I know we don't want Bonaire to get too accessible, but for those of us in Detroit--we have practically no options. I was just on e-mail with Kim at Caradonna, wanting to do a 10 day trip. We either have to do 7 or 14 days, there are no midweek trips even if we flew to Atlanta or Chicago. Air Jamaica only flies out Saturdays now, and doing American would require a 3 stop mess.

Anything I'm missing here? We'd love to go for 14 days, but not sure if we can afford it time wise or $$. And 7 days is just too darn short.

how about go to Curacao and then fly DAE or Divi-Divi to Bonaire? You may find more options that way, it is worth looking into.

What Andy said, I just punched Detroit into Orbitz and got a one stop fare to Curacao for $560 midweek (Wednesday to Wednesday) on AA. You take a 7:00AM flight to Miami then a 11:30 flight to Curacao for 2:00PM arrival. Then hop on a Divi Divi flight (another $90) and you are on Bonaire by 4:00PM.

I wondered about that option, and tried to get online to Divi Divi-their website is under construction. Does anyone know whether they fly daily and are they reliable? I seem to remember people really liking them. I was a bit surprised Caradonna didn't suggest that as an option.

I knew my BT'er friends would come up with something-thanks, and I'll continue to look. Keep sending ideas!

OK, if I punch in a Wednesday departure with a Saturday return (the 10 day deal) into orbitz, I am getting a 9 pm overnight flight.

I think that's the problem-we want to go for 10 days, not a week or two weeks. I did put in miami to curaco and found a reasonable flight, both timewise and $$. Perhaps we'll have to fly to Miami the day before, and stay in Miami the day after.

The problem is, AA doesn't have their evening non-stop from MIA-DTW on Saturday nights. (The pilots all go out and party that night...)

Punch in a Sunday return and you can leave CUR at 3:05 PM, arrive DTW 11:30 PM.

As a side note, I've gotten a preference for using www.kayak.com to do these kinds of searches. They have a bunch of "controls" to filter the searches in different ways.

thank you Tom.

Hi Mary, Try flying Detroit to SJU on US Air (connects in Charlotte or PHL) then SJU to Bon. on AA. I believe you can do that any day of the week and thus you can do a 10 day vacation.

Oh, and it can be done in the same day too!

Caradonna probably doesn't suggest Divi Divi because it is not a scheduled airline, not in the reservations services, and they don't make any money from them. Just my guess.
- Mel

I would fly into Newark and take the Continental Red Eye, non stop to Bonaire. I'm not sure if it has begun yet, but I am booked for Feb 11th. My sister is then flying from North Carolina to Newark for the same flight the next week. Should be much better than stopping in Jamaica.

But the Continental Red Eye's are only once a week and she said up front that a 7- or 14-day stay doesn't cut it.

Besides, Appleton rum is cheaper in Mo Bay than in Newark!

don't see non-stops from Detroit to Aruba and if you want to avoid American Eagle via SJU, your best option for daily service is AA into Miami & then Curacao. The 20 minute DiviDivi is fun and more reliable than American Eagle.

The AA departs DTW-MIA 7:05a-10:05; MIA-CUR 11:05a-2:55p. The return stinks: CUR-MIA 4:00p-6:10p; MIA-DTW 8:25p-11:25p.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I think we might bite the bullet and stay for 2 weeks-$$ wise, it works best. Fly to Atlanta, stay overnight, AJ to Bonaire. I know there are problems with AJ-we've used them-but the idea of luggage being transferred 3 times (OUR DIVING STUFF!) plus being in the airport is not appealing.

We're looking at different dates as well. Thanks a lot for the help. BT rocks, as always!

Mary,
Good luck! Kim rocks; she's been our girl for 15 years Have to mod our trip in April now and Kim's out till Tues. Two weeks is awesome; we'll be doing that later this year. Can't get enough.....