Strategies for dealing with the Continental Red-eyes?

[midas6t6]

Have you considered flying out of Newark? Delta has a flight that leaves at 6:10 AM, stopover in Atlanta, arrives in Bonaire at 1:55 PM. You'll be much better rested and probably still be able to get in a dive or 2 that day.

 

[phelana]

I do the red eye often..the killer part is heading south so that's ok since you are excited anticipating the adventure. If you can go to bed as soon as you arrive do so for a few hours. If not stay up and go for a dip and then your check in dive. Nap in the day if you need to before 3 PM and then stay up until 9 at the earliest. You will be fine. Have a blast!!

 

[gert7to3]

I like the Delta connection. It means you're not up at the crack of dawn on departure day and you can dive later the day before you leave. I was leery of the 46 minute connection time on the first flight from Chicago to Atlanta, so went down there the night before and stayed in a hotel.

On the downside, most of the dive ops I have worked with won't do a late in the day orientation. At a place like Buddy's, or more properly the Caribbean Club, no orientation meant no key to the tank room. If you encounter a park employee, I never have, there is the possibility of fines for diving without a park tag.

 

[reefdiva]

If you encounter a park employee, I never have, there is the possibility of fines for diving without a park tag.

The Marine Park rangers sometimes stop at sites where divers are gearing up or breaking down gear and will ask to see your tag, name of your dive op, how many cameras. Over the past several years I have this happen once a trip but it is totally random. In addition to fines you stand the chance of having your gear confiscated until your departure if you are without a Marine Park tag.

 

[DeputyDan]

Herman and I were checked by the Park Rangers twice in January 2010.

First time We have ever been checked!

 

[Herk_Man]

Here's how we did it and it worked great.

Tylenol PM while you are waiting for your redeye to depart (a few hours prior as long as you are not driving since it's only a 4 hour flight.) Sleep on the plane as much as possible.

When you get there, if your room is not ready, drop stuff off with front office for safe keeping and go get checked in with your dive shop and get your marine park orientation briefing out of the way.

Room should be ready by now so go move in and get halfway settled.

Eat lunch.

Go Dive!!! A nice easy dive on the house reef to get your buoyancy taken care of.

Back to the hooch to settle in a bit more. Shop for groceries if you need them.

Off to an early dinner with a few Brights.

Early to bed.

Now you're set up to get up early and start your dives and get more in each day.

 

[oly5050user]

Thanks for the comments guys - I guess I'm targetting Buddy's because it seems the easiest (setting aside cost) of being able to quickly get in and out of the water without lugging gear or tanks to far.

I've looked at other flight options, but the nearest I could find that would not be a red-eye would be similar to the suggested 3-leg journey on American/divi.

Definately going to do more research and also price out the extra night - I was initially looking at Buddy's / Den Lamen / Sand Dollar and Captain Dons, but of those four (after numerous reads on Trip Advisor) Buddy's seemed to come out in front for ease of use of diving facilities

We just returned from Buddys with a group I ran down on last Sunday flight here in NY...the flight down really is not that bad..its the return flight that gets to you.
As to value,I find Buddys is fine.Its on the water,they pick you up at the airport,breakfast is included and your rental truck is at Buddy waiting for you.You may also be able to get 50% off at their restaurant.The dive dock is as close as a 1 minute walk,or less,from your room,it is that easy to jump into the water.
Some of the other resorts do not include breakfast or a rental truck(or if they do it is an additional charge).
If upon your early arrival your room is ready you will be given the room and truck keys immediately.If the room is not ready-meaning the previous vacationers are not checked out yet,then you just chill out and wait a bit.Not a big deal.
I have been going to Buddys annually for the last few years .Its like going to our second home now and visiting family.
Any questions feel free to contact me.

 

[ronski101]

Just returned from Buddy's last week. We don't mind the redeye. Immigration, luggage retreval and pickup go fast. We have breakfast, do the orientation, pay the park fee and dive paperwork and do a wonderful refreshing checkout dive and by then our room is ready and we take a short nap and pick up our truck. We could get in a night dive that first day but usually don't. You can't get in a first day dive at most other Carib destinations.

 

[tkaelin]

We took the Newark red eye this April. Had some trepidations but other option was flight thru Atlanta. We went for the red eye. Downside is the time of the flights. The plus is little chance of lost luggage and missed connections. We met two families who opted for flights thru Altlanta and suffered two to three days without their luggage and dive gear. I'll take the red eye inconvenience over lost luggage any day. We paid the extra $100 or so to get in our room early am to sleep for a couple hrs before the 9 am dive orientation. We also paid ahead to have the kitchen stocked. Well worth it. TK

 

[gotdogs?]

It is unfortunate that most flights to Bonaire are red eye. I know this sounds torturous, but I make it a point to only take naps or sleep for a short interval. Sure I am exhausted that first day in Bonaire but I sleep like a baby the following night. Otherwise, my sleep times are as screwed up as going to Hawaii. I agree that it is worth it to pay the extra $$ to assure an early check in.