We would love to go back to Bonaire, but ...

[TheWizard]

If you've been to the island several times already, then you should know a lot about lodgings already, I would think, unless it's been 10 yrs or more.
Shore-diving is a fair amount of work, yes, so if that's a pain, then focus more on boat diving where you don't have to lug tanks and worry the tricky entries.
A good dive travel agent should be able to help you with lodging questions; I've been happy with Andy from BonairePros...

 

[jameseg]

The Delta flight mentioned above worked really well for my wife and I last November, coming from Minneapolis. One thing to note is that you may be able to do the trip in one day if you leave Chicago at the crack of dawn, but you'll probably end up with a very short connection time. We would have had 40 minutes, which I regard as too risky given our weather and the need to have our scuba gear make the connection with us. So we did what we've done many times in the past - flew into ATL the night before and spent the night at an airport-area hotel. They're really inexpensive ($70 or so) and it really makes the travel much less stressful. Something to consider.

I also second (or third?) the recommendation for Den Laman. That's where we stayed, and I thought it was terrific.

James

 

[boat sju]

We had a 3 plus hour scheduled connection time in Newark after a flight from Chicago. Turned into a 50 minute connection due to a toilet that wouldn't flush. I was a nervous wreck.