Bonaire, Netherland Antilles

Day 1

I finally caught my plane to Bonaire the next morning. They charged me $84. This was the beginning of a very costly detour to Bonaire. I arrived and took a $10 taxi for 5 minutes to my hotel, which was nice however, I am used to hostal prices and Boanire is not cheap! Once I arrived, I set out to find a dive shop, which again, is very expensive. I tried a second dive shop for which I took an $8 cab ride for 3 minutes to find out that they didn't have any weight belts so therefore I couldn't go woth them. Instead of calling another cab, I hitchhiked (Mom - I was told it's perfectly safe!!!) Then I went to lunch, and found that you can't even buy a cheap meal for under $10. For dinner, I had a $9 bowl of soup and a $4 mini beer. It's interesting because while I understand that islands are more $ because of the transportation ot get things on and off the island, EVERYTHING is expensive. I was going to extend my stay for 2 days and cut Trinidad short but have decided against it. OK, enough complaining, I will get off the topic of money.

Bonaire is really beautiful It is part of Holland (a.k.a. the Netherlands). It is off the northern coast of Venezuela and on the Caribbean south of Panama. It's sister islands are Aruba and Curacao (the ABC Islands). While some of the people speak Spanish and are native, there are tons of Dutch people. (t is very different than the rest of my travels and not very rich in Culture in my opinion, but beautiful nonetheless). The water is very, very blue and it's a quiet little beach town that holds the title of best diving in all of the Caribbean. The best part is that most of the dive sites are from shore so you can just take your gear and dive all over free (except I came without gear and without a dive buddy so I had to go on a boat!). I found a place to dive and got on the boat for the following morning. That nite, the dive shop had a free tum and punch party that I went to and met some people.

Day 2

The next day I did two boat dives and a guided dive from shore in the afteroon (me and a divemaster) and the diving was really beautiful! Galapagos was more big fish and hardly any coral and Bonaire is all coral and smaller fish. I saw a spotted eagle ray, an octopus, a turtle, a seahorse, a large pufferfish, as well as tons of other sea life. After diving, I went back to the hotel and ended up just making it to happy hour. There I met these three Dutch guys, one of which used to live here for a year, that were visiting for a month. As always, I love meeting new people and we ended up going to dinner and hanging out all nite and I had a great time.

The next day, I was really regretting drinking the nite before. After the first dive, I started to get a really bad headache (it felt like a migraine might be coming on). Luckily another diver had some aspirin. After the second dive, I surfaced and it was really rough and I got sick overboard...It wasn't entirely the drinking but it definitely was a precipitating factor. There was this couple I had met the day before from San Diego, Paloma, and her husband Chad, who was a dive instructor. I invited myself to do some shore dives with them that afternoon (they were really cool and we got along well!). So, after the boat dives, we went back to their place, picked up ther truck, had a great lunch (I have been eating all seafood!) and then did two more shore dives. The first one was a wreck dive, which was a sunken drug boat...saw some huge fish, maybe sturgeons? And barracuda. The second dive I went with Chad alone because Paloma was tired. It was really great going with a dive instructor! I also learned a lot about beinga Divemaster and Instructor (which I was thinking might make a cool career, but it sounds like there is not much money in it).

Day 3

I decided I had spent enough on diving and you really should allow 24 hours before a flight due to pressure issues so I decided to drive around the island instead. I was going to rent a scooter (moped) but they told me they get stolen a lot and you can't get insurance so for $4, I got a a "special deal" on a jeep, that did not have a top. I had heard it wouldn't rain but even if it did (and it did!) it was no big deal because I had on my bathing suit and had my valuables in a waterproof bag. I decided to visit the donkey sanctuary first, and on my way, it started pouring! It was actually really fun driving in a jeep and getting rained on :)

The Donkey sanctaury was great! I arrived and heard about the ones they recently rescued. There was a pen with 3 orphans which the babies barelky made it and the mothers did not. They were all really sweet. I got the debriefing and almost cried right there. The islanders, including the government, have no compassion for animals. They have over 300 donkeys and have rescued so many from really abusive situations (I won't get into details but adults and kids alike try to hurt and kill them out of ignorance). Then I got to go into the pen with the baies and mons (including some that were pregnant and you could see the foals moving inside of them). Then I did the drive thru the rest of the sanctuary. The donkeys sure know that cars mean feeding time (I bought a bag of treats). I probably ran into all 300 on the drive and tried to make sure I fed each and every one. It was funny because a couple got really jealous and would grunt and kick the others out of the way. I really enjoyed the sanctuary and they are doing a really good thing there...

On the way back from the donkey sanctuary, I stopped by a lake to get pictures of flamingos. Of course, I stopped on this tiny little strip of land off the highway. Then when I tried to start the car, it wouldn't start (and it was raining again). I left the car (no one would stop to help)and walked to a car rental place and called the company, who came to swap batteries.

Then I found the local restuarant I had heard was really good (to far to walk but great if you have a car) and had lunch. Next, I drove up the northern coast which was amazingly beautiful with really blue water. I stopped for a swim and then drove thru a Lake which was a Flamingo Sanctuary. I also saw a few donkeys on the road which were NOT used to being treated well and tried to pet them but they would have none of it. I stopped at a place where there were some Indian Inscriptions (500 BC) as well as a cave with a hole that the "Christmas" star would shine thru over X-mas. I also some tons of goats and at one point saw a momma and baby and another baby just laying there. The mom and other baby went across the road, so I went over and picked up the baby goat and held him for awhile...it was beautiful. I had an awesome trip!!!

This is my last nite in Bonaire and I am really looking forward to flying to Trinidad tomorrow and Carnival!!!! There are two guys and a girl also staying at the house I am staying at (courtesy of COUCHSURFING.COM). The gril I am staying with wont even be there until Monday but says her family is so used to couchsurfing guests it is cool. She sounds great...even started her own volunteer organization recycling and picking up trash on the beach.