Hey all,
My wife and I went to Bonaire for 2 weeks on our honeymoon. It's been a long couple of years with all this dreaming about Bonaire, so I went to come back, this time with all of the kids. We have 4 boys (age 17, 11, 6 and 1).

Any places you'd recommend for sunch a large crew and still keep the prices down?

We stayed at one of the oceanfront villa things at Cap'n Don's and saw lots of little houses that appeared to be rentals not affiliated with Don's. any idea how to look into those units?

We did a lot of driving around the island and don't have a special affinity for location. Just a large quiet place, with lots of bedrooms and bathrooms, all at an affordable price. Yeah, I know I'm asking for a tough combo. ;-)

While I am at it, any leads on purchasing a house/land in Bonaire? Can non-locals own land directly?

Thanks in advance!

--Larry

Where did you see those units? You aren't talking about the cottages behind (back from the water) the dive shop/meeting room building, are you? Because those are part of the Habitat, too.
You book into those the same as into Don's.

Larry, your best resource to start researching is in the Accommodations section of www.infobonaire.com, click on the "budget" category, or whatever per night range is what you are looking for. Then if you have questions about a particular property, come back to Bonaire Talk & see if anyone can provide feedback. Happy planning!

We would suggest looking into a three bedroom condo at Sand Dollar for your stay. The three bedroom units are quite large. Their web site is www.SandDollarBonaire.com We bought there in 1998 and really love the place. To research property go to www.Sunbeltrealty.an (I think that is their web site) They have a lot of info about purchasing property. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Alan - It's www.sunbelt.an - they offer house/villa rentals as well as real estate sales.

Also try www.sunrentals.an - they specialize in rentals and also do some selling.

Jake

As you look at rental prices, make sure whether the price is per unit or per person. In the past I have found some properties list one way one some the other. Very different totals for your crew. :–)

There are small houses just north of Habitat that are rentals not affiliated with Habitat; I think collectively called Hamlet. The places I saw there are cramped and 'chopped up' by my American standards.

Look carefully at house rentals: there are many that have several bedrooms. Look through all the pages on the Infobonaire accommodations site.

Larry,

In my opinion you can get a lot more of what you are looking for by more just a short distance away from the water. Your size house (3 bedroom with a/c, 3 bath) big kitchen, living room, porch, etc. and a fresh water pool are available to rent at www.lagoenhill.com. They also have a wide variety of homes for sale. They will manage your property in your absence if you are interested in renting it.

Thanks to everyone for their input, I will definitely check it out.

Sounds like it is not required to have a national intermediary holding company to own property in Bonaire, which is kind of nice. :-)

I look forward to my next visit and maybe next time I will come back to a place I actually own.

Drop me an email (jobran@mindspring.com) after 4/10 and I can give you a review of Lagoen Hills....we're staying there starting friday for two weeks

joe