I was in Bonaire the week after Thanksgiving.  It's really easy to get
there, through Montego Bay.  I think I talked to a few people on our
Bonaire-Montego Bay connection that were flying from there to Atlanta.  All
of these flights were on Air Jamaica.  They were on time on the way there
and 1.5 hours late on the way back.  Friends that were with us had a 50
minute layover in MB and thought they would miss their flight to LA.
Apparently this occurs often and Air Jamaica waits for connecting flights.
If I was going back I wouldn't even worry about problems getting there or
back, I doubt you'll have any.  As far as lines go in Bonaire...we were told
to take our bags to the airport around 11:00 and check in then.  Our flight
took off around 15:00, if I remember right.   The idea was to check in early
and avoid the long line that would occur at normal check in time.  It back
fired.  There was a problem with someone's tickets and it caused one line to
stop dead for about an hour and a half.  Also everyone knows about the
supposed early check in thing, so don't do it.

We stayed at Buddy Dive.  Can't recommend it.  They've bought the place next
door, I think it was called Lions Dive.  They are seriously understaffed at
present.  When we got there they told us at the airport that they overbooked
the hotel and we would have to stay the first night somewhere else.  We
stayed at a place called "Bel Mar".  We then went to Buddy the next day,
looked at the room they were to put us in, which was actually in the old
Lions Dive, and said we wanted to stay at Bel Mar.  They said no, and it
kinda went downhill from there.  We did talk to a guy we knew and happen to
run into who stayed at Captain Dons while we were, there and he didn't have
any problems with them.  If I went back now I'd stay at The Plaza.  I
wouldn't even look anywhere else unless I had first hand accounts of the
conditions at the resort.  We talked to several people at the airport who
stayed there and it sounded great.

Hope this helped.

Brian

Skip, it's better. But it still isn't the greatest set of flight options.
Lately we have been taking AJ thru MB and landing directly in Bonaire. That,
to me, remains the best option. I don't like American Eagle thru San Juan
plus some of their flight stop in Cuacao or Miami in addition to SJ. And if
you ticket on Delta that will be an AJ flight..

AJ's equipment is ok, the service is pretty good and while they do leave
their US departure cities on time there is almost always some delay in
leaving Montego Bay (in my experience up to an hour and a half). I travel
overweight big time because of photo gear and they have never charged me or
hassled me....pretty easy going in that regard. They have a 1st class lounge
in MB which isn't much in world terms, but it is a better place than the
concourse to sit out the connection delay.

In years past we always used the ALM direct flight from Atlanta which was
nice (no stop in Cuacao, hence no problems with bags and schedule) and
compared to that the AJ flights are next best.

In the end Boniare is always a bit of work, certainly the Bahamas and
Caymans are a somewhat easier and faster to get to, but because of the quiet
of Bonaire, the dining options, along with the reef system that seems
healthier by the year and the superb dive ops on-island I think Bonaire is
well worth the effort. I have never suffered any crime against me or known
anyone who has in 24 years of traveling there but, (as I am sure you know)
those stories are out and about and so I believe there is some substance to
them. How much? I don't think anyone really knows. But based on my own
experience I would struggle to believe Bonaire is worse than other similarly
populated Caribbean islands.

In the end I would recommend AJ for transport to Bonaire, as I would
recommend Bonaire is a destination. Neither Divi or Habitat are what they
used to be, but both are still serviceable. I like Harbour Village a lot,
but I like more renting a condo, house or apartment...oceanfront...and
diving with Toucan. I guess I've become so old I don't like being around
dive shop groups from the US or listening to their bullshit :^)

I have been there several times in the past couple of years, most recently
Nov. 3 - 13 2004.

There is an interisland airline now:

www.bonairexel.com

that flys a circuit several times a day among the ABC islands. It is usually
on time, the fare is around $160 US roundtrip to Bonaire.

I have flown both from Curacao and from Aruba. Unless you like standing in
line for hours at the Aruba airport, I suggest connecting thru Curacao if
possible. Any airline that gets you to either place will do. None of the
travel searches, or even travel agents I have checked with, had facility to
book their flights, so I always booked directly with them.

I stayed at both Divi and Cap't Don's in November, had stayed at Buddy Dive
in January. The time share side dock and lockers are blown away at Divi, so
the shore diving and boats leave from the hotel side dock, and you have to
keep your stuff in the tunnel, which makes things less convenient than they
were previously.

I was given a deluxe room last time at the Divi (I usually prefer the time
share side, but this was the package) on the first level of the hotel. Great
room until the storms came in that week. Twice I had waves crash through the
sliding doors and drench me in my bed. The room was flooded several times,
and I had 1/4 " of sand on the floor most of the week. Bonaire gets about
12" of rain a year - 6" fell the week I was there. Motorcycle riding was
wiped out except for 2 days, and I got in about 20% fewer dives than I
normally do.

Capt Don's is nicer, but pricier. Buddy Dive shares the same general house
reef with Capt. Don's. The Divi house reef is less enticing since some big
container ships started docking just to the north. But Divi is more
convenient to town.

Short version: even when things go wrong, they are still good on Bonaire.