Ok, I'll chime in...
We get a lot of people on the red-eye from Continental. It is a rough flight, but this is what i suggest to our guests and it seems to work well for them:
After arriving and getting to your accommodation if you can get to your room right away, DON'T go back to sleep. Usually by the time you get your luggage, rental vehicle, get to the resort, check in, etc. It is usually around 7am. Check to see if you can get breakfast, eat a little something, then unpack, get your gear ready and do your orientation. Most dive shops will open around 8am, so you should be fine. Your first time in the water! Relax a little then take a nap for no more than 3 hours. Get up shower and do an afternoon dive, relax, have dinner and go to bed early, around 8:30 or 9:00. You will have gotten a full dive in and an orientation dive your first day, and will feel refreshed the very next day!
Regarding interisland flights...living on Bonaire we use them often. DAE has actually gotten a lot better than they used to be. You do however have to make a stop in Curacao, but normally you do not have to get off the plane. Divi is excellent from Curacao, they don't fly from Aruba, but their last flight to Bonaire is 5pm. I would have to say that the Continental flight to Curacao is the best alternative if you don't want to do the red eye, just be sure that you have at least 1.5 hours minimum between your arrival to Curacao and then your depature to Bonaire. They have a lot of large capacity flights leaving in the afternoons from Curacao to other destinations, and they only have one x-ray machine in security. Just a couple of weeks ago we had to do some shopping in Curacao. We had a 5pm Divi flight checked in at 3:15 pm, spent almost 1 hour in line to get through security....good thing Divi only boards 15-20 minutes prior to departure. We barely had time to breath....
Liz
