ways and means to bonaire

[tangfish]

Ok, I've quickly discovered that trying to route a flight to BON for a reasonable price and travel time is quite like trying to find the simplest way to build a computer out of spare parts. Can anyone offer me a straightforward resource or route from SEA or YVR to BON? What about flying into Aruba or Curacao, is it easy/cheap to get to Bonaire from there? Is flying into Caracas out of the question or would that be an option as well?

 

[jkennedy]

Ultimatedivetravel.com is a great dive travel planner. I stayed at Buddy Dive on a promotion. Flew American airlines. Good boat dives also. Enjoy...........Jack

 

[diversteve]

What's a reasonable price??? And forget about reasonable travel time. There is no straightforward way to get to Bonaire from the West Coast. It's about 3500 miles after all. You've got to get to a gateway, the nearest one to you is probably LAX although Chicago might be another option. Then you'll have an all-day/overnight series of connecting flights to get to either Jamaica, Aruba, Curacao or San Juan where you can connect to Bonaire. American Airlines gets there through San Juan, or Air Jamaica gets there from LAX to Bonaire via Montego Bay 4 times a week. The time difference going east just kills any reasonable connection flight times. Plan on $650-900 minimum via either option. We booked in March for June and paid $680 r/t.

I don't know about flights to Aruba or Curacao, but if you have a choice, get to Curacao, Bonaire Exel flies from there to Bonaire for $70, it's $140 from Aruba to Bonaire. I'll bet it's more though, going through Aruba instead of San Juan would have been about $200 more for us.

All the options are spelled out on the infobonaire website at: http://www.infobonaire.com/airlineinfo.html

Or you could book the whole trip through an agent, when I booked our trip, Caradonna and Aquadreams had exactly the same flight options that I saw on AA.com for the same price. You want an easy option, book thru Expedia, although you'll probably pay more and won't have a selection of places to stay since they book just Divi and Lions Dive, not any of the other dive resorts or condos. Although Divi looks pretty nice.

 

[dolphinfish]

Thanks for all the great info guys, i am still trying to put my trip together, perhaps for July. How are the conditions down there in June and July? I know this is low season but sometimes that has more to do with summer in the States than with the actual conditions in the water.

I was there for a week around July 20th 2 years ago. Weather was great, vis 80-100 ft. It's not in the hurricane belt. Even though it's off season, there seemed to be a fair number of people there.

It's not cheap to fly there. I think we flew American. It was $800 pp roundtrip out of Cincinnatti.

 

[dvrliz1]

Ok, I've quickly discovered that trying to route a flight to BON for a reasonable price and travel time is quite like trying to find the simplest way to build a computer out of spare parts. Can anyone offer me a straightforward resource or route from SEA or YVR to BON? What about flying into Aruba or Curacao, is it easy/cheap to get to Bonaire from there? Is flying into Caracas out of the question or would that be an option as well?

I may be able to help with the affordable part. We offer unlimited shore diving packages including accommodations for $330 a week! Contact me at eginocchio@comcast.net.

Liz
Golden Reef Inn

 

[diver1011]

Conditions in July are great. Viz can be 100 ft. Water temp in the 80's. Same with air temp and the breeze will still be good. Normally smooth seas. Great diving.

 

[Kat]

Not sure your interested in this round about way, but here goes.
On Saturdays, ATA (American Trans Air) has a flight to Aruba out of Midway Airport. It is non-stop & last I heard it departs about 10:30A It is a 5 hour flight. You can then get a flight from Aruba to Bonaire f/ less than $100.
It would be best to fly into MDW as early as possible on Sat. morning, as the hotels around the airport tend to be used as SRO. You'd need to be at the ticket counter f/ check-in no later than 9:30A.