Since your wife is a new diver - some of the shore dives on Bonaire are tougher entries - over ironshore and coral rubble at the waterline. fwiw, there's also better dives than the Divi - their shallow reef was pretty torn up a few years ago in the hurricane. If you're trying to maximize your Bonaire diving - you might consider "diving the resorts" Most are on named dive sites and entries at all of them are easy - usually off a dive dock. I'm sure you've seen it but for shore diving, good boots are a must.
North of town are many of the dive resorts - Bari Reef between Sand Dollar and Den Laman condos has the most counted species of fish in the Caribbean. It's also an easy dive. Just north of there is Buddy Dive and Habitat - both have docks and good dives. From Habitat's dock you can dive two sites, the LaMachaca wreck or go north to dive Cliff - one of the few vertical walls in that area. At any of them, check in with the dive shop - Habitat charges $5 for use of their facilities. But that includes lockers, showers etc.
Farther north Witches Hut is a fairly easy entry also. Some of the others are trickier over ironshore. Both "Leap" sites require that - or going down the ladder. Once you leave town there are no facilities at any dive site so plan accordingly. If you drive too far north towards Karpata the road becomes one way requiring a drive thru Rincon to get back to town.
Or go south - Windsock is an easy entry shore dive - west of the airport. A few minutes south past there starts the southern dive sites. An excellent dive with an easy entry is the Salt Pier - if no ship is loading. It may/may not require you to hire a DM - the latest I've seen is that it's no longer required - just that you need to check in at the Cargill office there. Alice in Wonderland is another site just past the pier that is a fairly easy entry. Angel City has holes in the ironshore just offshore so be careful there - it's a good dive though so maybe worth the risk.
Anything past White Slave (except Margate Bay) is an advanced dive - usually due to currents. The trick to access most of the shore dive sites is look for either sand channels cut thru the ironshore or small piles of coral rubble that other divers have piled up to mark the entry points. They're not always the closest to where you park either. Short site descriptions are here:
http://www.infobonaire.com/divemap.html
Curacao is slightly different. Most dive sites are off sandy beaches so very easy entries. The few that aren't have dive docks. Almost all of them have on-site operators for tank rentals etc. - at most you pay a small usage fee in guilders. Usually there's a snack shop or small restaurant also. Depending on where you're staying there's good easy entry dives just about everywhere except downtown.
South of town (actually it's east) the Tugboat is a good dive. The boat itself is in 15' - the better dive is around the point - there's a wall that's covered in stuff. And under the pier if there's no ship tied up. There's other dives in that area but we mostly dove west so I'll let others describe them. I have read good things about Director's Bay.
West of town good dives are at Varsenbaai, Cas Abou, Porto Mari, Playa Lagun, Playa Jeremi and west in Westpunt (45mins. drive) - Playa Kalki is one of the best. Go West diving is on-site there - they also do the best boat dive in that area - Watamula. Jeremi has no facilities so bring everything. A good double is Lagun then Jeremi, Discover Dive is on-site at Lagun and Jeremi is 5mins. north of town. Both are about 1/2 hr. from town.
The difference between Bonaire and Curacao - even though they're on the same reef is that it's closer in on Bonaire. At most sites you'll easily see the ball marking the drop-off from shore. On Curacao many of the sites - esp. to the west - the reef starts farther out which requires a short surface swim thru an opening in the ironshore. I think that's why the beaches there are better as they're more protected. Also the dive sites are physically closer on Bonaire - south of town they run practically back to back - you can see divers at the next 2-3 sites in either direction as it's flat. The north side is more elevated so at more of the sites you park then walk to the entry point. Most dive sites in Curacao are a 5-10 min. drive off the main road that bisects the west side. And there's not a lot of street signs once you leave town so get a good map or rent a GPS.
You can get a sense of what to expect here:
Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands
For restaurants on Bonaire - pricey but an excellent meal is It Rains Fishes downtown - on the waterfront so a great view. Slightly less pricey with large portions is Casablanca - they moved a few years ago but I don't think it was closer to the water. Donna/Giorgio's for Pizza/Pasta also. Since you're staying at the Divi - most would be walkable - you may want to drive to D/G. We also had good sandwiches late one night at Zee Zicht - they had a full menu but we were too late. Karel's Bar is waterfront across the street - it's a local hotspot. City Cafe is a sort of average bar/restaurant that has live music some nights.
On Curacao we had a good meal at the Ribs Factory in Salinja. We didn't stay downtown so I don't know any places there. Landhuis Daniel on the road west is supposed to be excellent also - our apt. mgr. recommended it for a nice meal. We also ate at the Marriott in Piscadera Bay once - typical upscale hotel food but their restaurant is right on the beach. It's a really nice Marriott if you're looking for a place to stay - Caribbean Sea Sports is onsite - there's a couple bars/restaurants plus a casino and it's sort of midway between downtown, the airport and the west side. About a 10min. drive to downtown from there. Not the best dive there though, the reef is about a 10min. surface swim out there. The Hilton next door is a very old hotel - the grounds were pretty nice though. They have a nice outdoor bar also.
Never been to Aruba...
