them to put out the tanks.

Tank fills were a hit or miss proposition--mostly miss.  Fills tended to
range from 2300 psi to way over the hypdo-rated 3300 psi.  (This is for
Aluminum 80's rated for 3000 psi.)  A dangerously overfilled tank blew out
my regulator (an o-ring squeezed out of my US Divers SEA first stage)
right after I opened the valve on my tank--I had just enough time to
notice that the pressure was almost 4000 psi before my first stage popped.
The Dive Inn refused to do anything about it.  (Luckily, it turned out to
be a free fix anyway here in Boston.)

The divemasters were also hit or miss.  Karen and Mary were very good
dm's.  They each gave good 10-minute pre-dive orientations after parking
the boat at the dive sites and before letting anyone in the water.  On the
other hand, Walter, who also happened to be the manager of the Dive Inn,
was the WORST divemaster I've ever dove with.  On the two dives he dm'ed,
he mumbled a couple things and just sat back smoking a cigarette while
everyone jumped in the water.  (Luckily, Bonaire diving is relatively
easy--so no one got too lost or too distressed.)



-----
Food


We ate "off-campus" most of the time.  Having a car the whole week was a
saviour!  As I said before, the food at the hotel restaurant was not only
less-than-mediocre, it was barely edible.

The biggest trend we noticed on the island: fresh vegetables are hard to
come by.

Our favorite restaurants (in order of preference--favorite first):

Mona Lisa -- On Kaya Grandi (a street) at the main plaza in Kralendijk
     (the main city).  We ate here twice.  The fresh vegetables were
     served separately from the main course (and varied according to the
     day's stock).  Fantastic dutch-caribbean cuisine.  Great service.  A
     nice cozy candle-lit open-air atmosphere.  For a filling multicourse
     meal with a bottle of wine (we have BIG appetites), the bill came out
     to $45 for two, including a generous tip.  A comparable meal in a big
     city here in the states would have been at least as expensive.

Rendezvous -- On Kaya Gerharts less than one block from the main plaza in
     Kralendijk.  The third place that we found with fresh vegetables.
     Once again, excellent dutch-caribbean cuisine.  The only thing that
     we didn't like was the atmosphere.  Too casual with distracting
     American music on the cheesy sound system.  About $35 for two without
     wine.

Chibi Chibi -- Located on the grounds of the Divi Flamingo Hotel.  The
     food was great (we ordered Kesha Yena, as someone on the net had
     suggested in a previous posting).  The location was nice (above the
     water with full view of schooling fish).  But the service was a
     little slow.  This was the second place that we found with fresh
     vegetables.  According to the prices on the menu (and the
     instructions that were also printed on the menu for package
     customers), getting the all-inclusive package at the Divi Flamingo
     seems like a great deal-- a significant savings on very good food.
     About $30 for two without wine or appetizers.

The Green Parrot -- On the grounds of the Sand Dollar Inn.  Better-than-
     mediocre food.  Frozen vegetables.  Reasonable prices.  On-water
     location.  About $25 for two for dinner (no drinks or appetizers).
     About $10 for lunch for two.  The best thing going for it was its
     location--only a five minute walk from where we were staying.

Other restaurants that were recommended to us (but we didn't have a chance
to check out):

Richard's -- South of Kralendijk on Boulevard Julio A. Abraham near the
     airport access road.  Walter, the aforementioned dive-master,
     suggested it.  We decided that his lack of dm skills could be a
     result of a lack of a brain--so we didn't want to test his
     restauranting skills either.

Den Laman (sp?) -- On the beach between Sunset and Sand Dollar.  A
     satisfied customer of Mona Lisa (our favorite restaurant),
     recommended this place after overhearing a conversation we were
     having with someone at the next table regarding the lack of fresh
     vegetables on the island.  But we had to fly out the next morning, so
     we didn't get a change to check it out.

Three other restaurants in which we ate were so mediocre that their names
have since been forgotten.  (I should've kept a restaurant log instead of
just a dive log!)

We also purchased groceries (sandwich meats, bread, snacks, drinks, etc,)
at a number of supermarkets.  Two are situated on Kaya Grandi just north
of the town.  The biggest ones that we found were outside of Kralendijk on
Kaya Korona, including the Supermarket Korona.  Easily accessible by car.

The tap water is drinkable and very good.  We purchased bottled water on
the first night at the town bakery (on Kaya L.D. Gerharts)--none of the
supermarkets sold it--just to get the plastic bottles so we could continue
to refill them with tap water throughout the week.



-----
Diving


We had purchased a 6-day boat diving package with The Dive Inn before the
trip.  We ended up doing six boat dives (and one night boat dive) in five
days.  They took us to Carl's Hill on Klein Bonaire for four of those
dives.  (Actually, Carl's Hill, Carl's Hill Annex, Jerry's Jam, and
Leonora's Reef--all within swimming distance of Carl's Hill.)  When we
mentioned this to them, the divemasters said that all the diving on
Bonaire was the same--so no matter when you went, you'd see the same
stuff.  Ha!

The boat also took us to Something Special, about a 100 yards down from
the Sunset Beach hotel (we could have swam there) and to Andrea II.  We
also did a night boat dive on Small Wall.

We did a number of shore dives jumping in from the Sunset's pier (Front
Porch is the dive site name) and swam north toward Captain Don's.  On one
of our night dives, Tommy the Tarpon followed us throughout the whole dive
(along with a smaller companian).  On another night dive, we saw two good
size squid (football size)--they were *amazingly* beautiful.  Made my day.
And of course, on every dive we saw tons of hard coral.  Lots-o'-fish.
Morays galore.  Etc.

Our BEST dive was a shore dive at Ol' North.  (We drove up the scenic road
toward the Bonaire Petroleum Corp site.)  We had no problem making the
entry thru light surf.  The coral here was much more pristine and healthy
than at the sights we visited by boat (maybe because it's not dive'd as
often?).  We saw feeding barracuda and a small sea turtle along with all
the usual stuff.  And tons-o'-black-coral along with all sorts of soft and
hard coral.


In general, most of our dives averaged a depth of 40 feet.  Our deepest
was down to 60 feet (although I did manage to break my personal
free-diving record... I did 75 feet breath-hold off of Cliff (the dive
site at Captain Don's Habitat)).  We found that most of the cool stuff was
at 30-50 feet.  More light in this region made for more interesting dives.

The temperature was 80F.  Cold enough that I wore a diveskin, and still
got chilly after being in the water for a typical 60 minutes.  (In
contrast, the temperature in Cozumel at this time of year is about 84F.
Warm enough to stay in for an hour without any sort of suit.)

The visibility ranged from 60-80 feet (your mileage may vary).  We were
told it was very good visibility that week--the week before it was
significantly lower.  (We'd seen better vis in Cozumel and the Keys.)

Most dive sites had a slight current that changed direction every 15
minutes or so.  Sometimes it was distracting, but mostly it didn't hinder
our dive.



-----
Snorkeling


The best snorkeling was off the coast of Klein Bonaire (reachable only by
boat).  Most hotels have lunch and afternoon snorkeling/beach trips.  The
boat ride is less than 10 minutes.  Depths ranged from 5 feet to 60 feet.

We had the most fun snorkeling at Cliff.  (We did our deep breath-hold
dives here).  We followed the directions in Tom van't Hof's book _Guide to
the Bonaire Marine Park_ and swam through the narrow channel of elkhorn
coral into the open water and swam south toward Captain Don's Habitat.
Depths ranged from zero feet (for the elkhorn) to 60 feet (for the bottom
of the cliff wall) to 75 feet (for the dropoff zone).

We also followed the recommendations given in previous postings and tried
out Playa Funchi and Boca Slagbaai in Washington Park.

A fellow net'er had mentioned that Playa Funchi had lots of healthy coral
at depths of 10 feet.  Well, something must have happened since that
previous posting...  about 90% of the coral at depths shallower than 25
feet was just plain DEAD.  I do not exaggerate.  Only 10% of it was
living.  Huge fields of Staghorn coral lay dead and rotting from Whiteband
Disease.  And most of the other hard coral looked like it was ravaged by
(a) sediment (from a storm?) and (b) divers.  Near the dropoff (outside of
the bay), at depths of 35 ft to 60 ft, the coral was much healthier, but
not nearly as nice as the coral at Klein Bonaire, at Cliff, or at Ol'
North.  But there were lots of fish, including many schools of small
cowfish that would approach us in hopes of getting handouts.

Boca Slagbaai was in slightly better condition.  About 25% of the coral
was still living.  But the visibility was slightly lower (about 30 feet
within the bay and 60 feet outside).  Lots of fish.  And a beautiful squid
that let us follow it for about 20 minutes--it had huge eyes that stared
back at us every time we came to within five feet or so.  To the sides of
the bay are some small caves that you can swim into.  Boca Slagbaai also
has a nice sandy beach--lots of uninhibited sunbathers.



-----
Above Water Activities


Well, I've already mentioned the food and the diving.  So what else is
there?

Lots if you're into exploring.  Caves, lagoons, hills, unbeaten paths.  We
had as much fun ABOVE water as we did below.  Having a 4-wheel drive
Suzuki Samari was a BLAST.  (No, we didn't tip it.)  $220 for 7 days thru
Budget.  (The rate is $249 if you don't book ahead.)

I'd recommend the following:

The hills of Montana -- Fabulous view of Kralendijk and Rincon.  Lots of
     birds.

Solar Salt Works -- Pink sand for miles and miles!

Lacre Punt (south end of the island) -- Spend a night on the rocks with
     the crashing surf and the amazing view of the Milky Way.  (I've never
     seen so many stars (and shooting stars too!).)  The only visible
     light is from Kralendijk (and its airport).  And there are two
     almost-invisible hazy halos on the horizon from Curacao to the west,
     and from Venezuela to the south.

Washington Park -- Enough's been written about this place (and this post
     is getting too long).  We spent a whole day inside the park.  The
     neatest thing... even the *lizards* expect hand-outs.  Whenever we
     parked our jeep, a bunch of colorful lizards would come up to the
     jeep to sit in its shade.  When I held cookie pieces in my hand, the
     lizards approached and licked the pieces out of my hand.

Lagun Goto -- Lots of Pink Flamingos inside a beautiful lagoon.  Take the
     scenic one-way road north along the leeward coast (stop to see the
     caves and the dive sites along the way).  Pass by the Radio Nederland
     towers and head for the Bonaire Petroleum station.  Take a right once
     you get to the station and follow the road (take the dirt roads when
     they come up) around the lagoon.

And definitely check out as much of the windward side of the island as
possible.  There's only one paved road out there--but enough dirt roads to
get you around once you're out there.


Shopping, night life, and anything city-oriented don't really exist in
Bonaire.



-----
Transportation


We flew in on ALM (All Luggage Missing) airlines.  And sure enough, they
screwed up our luggage.  We spent some time in Curacao tracking down two
bags that were incorrectly routed before taking the puddle jumper to
Bonaire.  My air route took me from Boston to Atlanta (via Delta (who
handles ALM in the US)--I stopped flying Delta two years ago, and now I
remember why.  I will never fly Delta again.).  Then to Aruba, Curacao,
and finally to Bonaire (via ALM).  On the way back, I stopped in Miami
instead of Atlanta.

We had reserved a Suzuki Samari through Budget (and our travel agent).  So
when we arrived in Bonaire, we picked up the car at the airport, and
dropped it back off on our way back to the states.  No hassle.  (Just very
slow, but then again, everything in Bonaire is slow.  There was only one
employee working at the airport office--a single person checking in
reservations, picking up and dropping off cars, and signing out the cars.)

There seemed to be public transportation--we saw bus stops outside of the
city.  But we didn't see any buses.



-----
Money


The *total* cost for the trip (including $100 worth of presents brought
home) was $1350.  I.e., at the end of the week, I was $1350 poorer than
8 days before.

I took $170 in cash with me when I left my home in Boston.  Much of my
purchases (like food) were done with credit cards (VISA, MC).  There are
at least two banks with ATM's.  Different vendors charge different
exchange rates.  Sometimes it's better to pay in Gelder (Guilder?).
Sometimes it's better to pay in US Dollars.  Everyone accepts US Dollars.
And when you pay with a credit card, you have the option of specifying the
payment in Gelder or Dollars.

I changed $100 into Gelder on the second day at a bank to use at the
grocery stores (better to pay in Gelder (and they tend to round off
prices)).




So that's the scoop.  Hope this info will be helpful to anyone heading out
to beautiful Bonaire.

--andy