Can't help you with tips on the flight. It's horrible on the way there, even knowing that you're soon going to be landing in dive paradise. Unfortunately, even if you have the ability to immediately fall asleep on an airplane as some people do (I hate them!), you can barely manage 3 hours of shut-eye between takeoff and landing. If you're a young Navy Seal who thinks 3 hours generous compared to Hell Week, no problem. If you're like the rest of us, decrepit with age, faculties lessening by the day (only in the past couple weeks have I finally discovered it's time for reading glasses :depressed
, then I can only recommend you find enough caffeine to sustain you upon landing until you can make it to Plaza for a well-needed nap. Don't sleep too long, though, 'cause that 82-degree clear blue water will be beckoning.
As for restaurants, it's hard to pick and choose among so many excellent choices. Personally, I'd prefer there were only six restaurants on the island, so you wouldn't have to leave any untried. Were I to pick a week's worth, I'd probably do Cactus Blue, Casablanca, Wil's Tropical Grill, one of Kirk's restaurants (Lion's Den or Sunset Grill), Pasa Bon Pizza, and Mona Lisa.
Inventive, eclectic menus and excellent cocktails at Cactus Blue and Wil's and I've never tried anything I didn't like. Mona Lisa has a great nightly prix-fixe menu and undercooks everything (to me, a great stride from the time when it was hard to find fish on the island that wasn't overcooked), along with very polished service. Kirk's restaurants both have large menus with something for every appetite, special "nights" for lobster, Italian, etc., and unbeatable views. Casablanca for excellent Argentine steak, though it's hard to go wrong with Patagonia either. And Pasa Bon? I'm not among those who claim it's the best pizza-on-a-tropical-island (Allo Pizza on Moorea has that honor in my book), but it's good pizza and salad, great for leftovers, and a must-do for every Bonaire trip in my future.
I also liked La Guernica, Bambu, It Rains Fishes, and even the restaurant/pizzeria at Capt. Don's where there are plenty of hungry cats to feed under the table. City Cafe has excellent breakfasts and I had a nice dinner there in the past. And I can't forget Capriccio, where I had the best lasagna bolognese I've ever tasted. I had less stellar meals at Richard's and Bistro - nothing bad, mind you, just less stellar than all the above. And there are still plenty of places to try if only I could ever swing a two-week vacation there. Someday.
