First timers to Bonaire, Family of four; myself, wife (non-diver) son (20) and daughter
(15). My daughter did her check out dives in Bonaire. We were lucky in that her local instructor happened to be going to the island the same week we were. There were two other locals with him so pretty much ended up diving as a group of six all week.

Flew Delta from ATL to BON. We're about 100 miles from airport so choose to stay at local hotel night before. I think this works great even if you're close to airport. For around $100 you can stay the night and leave your car there for the week for free. The hotel shuttle will drop you right at the terminal doors. Saw MSUBryan (scubaboard.com) at the airport but no one else we recognized. After boarding I figured out why, a connecting flight with a lot of divers was running late. After a very short wait here came everybody else and we were off. If you're Medallion and didn't use miles for your ticket figure on being upgraded. There were several seats open in first coming and going. They get you used to island life right away when you arrive. Pretty much everything is open air/outside and it's hot and things move a little slower. After getting the bags though we were off and running.

Picked up our truck at ABCarrental, nothing special but wasn't beat and banged up. Met our contact for the villa we were staying in and headed that way. We stayed at Perla Boneriano, a group of 7 villas that is across the street from Sand Dollar and Buddy's. Great location and we really liked it. We stayed in Villa Chikitu a single story unit with 2 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. A/C in living area and bedrooms. Uses solar hot water and there was plenty for all of us. Large flat screen TV with cable and Wi-Fi. If you want to have phone access home recommend you look into Skype. You can download it free and it's free audio/video call if the person you're calling is using Skype too. My son and daughter used it and IM to keep in touch with their friends back home. I went cold turkey and didn't touch anything electronic besides dive computer all week. Big patio that was just steps away from a nice pool that's in the center of the complex. It's gated and fenced and we never saw anyone around the villas that wasn't staying there. Had our own wash tank, outside shower and dive locker and we could pull the truck up right next to it to unload. Location was very convenient with lots of local stuff like Eli's Deli, Lovers ice cream, etc. and getting into town or going to north dive sites was very easy. Guess it really doesn't take long to get anywhere no matter where you're staying. One note, this villa was very nice and it's fairly new but don't go expecting 5-star accommodations. At least I didn't see any on the island that fit that description. That was fine for us but I know some travelers that expect the best luxury accommodations and wouldn't have been satisfied.

Several grocery stores around. We jumped on that pretty quick after getting unloaded at Perla. Had to go back one time about mid-week to pick up a few more items but had no issues finding what we needed. We took some breakfast and snack items in our packed luggage too.

We dove with Dive Friends Bonaire. My daughter as mentioned was doing her check out dives and this was the dive shop her instructor was using so we didn't check around just went with what they had picked. They were staying at Hamlet so we used the Dive Friends at that location as our primary but they have three other locations where you can pick up or drop off tanks. We used the Yellow Sub location a couple of times and did one boat dive out of there. Dive Friends was good and we were able to get pretty much what ever we needed when we needed it. They do say they limit you to 3 Nitrox tanks a day but they didn't really hold you to it if they had tanks available. We made 13 dives (remember family trip and spouse is a non-diver) The Cliff (x2) Hilma Hooker, The Lake, Bari, Buddy's, Oil Slick, Andrea II, Punt Vierkant (entry at The Lake due to construction), Angel City, Tori's and then Karpata and La Dania's via boat. I don't have a ton of dives (Key Largo, FL and Maui HI) to compare this too but really enjoyed each and every dive. The reef looked healthy and there was plenty of sea life. Not many big fish, turtles, etc. but plenty to see. We did see one Goliath Grouper at Oil Slick and then La Dania's (we think the same fish) that probably was 200lbs plus. Plus the tarpon around Hilma and then Charlie (?) at Buddy's during the night dive. I had several first on this trip (joy of being a fairly new diver); dawn dive going in right before sunrise, night dive and wreck dive. Only got to 99' at Hilma but that's my max to date. Also my first time using Nitrox and I think that certification was money well spent! No Frog fish or Seahorses (friends found one Seahorse) but plenty of turtles, eels, shrimp crabs, anemones and a great variety and numbers of fish. I mentioned my spouse is a non-diver. She enjoyed the down time reading by the pool and some other activities. She also went with us a couple of times including the boat dives and snorkeled while we dove. We spent Friday afternoon snorkeling with her after our last dives too.

Other activites; Donkey sanctuary, man that road out there seems long. Probably only a mile or so but bumpy. Solar Salt Works, saw all the ponds and a ship being loaded. Lac Bay to watch wind surfers. Saw the kite boarders around Aquarius on the way south. Wind surfing looks cool but the kiters looked extreme, those guys were flying across the water. White and Red Slave and the light house. Down around the lighthouse there was tons of "trash art". I was amazed at all the stuff that evidently washes up on the south end. People use the items to build some creative things. Also went north up and around Gotomeer lake (lots of Flamingos) and then over to Rincon. We didn't make it to the park itself

Dining, can't begin to name all the places but Patagonia's was probably my favorite. And Eli's Deli for quick bite at lunch if you're not eating in. Most days we did breakfast and lunch at the villa. We did do brunch one day at City Cafe after a couple of early dives south of town. For the money you can't beat City Cafe. Before going we read a lot of trip reports and had a long list of places to eat. At the time didn't realize most of these were fairly pricey. With a family of four it can add up quick. We did eat at several of the more highly recommended restaurants but there are plenty of "other" good places to eat that aren't as expensive. Tuesday night we met up with some Scuba Board members at the Plaza BBQ. Good example of cheaper meal alternative. Food was good and a lot of it for $15. Company was even better and enjoyed meeting everyone. If you're headed to Bonaire and want to do a meet up this was a good place to do it.

Security and Theft. Please don't take this thread down that rat hole I just wanted to share my observations. I travel almost every week to US cities in the southeast from VA/MD to FL. In some of those cities I don't feel comfortable walking from my hotel to anywhere nearby. If driving, I always take the GPS and other electronics out of the car. I really didn't change the way I do things while visiting Bonaire. While on Bonaire I was never concerned while walking with my family. Same at our Villa. It was gated and had the standard Bonaire cactus fence but I think I would have felt the same if those weren't there. We had a dive locker at the villa and locked it when we stored our gear in it. We had two safes in the Villa and used them for electronics, passports, spare cash, etc. I consider that common sense and would have done the same staying anywhere else. When diving we left hat, t-shirts, cheap sun glasses and plastic water bottles in the truck. Windows were left down and doors unlocked. If anyone ever went through the truck we couldn't tell it. Our friends left a nice soft side cooler in their truck, it wasn't there when they got back. I did see broken glass at one dive site parking area but that's the only time I noticed it. From a safe island perspective I don't think you could ask for anything more. As to the petty theft, it happens everywhere including the US. I know friends locally who've had their cars/trucks broken into at the local lake parking areas. Don't leave anything in the truck you don't want stolen and you'll probably have a crime free trip.

It was our first trip to Bonaire but won't be the last. I really liked the "Dive Freedom" aspect. Dive when and where you want to on your own schedule. Recommend you always have at least one full tank in the truck so you can do that spur of the moment dive. Don't sweat the little stuff, you'll probably like where you stay and the dive shop you use will probably be fine. Take a deep breath and slow your pace down as soon as you step off the plane. No need to rush around, relax and enjoy.

Great report.. Thanks for posting

Thanks for taking the time to post that nice report Tony.

A most excellent report, Tony, but I can not give you 5 stars without pictures, lots of pictures .

Oh and how is the PBD?

Thanks for posting Tony. Great report and glad that you had a wonderful trip. Agree with most everything you wrote, but personally I would not have identified the location of that grouper for fear he might "disappear". We need all we can get on Bonaire, especially that size.

PBD is bad but thankfully a cure is available

We've only got about 2,200 pictures, it's going to take a while to sort through all of them but will post a few up probably this weekend.

That grouper was amazing. At oil slick he was right below the ladder and was acting just like a puppy wanting to play. Have video of one of the guys trying to ease backwards away from him and it's like the fish was chasing him. Hope he's there next time too and has added a few pounds on by feeding on the lionfish. That's the one dive where we found a small lionfish. Left a marker and it was removed next day

hhhhhmmmmm sounds like another one is "hooked"

Nice report, Tony. Please do post your pictures (and video ) when you have time - we LOVE pictures

Love the report and agree with your observations 100%!

Nice report, Tony. Love your mantra: "Take a deep breath and slow your pace down as soon as you step off the plane. No need to rush around, relax and enjoy." I've had groupers come up to me (not in Bonaire) and it is kind of freaky how they seem as if they want to be petted. I don't want want to touch them for fear of hurting them, however, but I do so much enjoy the experience of their playfulness! Now that you have been to Bonaire, you will be comparing every other place to it and never truly being satisfied with any other dive destination. I will just welcome you to the club now, "Addictus Bonaire," has me hooked too!

Tony, that was a wonderful report. I thank you.

A little late but none the less as promised, pictures posted. Still have a few more to get off of one camera but have sorted through over 2,000 photos so far. Here's the link;
http://tonylbonaire2010.shutterfly.com

I have a few videos that I'll try to add later too.

Just noticed they're not all uploaded yet. 51 of 126 so give it a few minutes and then check

Cool pix! Thanks for sharing; just one more week for us and we get to take our own. Can't wait!

Checked out your pics. From all the smiles, looked like everyone had a great time. Villa and compound w/ pool looked very nice. Maybe more on the dining experiences?

Nice Tony!!! Thanks

In response to Peter L. on dining, here's what I remember;

Lover's, quick lunch one day. Food wasn't great but don't miss the ice cream.

Passa Bon Pizza, good, affordable and was convenient to us.

Patagonia, food was excellent, more expensive (around $150 for 4 of us), service was great. If you want a good steak I would highly recommend.

Bar/restaurant at Buddy's (by circular drive) can't remember the name. Ate here twice, one dinner (after night dive) and one lunch. Food was great both times and reasonably priced. Another one I would recommend.

City Cafe, brunch here one day after a couple of morning dives. Most economical place we ate and food was very good and lots of it. We all had breakfast items.

Zeezicht, evidently one of the oldest restaurants on the island. Most of us had seafood and it was very good with variety of different preparations. My son had a hamburger and said it was the best he had ever had anywhere. Wasn't cheap but wasn't too expensive either.

Will's Tropical Grill, a little more expensive but food was excellent and staff was great. We all had seafood and it was very fresh and well prepared. A few coupons floating around in the different tourist books for Will's. We had one for two free drinks.

Eli's Deli, can't beat it for lunch if you're eating out. Sandwiches were great on fresh made bread.

BobbyJan's, we all had ribs or ribs and chicken. If doing it again would go ribs only, they were very good. Price was good, service was a little slow but we just took our time and enjoyed the opportunity it gave us to talk about the week of diving. We ate here on Friday night before departing Saturday.

Probably forgetting a couple but what I can remember right now.

Added a few more pictures of Villa Chikitu.