I was in Bonaire last February, Roatan last June. Been to Roatan 3 times and will return this June. Both offer excellent diving although I in Bonaire I got to really dislike most of the shore entries/exits, carrying all your gear over broken coral with even mild surge and a bad knee?? I prefered jumping off the dock at buddys or dons or one of half a dozen other such resorts. The boat dives were great. I hired Bas, a local divemaster to guide us on 7 dives as it was my first visit and I took my daughter and her friend for their first dives after certifying. I liked having him around to reduce my stress level of being with them in a totally new environ. Bas was great, if a bit nuts. I mean, he loves to stand on the road as jets take off and get blasted by hot air and blowing rubble???? Ok, I did it with him once. A few hours of thereapy helped me get sort of back together afterwords. All in all I'd say you are making a choice between chocolate and carmel toppings. How do you lose. Oh, one thing. getting to Bonaire is (or at least from Utah) a bit of a pain. you get an extra unannounced stop at Curacoa where we had to deplane, go through security, customs and then reboard. Then after a quick jump to Bonaire you get to do customs again. Oh fun. For Roatan we do a stop at Houston then we are in Roatan. 4 daily boat dives if you want them at cocoview, shore diving with a truly easy entry exit. A nice wreck right in front and an intact plane right next to it. 2 walls and a "valley" with a variety of critters and environs. Well I'll be in Roatan for visit number 4 in June. Not sure about returning to Bonaire although If I hadn't played football in college along with the attendent knees I would certainly have enjoyed it more. As I said, once out on the dive I loved it.
