Hi,
I've read your reply to the thread posted by budgetdiver and have posted some Bonaire info there that you might want to look at. This reply more deals with Arizona related travel info and my opinion of Divi.
First of all, don't look at Phoenix based departures, the times are terrible and the fares are high. As you noted, most departures through either Dallas, Houston or Miami require an overnight. But there's another way to do it. It sounds counterintuitive but check fares with an LAX departure, through San Juan, P.R. to Bonaire via American/American Eagle or Air Jamaica.
I don't know what fares are currently, but last summer we paid $685 r/t on American out of LAX. We bought the tickets in March directly through the website, there's no surcharge and you even pick your seats online. Then watch for one of the Southwest fare deals PHX/LAX. Ours was $59 r/t.
What we did is fly out Saturday night to LAX and then caught the 11pm AA red-eye to San Juan, slept all night on the plane, spent the day poking around in SJ - believe me that was long enough - and then flew on to Bonaire at 5pm Sunday arriving about 8pm Sunday night. If you take this route, you'll need to make arrangements with the car rental place on Bonaire to wait for you, they work 7-7 usually.
You can do a similar thing on AJ from LAX to Jamaica to BON, but the return flight gets into LAX so late that you can't catch the last SW flight back to Phoenix. It looks possible on paper, but the problem is you'll have to clear customs in L.A. from Jamaica which can be a 2 hr. delay sometimes. So you'd have to spend the night in L.A.
Return was just a long day leaving BON at 8am and getting back to PHX around 9pm. We could have actually been back around 7pm except I allowed 2 hrs. for customs clearance in LA forgetting that PR is a U.S. territory and we had to do it there. Customs in SJ was quick.
Another way to go is the $99 Southwest fare to Miami and then Air Jamaica through Montego Bay to Bonaire. But you can't get to Miami early enough to make the flight so you'll have to overnite in Miami. And Miami Customs/Immigration can be a nightmare, we spent more than 2 hrs. in line last year coming back from Cayman and had to run for our connection.
Last bit of advice: when leaving Bonaire, pay your departure tax($20pp) before you wait in line to check-in. You won't be able to go through to the gate without the receipt. You buy it at the window just north of the giftshop at the airport.
We didn't stay at the Divi, when I looked into it they seemed a little high priced. We rented a two bedroom condo for $100(each) more than they were getting for a room. And it's kind of an odd property, they have a little sliver of beach and the place itself looks like a bunch of buildings put up over time. I have read their house reef is ok and they have the only open casino on the island. It's a healthy walk to town from there. Probably almost a mile to the south end of town, but most of Kralendijk is clustered around the pier, which is 1/2 mile further north. There are a couple of nice restaurants near the south end of town. Everybody generally just rents a truck to get around though. The vehicle of choice is a 4 door mini pickup with a tank rack in the back.
If you're looking for a resort room, a much nicer choice is the Plaza. It's newer, has a better beach and a couple of eating options on-site. It's past the Divi and too far to walk to town from there. Probably a little pricier though, although there is a special in the banner ad on this board. One of the most affordable sandwich places is right outside their main gate.
If you are looking for a condo, I'd stay further south in Belnem, we stay there at BelMar, or north of the city at one of the dive resort properties, Lions Dive is pretty nice, Sanddollar while not as nice is more affordable - and one of the few places with a little beach.
Food prices on Bonaire are pretty high, probably 2/3rds to double prices here in AZ. Mostly because everything is shipped in once a week - Thursday's the best day for food at the warehouse stores for this reason. We were told by a Bonaire regular to get food at the warehouse store in the eastern part of town, but they had very limited selection so we wound up getting most of our stuff at Cultimara in town. Same prices and certainly better looking food.
Read my post for more info about the way Bonaire works, but basically if you stay at the Divi, it's going to be a mile or two drive to any other divesite except theirs. There's no diving near Kralendijk, so you'll drive south of the Airport or 3-4 miles north past town and the other diveresorts.
Are you AZScuba members? or R-Team in Tucson?
Steve
