Bonaire drive and dive packages

[slaterson19]

Does anyone know of any good dive packages to bonaire that include (car,unlimited shore diving, nitrox, and 7 nights lodging)? I saw some on the internet for around 850 per person that included breakfast. Does anyone have any recommendations? I am trying to stay on a budget.

[packman]

Herman is the resident Bonaire expert.

[battles2a5]

If you are looking for a low-budget deal, check out the Wanna Dive hut. Backpacker/ hostel type accommodations. Lots of young folks, cool bar, rum punch parties every week. Plus Bart and Bob are great resources for the local diving. They will put you on the sites you won't read about in the shore diving books. 1 week room, dive, and drive for $560. It's not on the water, but it's hard to beat the price.

[jdh]

Is there ever cheap airfare to Bonaire?
I checked for spring break and it's over $800. Is that the going rate?

John

[Cadblaster3]

The flying into Aruba with a hop to Bonaire was the cheapest flight for me.

Ed

[Herman]

Bon Dia from Bonaire. (good day) As it happens I am on island now. :
Wannadive is about as cheap of a place as you can get and I totally agree about Bart and Rob, super guys. I had a long talk with Bart this morning. The best flight we could recently find was flying AA from RDU to Mia and then on to Curacao $450ish then grabbing an island hopper to Bonaire $110. Its a little PITA to do but it works. Pretty much any place can arrange a Dive and drive package and nitrox is pretty much the norm everwhere- unlimited air or nitrox is the same price. Another resort to check out is Golden Reef Inn. Liz and Ed will take good care of you and can handle all the on island arrangements for you in a package. If you want a little nicer place on the water, check out Den Laman. Nice rooms on the water, the studios are not bad expensive. Call Kathleen at Den Laman reservations and tell I sad to take care of you. I have not checked it out but I have heard that one of the airlines (Cont redeye maybe) has a really good price over easter. If you check the Cont flights be sure to use Fri as your depart date for the Sat to Sat stay or Sat for the Sun-Sun stays. It's an overnight flight so you need to depart a day early. We skip the breakfast and choose to buy breakfast supplies instead. Some of the packages include 6 boat dives. I suggest you have those removed from the package (saving $120ish), you can always add a few alacart back if you so choose, we rarely do.

While I have everyones attention, I have trip planned for the last of June and have an opening for 1 single male to share a room and a studio for 2. If there is one of you who would like to go with ScottyD and myself, drop me a PM. The cost is about $685 +/- $50 (depends on how many go will determine what the final price will be). That is for diving/room/truck rental. Food/flight/some taxes and bail money are extra.

I will be off and on the board until the 31st so responces may be slow.....I'm diving.

[Scotttyd]

The prices jump around a bit for airfare. The red eye on continental varies from 600 to 800 depending on how far out you book. Generally I see 5-6 weeks out being the lowest. Play around on Kayak and insel air to find the cheapest combo. I have learned to look at booking two one way tickets for travel within the US if I see flights on different airlines that best fit my schedule. Not sure if that would make a difference on booking to Bonaire since your options are much more limited. FYI, the red eye give you an extra day of diving since you will make the orientation in the morning vs having to wait until the next day if you arrive in the afternoon (unless the shop offers the orientation dive late afternoon - which would make sense?)

I cannot comment on places to stay other than Den Laman, but I second the idea of making your own lunch if you are trying to save a buck. It is much cheaper than buying breakfast, and you do not have to worry about being somewhere at a specific time.

FYI, the talk of Bonaire made me change my avatar to when I was there!