What can I say, it is the most relaxing time I have ever had. If you are looking for laid-back, non-hurried and total relaxzation in a clothing optional setting, this is the place. This place si truely paradise on earth. No pressure, no time table justa wonderfuly relaxing time. All in the setting of great snorkeling, great diving and great sun-shine. This was truely the most relaxing time I can ever remember.

Sorobon Beach Resort, Bonaire Trip Report, 20 27 September 2003.This trip report actually starts ten years ago when Jennifer and I first got married and started talking about getting Two Tickets to Paradise (an Eddie Money song). Well, ten years and two daughters later we finally made it.20 Sept The alarm goes off at 2:30 am, just as Jennifer gets home from patrol. We shower, grab our bags and head to the Louisville KY airport 70 miles away for our 6:45am flight on American. The fog is so bad, it is worse than pea soup, but we finally arrive at 4:15 am and then wait for the ticket counter to open at 5:00 am. Since we were staying at Sorobon, the baggage was limited to one carry on bag with snorkeling gear and one with a few pieces of clothing and a lot of film, which was hand checked at our request at all the security check points both to and from. After getting the tickets we headed for the gate. The flight left on time and arrived at DFW early, which added to the 1 hour 45 minute layover. We boarded the plane at 9:45 and departed 15 min late on the 4 hour 30 minute flight to San Juan, made all the much longer by the people that were so proud of their cologne they put the whole bottle on and then refreshed it every 30 min. We sat with the A/C turned on our faces the whole trip to keep from getting sick of the smell. We arrived in San Juan at 3:30pm and began the 2 hr layover that was extended by a 1 hour delay in departure. Finally we arrived at Bonaire at 8:11pm, after clearing customs we exited the airport and were pleasantly surprised by the ride to Sorobon waiting for us. After dropping off another couple at the Divi Flamingo, we were taken to Sorobon and greeted by a smiling face and shown to our chalet where we rapidly disrobed. Once we donned the appropriate attire we went to the Sugarbird for a late supper, took a walk on the beach, and went to bed after a long day.21 Sept Wake up at 7:30 to nothing but the peace & quiet that we grew to love. Put out a bowl of sugar and a bowl of water for the sugarbirds. They had the sugar eaten in no time and took baths in the water. 8:00am we go and have breakfast and then hit the beach to soak up the rays, or so we thought, 9:30am the clouds roll in and it starts to rain. Back to the room we go, spend the rest of the AM relaxing and watching the liquid sunshine (hoping this is not an omen of things to come) until lunchtime. After lunch the weather clears out and turns into the beautiful Bonaire that I have been hearing about for the past nine months that I have been working on organizing this trip. The first thing we do is grab the snorkeling gear and walk out the 600 yards to the floating raft near the reef in Lac bay and pass an upside down jelly fish. After arriving at the dock we rest for a while then don the gear and snorkel to the center of the reef. It was absolutely beautiful, Jennifer was amazed at the sea life there, one of the first things that we see is a young brown moray eel. After a 45 min snorkel we head back in and spend the rest of the day laying out in the sun, have supper and a few drinks at the Sugarbird and enjoy the beautiful evening.22 Sept Today we were to go on the nude Woodwind cruise but it was cancelled. We were awakened at 7:30am by a loud clap of thunder and pouring down rain. Fed the sugarbirds again. I was beginning to worry about the weather, but after breakfast it once again cleared up. We contacted AB car rental so we could see more of Bonaire and they picked us up at 10:00 am. We got a Hilux for three days, returned to Sorobon and headed out to the second raft again. We laid out there and soaked up some rays for 20 min then snorkeled to the reef where we saw an octopus, 5 reef squid, one very large well fed barracuda, and a huge balloon fish, along with the other reef fish. Once we got back to shore we drove to other snorkel sites on the islandVista Blue, Alice in Wonderland, & Hilma Hooker. They were pretty uneventful so we went back to Sorobon, cleaned up and drove to Kon Tiki for supper. The food was wonderful, but we were on the menu alsothe mosquitoes were just awful, we threw the food down our throats and went back to Sorobon, dressed down then had a few drinks and sleep.23 Sept I got up early to watch the sun rise over Lac bay, and found out that this a local hobby, everyone was out and I found out why, it was beautiful and it wasnt raining!!! The sugarbirds were waiting for their meal on the front porch. Jennifer and I were just about to leave for Washington Park when the owner of the Woodwind called and asked if we wanted to take a snorkeling trip with them. Change of plans, off to the Woodwind we go. After boarding we sail over to Klein Bonaire and do a drift snorkel at No Name and see 5 sea turtles then we head back over to Bonaire to Andrea I & II. Here we see Cornet, Puffer, Trumpet, and Cow fish, and the ever friendly Barracuda. Andrea was more like the diving that I did off Okinawa and the Philippines, I really enjoyed this site. Afterwards, we did some shopping and bought gifts for our 3 daughters and headed back to Sorobon and changed into the proper attire.24 Sept We got up early to watch the sunrise and take some pictures. The sugarbirds were again calling to us to feed them. One joined us at the breakfast table. After breakfast we headed up towards Washington Park, enroute we stopped off and saw the Indian inscriptions. This is where we had a strange experience that reminded me of a scene in Jurassic Park, while we were looking at the inscriptions these little lizards started coming at us from every direction and then followed us as we walked along the lava flow. I kept wondering when they were going to attack and if I missed a post about this on BT!!! We took the long and rough route through the park, stopped and went snorkeling at a dive site with a sandy beach (dont remember which one) to get cooled off and then finished the park drive. Stopped to look for parrots even though the batteries died in the 35mm camera, and while hiking the path to the area an iguana ran up the path to Jennifer. Seemed he took a liking to her and separated the two of us. He got aggressive towards me whenever I moved. Jennifer tossed me the keys to get the Polaroid to take a picture of him and he started running towards me to get the keys! No parrots, on the road again. Between the combination of bad suspension on the rental truck and the rough road and after jarring about 3 fillings loose we made it back to Sorobon. Once again after donning the local attire we were off to the far reef, this time we went towards the left (north) by blue hole. This is where we saw the most variety and largest fish of any place we snorkeled during the trip I was extremely impressed here. We saw about a 6 Tarpon, 2 Octopus, a large Green and a smaller Spotted Eel, Angel fish, the largest Parrot fish I have ever seen (Super Male) and he wasnt bashful at all about showing his teeth. Also saw 5 Barracuda, two of which started following me around with drool hanging from the corner of their mouths!!!! After we lay in the sun some more, we cleaned up for supper and after dark went hermit crab hunting and got some good shots of them (our daughters have two small ones from a Gulf Shores Alabama gift shop). I was joking about how I would like to see one carrying around one of those big conch shells. Upon completion of a successful hunt we hit the sack.25 Sept Got up and watched the sun rise, fed the sugarbirds, had breakfast (the sugarbird was waiting for us at our table) and headed out in the bay to the north side of the reef. Once again ran into a very aggressive Barracuda that we gave a wide birth. What is it with these guys? I have never seen Cudas behave like this before. Also saw 3 octopus on the way back to the beach and if I wouldnt have had seen it for myself I wouldnt believe it, it was the biggest hermit crab I have ever seen carrying around a conch shell!!!! Finished snorkeling for the day, took the truck back to AB car rental with no problems at all. Spent the rest of the day on the beach doing the rotisserie thing. Went to the Sugarbird for happy hour and supper and turned in for the night.26 Sept Up at 7:30, fed the sugarbirds, and ate breakfast, went back to the room and read for a while then headed out to the beach to finish cooking our skin until lunch. Took a kayak out to the far raft and snorkeled to the right side of the reef where we saw a spinney lobster, and no Cudas!!! This side of the reef was very shallow and wasnt as good as the left side so we went back to the raft and laid out for a while and then kayaked back to the beach where we spent the remainder of the PM. Tonight we ate out on the porch by our chalet because the cook was not around I think he was sick as the bartender had been sick with the flu the night before. One brave sugarbird started eating rice off a plate on the table before we got to sit down and eat. PBD starts to set in as we pack knowing that we have to leave in the AM. It will be nice to see the girls again, but I am not looking forward to going back to work.27 Sept We got up at 3:30am and finished packing the last of our stuff and said goodbye to Sorobon. The taxi picked us up at 4:00 and took us to the airport and we went through the rest of the check in and customs inspection and checked our bags. Unfortunately the flight left Bonaire on time and arrived in San Juan on time where we had a 5 hr layover (would rather had the extra 5 hrs in Bonaire). The flight to Chicago was uneventful and arrived 30 min early, here we had a 2 hr layover and then boarded for the 55min flight back to Louisville, KY. When we arrived it was around 55 degrees out. After we got home around 11:00pm and went to bed with the 3 blankets piled on top of us, I realized that I missed the sound of the surf, the breeze, and the smell of the salt air.Jens comments Sorobon was more relaxing than one can imagine. No telephone, TV, radio, trafficcomplete quiet with the exception of birds and ocean. It was a long trip to get there and a long trip back, but one well worth it. Seeing the wild donkeys and goats was unusual, and the lack of grass was strange. Seeing cactus tall against the skyright next to the ocean was such a contradiction. You dont really think of so much water together with cactus. The lizards were everywhere, and hearing the scraping of the iguanas crawling across our tin roof was awful, but they were neat to see sunning themselves and were really no bother. We saw a lot of bright-colored flamingos close to the road, and saw one fly across the bay. The residents homes and areas they lived looked almost like a third-world country. Very small, very plain adobe homes, dirt yard, sometimes goats fenced in most likely for milk supply. The overall attitude of those who lived and worked there was very laid back. Nothing seemed to happen in a hurry. There was such a mixture of languages, too. Dutch is the official language and we heard that, but also people spoke Spanish and the native Popiumento which is a mixture of Spanish, African, English, Dutch, and more. Of course most people spoke English to help out the tourists. It was very difficult to get on the plane and come home. The landscape wasnt really anything to fall in love with, except for the ocean view, but the weather and breeze and water temperature was wonderful. Most of all was the feeling of total contentment and peacefulness. I cant remember the last time I felt no stress whatsoever. More than anything else I want to hang onto that feeling. This trip definitely was one to paradise, and I hope to return again.Tods comments Sorobon Resort; Sorobon was wonderful, this was our first time to a naturalist resort, or any resort as far as that goes, and we were completely at ease, the feeling of total freedom and relaxation is something that I hope to hold onto. I normally am not able to just sit and do nothing, I have to be busy with something, but here I finally just relaxed. The food was also great here, however we did not venture out but one time, and didnt feel the need to either, I had no complaints only compliments for the chef. The staff was outstanding, friendly and helpful, and I hope to see them again soon. Sorobon by far exceeded all of my expectation. Snorkeling; Of the seven sites that we snorkeled, Lac bay was by far the best. It had the most abundant and varied plant and animal life of any of the sites. Not to mention its relative ease to get to, at least for a Sorobon guest that is, you can either walk the 600 yards in ankle to chest deep water or take a kayak out to the raft, gear up and just roam around inside the reef. Overall; I cant wait to go back. I just wish there was a faster way of getting there than the airlines, where is Scotty when you need him?????? Last but not least I want to thank all the people who helped me and answered all my questions. You are a great part of why this trip was as great as it was, Thank you.

December, 2002 and we were lazing on a beautiful beach sipping rum in bonaire instead of fighting snow, ice, and the bitter cold of upstate ny. And we were NAKED. What could be better? We don't honestly know.
The Sorobon staff are friendly and discreet, the happy hour each evening was great fun. the beach is spectacular, and our accomodations were so terrific. We were there when the wind surfing championships were going on and it was great fun to watch them skip across the bay.
There are wonderful restaurants in town and we went out to one every night . the food at the Sorobon(dinner, especially) was pretty bad--breakfast was passable. We usually had bread, cheese, and fruit for lunch on our patio. We hope to return this year for a week-10 days.
Special!!!!!