As far as I have seen, when east side diving has been discussed on SB or written about (for example, in the Dive Guide Bonaire book), it has always been stressed that a guide is needed.
If you want to learn to dive east side sites (maybe you will be on Bonaire for a while or make frequent trips), why not hire a guide to, in essence, train you--to become familiar with specific sites and how to dive them? I would imagine that after having done the same site a few times with a guide you would know the ins and outs, including what "safe" conditions look like for that particular site. When I did some guided east side dives, we stopped at one location where the guide decided conditions were not favorable enough, and then we proceeded to another site that he deemed okay. It seems to me that one would need to develop familiarity with what "favorable" and "unfavorable" look like at particular sites. The east side has never looked "calm" to me. To me, it always looks like waves, surge, etc., and given the rocky shore, not a place I would dive in without knowing exactly how to do that site. The guides have the experience to know what the threshold is at each site, and depending on the conditions, where and how to enter, timing the surge, etc. How to dive a site on the east side can be as specific as on what particular rock to put which hand as you make your way out/in.