How do you book your Bonaire trip?

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PARADISE HUNTER

Contributor
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Location
Michigan
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My wife and I have decided that Bonaire is going to be our next dive vacation. Very, very excited! But we typically fly out of Detroit (DTW). All the flights I have found on the usual online ticket companies (Orbitz, Expedia) have us doing an overnight in Newark, it ends up being a 12 hour travel day. Funjet and Apple don't have any charters to Bonaire leaving Detroit. Someone on SB mentioned a flight through San Juan, but I haven't found it.

So any suggestions?

Also if you have a travel brocker, company, or website that puts good packages together, please share.

Thanks for your help.
 
Congratulations on choosing Bonaire as your next dive destination! It is fabulous! We usually book our trips ourselves from the northeast. Some options for you to look into for airlines are: American Airlines to Miami and then on to Curacao where you can get to Bonaire on the local airline Divi Divi. Another option is to take American Airlines to San Juan and then on to Bonaire. Flight from San Juan to Bonaire is on a turbo prop. These are our two "usual" routes but we have also flown USAir to Aruba and then DAE to Bonaire or Air Jamaica thru Montego Bay and then to Bonaire. This summer we are flying from New England to Newark and then on to Bonaire on Continental.

Some other helpful websites for your planning are: www.bsdme.info, www.infobonaire.com and www.bonairetalk.com.
 
As was mentioned above there's now a Continental red-eye from Houston. Only on Fri. night so you have to put that in on continental.com. Returning the following Saturday morning. For me, everytime I tried it from here, I wound up through Newark.

We did American. From here it was to Miami, San Juan - with a 7hr. layover on Saturday then a 30seat plane to Bonaire. Go to AA.com to find connections on American Eagle through San Juan. You may find that it's a lot easier to get to either Aruba or Curacao and then fly over. fwiw, the ABC islands are actually ACB since Curacao's in the middle - so Curacao is closer to Bonaire than Aruba.

Most of the divetravel outfits seem to book the same packages you can get yourselves by going directly to the resort websites. Some to try:

www.aquadreams.com
www.caradonna.com
www.bonairepros.com

I've used Dani at Aquadreams for another trip. The other two I have no experience with.

We've stayed at BelMar condos on Bonaire. Most divers also seem to like Buddy Dive. Just about everybody offers a drive/dive package. You can book direct through BelMar, we did.
http://www.belmar-bonaire.com/index.html
http://www.buddydive.com/
 
There are several ways to get to Bonaire from DTW.

1. Fly to newark or to Houston then catch the Continental redeyes.
2. American Airlines to Puerto Rico and catch the American Eagle to Bonaire.
3. One of the airlines flies direct to Curacao. Catch one of the puddlejump airlines over.
4. Fly to Aruba (charter perhaps) and take a puddlejump.
5. Fly to Amsterdam and catch the direct flight on KLM. :)

If you are near Detroit you could go to one of the local dives shops. They all go there with groups and have travel agents on board that can make individual arrangements.
 
Let Herman handle it - - - Har Har Har
 
I am flying out of DTW to BON April 15-22nd this year. The easiest way to get there is take AA or NWA direct to San Juan, then after a few hour layover take American Eagle to BON. We flew this route last year as well and found the travel to be expedited versus the other options. In the past I've flow via Curacao and Divi Divi...this option also works well if you can get direct to Curacao ( not likely) and don't mind the puddle jumpers' luggage restrictions.

You may need to book the two legs seperately when trying online.
 
Thanks for the info. everyone. MIwreckdiver, I am assuming you are flying out of Detroit. I checked on flights through San Juan's international airport and found the connections on AE. Checked on prices for April and May trips, Sun - Sun, both came in around $750/per. Long day of travel, but no red eye needed. Thanks.
 
If you need ideas of things to do during the layover in San Juan let me know!
 
In MHO the Continental red eye is the only way to go...gets you there at 5:30am your diving by 10:00!! Can even sneak in an early am dive the last friday!

Ive heard that SJ is a pain..many horror sories about American..??
 

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