suggestions please: resort and dive operator in Bonaire in September

[Yaki]

Wife and I flying from Colorado for an 8 night stay. First time on the island and we would appreciate recommendations for a resort and dive operator.
Thank you!

 

[KeithG]

i suggest you troll through the bonaire forum as there are lots of current threads on this topic.

for resorts:
divi and plaza are just south of town
captn dons, buddys, sand dollar, harbour village are north of town

there are lots of other accomodations discussed in the threads.

if you provide a short list of needs and wants then you may get some more specific recommendations.

 

[drrich2]

If you want to narrow your searching down to some popular choices, Buddy Dive Resort (north of town but fairly centrally located, nice house reef), Sand Dollar Condominiums (just south of Buddy Dive, nice house reef) & Divi Flamingo (you could walk into town to eat) are options.

Up north is Caribbean Club Bonaire. It's not 'on the water,' but near the Oil Slick Leap dive site.

Harbor Village seems to be the more 'upscale' option from what I read second hand. Captain Don's is right beside Buddy Dive Resort; in the past, reading reviews of both, I got the impression C.D.'s didn't have quite as consistently strong a rep., but some people like it & I've never stayed there. Did get good pizza at Captain Don's.

Most places don't have a sandy beach. Eden Beach Resort is one that does. I stayed there under when it was under prior management.

To get you started somewhere to get your bearings, I suggest picking a resort mentioned above, reading the options, and telling us if there's anything you don't like about it. Perhaps a competitor would offer something better?

In the meantime: is a sandy beach, proximity to town, a big vs. small/quiet area resort, boat diving, a pool, ocean front, etc..., important?

Richard.

 

[Yaki]

Thank you.
We prefer boat diving we a small boat operator and wonder if staying with one of the resorts (Divi\Buddy\other) limits us to use their boats\operators. From research on the net, many have much bigger boats\crowds then we will prefer. Would like to have a pickup for shore dives and if can be rented daily on site will be a plus. Not worried about equiptment (we are coming with all but weights.
Thanks again in advance!

 

[KathyV]

There's no place quite like Bonaire, enjoy!

Wherever you stay consider getting a condo or apartment with a full kitchen. It gets quite expensive to eat out 3 times a day and it is easy to prepare simple breakfast and lunch meals and then go out for dinner or order a pizza.

Take a look at Den Laman apartments with Bari Dive and Adventure as the onsite dive op. The house reef is considered to be among the best on the island.

You shouldn't have a problem with cattle boats on Bonaire, most visitors like to shore dive and, although there is very good boat diving, the dive boats usually aren't very crowded especially during September during the low season.

You can dive with whoever you want, but diving the onsite dive op is very convenient, and if you plan to dive the house pier then you should go with the onsite operator.

If you pick accommodations that don't have an onsite dive op and house pier, then just select the dive op of your choice.

Just a comment, if you like air-conditioned accommodations than make sure the unit you pick is fully air-conditioned because some places only have AC in the bedrooms.

There are persistent problems with thievery on Bonaire, so look for a place with decent security.

 

[drrich2]

Last time I dove with Buddy Dive Resort was in May 2014, I think. That week, there was one 2-tank boat trip; the others were 1-tank trips, and the boats tended to hold a bunch of divers - definitely not '6-packs.' I don't know if that's changed or how the competition compares, but it's something to think about.

Have you tried shore diving? It's more work, but no tipping, any time of day or night, all you want, no staff telling you how deep you can go or how long to stay down...it's got its advantages.

Bonaire is highly sought out for shore diving. When you take that advantage away, you've still got year-round warm water, outside the hurricane belt, very good to excellent viz., usually pretty minimal current off the west coast away from the ends of the island, nice sloping walls with good reef & fish, so Bonaire is still nice place, but for boat-only diving, it's not clear what puts it ahead of competitors. One issue is, aside from tarpon, green morays, occasional tiger grouper or Cubera snapper, & once in awhile a big barracuda, not a 'big stuff' destination. I don't see goliath, black or Nassau grouper there, never saw a shark there (8 weeks total in trips to Bonaire).

Put another way, what drew you to Bonaire?

Oh, and how many dives/day, or for the trip, do you want to do? Bonaire is popular for high-volume shore diving. Not saying that's what everybody does, but it's common.

Richard.

 

[drrich2]

P.S.: Rental trucks will be stick shift (manual transmission) unless you arrange otherwise (better do that well in advance) & pay a significant uncharge (tended to cost me around $150 extra for a week).

 

[KeithG]

Thank you.
We prefer boat diving we a small boat operator and wonder if staying with one of the resorts (Divi\Buddy\other) limits us to use their boats\operators. From research on the net, many have much bigger boats\crowds then we will prefer. Would like to have a pickup for shore dives and if can be rented daily on site will be a plus. Not worried about equiptment (we are coming with all but weights.
Thanks again in advance!

staying at a resort imposes no limits on your choices. you can dock dive, boat dive, truck dive as you wish. there are costs involved. at divi, you get unlimited tanks for any day you pay for a boat dive. these tanks can be used for dock or truck dives. there are lots of non divers at the divi. more than half the resort just lay in the sun baking their potato and splashing in the big pool. so you can buy a non diving package at divi.

i think (but am unsure) that most (many, some, all?) resorts will not let you boat dive unless you stay there. i could be wrong. as a minimum, resort guests get first crack at the boats. divi has 5 boats, max of 14 divers per boat.

if you want small crowds try bruce bowkers carib inn. no shade on the boat.

small crowds and small boats are different things.

 

[diver0008]

At Buddy, you can go out on their boats, and rent trucks and tanks there for heading out to the shore dive sites too. You can also do a decent shore dive right from their dock.

I know that there are other resorts that offer similar accomodations and services, but I cannot speak to them.

Bonaire is really a shore diving destination, and is very well set up for it, so I would not be suprised if the limited number of dive boats get a little full. For smaller groups on boat dives, you could hook up with Bonaire East Coast Diving for some good boat diving off the wild side.

Have fun.

 

[dmaziuk]

At Buddy, you can go out on their boats, and rent trucks and tanks there for heading out to the shore dive sites too. You can also do a decent shore dive right from their dock.

I know that there are other resorts that offer similar accomodations and services, but I cannot speak to them.

Sand Dollar, unlike Buddy, has (had, as of a year ago) no car fleet or dive shop: they do have Dive Friends on site and a package deal with DFB.