We are coming to Bonaire for a week in April following a trip to Peru. We have 5 children aged 16,15,13,12,& 9. My husband and 3 of the children will be doing some diving, plus we will all be snorkelling and generally exploring the island. I have looked at some accommodation already and so far Captain Dons and Buddy Dive are a bit too expensive for the 7 of us and Divi Flamingo isn`t really our sort of place. Sand Dollar may be OK at the right price. Although we have kids we don`t like hotels that are too busy with kids clubs. Prefer small, friendly places, a pool would be good but not essential. Also like to be able to walk out in evenings to eat.
It would be great to hear from anyone with some ideas. Many thanks

Caroline, welcome to Bonaire Talk! You will find this website to be a wealth of information for your upcoming trip.

Given your parameters, you should check out Eden Beach Resort. (www.edenbeach.com). It's small, has a great beach, and also has the webcams! They have a great on-site dive shop (WannaDive) and also a great restaurant on the beach (Bongos).

It's close to a few of the other resorts for food (walking distance), but driving into town will only take about 5 minutes, max.

Hope you enjoy your vacation, be sure to let us know how it all turns out!

Are you looking for one unit or multiple units? What is your budget? How important is being on the water?

You might want to check http://www.caribinn.com/house.html at about $190/night (it *might* be large enough) + bed taxes (for seven, ouch!) and is within walking distance of town. They are on the water with a small pool.

Happy Holiday (not right on the water, no pool) is also very nice and clean (and you would have plenty of space with two, two bedroom units) http://www.happyholidayhomes.com/ .

Also, recent threads have have discussed sun rentals..

Yacht club apartments might have what your looking for although it is not directly on the water. The penthouse is a 5 bedroom, 5 bath apartment which overlooks the pool. It has a large deck with tables and chairs outside. The ocean is close as is a diveshop and several restuarants. They are small, about 10 - 15 units, very clean , simple accomodations.
http://www.yachtclubapartmentsbonaire.com/

I'd check out Bonaire Town Homes. They have a wonderful small operation, with one one-bedroom unit and two two-bedroom units, all with full kitchens, very clean and comfortably furnished. Also, the owners, Benny and Ester, are wonderful hosts and will go out of their way to make your trip wonderful.

Check out www.bonairetownhomes.com, or email Benny at: info@bonairetownhomes.com.

I'll be using one of their two-bedroom units for my seventh stay with them, from mid-February through end of March --wouldn't go anywhere else because they make us so comfortable and welcome --- and are VERY reasonable.

Good morning Caroline and welcome! You could check out http://www.cocopalmgarden.org which has a range of accommodation. There are houses and apartments (renting a couple of apartments could give you use of a whole house as well; see website and/or email Brigitte and Marion), set in lovely gardens and all have access to the pool by the office. It's located in Belnem close to the waterfront and only a few minutes drive to either Kralendijk for food and shopping or Lac Bay for surfing. We have been several times there, too and always loved it.
Kind regards
Heike

Wow, what a fantastic response I have had from everyone. Thank you very much, I will start checking all your recommendations out. Thanks again.
Best wishes from very cold England!

Take a look at Bonaire Parnters as well. http://www.bonairepartners.com/

Hello Caroline and welcome to the board, I'm with Heike about the Coco Palm Garden. We stayed there in Sept and it's very nice and reasonably priced.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone. Have now booked to stay at Coco Palm Garden and am very grateful for everyone's friendly and useful advice. I shall be back on this forum before we leave for Bonaire to pick up some other useful info.
Cheers
Caroline