Planning our first diving trip in Aug! We are a family of 5. Kids 18, 16, 13. This will be their first diving trip. Any suggestions on rentals. Is is safe in most places to stay? I don't want to have to worry about the kids hanging on the beach or pool or touring the town. We plan to spend a lot of time in the water and enjoying local foods! All suggestions are welcome!

My advice Darenda is to check with the local realtors, Sunbelt, Remax etc all handle vacation rentals. Pick out 3 or 4 places in your price range which your interested in & then request specifics from others on the board on these places.
here's a site to get you started..
http://bonairesite.homestead.com/

just about any place will be safe. check out the divi, plaza, and carib inn for places that are close to town (walking distance) and on the water. buddy dive, habitat, and black durgon are also on the water but farther from town. golden reef inn is nice but not on the water. also, some of the condos on bonaire might suit you...

We stayed in a house we rented from Louise at www.happyholidayhomes.com We loved it. 5 steps down to the sea. No beach, no ironshore, just a lovely home. Check out my pictures
http://margeka.smugmug.com/gallery/2740073/12/145557868
The house pictures start on page 12. Sorry I have so many. It has two bedrooms fully equipped kitchen, washer/dryer, rinse tank out side by the car port. You'd love it. We sure did. Couldn't get again cause I bragged too much about it and it got booked for Feb the next several years. My own fault.

We got two GREAT homes last July thru Erika at www.sunbelt.an
I say "two" because we extended our stay and had reserved a place for only a week, overnight she had another beautiful place for us for the next 4 days. Easy, wonderful, fabulous trip! That was the vacation to beat ALL vacations!

Marge, I love your pics!!! That was great for getting me in gear for packing TONITE!!

Marge, I checked out your pictures, AMAZING! We want to go NOW! But we have to wait until August! Could you dive off the beach from this house? What dive shop do you use, how far away? Can you tell me the price per week? Could you walk to different places to eat, shops, downtown?? What part of Bonaire is it in? SO many questions, Thanks for the response to all of you reading this. This site is wonderful!

Sunrentals has a great selection of houses. With 3 teens you are going to probably want space. You should check out their inventory. I usually get miserable and moody if I am stuck in a house with a bunch of people for more than a couple of days, so extra verandas, bathrooms and space has always been important.

Plus it never hurts to be in a house where your kids would rather ask you for a ride to town or where-ever rather than them being able to easily walk there. That way you can keep an eye on them without them feeling you are watching their every move.

Darenda, the house is located in Belnam. It's just a couple of houses pass the fork in the road where Great Escape used to be. I forgot the new name of the place. Yes, the diving out back is beautiful. The Belmar is about 4 properties ahead of the house. It was $150 night. It's on Louise's web site that I posted. You'll really need a truck/car. Its about 1/4 to 1/2 mile south of Bachelors beach. If I remember correctly. I'm going to get re-acclimated next week when we are going again. We used the unlimited air fills from Carib Inn. It was great. Just drive through the horseshoe drive, park change tanks and continue on. We're staying there this year. (Carib inn)

Belmar and Buddy's have 3 bedroom condos. For your first visit, you might want to consider a resort with an on-site dive shop in case you have questions or want to talk to other people. They also have pools that the kids can sit around and relax. My experience is that BelMar has plenty of teens around. Some may be Dutch, but they speak pretty good English at that age.