My wife and I returned yesterday from our first trip to Bonaire. We had a couple of problems which I'll briefly mention (more detail in "Getting to Bonaire" section of this board) and then I'll move on to the good aspects. We flew to AUA on FFM and took BE to BON. Immigration in AUA either inadvertently or purposefully stamped our passports with a 29AUG2005 date even though we arrived on 31AUG2005 and had In Transit on our immigration cards and told the man we were in transit. So, we ended up paying the $21/head tax to leave AUA to BON as if we'd stayed on Bonaire.

Then, on our return, the BE flight from BON to AUA
(after a stopped in CUR) was forced to turn back because of smoke in the cabin. After a 4 hour delay we boarded another BE plane to AUA in time to see our US flight backing away from the gate. We made it back to Kansas City a day and a half later than originally scheduled (spent a night in Aruba and a night in Charlotte-- late CLT to MCI flight doesn't fly on Thursday)

OK, besides the 3 1/2 days of travel time, we stayed at the Divi. We were supposed to have a standard room, but, since we requested a refrig they put us in a studio which I'm fairly sure was a Time Share unit right by the Dive Shop. We enjoyed the Divi and have no complaints but may try somewhere else next time on the beach.
We had some really good food. We ate at the Chibi Chibi upon arrival which was good, but, went into the city for the remainder of our lunches and dinners. We had breakfast twice at the Divi, and, ate in our room since it had a stove the other mornings -- something we hadn't planned on before we arrived but saved some cash. Restaurants we ate at were: City Cafe, Casablanca (twice), Salsa, The Lost Penguin, Stifler's, Rum Runners, Capriccio's, Zee Zicht, and I think we had lunch at La Luna one day. Really, we didn't have a bad meal and some were truly outstanding. Capriccio's and the Casablanca truly stand out. My wife also had some heavenly grilled Wahoo she let me try at Capriccios. The food at Stifler's was very tasty, but, the service was truly horrendous. Maybe they just didn't like us? It seemed the 2 ladies working the dining room were way more interested in chatting with other customers then getting our orders, silverware, etc. Anyway, enough dwelling on negatives -- the food was very good everywhere we ate.

The diving was also very good. Some dives were better than others but it was the result of the people we were with (or not) that set the dives apart. I think we logged about 17 dives on the trip (9 boat dives and 8 shore dives). The reefs were all in very nice shape with more fish life than we've seen in our other 3 dive trips (2 trips to Cozumel and 1 trip to Roatan). We dove with Divi Dive, and, for our first 3 boat trips we had very few divers (5-9) which made for very enjoyable dives. When the weekend hit, more divers showed up (with differing experience levels, courtesy, etc.) The last 3 boat trips I learned to stay away from some people who constantly bumped, kicked, etc. others. When a divemaster found something and signalled to get others attention, that became my que to get away from that area!

Oh well, I guess that's why you shore dive. It's a little more hassle to get into the water, but, you don't have to dive with others. We did the house reef 3 or 4 times, Angel City, Hilma Hooker, Town Pier. Our first night dive on Calabas Reef we had 4 -5 huge Tarpon with us. My wife kept shining her light away from us to get them go away (It was our second night dive and first with huge fish ) We did Hilma Hooker first thing Tuesday morning and had it all to ourselves for about an hour. We enjoyed the reef and left when we hear the first boat approach. When we got out of the water there were 3 dive boats moored and a group of 10 shore divers headed for the wreck/reef. Man, I'll bet that got a bit crowded! There's a definite peacefulness when you're diving with just your buddy all alone.

Anyway, the food was great and the diving was great. I'll definitely consider going back again (I'll have to opt for a direct flight from the US when they're running, though). I've yet to sample Belize or the Caymans yet, though.

oops. End of first paragraph above should read " ... as if we'd stayed in Aruba" instead of "Bonaire".

Robert,
It is great to see someone from the Kansas City area enjoying Bonaire. Do not let the bad travel experience discourage you. My wife and I live in Kansas City and go to Bonaire 3 to 5 times a year. We have had only one "bad travel" experience in the last few years. You have a lot more great dive sites to experience. Hope you decide to go back soon. We are leaving Friday for a few days on the Island to get our "Bonaire fix" that will last a few weeks.

Robert, great report. Glad you had a good time. I rarely do boat dives anymore, and you're right, when the DM points to something, we just back away and let the others kick, push, hit., etc. I figure I've seen whatever it is before, i.e., eel, seahorse, frogfish...and if I missed it, there's always next time.

Bonaire diving is great, because you can pick nice secluded spots! You think boat diving there gets crowded, the cattle call boats here in so cal dump 35 divers in the water at once from one boat! Good thing for the kelp, or else I think we could see everyone! LOL!

I agree with Micahel, don't let the travel hassles deter you from going again. From the left coast, I've never made it in less than 26 hours...and by all reports from all airlines now days, it appears that all of them have issues (not withstanding a couple of trip reports lately, which were, in fact, horrendous in getting there)...