We made it to Bonaire - they had not seen too many US PCR forms as I had to explain that 11/09/2020 was November and not September. It ended with a laugh and a welcome. We are finally back here. Glad to have made it here the same day.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
We made it to Bonaire - they had not seen too many US PCR forms as I had to explain that 11/09/2020 was November and not September. It ended with a laugh and a welcome. We are finally back here. Glad to have made it here the same day.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
Ya! Congratulations. I’ve been watching to see how it went. We’ve been afraid to leave the island because we might not get back. Glad you made it.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
Hey Chris, Great news! Super glad you made it. Thanks for info. It seems more airlines may start flying to Curacao soon, typically both Air Canada and West Jet (another Canadian airline) did that route direct from Toronto. If they start those flights up it will shorten the transit time so a bit easy easier to meet the 72 hour rule. We are sort of planning for a late Nov or early Dec arrival. Enjoy, and hope to see you there.
S&E Tanton
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
So glad you made it.
Originally Posted by ChrisL
Gives the rest of us hope.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
So glad to hear you made it to Bonaire. Thanks so much for letting us know.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
Congratulations. This gives me hope to try to plan a trip.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
Wow, it really rained last night - downtown Kralendijk is flooded. Our house is next to the Belafonte on the ocean and the wind was wild. Rain came through our closed windows upstairs - I'm glad all the floors in the house are travertine.
So here is the surprising part, at least to me. I don't think the Bonairians get "social distancing," particularly the Dutch, certainly not how we behave in NJ. Only my friend Bart who is now bartending at the Brewery while La Cantina undergoes some upgrades gave me an air-hug and kept some distance - all others were in my face and shaking my hand. I saw lots of hand sanitizer, but even in Van Den Twill, no masks anywhere. The flight crew wore masks in Aruba, and the Divi passengers wore them on the plane, but none of the immigration folks or the Health inspector in Bonaire were wearing a mask, but the kid at Hertz was.
It looks like I have to go buy a new battery for my car - it's been sitting since February and won't hold a charge. First world problems.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
Recently we had a little spike of cases here on the island and there were small restrictions like closing bars and casinos early and the gyms were closed again. Under the Dutch Corona color system we went from yellow to orange, which indicated the increase of cases. While we were "orange" I saw most people wearing masks indoors everywhere and following the social distancing rules in line. Van Den Tweel and Kooyman never required masks, and while shopping there I did observe that the Dutch were the most likely to not wear masks but did social distance. Almost all the Chinese supermarkets and banks still require masks to enter even now. But in general, as soon as we went from orange back to yellow it looks like we all relaxed again.
As of yesterday, we have 1 case on the island. Curacao has 50+ so that is probably our biggest threat for importing the virus. Their cases are mostly local and not imported. I'm sure everyone will put their masks back on and follow the rules if/when we start getting cases again. It's just hard to stay vigilant when we have almost no virus on the island.
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
Hi Chris,
Did Curacao care what state you came from? As I understand, they only allow visitors from certain states on Curacao, but if you are just passing through, do you think it would be an issue? Sounds like they treated you differently since you are were on your way to Bonaire. Did you need to deplane in Curacao?
Thanks in advance.
-- merrill
Bonaire Lover
Bonaire Talker
We did not deplane in Curacao so no paperwork was required there.
