Bonaire's restaurant scene continues to explode. Two weeks ago we reviewed the opening of De Islander, a family oriented West Indian restaurant making up the "restaurant triangle" with Swiss Chalet and Mi Poron. The same week Donna and Giorgio's Italian Restaurant  on Kaya Grandi opened its doors in a totally transformed cozy eatery, with decorating by Donna and cooking by Giorgio. Even more recently the "pizza guys," Fred and Joe, heated up the night with their pizza paradise called Pasa Bon Pizza. They don't have their sign up yet, but you can find them on Kaya Gob. Debrot, just south of the Harbour Village Marina, on the east side of the street. Look for the  cascading white Christmas lights and the stoplight (the only one on Bonaire).  Popular Croccantino's, a familiar landmark housed in an old Bonairean house and garden, isn't new but it has had a massive facelift and makeover, both in the menus and in the dining areas, thanks to Elizabeth Wigny and her staff.
Visitors will have to extend their stays on the island because a week just isn't long enough to sample all of Bonaire's diverse and delicious restaurant cuisine.

• Air ALM and Sobel Air signed a letter of intent Monday for joint flights between Amsterdam and Curaçao. A brand new Sobel Air Boeing 767 with 260 seats will start flying at the end of March when Air ALM's current contract for similar flights with City Bird ends. City Bird has had a dismal on time record although the flights have been very popular because of the NAƒ999 ($561) round-trip price. The first flight is planned for Sunday, March 25. There will be three flights a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, compared to two with City Bird.
  
• Sobel Air, the charter arm of the Belgian airline,  Sabena, will discontinue the two flights a week for the Van der Valk Plaza Resorts in Curaçao and Bonaire because the resorts decided to switch to Air Holland. Air Holland charters will also begin on March 25 using a DC-10/30 with 360 seats, the majority of which will be reserved for Plaza guests.
  
• Jake Richter reports there are seven new  dot coms on Bonaire's World Wide Web  that are hosted by Bonaire's NetTech N.V:
  

• Now that this year's census enumeration has been almost completed we are still waiting for the results of last year's Health Survey of the Netherlands Antilles. 10% of the national population, some 1400 people on Bonaire alone, took part in nearly two-hour-long interviews to help determine the state of health and well being of our islands' population. The island health service reports that the raw statistics are complete and tabulated, but the official analysis is not quite finished. Once the analysis team has finished its work later this month the report will be made public along with the statistics. Watch The Bonaire Reporter for commentary on the figures and the analysis.
  
•   The Parent's Committee of the Christ  Beneficent Protector School ask our readers for help again this year for their annual Karnaval Parade. On Friday, February 28, between the hours of 8am-noon the schoolchildren will "jump" through town. About 400 children will be involved. Please donate to help cover the cost of the band, DJ, snacks and transportation. Call Jeanette Nolen at 717-8196 or 717-5280 to pledge your gift.
  
• Air Jamaica announced the launch of the airline's new non-stop service from Boston's Logan International Airport starting on February 15. The new service will operate five times a week initially and will expand to six weekly flights by the first week of March using a 150 seat Airbus A320. This service will feed into Air Jamaica's hub in Montego Bay, where passengers can connect with the airline's two weekly flights to Bonaire.
  
•   Bonaire tourism dipped in the year 2000  by 17% as compared with 1999. According to the TCB (the Tourism Corporation Bonaire), 51,269 persons visited. This compares with 61,269 during the previous year. About half of Bonaire's visitors were from the USA.      (See chart at right.–) Tourist arrivals have been dropping since 1997, but last year showed the most dramatic decline.  The  main reasons given for the drop involve air transport: discontinuance of some charter flights and cuts in ALM's service to Bonaire. Negative publicity in the wake of the damage caused by Hurricane Lenny's sea swell was also blamed.
  
• While the number of tourists arriving by air has dropped, the TCB reports that those arriving by sea have soared. Last year 71 cruise ships called at Bonaire carrying 43,540 visitors. This compares to 45 ships and 14, 790 for 1999, an increase of 294%.
  

• Thanks to those who've responded to The Reporter's informal survey on "green" hotel rooms in last week's issue (vol. 8, issue 4.) Keep your responses coming and watch for a tabulation of the results in next week's Bonaire Reporter. G./L. D. & P.R.