I have my first Bonaire trip booked for July 12-19 and we are staying at the Divi Flamingo. Since this is our first time to visit, I'm not sure what to do regarding food and dining. The Divi offers meal plans ranging from breakfast ($12.60USD/day + tax) to breakfast+dinner ($38.85/day) to breakfast+lunch+dinner ($54.60/day). There are 4 people in our group.

We are definitely going to purchase the breakfast plan so we can conveniently eat before diving each day, but I'm torn on purchasing anything more. We have a truck rented from AB and plan on mostly shore diving so I figure for lunch we will be eating "out" most of time, but does it make sense to purchase the dinner option or just go out for dinner each night as well? The $26 per person extra to add dinner onto breakfast seems pricey, but how does that compare to normal prices at restaurants?

For you veteran Bonaire travelers, do you have any advice?

Hi Brandon, welcome to BT.
Don't get tied down to one place to eat. Bonaire has many good restaurants. Most just a short walk. See www.infobonaire.com for more info on dining.
Do the meal plan when you are to old to venture out.
I'm sure you will get quite a few responses on your question.

I would not do the dinner at all. $26 strikes me as a bit pricey (depending on what the meal is) but in any case, there are way too many good places to eat on Bonaire to be stuck at one place. For convince the breakfast is fine. For lunch we find PBJ does nicely. We don't have a clue what kind of bread we are eating and we assume we are eating peanut butter and jelly (don't understand a thing on the jar labels )but it's always good and we like the little adventure.

BRANDON
WE WILL BE AT THE DIVI JULY 14-29TH.
WE BOOKED THE BREAKFAST AND ONLY 2 DINNERS THERE. WE THOUGHT THE NIGHT WE GET THERE WE WOULD USE 1 DINNER AND THEN ONE OTHER NIGHT-MAYBE THE BONAIRE NIGHT. WE ALSO AGREE THERE ARE TOO MANY OTHER PLACES TO EAT. YOU HAVE TO TRY RICHARDS.

Ralph...Please don't SHOUT..Use lower case..
Brandon.. My advice is get the breakfast plan & that's it. If you have a truck there are way too many places to explore (gastronomically speaking).

I agree, I have stayed at the Divi many times and the breakfast is a nice relaxing thing to do. There are so many (maybe too many) restaurants to explore I wouldn't limit myself to eating all my meals at the hotel. Enjoy your trip!

Thank you to all who have responded! I think it's pretty clear that the best choice is to do just breakfast at Divi and explore the island for lunch and dinner. I really appreciate the advice and my wife and I are already making our "eats" list from BT.

ralph, since you'll be at Divi at the same time, we might run into each other. My wife and I are both 31, and the other couple is 32 and 26. We're all four from Texas so if you hear our accents you'll know it's us, probably.

Brandon, I have stayed at Divi twice with a large group and we always get the breakfast included. It's nice to have an early breakfast and then climb onto the dive boat!

I have found, though, that after a big breakfast and a few dives, I'm not much ready for lunch. I snack on something in the room (try to get a fridge in your room, I think it's an extra $6 per night). I did the lunchmeat and chips thing. Saves money and then you're ready for afternoon diving !

Have fun !!!!

I have not had a good dinner at Divi.
One night was local food night, snails and goat.
What a joke. Neither was edible. Great tasting sauce if you want to suck it off the food and spit the food out.

Convenience is the only plus.

Who has had a good meal there, and what was it?

Alan you are correct on all counts.
Stick with BLT's and coke.

Oh My, Alan, surely you jest! This past February, we had coconut shrimp, red snapper all with potatoes and veggies that was quite good. Then they have a BBQ that I think is on the week-ends and we met up with some BT friends there and enjoyed beachside dining. The BBQ has all sorts of types of meats, none of which were snails or goat and nope, come to think of it, never saw it on their menu and we make it a point to eat at Chibi Chibi's every visit! We have always ordered seafood and my son goes for the chicken. Sorry, but I never heard of their local food night either. Now, I know Gibi's has a great goat stew, if you want to try some great local food!

We have had several good meals at the Chibi Chibi.I would not classify them as Michelin star worthy, but tasty and the service was very good.I would not want to have to eat every meal there though. The Bonaire night they have once a week looked like they had a nice spread of food and there were quite a lot of people who seemed to be enjoying it.

Two trips, and two disappointments.
I do not buy the meal plan, I felt it was overpriced for what I experienced.
I would not want to be locked down to this one option.
Bottom line, not to buy the meal plan.

PS: Where do you get BLT's? Maybe that would be better than Divi food on some nights.

I have yet to have a bad meal at Chibi Chibi. Even when I am not staying there I always make it a point to go for a dinner and a lunch.

I LOVE their shrimp caesar salad and the burgers and fries are fantastic ! I've been there to eat probably 10 times and the only complaint was slow service (once).

Give it a try, I say!

Alan, I agree as far as the meal plan goes, but when was the last time you were there? There is now new management and I have noticed much improvement on the whole with Divi Divi and the restaurant. They have a added a Bashi Beer Bar by the water, very nice addition as well. The barbque on week-ends was only in effect for two months when I was there in February. I was very pleasantly surprised. Live music as well.

Recently there in December and in April.
I agree they are trying to make improvements.
Just my take on the food.

So we get an idea as to what you call good bad and ugly, Debbie what's your top three restraints, Alan what's your pick.

O.K, Jerry, I'll play...

1. Lion's Den - for food and atmosphere

2. Bobbe Jans - for quick eats before night snorkel or dive - best FF and ribs/chicken sate

3. Garden Cafe - They have a great mixed grill without all those blood sausages.

I also visit lots of local spots, but will keep it simple, just named the known places I like a lot.

There are too many good restaurants in Bonaire to just eat at one. I love the Coconut shrimp at the ChibiChibi.

Me too, Darlene! There were many I could not name as to Jerry only asked for three, my choices of course do cater a bit to us having our son, age 11 with us when we dine out as well.

Darlene, any chance that you might bring up a basket to the NE/BBQ with some goodies in it for me?
I found a wine named "Jakes Fault" at Butcher Boy last week and thought about Jake and Linda.

The wine is quite good!

Thanks ether way.
Jerry

I'd be glad to Jerry. How cool is the name of the wine!Hey! That means we will get to meet! Are you sure you can't get a fill in at the shop for the day so you can come along and deliver it in person???

Thanks Darlene, I'll contact you as we get a tad closer to the BBQ. I also need time to come up with some real cool stuff for the basket.
I sure wish I could attend, but I have appointments made all day, spaced every 1/2 hr up until 4:00. I have no life from April to Oct.

No to Divi's meal plan. Breakfast is included in the boat diving + rooming packages - so I didn't have a choice for that. Everything is within a very short walking distance from the Divi Flamingo. But you even have a car. I was on Bonaire in December and decided to sample their "local flavor" night. I COULDN'T AGREE MORE WITH YOU ALAN! The snails were like rubber. The goat stew was terrible. Not much else to choose from that night. We were a group of 10 and all were disappointed. We cleaned out their salad bowl. All for $20 each. Never again. I went back to Bonaire in April for two weeks. New manager/bar area. Same food. Sorry guys - just "my" opinion.

My "Best of Bonaire" picks are: Casablanca's, Wil's Tropical Grill, The City , Capriccio's, KonTiki (after a two tank morning dive with Larry from Larry's WildSide Dive) and Mona Lisa.

Enjoy your stay on Bonaire.

Diane

anyone who thinks DIVI has good food has not eaten anywhere else or does not know what good food is- breakfast ok-- dinner emergency only !

Well, I can't say I have been to Divi's Local Flavor Night and from what I have read, it is not so good, however, their regular menu is just fine and Ralph, yes, I have eaten just about everywhere on island that I know of in all the 12 years of going to Bon. and I know what good food is as well! Too bad you have not enjoyed a good meal there. I don't think I will try their local flavor night after hearing about it now...

The Divi has always ranked 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 with me. Big time hit or miss. One year, I think about 14 or so years ago they had a chef that was a true star in the kitchen. Also a top notch water named Eddy. Things were looking up, then one day they were gone. Offered a chef's position in Miami. Eddy was offered a job as well.
Real happy for them, sad for us!

Jerry, yes, good chef's are hard to find and you just never know if the same chef will be at that same place you enjoyed so much the last time when you go again. I forget where I used to always go as the chef was superb, he always made me a coconut grouper that was out of this world! Then one time we went and he was gone. The chef they had in his place wouldn't or didn't know how to prepare that dish and I never got it again on island. The Divi isn't on the top of my list either, but some of their dishes are quite good is all I am saying.

First trip to Bonaire, had two excellent meals and great service. Second trip to Bonaire, the soup (cucumber) was great but the rest of the food was kind of plain and service was real slow, so slow and the food so blah that we have not gone back. There are just too many restaurants to try to go back to a place after a not-so-good experience. Once we have tried them all, then I will go back and give Chibi Chibi another shot.

About 16/15 years ago Divi had a great chef. His name was Richard--hmm? Now where have I heard that name before? Oh, I know.

Diane, we were both there in Dec and had snails and goat. Were your there Dec 7-10. Sounds like the same dinner. I was in Bonaire April 8-22. Is the the time you were there? We must have crossed paths. At least we have the same taste in travel as well as Divi food.

Don't tie yourself up with one restaurant.
There are so many great restaurants, Richards, Capriccio's, Donna and Giorgio's, just to name a few. It's fun experimenting down in Bonaire.

Brandon- My husband and I stayed at the Divi last summer and are heading back there in a few weeks. Our travel agent booked our trip with breakfast only and we used our vouchers for lunch instead, paying nominal additional fee. I keep a coffee pot in the room and a fridge so breakfast is usually spent on the patio watching the fish and lizards (plus I like having a slow easy morning before going out to dive all day). I appreciate the break by going to the restaurant for lunch. There are so many great restaurants all within walking distance from the hotel that I wouldnt eat at the Divi. Hint: Ask to lease a back gate key (I think it was a $5 deposit) because the back gate leads right out to the town and easier to get in and out of the resport.

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks for the back gate advice, Bonnie. I'll put that on our ever growing list of things to do, see, eat, dive, etc.

Here's another piece of advice. Get to the dive shop before it closes (5:00 PM) when you arrive in Bonaire. They require an orientation dive before you can go out on a boat dive. We didnt know that and we missed the morning dives our first day there. Enjoy!

I wish we could get to the dive shop before 5:00, but we won't get to the island until 8:00 pm after leaving at 6:30 am. It's going to be a loooooooooong day until we get there. I guess we'll do the orientation dive the next morning.

The boats typically leave the dock around 8. We did our orientation dive after the crowds left. There is so much to see right there off the pier that it wont feel like a disappointment. You will see that there are chalk boards right outside the dive shop. That's where you sign yourself up for the dives. You'll be given a locker number(s) and that's where you keep your gear and that's the number you'll write down on the board for the day's dives. Best to put yourself down for the next dives when you return from your AM and PM dives-- as the boats fill quickly. They have the boat name, dive master, and the destination noted, so you will be able to choose. The DMs have mailboxes inside the dive shop, and that's typically where divers put their tips.

It sounds more complicated than it is, but we found that it worked very well. If you have small locks, bring them. They have them but you have to buy them and the keys are so tiny you will inevitably lose them (everyone does!)

Depending on your arrival time, you will be able to eat dinner at Divi or walk a little towards town. There are a few places immediately on the road if you dont feel like walking too far, but dinner at Divi won't be disappointing. You can get a table right on the water and dream of your diving in the morning ;-)

Again-- have fun and enjoy!!

PS- Unless we get lucky and make the earlier connection from Aruba on Monday the 17th, we will get to the hotel late like you. Dinner at Divi will be our choice after a long day of traveling, too. But the next night I'm sure we'll go straight to Cappricio's... I'm already dreaming of the lobster/langostino pasta. ;-) We will eat there definitely twice, maybe 3 times in the 10 days we'll be there. We also love Mona Lisa's and It's Raining Fishes. Mona Lisa's however has their ceiling fans blowing on HIGH and it dried out our eyes (we both wear contacts) but the food is very nice. It's Raining Fishes is my kind of restaurant. Hip, open-aired, fun, and interesting and neatly presented food.

Since my husband and I are avid sushi eaters (sorry fisheys), we broke down and went to the sushi restaurant right there on the water, a bit down from the town pier and I have to say it was REALLY GOOD! We werent disappointed!