When my wife and I travel to someplace for the 1st time we book a room for just the 1st night... or none at all, and then spend the 1st day getting acquainted with the surroundings, find a place that looks inviting and then check on availability. Is this a do-able thing on Bonaire?.. I've never worried about it traveling to destinations of greater size.. but this little island has me wondering. It just bugs me to have a place booked and then wish that we were "over there".

It depends on what time of year you go. If it is peak season, you may not have the options you would like.

our travel times would be sometime between the 1st of jan and the middle of feb.

Many resorts are already full for the christmas/new year holiday maybe you should check availability and work out when the peak saeson ends.

i'd check availability. that is almost peak season. january is the end of the rainy season but a lot of people are going to bonaire then. february is almost always really nice.

Subaqua......

We did just that on our first trip to Bonaire. We'd had similar experiences in our travels. Actually, my husband didn't even want one night reserved but since we flew AA and arrived at night, I insisted on having the first night booked.

Here's our experience several years ago....

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/1022/31140.html?1021997999

Make sure you fill in an adress on your visa-form (just pick a resort). Otherwise the people at customs will be difficult. They always want to know where you stay.....

Anne-Marie, been there, done that.. just about got sent back to the states when we landed in Jamaica... them: "Where are you staying, you didn't fill in the blank?" me: "We don't know where we're staying, we just got here." them: "Well, then, you'll have to re-board and return to the states, you can't stay without a reservation." I had to quickly book a room right from the airport.. so we did, stayed there one night and then moved on.

Glad you already know how it works best :-))
My mom had the pleasure this time (she didn't know my home adress by head)

when our kids visited two years ago, the didn't know our address either. when the came through immigration they were asked where they were staying...we forgot to tell them about that. all they could say was "with my parents". now we make it a point to tell our friends what our address is and to remember it for the form.