I didn't pay much attention to the airfare threads till I noticed

[Dan]

Yep, flight from lit to bon costs more than lit to Jakarta (29 plus hours), makes no sense

Indeed! Last November I paid $680 for Houston-Jakarta, Denpasar-Houston.

Besides the flight fare makes no sense, diving there is so-so in comparison to Indonesia. I went to Bonaire in 2006. That’s the first & last time I was there after diving in Indonesia. I’ve been to Indonesia just about every year since then. There are tons of world class diving in Indonesia (Komodo, Raja Ampat, Alor, Bunaken, Lembeh, Wakatobi, Bali, East Kalimantan, Ambon). My next year destination is Banda Sea, Indonesia.

For short puddle jumpers, I’ll be hoping from Houston (IAH) to San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) to dive in Cocos in September. I think it was for only $439 roundtrip with United Airlines. However, I decided to use 57,500 sky miles + $75 instead, after accumulating tons of sky miles going to Indonesia for almost every year in the last 10 years.

Why the puddle jumping to Bonaire costs so high is really puzzling to me.

 

[Kharon]

I just started seeing Albany, NY to Bon travel times back down to 7-8 hours with one stop in Atlanta - both legs - on Delta. Lowest price I found was near $900. That's from Albany. Still a bit high but doable for me. I'm not driving to and from NYC. It's actually the same or more expensive and an 8 hour round trip and flying there is out of the question cost wise.

I'm looking into flying Albany to Fort Lauderdale - non stop for $200-$250 from Albany. I'm finding the high cost of accomodations (even through Airbnb and VRBO) and car rental bring the total cost up to what I would pay for a trip to Bonaire. Still going to try it out this fall but I will be going back to Bonaire this winter.

I hope the prices come down a bit, but if not - I'm 71 - money seems far less important than time and doing something that I love.

 

[Lorenzoid]

R/T from Atlanta to Bonaire has been around $900 for years. I don't see any change. I have long been envious of you people transiting through Atlanta from other US cities for which Delta charged LESS than they charge us Atlantans to be on the exact same ATL-BON flight as you. So now the field is more level. Heh heh heh.

 

[Schwob]

Heh heh heh.

Grrrrr.

 

[wwguy]

Other than pretty hardcore shore divers, who else vacations in BON? Not meant to be snarky, just wondering.

We've been vacationing on Bonaire for over 20 years now and have been staying for 3 weeks over the winter holidays for the past 10 years. We prefer shore diving and haven't been on a Bonaire dive boat since 2003, but hardly consider ourselves to be "hardcore shore divers". My wife usually dives once a day and I usually go out solo for a 2nd dive in the afternoon. Some days we don't dive at all.

With Bonaire's free nitrox, shallow reefs, and lack of current etc. it's easy to enjoy 75 minute bottom times. Even at my lazy pace I was still able to rack up 34 hours of bottom time on our recent trip, so we don't feel like we're "wasting" dive opportunities while enjoying other aspects of our precious winter vacation away from ice and snow.

I was hoping for a trip in April but at 1200 Delta out of Greensboro it looks like Cozumel instead. I have been checking daily for weeks now and the price doesn't budge.

Right now on Delta.com I see flights roundtrip GSO-BON April 8-15 for $770 Basic Economy (no advance seat selection) or $829 regular Economy.

 

[tkaelin]

I am envious of those who can go on dive trips for multiple weeks at a time. Someday, hopefully

and

I'll drink a Brite for you...

something we all can agree on.

 

[uncfnp]

We've been vacationing on Bonaire for over 20 years now and have been staying for 3 weeks over the winter holidays for the past 10 years. We prefer shore diving and haven't been on a Bonaire dive boat since 2003, but hardly consider ourselves to be "hardcore shore divers". My wife usually dives once a day and I usually go out solo for a 2nd dive in the afternoon. Some days we don't dive at all.

With Bonaire's free nitrox, shallow reefs, and lack of current etc. it's easy to enjoy 75 minute bottom times. Even at my lazy pace I was still able to rack up 34 hours of bottom time on our recent trip, so we don't feel like we're "wasting" dive opportunities while enjoying other aspects of our precious winter vacation away from ice and snow.



Right now on Delta.com I see flights roundtrip GSO-BON April 8-15 for $770 Basic Economy (no advance seat selection) or $829 regular Economy.

That is by far the best price I have seen. Unfortunately my days off are later in the month. I may try and pull in some favors. Otherwise I will hope the lower fares extend to other weeks. Fortunately with Coz as a backup option I can wait until the last minute to plan for a trip there.

 

[AdivingBel]

I hear it's nice in Coz May 5th -12th...hint hint

 

[uncfnp]

I hear it's nice in Coz May 5th -12th...hint hint

Unfortunately the same problem as earlier in April. I have to turn in my work schedule months in advance. Right now its set through May. As it stands my travel dates need to be between April 21st and 29th.

 

[AdivingBel]

...oh well, GC will be here before you know it...