When Paolo goes to the pearl hatch to get rid of the diamonds and ends up spying on ben and the blonde haired woman (sorry forgot name) who are looking at the feed of jack whose in the hatch isnt that a time line error?

The pearl is used to observe stations so this scene takes place in season 2. If this is the case then Paolo has no way getting into the hatch since the plane that fell on it due to Boone's death is on top of it. Later on they make the trip with locke to the hatch.

did the writers mess up?

I thought they were observing him at a hospital - maybe a flash back - I hope they didn't screw up that would be a bummer !

They didn't , if you listen Ben tells Juliet have someone cover the door with the plane. So the plane fell , but not on top of the hatch, the others put it there.

They didn't , if you listen Ben tells Juliet have someone cover the door with the plane. So the plane fell , but not on top of the hatch, the others put it there.

Correct, correct. No timeline error after all.

According to the episode, they originally found the hatch on day 24 of being on the island. On the 33rd day, Paolo finds the diamonds and the Pearl hatch. Then on the 49th day, he goes back to the hatch to hide the diamonds. Locke and Boone originally find the bodies on day 41, and Boone dies on day 42....hmmm, yeah the timeline does appear to be off, doesnt it? Whew, nevermind, Ben does tell Juliet they have to move the plane back..., Tom was down there and Ben tells Juliet to have him cover it back up with the plane