Anchoring is still permitted, but with all the moorings, the anchoring area has been
further restricted. It is now: Between Karel's Beach Bar and the northern town pier. You
need permission from the Harbormaster to anchor. The collection of fees and maintenance of
the moorings will be done by the Harbour Village Marina as agents of the Bonaire Marine
Park
Those of us sailing S/V ¡Qué Bárbara! would like to update your
Cruising Guide info for Kralendijk, Bonaire: The mooring balls off the
shore are now on a first come first served basis only, with $10 US per
night payment made in person at Harbour Village Marina. Availability can
be obtained via email from Carlos Rodriguez, Marina Manager at carodriguez@harbourvillage.com
but is no guarantee. Hope to see the new info in your next
edition--Captains Barbara Fleming and Bob Peyser
May 09
DIVING
DIVI RESORTS (Divi Flamingo) had a dive shop attached to them, Dive
Bonaire (also known as Divi Dive Bonaire), on vhf 72
(none of the other dive shops answered the vhf radio), dive@divebonaire.com.
this dive shop is attached to a resort so I was a little reluctant to try
it (knowing from other resort dive shops around the world that they
sometimes are cattle boats, filling up to the max and very little
individualized service) - but had no choice. Had to find a dive shop
in a hurry - tried them and boy was I pleasantly surprised.
http://www.diviflamingo.com/DiviFlamingo/bonaire-scuba-diving-vacation.html
VERY professional operation, insist on a proper orientation about diving
and the reefs in Bonaire (some of the other dive shops were very lax on
this), great individualized service - prices very good although the
manager said they are probably a little higher than some of the dive shops
on the island - but then you get what you pay for. VERY well set up
for nitrox too, very well organized with lockers, used tanks in one spot,
fresh tanks elsewhere, I got an instructor to go with me on my checkout
dive (I haven't dived in a while) for no extra cost and he took me on a
full reef dive too afterwards, something he didn't have to do. Made
sure I was 100% happy in the water, very patient and professional. I
could not recommend them more highly. Serge de Groote, the Manager,
was a delight, very knowledgeable and willing to spend time talking and
explaining about Bonaire - I highly recommend them.
CHECK IN AND OUT: Easy check in, no fees, just fill in some forms.
If you have firearms or a flare gun, you will have to declare it and turn
it in while you are in Bonaire, and collect it before you check out.
Customs is right off a dinghy dock so very easily accessible.
DUTY: Bonaire does not accept packages for "vessels in
transit" (which was a surprise to us). The duty has to be paid
on the package and you can claim the money back later, which is a huge
hassle. We had a sail shipped there and they wanted $500 from us and
one of the cruisers on another boat told us "good luck getting that
refunded to you." - so we cut short our visit to Bonaire and managed
to get it without paying the $500 (had to pay about $31 in fees) but I
wouldn't recommend it.
DINING: Bobbejan's was great for cheap and cheerful bbq
ribs/chicken/steak etc. Some nights there is a line out the door and
you can wait an hour to get a seat. Fortunately when we went, it was
a quieter night so no queuing up (even though we got there an hour early -
we were the only ones on line!) but great food, good service, would
recommend.
Great fuel dock (easily accessible, nice and wide so easy to get in and
out) - fuel/diesel cheap (not as cheap as other places of course) and
water cheap too.
MONEY: ATM's offer you NAF (guilders) or US dollars.
INTERNET: you have to buy a prepaid card from Telbo for their
"Surf It" internet (these cards come in various denominations).
We were told by other cruisers that the internet had been down for a week,
so we bought a one hour card to try it out - it worked like magic.
We went back and bought a 15 hour card. COuld only get online one
more time, then it went down (it was a Sunday so didn't expect them to fix
it). However, when we had bought the card, the help desk lady at the
Telbo office assured us that there was Surf It also in Curacao (which was
our next destination) so we thought hey, no problem, if it's not working
here then we'll just use it in Curacao. Now we're in Curacao and no
sign of surf-it anywhere.
Phillip and Joanna
