We visited Curacao and Bonaire in March, 2011. Curacao is much busier than Bonaire. On Curacao we stayed at ScubaLodge.
Scuba Lodge & Suites - The premier boutique hotel on Curacao It is a small, boutique style dive hotel. The room and grounds were lovely. The staff were wonderful! They couldn't help us enough.
Scuba Lodge & Suites - The premier boutique hotel on Curacao There is more to do above water on Curacao than Bonaire. Getting to the dive sites is not as easy as Bonaire. Curacao is more of a big city, where as Bonaire is more like a small town in the country. On Bonaire we stayed at Eden Beach Resort.
:: Eden Beach :: Bonaire :: Dutch Antilles :: We had a small apartment (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen with bar, balcony facing the sea and pool) for the 10 days we were there. It was clean and freshly painted. The grounds were clean and the staff was helpful. The dive shop on the grounds was WannaDive.
Wannadive Bonaire - Bring back the fun, by mZeven.com Never had a problem getting a full cylinder at any of their locations. They were helpful and friendly. WannaDive also puts on a BBQ weekly at one of their other locations. It's a great place to meet other divers and have a good time. Bonaire is SUPER easy for shore diving. We loved every minute of it. Literally, you pick up your cylinders, drive down the road and get in the water. All sites are marked with rocks painted yellow.
A note about security. On Curacao we saw a group of young guys trying to get into a car at a park. Not sure if it was their vehicle or not. No one tried to stop them and there were a lot of people coming and going. We did not have any trouble with a break in while we were there. The car rental company will tell you to simply lock your car and go dive. Leave nothing valuable in the car. That's exactly what we did.
On Bonaire, the rental company will tell you to leave your windows open and leave nothing in your car. Ditto here. Left the windows down and only a towel, sunglasses and full/empty cylinders in the car. Didn't have any problems.
Havent' been to Roatan or Utila. Planning a trip for the spring.
Hope this helps! Have fun!